Reside Platform Podcast

A slower market does not mean opportunity has disappeared. In this episode of the Reside Platform Podcast, Suneet and Karlton talk about what real estate leaders can do when headlines and higher mortgage rates make buyers, sellers, and agents hesitant. They discuss why local market conditions matter, where buyers may have more room to negotiate, and how agents can turn paid leads into lasting referral relationships. They also share their perspectives on Zillow, MLS access, and putting clients first, plus practical ideas for building a pipeline through client events, business planning, recruiting, and content. If you lead a real...

Is it really a bad idea to list a home during the holidays? Do leads go cold after 30 days? And are your best agents destined to leave your team? In this episode of the Reside Platform Podcast, Brooke Riecke and Karlton Utter challenge six common real estate beliefs and share what team leaders can do differently. They talk about using local market data to guide sellers, nurturing older leads with relevant opportunities, creating meaningful growth paths for top performers, and building the systems and support a team needs to scale. They also discuss how to approach owners selling on...

Busy and growing are not the same thing, and most team leaders don't notice the difference until months of momentum have already slipped away. In this episode, Lauren, Director of Team Operations at Reside Platform, and Brooke, Reside's Client Success Manager, walk through the four warning signs they spot from the outside long before a team leader sees them from the inside. They cover the leader who is still doing everything (and why "it's faster if I do it" quietly caps your growth), leads that come in with no one truly owning them, agents who stop showing up and...

Lauren and Brooke share a practical Q4 survival kit for real estate team leaders who want to enter the new year with a healthier business, not a blank page. They explain how to find missed opportunities in a CRM by reviewing lead stages, last contact, smart lists, integrations, and lead distribution; build both client and recruiting pipelines; notice when agents or operations staff may be pulling back and have thoughtful one on one conversations; and plan the first 90 days around three priorities, a clear owner for each, and a measurable KPI. Their advice is to choose one change, work...

What does it take to build a real estate business that can double in a tough market without making the leader the bottleneck? Jennifer Gale returns to the Reside Platform Podcast to share what changed as her Woodstock, Ontario brokerage grew. She and Suneet Agarwal dig into the hard parts of leadership, including setting standards that create friction, replacing emotional lead management with accountable systems, and letting the right people own their roles. Jennifer also explains how her team recruits through monthly training events, consistent outreach, and a marketing engine built for the long game. For team leaders and...

If your real estate team runs smoothly only when you are in the room, you do not have a people problem. You have an operations problem. Lauren Rathgeb-Holland and Brooke Riecke unpack why growing teams often hire another agent when what they really need is stronger ownership, documented systems, and operational support. They share practical ways to identify the work only you can do, spot the tasks that are quietly draining your time, and build a team structure that supports growth without making you the bottleneck. Whether you lead a small team, manage a busy production business, or are...

Being good at selling houses doesn't mean you've built a business that can run without wearing you out. Andrea Kugler knows the difference. After years as a solo agent doing everything herself, she started putting systems in place and launched a real estate team. In this conversation with Suneet Agarwal, Andrea shares what changed when she stopped relying on memory to follow up, started using a CRM, and got support through Reside. She also gets honest about the part of leadership that checks your ego: holding yourself to the same standards you set for your agents. For team leaders...

Suneet sits down with Dan Gandee, principal broker of The Operative Group in Oregon, for a conversation that is less about AI hype and more about what actually pays. Dan is on pace for 200 closings this year and he walks through the exact direction his team took the technology: a scrubbed and appended investor mailing list that turned roughly two grand in postage into a $15,000 commission check, a portfolio audit offer that gets absentee owners to raise their hands, daily CRM audits that land in Slack at 8:00 AM so nothing sits in lead status, and an agentic operating system...

What should real estate agents kill, keep or change as they build a stronger business? Lauren, Brooke and Karlton turn that question into a lively conversation about the prospecting activities that still create real opportunity. They discuss replacing generic cold calls with intentional warm conversations, using open houses as a low cost way to meet buyers and sellers, approaching door hangers and neighborhood outreach with more value and respect, and building a real system for paid internet leads. They also explain why for sale by owners are one of the clearest opportunities for agents who want more listings, why...

Anna Pisarski got her real estate license at 19, and ten years later she is a licensed broker, Director of Agent Support and Development at The Courtney Group in Reno, Nevada, a competitive bodybuilder, and the agent behind an Instagram account pulling hundreds of thousands of views a month. In this episode, Suneet sits down with Anna to unpack why most agents have social media backwards. Her argument is simple: if anyone in your sphere is not using you as their realtor, you do not have a lead generation problem, you have a conversion problem. Anna explains how she treats...

Ross Hardy helped grow his real estate team from just over 200 annual transactions to a projected 400 by confronting the leadership habits, staffing bottlenecks, and inconsistent standards that were limiting its potential. In this conversation with Suneet Agarwal, Ross explains how virtual assistants gave his transaction, listing, and marketing departments more capacity without adding unnecessary overhead, why his team hired a director of agent growth, and how a mentor program helped new agents reach production faster. They also discuss intentional recruiting, daily huddles, office culture, prospecting, skill development, and the importance of building systems before the team is overwhelmed. For...

Most real estate teams do not need more content. They need marketing that is connected to operations, built around the client journey, and simple enough for agents to use consistently. Rachael Little, Chief Marketing Officer at Gale Group Realty Brokerage, joins Lauren Rathgeb-Holland to share how the brokerage grew from 20 to 60 agents while building a dependable in house marketing department. Rachael explains how clear messaging, a central request line, repeatable onboarding, project management, and fast support created a stronger experience for agents. She also breaks down the difference between making attractive content and developing marketing that earns trust, strengthens...

Growth creates a difficult tension for real estate professionals. The more clients and transactions you earn, the less time you have to keep generating new business. In this episode, Lauren and Karlton explain how solo agents and team leaders can identify the work that truly requires their attention, delegate the rest, and build support without sacrificing the client experience. They walk through the four hats every agent wears, share a simple 30 minute time audit, and explain why a transaction coordinator, virtual assistant, marketing partner, or buyer's agent may be the right next hire. You will also learn how to...

The habits that make someone a successful solo real estate agent can become the very habits that limit a growing team. In this episode, Brooke and Karlton unpack the identity shift from top producer to true team leader. They explain why hiring agents or support staff does not automatically create leverage, how unclear expectations turn leaders into bottlenecks, and why goals, systems, accountability, and honest conversations matter at every stage of growth. They also share practical ways to protect your calendar, coach more efficiently, help agents make confident decisions, assign roles around individual strengths, and decide whether stepping out...

What would happen to your business if you disappeared for three weeks? Suneet sits down with Michele Mamo, team leader of the Dwell Well Group at eXp Realty, who just returned from a three week family trip through Europe to find her best month ever waiting for her, plus nearly 40 deals already pending for the month ahead. Eighteen months ago she was seriously thinking about quitting. In this conversation she breaks down exactly what changed: getting obsessed with her database, working Follow Up Boss every single day, joining the Zillow Preferred program, building a leadership team that watches out...

Jana Adams joins Karlton Utter to share how she transformed personal adversity, caregiving, and advocacy into a real estate business built around accountability, empathy, and service. After struggling to create the right systems for a growing team, she learned that leadership is not about doing the work for agents, but helping them take ownership of the goals they say they want. Jana explains how joining Reside helped her move systems out of her head, mentor her daughter more effectively, and build a stronger team culture that contributed to a 120 percent increase in transactions and a 123% increase in earnings. She...

What happens when the person running your brokerage has never sold a home? Suneet sits down with Lisa Gengelbach, Vice President of Operations at Key Associates Signature Realty, who helped grow the company from 8 agents to 80 across five offices in two states in just six years. Lisa got licensed in February of 2020 after owning a restaurant and running operations for large hotels, and that outside perspective shows up in everything she does. She and Suneet get into what breaks first when a team scales too fast, why recruiting without real processes is a trap, and how she rebuilt onboarding...

Most teams are converting internet leads at 1 to 1.5% when the real ceiling is closer to 9 or 10%. The gap isn't about lead quality. It's about response time, dialogue, and whether or not your team has a system worth running. In this episode, we pulled straight from a live Reside Platform webinar hosted by Carlton Utter, our head of training and agent development with 26 years in the business. Carlton breaks down the five killers of internet lead conversion, the ALM approach for warm transfers, the LP Mama follow-up framework, and the cadence that top teams use to stay in the game...

Michelle Williamson started her real estate career in 1999 in a small rural Florida county, homeschooling her kids during the day and working listings the moment her husband got home at 3:30. Nobody was farming neighborhoods back then — she just started sending letters about homes that had sold nearby, whether she sold them or not. Fast forward to today and she and her daughter Brandi are sending upwards of 30 pieces of mail per year to 13,000 addresses, carrying 45 active listings in a town of 34,000 people, and holding 80% of the local realtor market share. In this episode, Suneet sits down with Michelle and Br...

Lauren and Brooke sit down to break open the exact event playbook they teach inside the Reside engine group, and they pull no punches. If you've ever hosted a client event and walked away wondering whether any of it actually moved the needle, this one is for you. They get into why most agents treat events as an expense instead of an investment, the four part framework that makes every event repeatable, the three event formats that work in almost any market, and the seven levers that turn one Saturday afternoon into a full quarter of referral conversations. You'll...

Most agents do not lose their business because the market went quiet. They lose it because the pipeline went quiet first, and nobody wants to say that out loud. Lauren sits down with Karlton Utter, Head of Training and Agent Development at Reside, to talk about the trap that swallows so many good agents. You grind through the spring market, everything closes over the summer, and then you coast into the holidays telling yourself you will start fresh in January. Karlton breaks down why that gap quietly costs you a full quarter of income, and why the agents who...

Most team leaders think the fix for flat production is simple. Hire more agents. In this episode Brooke and Karlton Utter from Reside sit down to push back on that instinct and explain why so many teams are quietly solving the wrong problem. They get honest about the real difference between a hiring problem and a development problem, and what it actually costs you when you confuse the two. Karlton walks through how to reverse engineer a production goal into the exact hires you need, why recruiting without a real support system is unfair to the agents you bring...

Christy Morrison didn't plan on real estate. She planned on the Olympics. After years of competing in X Games skicross, she traded one extreme sport for another. Building a top 1% business in Truckee while still trying not to miss a powder day. 

In this one, she sits down with Suneet and gets honest about what 24 years in the game actually teaches you. The 25-calls-a-day grind. The seven hires turned into six exits. The marketing that finally moved the needle in a second-home market where half your buyers live three hours away. 

She talks about going fr...

Suneet sits down with Lucy Ham, a real estate powerhouse who has been in the business since 1974. Operating out of Flushing, Michigan — a small town of just 30,000 people — Lucy consistently carries 50 to 60 listings at a time and was once the #2 agent at Prudential nationwide, selling over 140 homes in a single year with no assistants and no internet. Lucy shares how her upbringing on a South Dakota farm instilled an unstoppable work ethic, how adopting Mike Ferry's scripts instantly boosted her listing conversion by 25%, and how she brought her son Justin — a former geologist — into the business. She also reveals her secr...

Suneet Agarwal sits down with Michelle Terry, a 28-year real estate veteran, broker, and owner of the Michelle Terry Team spanning Massachusetts and Connecticut. Michelle shares her origin story of building a house at 19 and falling in love with the process, how she pivoted to dominate the short sale market during the 2008 crash — closing over 100 short sales in a single year — and why the agents who refuse to pivot are the ones who leave the industry. She breaks down her journey from being coached by Buffini & Company to becoming a DISC Profile certified trainer, explaining how understanding personality wiring syst...

Mark Daya shares the real story behind becoming the top solo agent in Rancho Cordova—and how that reputation helped unlock an opportunity to help develop a new downtown project featuring a 7,500-seat sports and entertainment arena. Mark and Suneet walk through Mark’s journey in reverse: from investing in the arena vision, to building hyperlocal dominance through direct mail and a newsletter that generated an 8X ROI, to surviving the 2008 downturn while navigating major family health challenges. The conversation breaks down the difference between being reactive vs. proactive, why your calendar must match your goals, and how consistency (in m...

If your CRM feels overwhelming, it’s not because you “need more leads”—it’s because your system isn’t set up to tell you what to do next. In Part 2 of this database optimization series, Lauren Holland and Brooke break down the practical, day-to-day workflow that keeps leads from falling through the cracks: how to route leads to the right people, why instant response matters, how to use ponds to recover overlooked opportunities, and the simple daily routine (inbox, tasks, smart lists) that keeps a real estate team’s pipeline full. They also cover the most common CRM mistakes (stal...

If you feel like you are working hard but the results are not showing up, this episode breaks down what is really missing. Lauren sits down with Karlton Utter, head of agent training and development at Reside, to talk about the habits that separate agents who “stay busy” from agents who consistently close. Karlton shares how treating real estate like a true business, time blocking prospecting, and asking for the business directly can change everything, especially in shifting markets. They also cover how to stop discounting your value, why listings create momentum, how to use technology without losing the fund...

Lauren and Brooke break down Reside’s practical framework for cleaning up and optimizing any CRM so leads stop slipping through the cracks. They explain why a messy database creates a messy business, how to simplify stages into a clear lifecycle, and how to use tags for context without creating chaos. They also walk through the daily workflow that keeps follow-up consistent, including the must-have smart lists, contact frequency guidelines for each stage, and the difference between action plans and automations so teams can build a system that runs in the background while still driving real human follow-up.

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Team leader and brokerage partner Andrea Kugler breaks down what it really takes to win in real estate—especially if you’re a driven agent, team leader, or brokerage owner who wants to scale without losing your freedom. Andrea shares the “50/50 rule” behind her early success (including closing 52 deals in her first 12 months): half is personal effort and grit, and half is finding the right mentorship, leadership, and standards that keep you confident in every conversation. She also opens up about the mindset shift from solo production to team leadership—why discipline, routines, and protecting tomorrow’s energy matter when people...

Lauren Holland and Brooke Reiki break down why most agents are not short on leads, but are leaking business after the transaction. They introduce the EARN framework to earn referrals through a great client experience, then lay out a practical, repeatable system for asking for reviews and referrals across four key touch points. You will learn how to set expectations early with a “promise conversation,” reinforce feedback during the transaction, ask within 24 hours of closing, and follow up with a structured nine-week cadence. They also cover simple tracking, accountability, and culture-building so reviews and referrals become consistent, measurable, and pred...

Lauren and Brooke break down why most agents do not need more information, tools, or leads. They need consistency, structure, and accountability. Lauren shares lessons learned from years behind the scenes as an operator, where patterns become obvious: top performers are disciplined, proactive, and intentional. Together, they introduce Lauren’s EARN framework for delivering an unforgettable client experience, then connect it to what actually creates sustainable production: daily conversations, consistent follow-up, and a well-managed CRM. If you are a driven team leader, brokerage owner, or high-performing agent who wants to scale without sacrificing freedom, this episode is a practical re...

Most real estate team leaders work nonstop and still feel behind because they spend the day reacting instead of leading intentionally. Brooke and Lauren break leadership down into three simple “power hours” that create clarity and momentum: a daily recruiting hour to build the agent pipeline through consistent conversations, a team power hour where leaders and agents make calls together to drive production and culture, and an inspection and coaching hour focused on a few CRM metrics that reveal what is really happening in the pipeline. They explain how to structure these hours, what to track, how to coach base...

Suneet Agarwal sits down with Kevin Feely, founder and team lead of the Feely Group, one of the top-performing eXp teams in Canada. Kevin shares his unconventional journey from running nightclubs and restaurants to becoming a top-producing real estate agent and team leader. He opens up about hitting rock bottom before his breakthrough—going from zero deals in six months to an incredible 49 deals in the next six months after investing in coaching and systems. Kevin dives deep into the importance of accountability, the role of technology like Notion, Follow Boss, and Go High Level, and how he built a...

Suneet sits down with husband-and-wife team Andrew and Ally Burnett from Secure Home Finder in Coastal Carolinas. They share their unconventional journey of building a real estate business together, from their early friction over spreadsheets and lead tracking to becoming a top-producing team. Ally reveals how she failed her real estate exam four times while dealing with a chronically sick child, and Andrew explains why he added every single real estate agent on Facebook (much to Ally's frustration). The couple discusses their division of labor—Andrew as the lead agent in the field, Ally as director of operations—and why...

Jennifer Gale, broker-owner of Ontario's fastest-growing boutique brokerage, shares how she grew from 21 to 50 agents in just 12 months—capturing 25% of her local market. In this conversation with Suneet Agarwal, Jennifer reveals her implementation-focused approach to growth, including achieving 70-80% email open rates, leveraging traditional marketing (billboards, bus shelters, and buses), and building a culture where new agents consistently outperform experienced ones. She discusses the power of authentic visibility, the importance of being coachable, and why she prefers selling ten $200,000 condos over waiting a year for one luxury listing. Jennifer also shares her "each one teach one" philosophy, her transition fr...

Suneet sits down with Andrew Burnett, team leader of Secure Home Finder in Myrtle Beach, to discuss his journey from pizza franchise manager to successful real estate investor and team builder. Andrew shares how he transitioned through multiple entrepreneurial ventures—including Uber driving, timeshare marketing, and even a teeth whitening business—before finding his calling in real estate. He reveals his team's aggressive lead conversion strategy, including their commitment to making 100 calls per day for 100 days straight, which resulted in 16 transactions from 10,000 dials last year. Andrew dives deep into his rental property investment strategy, explaining how he acquired 59 doors in j...

Suneet sits down with Ally Burnett, co-team leader of the Secure Home Finder team in South Carolina's second home market. Ally and her husband Andrew have grown their team from 5 to 15 agents in under six months while raising four children without a nanny. They discuss the unique challenges of serving clients in a second home market, the importance of building trust over years before a transaction, and how to effectively work with your spouse in business. Ally shares her recruiting strategies, including making at least 5 calls per day and leveraging past clients to find great agents. She emphasizes the...

Lauren and Brooke break down exactly what team leaders should focus on in their first 90 days—whether launching a new team or resetting an existing one. They discuss why most leaders fail not because of bad strategy, but because of poor adoption, and how to build trust, clarity, and accountability without micromanaging. From setting clear standards to engineering early wins, this conversation reveals the leadership moves that separate teams that thrive from teams that struggle. If you're stepping into leadership or looking to tighten your team's execution, this episode is your roadmap.

Chapters:

Rick and Brittany Turley share how they built a successful father-daughter real estate team in Las Vegas through market cycles, from the 2008 crash to today's shifting landscape. Rick reveals his strategic geographic expansion into rural Nevada mining towns where minerals are driving economic growth and cheap Zillow leads cost just $50 per zip code. Brittany breaks down her exact follow-up system of 21+ touchpoints that helps her close 25+ deals per year while being a mom and team leader. They discuss time blocking, the impact of AI on Vegas hospitality workers, high-end market trends with billionaires fleeing California, and why following up...