Context with Mike DelPrete

Scott Trench, CEO of BiggerPockets, and I bust myths about the U.S. rental market and the prevalence of institutional investors, dig into the minds of 17 million mom-and-pop investors, and discuss dance parties, opportunity through inefficiency, investor demographics, why tech isn't adopted, opportunities for investor-friendly agents, and the financial benefits of house hacking.

Chris Kelly, EVP at HomeServices of America, and I discuss the challenge of incumbency, why attaching mortgage is hard, Homes.com vs. Zillow, how NAR can improve, leading with transparency, the benefits of not being a tech company, why real estate is like farming, and the unintended consequences of the commission lawsuits.

Orly and I discuss the upcoming Real Estate Innovation Hub, a new event I'm hosting in Boulder, CO. As an attendee, Orly discusses why she applied, the benefit of collaborating with nine other industry leaders, which business challenges she wants to unpack, the intersection of tech + humanity, how demographics are impacting her business, and why she would invite the goddess of war and strategy to be an attendee.

David Mele, president of Homes.com, and I discuss Dunkin Donuts coffee, post-acquisition growth, lead gen hell, the 97% opportunity, innovator's dilemma, exclusive content, strategic clarity, what's in Andy's head, and what he would do if he were Zillow's CEO.

Dan Duffy, CEO of United Real Estate Group, and I discuss United's quiet growth story, agent migration, fancy-pants MBAs, M&A breakage, the 3 attributes of a successful partner, cultural incongruity, CEO scar tissue, positive disruption, founder equity, Calvinball, and minding the value gap.

Glenn Sanford, CEO and founder of eXp Realty, and I discuss morning rituals, the push/pull of a down market, where ideas originate, game-changing tech, going against conventional wisdom, the power of pure-plays, overcoming a crisis of confidence, the sell-side pivot, and how to screw anything up.

Robert Reffkin, CEO and founder of Compass, and I discuss caffeination strategies, connectivity > productivity, how Compass became #1, learnings about building tech, 3 things agents care about most, what makes smart people stupid, sending messages back in time, and culture as a competitive advantage.

Steve “Capz” Capezza, president at Side and former SVP at Zillow, and I discuss brokerage learnings, the inertia of community, agent power, picking a funnel, full-contact leadership, what’s fueling Side’s best year, the future of brokerage, and the most impactful piece of tech in real estate.

Nick Boniakowski, head of agent partnerships at Opendoor, and I discuss what makes a perfect partnership, competitors + cooperators, agent realizations, what people don't know about Opendoor, why circumventing the agent is bad, going from a press release to a product, running towards new things, and being unpopular in a tough industry.

Nicole Reznik, a "Summer School" attendee, and I interview each other and discuss deflating idea balloons, insight immaculate conception, why Zillow is a reliable Honda, Napoleon's Peninsular War, and what gives me hope for the future.

Scott Wright, from RealTrends Consulting, conducts about 200 brokerage valuations each year -- so he has a lot of data. Scott and I discuss if it's a good time to be in the brokerage business, the golden age of acquisitions, industry and agent consolidation, margin compression, cost-cutting trends, and the importance of strong leadership.

Pritesh Damani, CTO of Real Brokerage, talks about what's driving exponential growth, why no one talked to him for eight months, building useful AI products, super boring tech, the #1 job of all brokerages, competing where he can win, and his biggest challenge of the past year.

Jason Lytz, COO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale (1,200 agents), and I discuss the always-evolving brokerage model, how to get agents to use tech, innovation strategy, and staying focused on what matters.

Josh (former president and chief innovation officer at Keller Williams) and I talk about the role of technology in a rapidly shifting brokerage landscape. Recorded Feb 9, 2023.

My daughter and I discuss my recent research on brokerage growth metrics. We talk about the key differences between low-fee brokers and legacy brokerages, different growth rates (and causes), and the importance of momentum when thinking about data.

A discussion with Orly Ripmaster, Front Range president of Colorado brokerage Slifer Smith & Frampton. We cover the pressures and advantages of being an independent brokerage, lessons learned from agent recruiting, and the oh so important first mile and last mile problem.

This is the first episode of a new series: What Didn't Work. I'm diving into the real estate companies and ideas that just didn't work out, unpack exactly why, and reveal the key lessons learned -- directly from the entrepreneurs involved.My first guest (who inspired this idea) is Nick Narodny, CEO and founder of Aalto, which just didn't work out. With over $50M raised from top tier VC firms, Aalto was a private listing marketplace and then pivoted to a "digital agent" once Clear Cooperation shut down their business. In the end, neither idea worked.Nick opened up about exactly what didn't work, why, and what he learned through the process. From navigating buyer emotions in real estate to product market fit suction to the three hurdles of fear, these are hard-fought learnings that I think everyone in the space should know!I'm doing this for two reasons. First, I want to reduce the stigma around talking about failure. Nick didn't fail. He tried and learned, and that should be celebrated. Second, I want to capture and publish these valuable learnings, which are really worth their weight in gold for other would-be proptech entrepreneurs in the space.Not everything is great all of the time. Sometimes things don't work out. Let's explore why, and get smarter together. Thanks for your vulnerability and openness, Nick.

Austin Allison, CEO and co-founder of Pacaso (and dotloop), and I discuss what makes a real estate startup successful, the advantage of raising money from retail investors, why you need agents on your side, why we’re all resistant to change, surviving the past two years, listening to constructive feedback, skepticism as a validator of new ideas, and what he would do differently if he had to do it all over again.

If I were to start a real estate brokerage today, what would it look like? In this long-form conversation, I sit down with Austin broker-owner Eric Bramlett to answer that question. We cover:1. What’s broken in brokerage today -- from “masses of asses” recruiting and misaligned incentives to the flood of part-time agents and industry noise.2. What’s actually working -- the common threads between the brokerages and agents thriving, including eXp’s recruiting flywheel, Compass’s communications machine, various new business models, and the overlooked importance of emotional value and culture.3. How we’d build it from scratch -- a focused brokerage designed for the top 20%: lean, selective, efficient, culture-rich, and boringly effective.The themes that emerge again and again: focus, clarity, culture, recruitment, and communication. If you want to understand where brokerage is heading -- and what it really takes to compete where you can win -- this is for you!

Garth Graham, Senior Partner at Stratmor Group, and I chat about the biggest problem in mortgage, the cost of origination ($12k), optimizing the consumer experience, being worse than you think, spending bad money after good, the loan officer compensation issue, training AI models, what consumers really hate (the 7 deadly sins), what makes a great loan officer, and why Garth will never be on my podcast again.