KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Master Realtor Reveals Winning Tactics, with Steve Pugh

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Welcome back to the Realty Funnels podcast, and I am so delighted to have a special Welshman guest today. Steve Pugh from Orlando, Florida, by way of Wales. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Kevin. They also call us sheep shaggers, is what we're also going to come back. I don't know if some people are going to catch on to that. But yes, Bordoramese in Swansea Wales, but been in Florida, gosh, 31 years. And whereabouts in Florida are you? You're in the Orlando Market? Orlando Market, Central Florida. So a suburb right outside,

but we predominantly cover most of Central Florida. Very nice. And you've been at this a good long while. Tell us about your start, how long you've been at it, and who you service and all that. Right. And you know, it drives me nuts when realtors talk about how long they've been in the business. But I guess it's going to sound like that, right? So it's been a wide. 28 years, originally got licensed back in 1997, worked at an independent brokerage locally in another local suburb for about five years, and then decided I was Jack the lad, and I was going to open my own brokerage. So got my broker's license and opened my own brokerage in 2003, and then went on to do

obviously predominantly residential sales in central Florida. and I'm more listing focused, but the team service residential buyers and sellers. And how many agents do you have on your team now? On the direct team, we have four, but in the organization we have about 46 right now. Okay, very good. So your team is called Home Pride, Florida. Tell us a little bit about that. It is the Home Pride Group.

So I'll give you a funny story. We'll keep this between ourselves, right? Nobody listens to these things. So Home Pride is a brand of curry sauce in a can that you can buy in England. And in an epiphany that I had, I said, I'm going to call the company, this was the name of my independent before I aligned my business with EXP. So it was Home Pride Realty. So named after a curry sauce from the UK. Very good.

Yeah. Well, I think it's a fantastic name, of course, because, you know, homeownership is the pride of many people's financial success, you know, the fact that they were able to lift themselves up into homeownership. It is the American dream. It's also a financial underpinning for most people's wealth. So, you know, of course, you're touching on a lot of different notions right. there. Plus, you're going to attract any of the Britons who might be visiting Florida who recognize, oh, this is named after a curry sauce back home. I'm going to call this guy.

There you go, right? Familiarity. So speaking about, with respects to real estate, I mean, there's a lot going on in the real estate space right now. All I do know is that for every 10-year period, somebody has owned real estate that is always appreciated. The only time it didn't was between 2005 to 2015. So try to forget about interest rates, try not to look at prices. If it's a property, you're going to stay in for seven to ten years and you can afford the payment. Time in the market will be timing the market every time. Fully agree. Right.

It's the wrong time to buy the right real estate. You know, the best time to buy a home was 20 years ago. The next best time to buy a home is now. Now. Exactly. That's it. And my first home purchase was, you know, a duplex with interest rates at 8.625. And that was early 90s. Okay, early 90s, yeah. And, you know, managed to pay that off in 11 years.

It was, it never got to be the point where the return on investment made refinancing logical. I just, you know, threw extra money at the. the payment every month, got that principle down very quickly. But 8.625. And nowadays, people are like, oh, I'm going to wait for them to drop back down. They may not drop back down. And if they don't drop back down, are you going to miss out on all that appreciation that is certain to come around? Yeah. I mean, that's the ongoing dialogue. And I think it rings true. I mean, I think it's expectations. We expected that. So when the expectations changed, there's moments. of, oh, you know, but as reality sets in.

I mean, the average interest rate for the last 20 years has been 6.5%. What are we talking about here? I mean, we're not going to see 2% to 3% again, not in our lifetime. I don't believe so. I agree. And if they should ever start creeping down that low, I think that the financial markets will be like, that doesn't help the economy really. No, it does not.

Yeah. So tell me a little bit about your ideal clients. Who is it that you're serving? Are you focusing still on primarily residences? Or do you deal with in central Florida? I mean, you might have a lot of investors who are buying properties near the theme parks for investment purposes. Who are you dealing with? We are predominantly long-term first-time home buyers, repeat clients, move-up buyers, downsize sellers and buyers.

So I never really got into that end of the market. I'm thinking, Kevin, that I came 5,000 miles to get away from the Brits, so I don't want to deal with them down by 10. No, if there's any British people, I love you. Okay, I'm coming home, so I actually need to visit. I haven't been back since, gosh, 2006. So I want to wait for the kids to get a little bit older, and then we're going to make a trip back with where I grew up and so forth.

So yeah, we don't do really a whole lot down that out of town. A lot of Airbnb, a lot of short-term stuff. It's a great market. Things are moving. But things are moving with us, right? If things are priced right, worth it, marketed correctly and presented appropriately, we're moving stuff in below average days on market. And that's what we strive to do.

Highest net and lowest amount of time, every time. Absolutely. And that's really what home sellers are really looking for is get me top dollar, but also make certain that the home actually sells. And then can we have it be as minimally invasive and headache prone as possible? Frictionless is what I like to say. You know, if we could all, maybe we need to think about, and we could get more frictionless, right? If we could portray that to our clients, our buyers and sellers, because I think ultimately, that's what they're looking for in this day and age.

We saw that recently with the sort of uptick and activity of the cash offers and your home sold guaranteed or I'll buy it. You know, these whole notions aren't necessarily going to net top dollar to the seller, but they're clearly saying, we don't want headaches. Yeah. And so I think you're right on about removing as much of the friction and strong. and stress as possible, what do you think the foundation of that means to you and how you service your clients? Ask again, Kevin. Say that again? So when you want to remove that friction for your

client, how are you going about doing that? So systems are huge, right? I can't stress enough. Ours is still a working process. I really didn't start implementing systems into my business until probably about five to six years ago, out of a 28-year career. So scary. I didn't keep a database up until about 11 to 12 years ago. So if I kept and been instructed, I don't want to blame it on anybody, it rises and falls on me. But if I'd been instructed to keep a database, gosh, I'd never be fishing for another lead again. So we do it with implementation of systems.

You know, when from start to finish, we'll ask the client what their preferred method of communication is so we know how to communicate best. We have a questionnaire that they'll a Google form that they'll fill out online, everything about themselves, their favorite foods, their favorite sports teams so that we are gift giving, we can really dial down on that and get intentional and purposeful. with it and make sure that it matters to them. Frictionless, frictionless. I set presidents at the appointment in terms of my involvement. I tend to let them know that, you know what I mean? It's like a pilot when you get on board a flight. How often do you see the pilot?

Very little, but you do hear a message at the beginning. You might hear a message if there's an issue. Exactly. So I'm here. I'm in the background. I'm not always going to be available. but you can be, rest assured that if there's something that needs, you know, taking care of, I'm going to be there front and center.

So that alleviates some of that concerns during the course of the transaction. And that's all that's kind of what we do in terms of frictionless. I mean, there's more, but can't dial in on it right now. No, that's fine. And I think back to, oh, back in 2008 or so, I was a real estate agent in Cleveland, Ohio. I was having great success. And I never had to go to a doctor in my adult life. But because of a car accident when I was a child, I had some teeth issues.

And so I've been to dentists my whole life. And so I've always enjoyed my dentist. One of my dentists in Cleveland was selling his practice. A younger dentist bought the practice. And I met him and I liked him and he liked me and we got along very nicely. And he knew that I was a top real estate agent. he said, hey, I'd love to pick your brain sometime. I said, love to pick your brain sometime. Let's go grab a coffee. So we met for coffee and we talked about how similar the dental practice

and the residential real estate agent at a high level can have their businesses look very similar. So for example, if you're the dentist and I'm the dentist in this scenario, we don't necessarily have to be the one making the appointments, doing the teeth cleaning, setting the follow-up appointments. We don't need to deal with the billing issues. But when it comes to filling the cavity, when it comes to extracting a tooth, when it comes to dealing with a crown or an implant, then we're in. And in the same way, most real estate agents are setting the appointments and following up with all the details and dealing with every little tiny issue. And then they're wondering, why can't I scale? Why can't I grow my business bigger?

And so I see a lot of that in terms of our clients want a less stressful experience. And yet all too often a real estate agent who is so busy and doesn't have great systems in place is sort of unwittingly adding a little bit of that drama on stress. Yeah. And I think that having the right systems in place, you know, you're sort of making certain that, hey, they don't need. to talk to me. They need to talk to somebody who will take care of it like I would. It's leverage. Right? And leverage at the end of day. Leverage and systems. Yeah. Absolutely. So I thought that was a very interesting analogy, which a lot of people, they're like, okay, I could see that because, yes, I do go to a dentist. And no, I don't expect my dentist

to greet me as I walk in the door and have me sign forms. In fact, that probably wouldn't be good if my dentist was doing that. Right, exactly. And then it's the dollar per hour activity. Yes. I mean, it depends on an agent, but top earners, I mean, a dollar per hour could be anywhere between $150 to $500, $600 an hour, you know, doing, greeting someone at the door or having them fill out paperwork or doing addendums or setting up a home inspection. I mean, that's, uh, no, that's probably $15, $16 an hour activity, not five bucks. Exactly. And so you said that it was like 11 years ago, you got into the CRM, five, seven years ago, you started doing a bit more systems. What was the impetus that prompted you to start thinking in that way?

That's a weighted question, Kevin. Are you ready? I'm ready. Sobriety. Oh, sobriety. Congratulations on that. How many years? A little over eight years now.

So I struggled with alcoholism, cocaine addiction. So I always worked, but it was always there, you know? So when I got some clarity and finally got my head out of my buttocks, I decided that I had to find a better way to do things, the right way to do things. I became coachable. I became learning based. and I became growth-minded. And that's what I am each and every day now when I wake up. Congratulations on that sobriety.

And thank you for sharing that as well. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. It can be difficult sometimes. You know what I mean? To still talk about it a little bit. But it's in the past and by the grace of God.

One day, every day is a good day. Yes, sir. Yeah. Yep. Well, that's why. You asked, I told you. So. An honest real estate agent.

Yeah. So, yeah. So that's huge, right? Understanding that, you know, you never know it all. I don't know it all. If I think you do, if you think you do, you're done. And just always be, I think I have a tendency to over consume. I think that's probably, I don't have a challenge getting into action.

I don't have analysis paralysis per se, but I really want to get better in certain areas. And I'm impatient. I think what is the challenge, you know? But it's a good problem to have as opposed to the other challenges I had before. So I'll take it any day. Of course. And what's interesting from my point of view, and I'll share with you this, my sister, Karen, is in the senior care space.

She's somebody who is seen as an expert in dementia and Alzheimer's issues in seniors. And what she told me a long time ago was that the number one thing that kept people from falling into dementia and Alzheimer's issues is an eagerness to stay learning based. Or, you know, they were constantly trying to learn something new, stay abreast of situations, keeping their mind engaged. And what I have found is that real estate is one of those amazing things where you're just never really done learning. You're never really done figuring it out. The sounds might all be familiar sounds, but the tunes are all going to play out a little differently. Well said. And it's a great industry for those of us who are

lifelong learners and people who are, you know, as you are on a journey to be the very best version of yourself that you can be. Yeah, it'll keep you on your toes. That's for sure. Absolutely. Yeah, my grandfather struggled with Alzheimer's. So that's a tough. A good thing she was doing. That's tough. Yeah. It is tough. And it's heartbreaking. You know, it's very, very sad to see. But yes, to just, I find it even now, you know, for me, if I have a project I'm working on, if I'm trying to learn a new skill set, if I'm exploring, you know, like, for example, AI, you know, everybody's getting all interested in AI. So to me, that's like, okay, my mind is engaged. I'm very interested. I'm learning a whole bunch of stuff. I hop out of bed. I feel good in the morning. I want to get going on this. You know, it's a great little thing when you realize if I stay open-minded, if I stay, you know, ego low to the ground, life can be very fun and interesting. It's not going to get boring ever.

No, absolutely not. That's what ego is, I think, you know, I've been encountering a lot of that, you know, since I made the move. And it's just amazing to me, you know. And I think I had a bit of a problem with it in the beginning. So that's something I'm working on. But edging got out, right? Exactly.

That's exactly. Ego is the devil of opportunity, Kevin. Fully agree. So tell me a little bit about your day. So you wake up, you've got business on the horizon. What does a typical day look like for a top real estate agent like yourself? Okay. So up at 5.

Up at 5 a.m. and I will do some readings for the day, just some daily devotionals and stuff like that. I have about six books that I go through, The Daily Stoic, a devotional, and gosh, there's four more, and now I'm on the spot, and I just open them. John Maxwell's Daily Media.

And then there's a father book, a dad's stoic written by the book, the same guy, and I can't remember. Daily Dad, if anyone picks that up, that's a great daily reader, just one page a day. Nice. So I'll be through that. I'm going to get real granular here, Captain.

Here we go. So lemon, fresh squeezed lemon and a glass of water, take my vitamin. Then I'm out the door. I am at CrossFit. So my old broken body is still pulling this off. But I'm there by six. back at the house, showered ready to go by 7.30, normally in the office by 8.15, 8.30.

I'm on a Zoom call at 8 a.m. It's a lot of agents on the call, but it's just a mastermind, a short mastermind every morning from about 8 till 8.15, 820. You may be familiar with it. And then 8.30 till not every day, but about three days a week, 8.30 to 9 with script and role playing.

9 to 11 lead generation on the phones. 11 to 1130. I'm in another coaching call for agent attraction for recruiting, right? That's really word that nobody likes to talk about, but every real estate brokerage under the sun does. Absolutely. So, and then reaching out to agents from 1130 to 1 o'clock, and then just I have schedules either appointments in the afternoon

or dealing with business activities, right? She always get your hard at work. People have said it time and time again. Hardest work out of the way in the morning done. Dealing with business should never take presidents over finding new business, and you've just got to build a bunker around your activities that are going to move the needle forward for you. I think the biggest challenge is schedule with an agent,

and I think my days aren't perfect by any means, you know, but I think that some of the struggle comes, if they're not a new agent, comes from that employee entrepreneurial mindset. If they come from an employee position, they clocking, clock out, get paid. Now they're coming into a world where they're doing activities, 30, 60, 90, 120 days,

and they're not necessarily getting anything. And I think that's where the failure rate of 87% kicks in. Of course. And so you have, protected your mornings so that your mornings are focused on lead generation and growth activities, personal growth activities with the meditation, devotionals, but also scripts and dialogues, two different coaching calls before noon. And then your afternoons are a little less structured so that you can deal with the day-to-day

of working with actual clients. and putting out fun, and taking care of that. Because I'm still in production. So, I mean, obviously, there's agents out there doing a lot more business than I will, but I'm in between coaching, mentoring, recruiting. I'll still probably do about 40 to 45 transactions this year. So I can.

I'll get all my cap back, all that jazz. So, yeah. And then how do you end your day? You finish up your work day at one hour? That is a work in progress for me, Kevin. I'm glad you asked me about that because that's something I do need to work on. So generally I will go till probably 6.6.30. I need to dial in on that last probably hour before I hit the sack, right?

So I've got to get that dialed in and that's something that I definitely do. Normally 630, then home, dinner, spend some time with the kids. bed, rinse and repeat. Yes. The mundane. You're to master the mundane, Kevin. Absolutely. And really, it all rises and falls on your commitment to yourself to follow your

own schedule to accomplish what you need to have. If it's not on your calendar, it's not likely to happen. Yeah, it doesn't exist, right? And then you've got to, I think part of the challenge becomes you've just got to have that integrity and self-awareness. while you're at work work you know what i mean if if if if i think that a lot of us if we if we honestly tallied up what we actually did you know maybe every hour during the course of a day and looked at it at the end of a week we probably fire ourselves

fully agree yeah so just having that mindset i'm not saying it has to be all work it shouldn't be You know, there's balance, and sometimes there'll be periods where you're out of balance, and you need to counterbalance, right? Correct. But while you're at work, work. Exactly. And I heard a long time ago that the notion of work-life balance is really a myth. And the notion is really, okay, the pendulum is swinging in wonder.

how long are we going to let it swing in that direction before we swing it back to the other direction and then how long are we going to keep it over there before we swing it back into the other direction because there's no way that you can really balance it right in the middle it's really like okay I'm at work and I'm focusing on work I'm home and I'm present weekend it's a vacation it's a holiday and I'm with my family and I'm focused on them and not distracted, that's where this pendulum of work-life balance really hit home for me. I was like, okay. So not trying to have every day be this perfect balance of work and life, but just recognizing,

okay, I just took a really important listing, or I just took four listings, or I've got three closings this week. I'm going to be a little out of balance for a while that I'll be able to get myself back into that. There'll be periods, right. that that's something that will happen. But as long as you're cognitive of that and then it will swing back, you know, but there'll be definitely periods that you're not in balance.

It's just the way it is. And be okay. Yeah, absolutely. Be okay with it, but then also be mindful that I'm working toward these goals and that I have time allocated for achieving those goals, but I also have time allocated for achieving personal family goals as well. well. Yeah.

Let me ask you this as we get ready to close. I want to ask a question that I think is really very interesting. If you could go back and tell your younger self something that you wished you had known when you were new to the business that you now know, what might that be? Simple. And everybody's looking for the magic answer, right? Like I'm going to say something magical. No, I'm not.

It would be keep a database, stay in constant flow and communication with the people in your world, really get dialed in your sphere of influence and your past clients and just have systematic campaigns to communicate with them. But don't leverage your relationships with technology, you know? It's an aid, but you still need to stay in relation. And I could be doing a better job in some segments. But if, yeah, if I could urge anybody to do that, that's what I would tell them to do. Yeah. I think that's so powerful.

I learned very early on in my career that you should build a database and feed it every day, mark it to it in a consistent way, and then just service the leads that come your way. Yep. Love it. Yeah. Love it. Any ride. Any ride.

You got it. me. Steve, it's been an absolute pleasure connecting with you. And thank you so much for your vulnerability and your honesty and your openness and sharing with us. I just commend you for the journey that you're on. I think it's fantastic. And I think a lot of people are going to glean a lot from this conversation that we've had today. So thank you so much. I hope they do. And I appreciate for what value I could deliver. Hopefully there's something that, you know, and I appreciate you having me. It's absolutely my pleasure.

and I'll look forward to connecting with you again. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin. You've been listening to the Realty Funnels podcast with Kevin Cahill and Lisa Cahill, where we share the strategies, systems, tools, and behaviors of top sales pros so you can stay in your strength zone, earn more money, and keep more of the money you make.

Visit us at RealtyFunnels.com to learn more and to access our resources. Please be sure to subscribe to our podcast and share with your friends. Thank you for listening. Goodbye for now.