KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Nadia Habib's Secrets to Real Estate Success

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Summary:In this episode, Nadia Habib shares her powerful secrets to building a thriving real estate business, focusing on the critical role of leadership and mindset. The discussion goes beyond simple tactics to reveal the foundational principles of a successful career, including developing a proactive mindset, building scalable systems, and embracing your role as a leader—of your team, your clients, and yourself. This is an essential listen for any agent who is ready to move past a transactional business model and build a truly successful, sustainable, and fulfilling real estate enterprise by mastering both the art and science of leadership.

I am never going to start a business and bring someone onto it unless they put in the same amount of capital that I do. When executives and leadership is always surrounding our agents and giving them that accessibility to us at any given time, that's what really drives our growth. If I ever see a negative comment, there's absolutely no sense in replying to it. It doesn't bother me. Welcome on today's episode of the Entrepreneur's Journey. I'm extremely humbled and excited to announce this week's special guest. And she is leading an exceptionally innovative team and organization, Nadia Habib.

Thank you so much, Nadia, for being on today's. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. How's you, David? Oh, it's been fantastic. Every day is great. Amazing. Well, we'll get right into it.

We'll start off with background and journey. Can you share a bit about your professional? journey and what led you to your current role at EXP Canada? Yeah, so my professional journey is actually a really interesting one because I was born into entrepreneurship with my family and for me, I was a school teacher. I was actually a kindergarten teacher before I got into real estate and I love kids so much that that's all I wanted is to be surrounded by children and my family started then doing land acquisition and development and building houses and my dad's,

always wanted everything to stay in the family. So my brothers would take on the projects, the different subdivisions that he had, and I got into real estate because of that. I sold for them for about five to seven years, and I really enjoyed it. I mean, working with your family, a lot of people may not like it, but I really enjoyed my time with them. But for me, I've always wanted more in my business, and I've always wanted to take my business to that next level. I'm not one to stay in the same position for a long period of time. unless there's growth that's involved. So I then became manager of the office that I was working at.

And I've only ever worked for really technically two companies, which is Century 21 and then now EXP. I worked for them. I was a manager, managing broker, built that office. That office was what I left. It was about 365 agents, number one, Century 21 office in Canada, number two in the world. That's done really, really well.

And, you know, when I left that brokerage, It was really, I felt like there was a cap to my learning and a cap to my growth. And I wanted a company that is going to allow me to spread my wings and continue my growth because it's just so important for me that that skill set continues to grow, hence my switch to EXP about two years ago. And this is where we are now. I actually came on as a managing broker with EXP. But my passion is people.

My passion is to be out on the road and really helping the growth and the drive of the company. And this is, you know, how I ended up being director of growth and BP of growth and now senior VP of growth in Canada. Wow. When two years ago, when you came on to the team, were you just like working as a real estate professional or a team or a team lead? No, I just came on. I just came on as a managing broker.

And it was, you know, it was a transition time for me from my previous company. And when I came on as a managing broker, I'm like, this is the same. Like, I don't want to do this. I want to do more. And just because I know my skill set. And I did not want to be behind a computer. I wanted to be on the road being able to help train, retain agents as much as possible. What have you found, Nadia, to be the most challenging part about retaining and attracting great talent?

The challenge is always, with attracting great talent, it's always challenging. because, you know, when you're that talented and you're that productive, you don't necessarily want to move. Moving companies is a big change. And, you know, as human beings, we don't like change. We like comfort. We like, you know, stability. So to cause chaos in an organization is very difficult. However, one of the things that's really helped or that really goes a long way is showing value.

And what your value proposition is really zero. in on, you know, what that person has at their current brokerage as opposed to what they can have with EXP. And that's the reason people move is they look at it as in, you know, can I build a better future for myself if I am at a different brokerage? With the retention aspect of it is, you know, real estate, we have a lot of agents that are coming into the business. But our statistics show that anywhere between six to eight agents out of 10 leave the business within the first two years. A lot of people come into real estate because it looks like, I mean, social media does a fantastic job of glamorizing the career and, you know, making it look like, you know, we live like superstars. I mean, you've got all these TV shows and and so forth.

But what people don't realize is it's a lot of grind. You are your own boss every single day. You have to get up. You have to be self-motivated in order to make it. So with the retention aspect of it, the majority of our. agents like 80% to 90% of the agents that we lose are the non-productive agents and it becomes too expensive for them to stay in the business because there's a lot of dues for them to pay an incredible answer first of all it was to show that it's not easy to build a great company it really is not i mean

you have to work at it every single day like it shows that there's some incredible leadership behind such a company for even to attract that talent and retain it that goes to show and you're saying what 90 percent of about 80 to 90 percent of agents that leave are non-producing agents. And, you know, that's, I mean, our industry as a whole, like I said, it's glamorized. But once agents get in and they start to see how expensive it is to be a non-producing agent, it's just not worth it for them. Because of like the licensing fees, the insurances, the education. I mean, you're paying board dues.

You're paying regulatory dues. You know, it's expensive. Marketing is very expensive. You know, you always have to look your best when you're at with your clients. Gas is expensive. Cars are just an expensive lifestyle and you're supporting a family. But one of the biggest challenges is that you're not getting a paycheck every two weeks, right? You're getting paid when the property closes.

And then maybe if the property closes, if it doesn't close, you're not getting paid. So you're really working with a certain amount of money that is going to take you over the next couple of months until you get paid again. So again, you have to be very careful with how you say, spend your money in real estate. Wow. Any advice for corporate professionals, real estate professionals, mortgage brokers, insurance brokers on how to manage their money better? When you're independent, so if you are classified as an independent contractor, you are not getting paid by weekly from your company or weekly by your company. It's great advice to treat yourself as you're working for your business, right? So you treat that entity as a business.

and continue to pay yourself biweekly as if you worked for another company in order to keep the structure maximize or going to the maximum. So for example, if I got paid a $10,000 check, then I got paid a $5,000 check, I'm going to have my biweekly withdraws and that my biweekly withdraws should be able to cover my expenses for the two weeks. When you tap into that bank account on a regular basis and it's not planned money, you're going to spend it. So as easy as it comes in, the easier it is to spend it. And I strongly suggest that anyone that is working under the independent umbrella to be able to schedule when they're going to get paid, pay yourself like you are an employee of that

company. Wow, that's incredible advice. It's not easy. And I guess a follow-up question is, do you have any systems or accountability checklist for viewers watching this today or listening to this on Spotify on how they can manage or organize their financials well the first step is first step of many right you've got to figure out what what your carrying costs are so what are going to be my carrying costs for that period of a month and in a period of a month if i'm going to get paid twice what do i need to make in order to cover my carrying

costs and my lifestyle needs is it 10 000 is it 20 000 is it 15,000, then that's what you're going to get paid biweekly minus the taxes. So it's really about figuring out what your expenses are. And you're incorporating your expenses. Not only is it your lifestyle that you're paying for, but also your business expenses is what you have to pay for as well. So you have to make sure that money covers it. So once I figure out what my monthly expense is going to be, I know what my two withdraws from my company account is going to be. And then I calculate what I need to make on a yearly basis in order to cover my lifestyle and my business. Anything that's left over at the end of the year, that's a bonus and a plus.

It's a surplus for the following year or an investment opportunity for that person to whether invest in other properties or whatever it is that they're going to be doing with their money or reinvested in their business. It's amazing how like fundamentally simple you made it sound, but yet how hard it really is. It really is very difficult. I personally, I'm 27. You know, young business owner just recently got my company incorporated, but it's like I get paid, you know, in balks. And then it's like, boom. Oh, you spend in balks. Yeah.

What happened? Where's the money goes? My mother, she's constantly like, so you made this much last year, but where's the money? And I'm like, gosh, you're actually right, mom. Like, you know, the sad thing is, is that you're like, you're not the only one, right? I mean, everybody does this. Everybody does this. And I've seen this happen so many times, you know, especially when you're getting paid in chunks of money.

The one thing, I mean, school is fantastic. Obviously, school is fantastic. Absolutely. But the one thing that when we're going through grade school, high school, until you hit university, there is no finance education. So it's not like they sit down these kids and they teach them how to allocate their money and the importance of saving money and spending money on the right items. So for us, when we're successful in business and we get a big chunk of money, that big chunk leaves our bank account as quickly as it came in. Because in our mindset, we're going to get more.

And it's going to be even more than what we got the first time. So it's really important because you never know the stability of the market, right? No one ever anticipated what we were going to get through COVID times, after COVID times, the, the fluctuation and the interest rates that are happening. So no one can predict the market. You always have to leave yourself a year in advance in your bank account to be able to cover yourself in the event that something happens with the market. Interesting.

So a one year for, so this is like advice for any entrepreneur or even just any like anyone. This is the best safety. best safety blanket. You know, it eliminates a lot of fears that people have. It eliminates not only fear of not making enough to cover your cost, but eliminates fear of staying in situations or jobs or positions that you may be very unhappy but cannot afford to leave

because you can't take that leg time in between in order to find another job. So having a reserve, whether it's six months to a year, It's really going to free up your mindset to think clearly and make wise decisions, especially about your business partners. Leading up on business partners, how do you know if someone is a good business partner, an okay business partner, or let's call it what it is, a bad business partner? That's a very good question. A good business partner is someone, if I envisioned a good business partner,

is someone that has the same goals as myself, vision, same dreams, same work ethic, same habits. I want someone to be a driver like myself. But most importantly, I want them to have as much skin in the game as I do. I am never going to start a business or start a team or an organization and bring someone onto it unless they put in the same amount of capital, same amount of money that I do. When individuals, don't take risks. They're not working as hard because they don't have much to lose. When you have something to lose, you are going to work extra hard.

But again, we only attract like-minded people. So you're going to attract like-minded individuals that have that same work ethic as you do. So is that principle? I forgot from which physicist that was that like attracts like? Absolutely. How does a leader know this is another leader? in the main thing. Like they could be a young leader, leader with just as much skin in the game as you, but they're, let's say, from a different brokerage, like remax and they're like, oh, that brokerage is weird.

I don't want it. I like where I am because I'm comfortable. How do you differentiate? You know, it's really difficult. When they're established, it's easy to see because you get to see their income. You get to see their production. When they're established, you can see who the leaders are. When they're new into real estate, it's very difficult. because like I said, they come into real estate with the perception of what real estate is, but they don't know the back end work that they have to do in order to become successful. And I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds of agents coming into the business over my years in real estate. And I've had some who, you know, will say to you, I'm going to be your number one agent,

but they can't even produce one transaction a year. So again, it's the perception. but if you have the work ethic and if you have that self motivation, that driver in you, it's literally impossible not to make it in this business. But you have to treat it like a business. You can't just sit back in any industry. If you want to be a leader, you have to chase the business. If you want to grow with the team or your team or to form a team, no one is going to join

you unless they see that you can lead and you have to lead by example. So if you're not doing any business, no one's going to join your team, therefore you're not going to grow. And it's a lot of responsibility when you become a leader because you're no longer just responsible for yourself. Now you're responsible for a community, right? You're responsible for other people's lives. Leadership style is lifting people up. It's finding those individuals that are susceptible to change that want to incorporate these different methods and sales strategies into their lives and be able to excel it, what they do every single day.

Incredible. Do you find that a lot of real estate professionals are lost in today's market, given the fluctuation of our current, like, interest rate market, sorry, the current, like, financial market and just the cost of borrowing? Lost is, you know, probably not the right word that I would use. I would say, you know, they're not adapt to changing markets. If you've been in the real estate industry or the mortgage industry or the finance industry for a long period of time, like anywhere between 15 to 35 years, you've gone through the ups and downs of the

market. So you've been through a down market, you've been through a recession market, and you know what it takes in order to get, you know, to persevere and to be able to create business in a down market. However, when you have agents that have come in in a strong market, you know, and business was easy for them, they don't adapt as quickly to a changing market. The interest rates have gone up, but realistically, I mean, when interest rates were at 2%, we were still doing the stress test and qualifying them at 5, 5.5, 5.9%.

So what has really changed? It's the inflation rate went up. I completely agree with that. But if we went back to when our parents purchased homes, interest rates were, for 20%. Wow. So here we are looking at, oh my God, the interest rate is 6%. When is it going to drop back down to 1.5 or 2%.

Reality is, you know, everything goes up, but also pay has gone up. Wages has gone up. People's spending has gotten worse. So the spending habits is the problem, right? That's what we have to look at. But if we compare apples to apples, it was significantly more expensive back then. Wow, that's an amazing answer. Very well, just you cover so many topics because it does go to show that consumerism is one of the number one thieves of joy.

Maybe that's a bold statement by myself, but I feel like when you're just consuming and consuming, you get so lost in this unconscious behavior. Whereas if you consciously, you know, it's not easy to save up your first down payment. I'm not sure when you bought your first property or whoever, right, like your family, when you guys bought. your first property. You had to save. Takes a lot of discipline, does it not? Yes, a lot of discipline. And when I look at, you know, this generation that is looking to purchase homes, I mean, to get them to make what they make and pay the current rent and save up for a down payment, it's a lot of money. I mean, no one is looking under, you know, they need at least $50,000 to $100,000 for a down payment because property prices have gone up so much. You know, we're very lucky in Canada that

we still have pockets that have homes for sale under 400,000, under 300,000. But that's not, there is a lot out there that, you know, individuals can afford. And it's scary. It really is scary because rent is now, you know, very close to a mortgage payment. Yeah, that's, that's crazy. What advice do you have for entrepreneurs or just anyone watching that in their 20s who wants to save their first $100,000 for a down payment on a house? Now, if you can use RSP money to put towards a down payment.

So my suggestion would be to dump any savings that you have into RSP's because then you can use that into your down payment when you buy your first property and it's a tax savings for the year. So that would be really good. However, if you can move back home in order to save the down payment, I would strongly suggest that they do that. We're, you know, it's not just about moving back home, but we're finding home ownership. moving also into co-ownership. So not necessarily parents owning homes with their children, but people owning homes with other people in order to afford it. So a group of four individuals or maybe two couples might buy a home together,

share different levels, but that's where affordability is headed, right? So if a child can move back home and be able to save up everything that they make, it's a sacrifice that they're doing for a period of a year to three years, but then they get the freedom of owning a property. It's a short but yet long-term play because a year to three years, right? So you don't know. I like that.

As the VP growth, what are your main responsibilities and objectives at EXP Canada? So my role is one of many. I handle the growth for the company. Make sure that we are growing at a good rate, which we definitely are. We are almost at 7,000 agents across Canada right now. Our goal by the end of the year to be at 7,500, and again, that's a net number. Basically, I meet with agents all across the country, help them build their organizations, help them with the retention of their agents that they have on their teams or in their

organizations. Do masterminds across the country when it comes to training, dividing up different production levels so that we're able to provide the training that is adequate for that production level and a lot of meetings that's what I do is a lot of meetings with our agents in order to always educate them on our value proposition how do you manage your time so well if it's not in my calendar it's not happening so I live in my calendar it's not happening you know you and my kids when they're like mom do you want to go here do you want to go here last thing I'll ask me, did you put it in the calendar? Because I live by my calendar and I don't know how to

function. So I'm very organized that way. Before I go to bed, I check my calendar for the day, the next day when I wake up in the morning, it's the same thing in case anything else was dropped into the calendar for me. There are times, like important times, like I told you, my morning time and then my afternoon time. Those are non-negotiable for me. And other than that, It's no matter what day it is, as long as I can put it in my calendar, it's going to happen. Yeah, that's always been my time management style. What strategies have you found most effective in driving growth in such a competitive and fast-paced market? It's showing up.

You know, it's really important for our agents to not feel that they are alone on the playing field. When executives and leadership is always surrounding our agents and giving them that accessibility, to us at any given time, that's what really drives our growth. Giving our agents the tools that they need, the technology that they need. We're leaders in technology, giving it to them at their fingertips, always helping them get to that next level, being readily available to pivot at any changing market with our agents. And just providing that support that they need on a daily has been instrumental in the

growth of EXP. Do you have any technologies you recommend? for viewers and listeners watching this today to implement in their business? I'm going to skip this one because this is like all EXP stuff. Amazing. I respect that. So viewers out there watching this, if you want to learn more, make sure you check out. Is there a website where they can learn?

Well, absolutely. I mean, they can go to our EXP website. But technology as a whole, what's most important to agents is always have a CRM system, always have a website, be present online, utilize social media, but give content that people can respond to. Give content that's going to educate your consumers, your audience. So what is going to educate them? You know, bring facts to the table. Let them know maybe what happened 20 years ago as opposed to what's happening now. When it comes to real estate mortgage is finance, every person out there is interested in learning more about it. So any fun facts that you can bring to the table,

don't make it about you. Just because you're in real estate doesn't mean that your audience wants to see open houses and for sales on your social media every single day. How are you finding current professionals content? Like when you see it on social media, the perception, I know this is a vague question, but do you feel like it's an accurate depiction of the industry as a whole? I think everybody has their own style, which is really intriguing. Yeah.

You know, we have every, some are very serious and some are very fun and some dress up and some don't and some are very casual. And I feel social media is a way to show your personality. You know, if I talk to you every day and I know your talking style and then I go to your social media and it is completely different than what I know you, it looks like a fake account to me. So when I look at social media, I want to be able to see the person. personality, no matter who they are. And that's why I think it's so important that when you're posting videos, that they're authentic. So when I did the one for Mental Health Awareness Month, I was literally, I just came back from conference.

I had a fever. I was sick, but I wanted to put out a video. And that's, I did it. No filters. My authentic me, that's what you're going to see in here because that's what my viewers see me and know me as. And I don't want them to see it any different. friend.

Authenticity is, I find to be such powerful. Yeah. Yeah. It's very, very powerful. Yeah. I mean, it's the reason why I'm like, I have to interview her. Here's the fact. Right when I saw that, I was like, wow.

Like, it's just like it, you know, you lead by example. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's not often when you see someone so brave and yet leading so many people to like, because let's be real. A lot of people will judge. Right, I've been judged myself for a majority of my life. So I guess my question to that is, you know, when you put yourself out there,

how do you deal or what advice you have for the listeners watching this, entrepreneurs, creatives, they could be artists watching this. When they put their work out there, you can feel or you can receive all sorts of criticism, judgment, or even praise or glory. But how should one manage all those different emotions and energies coming towards their personal brand, their business or their work? It's difficult. I mean, you know, it's easy to get caught up in the negative comments that you hear or the negative surroundings that you're in.

But one should know, I mean, putting yourself out there, it's your authentic self. You should never be embarrassed about what you're going through or if you are going through anything at all. It's just putting yourself out there. Everyone has gone through something in their life. And the people that continue to drive and move forward and become more and more successful, it's bringing awareness. sit the table. You're not sitting there and you're not salking over what happened. You are just bringing awareness and how surrounding yourself by the right people can really help you in your day to day. Reaching out to the right people and talking to them and venting to them is really going to help you.

If I ever see a negative comment, there's absolutely no sense in replying to it. I leave it. It doesn't bother me. I mean, I can't personally thank God say that I've ever received it. However, if I I did, I would ignore it because it's only going to bring you down. And people that have the ability to publicly put a comment on a post that you did have no shame. So they're looking for that internet interaction. And that's something that you should never give them because that's what they're looking for. They're looking for an argument online.

You know what you represent. You know what your value worth is. You know what your success level is and where you want to take your business. You know your leadership style and your skill set. No one else should influence that for you. You already know. That's what makes you a great leader is because you already know. I think that's why a lot of people want to follow and learn.

Because when you're in that room, when someone just puts themselves out there who does have the accolades like yourself to back it up and who has this vast richness, internally, calmness, kindness. It just, it's like that. would you say it's like having all these layers of different skills, stacks of skills that you're putting together to now kind of share to the masses? You can't teach something you haven't done. You can't talk about something you have an experience because it comes with no emotion

and it comes with no passion. I've been through many different roles over the 23 years that I've been in real estate. And for me, it's easy to deliver with no preparation. because I've been through it all, right? But for, but also I, I recognize that there is still always room to learn from the greater, to always take in more information. However, you know, when you've done it, it's easy to teach it and talk about it. But the whole idea is that just because there's been, you know, hiccups in the past, that doesn't define who you are now or what you're going to be in the future. That should only empower you to become better at what you're doing.

We are better together, as they say. Absolutely. Absolutely. Great people. Iron sharpens iron. Absolutely. I forgot where that, where I heard that from, but it was, I think it was a, it was a page out of the Bible. It's, it talks about how iron sharpens iron. I'm told, I'm not going to say the whole thing because I don't want to butcher it, but so powerful. Very. Yes. Follow up to that is what advice do you have for entrepreneurs or anyone watching this or listening to this today on how to manage their mental health better in such a fast-paced industry, such as the industry you're in in real estate. In any industry, when you're a leader, it comes with a lot of responsibility.

And as a leader, you know, we have our days. And anyone that tells you otherwise is lying. You have your days where you just want to throw in the towel. You're like, I don't need this. I make enough money on my own. Why am I taking this on? But your passion for leadership and your skill set don't allow you to, but we all have those days.

And then you sit back and you, you know, it's never easy to climb that ladder. It takes a lot of work and it's a lot of heavy lifting. However, once you get it to the level that you want to get it to, it's maintenance after that. So it's surrounding yourself by like-minded individuals that have the same work ethic, that have the same drive. you are responsible for so many people. It's okay to have a bad day, but you need to step back every once in a while and re-evaluate your business. You need to step back and take a break.

But when you are leading something or working your way up to be a great leader and you want to continue believing in work-life balance, that is never going to happen. There is no such thing as work-life balance. I am not a believer of that. Because if I am working so hard to grow what I have, something else is suffering because my time is all here. So something here is suffering. If I now have this running and I'm now focusing on here, this is going to start to suffer. There is no work life balance.

It's giving what is needed to that certain component of your life at that certain time. So if right now my business needs my time, I'm going to give my business my time because so many people depend on me. And then I can also focus on other aspects of my life. That's a lot to take in. You know, I can't even imagine what that's like. Thank you so much for sharing that in-depth answer. It's my pleasure. What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who want to follow a similar path? They might be in a different country listening to this.

and I want to become VP growth of, you know, Mexico or the U.S. or I'm not too sure how it works, but what advice do you have for young leaders, future leaders listening to this on pursuing some form of leadership in their careers? Does it necessarily have to be real estate? So continuous growth, both personally and professionally, it's really important to never stop building your skill set. Always continue learning. learn everything inside and out. Have that curious mindset of, you know, you never want to settle for

because, because why? I want to know why this is here. You want to question everything so that you learn the ins and outs of the industry, no matter what industry that you're in. In order to get to a certain level, no matter what level it is, you have to have a definite skill set. No one is going to hire you on the individual that you are. But if you bring value to the table because of your knowledge and your skill set, then that is where they're going to see the value in you and want you in certain positions. So for me, it's the hunger for learning. That's how I got here. Building my skill set, always wanting to move my business to that next level, never settling

for what I have, always wanting to set a good example for my children, that you can never stop growing, that you can always continuously climb and get to a higher level by surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals. And don't be afraid to shed the weight as you grow. Because the people that belong in your circle now may not belong in your circle two years from now or four years from now. So it's very important to do that, but do it on a good note. Never burn any bridge. It's not their fault that they did not move up like you did. They're comfortable and happy in the positions that they are. You've just outgrown your circle. So, it's really important to recognize when you've outgrown it and make sure that you move when you need to.

That's amazing. Do you find that growth is painful? I mean, that's why they call it growing pains, right? Nothing comes easy. I mean, it comes with stresses. You want bigger things. They come with bigger responsibilities. Nothing comes easy unless you're handed wealth, you know, and even that might be stressful. As you start to build and grow, yes, it becomes more stressful because you know, now you employ more people, but you're not just employing them. Now you've taken on the responsibility of feeding their families. So now it's a different, you know, like it just there's so much to it. But a good leader always finds a solution.

They have a plan before they start the business. They don't open the business and then go do a plan, right? And they're going to fail at some things. You know, that's why they have multiple things going at the same time because they don't know which one's going to fail and which one is going to go through. I mean, heck, Elon Musk had to launch four times to get it right. So if this is a genius launching rockets, I mean, running a business is not easy. It never comes easy.

And it's important to recognize that it is going to be hard work, but hard work brings great reward. And it is so worth it. You guys hear that? This is absolute gold. We're going to cut for a quick 30 second intermission break where we would like to to thank this episode sponsors. If you guys are watching this and you don't know, pure protein bars,

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And back to our main guest, the one, and only Nadia Habib. Thank you so much, Nadia. You are just dropping absolute goal that I got hungry because I'm like, wow. Like my mind cannot comprehend this much great information. So we have to take a little pause. Thank you. I guess follow up now on that is how do you stay so motivated and resilient?

Because clearly it seems like you've seen a lot of different cycles. Like you've been through a lot of different market cycles. How do you stay so positive and optimistic? I can't say that every day I am as positive as, you know, every day is different, right? Positivity, yes, I stay motivated because I want to set a good example for my children. They are my heart and soul. Everything I do is because they drive me. I want them to see that there is always room for improvement in your life, that you just have

to have an open mind and an open heart for it. You know, I've raised three very successful children. I'm proud of them every single day. They are my biggest accomplishment. My biggest accomplishment is not work. They are my kids. And if it wasn't for them, I don't know how successful I would be because they are my driving factor. You know, I care that they see a strong individual, a female leader in front of them.

And, you know, that drives them to do better in life. I worked hard to provide for them. I want them to have a good life for themselves, but I also want to have a good life for myself. And I want them to see that you can. have both, but it takes a lot of work. And I was very fortunate that my kids were able to be with me on this journey to see how difficult it is to make it in real estate and how difficult it is to climb the ladder and, you know, how much you have to work in order to get to the levels that you get to because that really teaches them on, you know, what to do in their businesses

as well. So inspiring. And it's not easy, right, to be a mother and then to manage all your children and then also manage the company, then back to the children, back to the company. And it's, yeah, I can't even, can't. It's a lot. How my mother does it and she's a single mom. And sometimes I feel like she kind of goes a little crazy on me. But like, you got to give her that space and understand that like she's gone through so much more

than I've ever been through. So what am I complaining about? Exactly. Exactly. But, you know, it sets a good example for the kids. It's like moms are, moms have like another super. power. I don't know what it is. Like, what is it? How do moms have this superpower? Oh, I have no idea where it's, yeah, you just go. That's all we know how to do is you just go. Like, nothing is hard. If it's hard, you figure it out. You know, figure it out. I feel like I have these mental breakdown sometimes, but like just like work or two years ago or three years ago, I started my first build, right? And everyone around us, like, my family was like, what are you doing? You're not going to. You're not going to. be able to do that you've never built something before you know you're out of line sabarge right now

you're you're dreaming too big that's what my grandfather had told me and not to put them on the spotlight i had other aunts uncle just family members saying oh you're going to go broke you're going to make your mom go what is it called bankrupt right because like obviously i couldn't get a proofer alone so i put my mom like myself on it and i was like mom let's go build a let's go build a home yeah you have to take risks and life you have to take risks And when you believe in the talent that you have and the skill set that you have, taking risks is not hard. So to follow up on that,

what advice do you have for like young builders out there, contractors out there who want to develop like, let's say future communities or future neighborhoods? Well, coming from a family that that's all I know is building. It's don't take a big step in, just small steps when you're starting building because it's a lot of money up front. So once you're able to stabilize and have one property, two properties, then you move to five, then you move to 10, and you slowly work your way up.

Be very careful with your funding. It's really important for builders to get to a level where you pay off the land that you buy rather than taking it and paying interest on it, especially in a market like today. Because you don't know if you're going to have the home sold once you finish building it. And the interest rate that you will pay to a developer is really expensive. because you cannot finance land. So it's, you know, if you are able to get to a point where you're able to buy out the land and then build on it, that's very profitable. If let's say the builder one has done one or two builds, but now they want to get into building more like for other people, do you recommend instead of even if they can't, that barrier of entry isn't there for them.

They're a young builder, newer company. should they build for other people or start in residential or starts like one or two builds for someone else? It's whatever, whatever opportunity that arises, you never know where the opportunities are. I mean, sometimes you might want to build for yourself. However, an opportunity presents itself, you know, an investment or an investor that wants you to build for them. Any experience that you are able to gain along the way is only going to help you when you are on your own. So I never say no to opportunity no matter what it is.

If there's an opportunity and I'm able to learn from that, and again, it's finding that business partner that has the same risks, the same stakes in what you're doing, in that venture capital that you guys are doing. So that way you're learning plus you're moving up. That's incredible. What key metrics do you focus on to measure the success and growth of EXP Canada? The numbers.

So the numbers, not only in each, count, but also in transaction count. So we look at how many transactions that we're doing per year and how much growth that we've had per year. On average, if we're looking at the past couple of years, the growth has been anywhere between 1,000 to 1,500 net. So remember we talked about 10 coming to the business, eight end up leaving within the first two years to end up staying.

So that's a really significant number. Retention as well, that's been really good. but, you know, our agents right now are averaging anywhere between six to seven transactions per year. So industry standard is not that right now. And numbers, I mean, it's numbers is what shows exactly what the growth is, whether it's in production or a number of agents. Thank you so much. You're so welcome.

Thank you for having me on your podcast. I really appreciate it. And it's an absolute pleasure to spend time with you. There you guys have it. If you'd like to learn more about Nadia Habib and the first. future she is paving a real estate. Click on the link below. Do you have any social media handles you would like to send over to our team?

So my Nautz Habib. I'm going to Instagram. There you guys have it. Go check out what Nadia Habib, the VP growth of ExP Canada is up to. Thank you so much for being on this episode. Thank you so much. Have a great day. You too.

Take care.