KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Stop Doing It Alone The Power of Strategic Partnerships w Kristina Price

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

Summary:Christina Price joins Chris Craddock to discuss her evolution from a corporate role at Homes.com to leading a high-production real estate team. She candidly shares the lessons learned from the "burnout" of being a solo leader and how adopting "partnership" as her word of the year transformed her business. The episode covers the tactical advantages of using Homes.com for competitive research, the importance of clear value propositions for team recruitment, and the "Uncommon" shift from a trading-time cash machine to a passive wealth machine.

Welcome to Uncommon Real Estate, where it's all about finding creative solutions for real estate agents and investors. In exclusive mastermind conversations with some of the brightest minds in real estate, you'll learn how to earn an extra six figures a year. Don't follow the herd. Be Uncommon. Here are your hosts, multi-millionaire real estate agent and investor, Chris Craddock and Jeff Saferight. Welcome to another episode of the Uncommon Real Estate podcast. I'm your host Chris Cradd. and we are going to talk about growing the cash machine today. We always talk about two things. The cash machine and the wealth machine. The cash machine is where you trade your time for dollars.

We do deals, right? We build our business here. And then if you are smart, remember, the biggest problem with real estate agents is they don't buy their own product. That is the biggest thing. So if you're smart, you then convert your cash machine into the wealth machine. And wealth, the way we describe it is where you're not. money works harder than you work. When you go on vacation, your money does not go on vacation. When

you get sick, your money doesn't get sick. When you are sleeping, your money doesn't sleep, but your money is put to work, fighting battles for you and growing. And today, I have a friend of mine with us. She is here in Cabo at this incredible conference that starts today. And we're going to talk about her growth in real estate, what she does, what makes her uncommon. And talking about her. I'm through some of the fun partnerships that she's made in the last year. So with that said, Christina Price, the ladies and gentlemen, Christina, tell us a little bit about yourself. What led you into real estate and how did you get started in the business? Yeah, that's actually kind of a funny story. I guess just kind of post-divorce back in 2014, 2015, I needed to get like

an adult, grown-up job. And so I, after a couple of jobs, I landed at Homes.com. Homes.com corporate. It was in my hometown and they were hiring a sales force. And I worked from the bottom up and within a year was promoted to training sales manager. And I really just got to know the real estate industry because we were talking to agents and brokers all day. And some of them were amazing and some of them not so much. And I remember thinking, wow, they're making a lot more money than I am. And I feel like I could do this possibly. And so a couple of years later, I was working another job that I was in a very, big fan of. And I decided to get my real estate license just to have like, you know, as a plan B, a backup plan. And then a few years down the road, it ended up becoming the permanent plan. So in 2019, I jumped full-time in and never looked back and started my team just a year later in 2020. And so it just kind of was a natural evolution. That's incredible. I didn't know that you worked at Homes. Homes.com. That's interesting. What is your take now? Obviously, Homes.com, up. down and now they're, you know, are you following it all?

The stuff is going on with Coastalbord. Absolutely. Because I honestly, some of the number one sales reps for people I hired and trained, and so I still have some very good friends in the company. Some made the big move up to Richmond when they did that. I followed it big time. They are now finally what we always hope that they'd be like, I mean, we knew even back in 2015 and 2016 that we had a domain that was worth, you know,

great money. And so Co-star was really, Hill.com needed co-com. I'm in and really turn it into this global variant. And so it's been pretty impressive to see. It's actually what my favorite apps now. Well, yeah, I'll tell you, I know they've been losing money and there's like that issue with CoStar that just came out publicly. But I will say I don't love their like paying for the marketing and all the different pieces that actually makes them money. But as you said, the app is one of the best things out there. And if you are ever competing with another agent, that's one of my favorite things to do. If you are a high producer, if you're not a high producer,

you know, at least it's good to know. But knowing that I am a high producer and most of the folks on our team are high producers, I always say if you're competing, find out what the other agent's name is and look it up. And so if you go to homes.com, you click the agent button, you can put their name in and it'll tell you what they've done in the last one year, two year, in five year. Actually, one of our top agents, crazy accurate, too. Like, it's very accurate. Well, it's so funny. One of our top agents, she was competing against somebody who claimed that they were like a top, top dog. And it was so funny because in the last one year, she did more transactions and more volume than the person she was competing against did in five years. And she was able to like, screen. And it was just, it was game over.

Who do you want to work with? Right. Exactly. But it's also good to know who your competing is, but don't let it, if somebody is on the opposite side where they've done more than you've done in the last five years, don't let that get in your head. Just know that you've got to have a different game plan for that. All right. So tell us about your, so you worked at Homes.com kind of transitioned into building the team. Tell us about the evolution of like, how do you start your team?

where were you? Like what changes happened in your career to bring you to where you are today? Yeah. I always knew when I got into real estate I was going to want to start a team. My background was in sales teams all the way back to my Mary Kay days and then Homes.com and I loved leading sales teams. I always knew I want to do that. I will say like starting a team and doing it on your own because I started off at the end of 2020 and within six, eight months, there was like 12 of us. And so the team attracted amazing growth. 2021 was our first, like, full year. And if you were in the business in 21, you know, you made fistfuls of money when your eyes built. I mean, people were just cashing out, you know, it was pretty amazing. And so we had a killer birth year, year and a half.

And unfortunately, I did not save all that money that we were making in 2021 is 22. And so towards the end of 22, when, you know, the. the mortgage rates spiked like at an ungodly rate and then 23 that we really struggled. And I carried the burden of the financial, you know, like not just, I'm a single mom. So not just my own bills, but all the teams bills. And so it kind of went through and we had ebbs and flows and we grew up at one point. We were in three different states. I had 19 team members.

Then we would shrink back down because one thing, realtors always move. Like they changed brokerages as often as they changed their clothes sometimes. And so it was a lot to keep up with. And 24 was our best year. We just killed it in 24 when a lot of teams were not, were not. And we were at our biggest and really producing. But I knew by the end of 24, I was burned out. And I had not much left to give because I was a Lumman show.

And I was trying to do it all. And the fact of the matter is, we needed resources that I didn't have access to. and I didn't have the pockets for. So I really knew coming into 25, like I always have the word of the year. And 25, my word of the year was partnership. And I just knew that there was someone out there, something out there, that there was an answer for my problems and, you know, like people that could align with me. And I really just trusted the universe to align me with the right people.

And they did. And so over 25, I actually formed several partnerships. and, you know, we're almost a year. We're coming in on a year of those, and that's how I, you know, came contact with you. And it really has, you know, been this slow snowball effect that is slowly starting to really just transform the team. And honestly, it's just been such a blessing to have these partners in my life. Everything from production to the back staff to opening up a new office, you know,

a new branch office coming up to flips, you know, in 25. partnered up with some people and starting to do investments and flips and things like that. It's been pretty amazing. That's incredible. Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the things that I realized in my own life early on. It was, it was so interesting because the first year I joined a mastermind. It was, well, first, the first year I joined coaching, I remember Catherine and I got into a little bit of an argument about it because, like, I mean, you know my story. I came from ministry.

Like, we had no money. We were a few years prior. I was trying to sell my blood for $300 to buy Christmas presents for our family. And she's like, $1,000 a month to like have somebody to tell you what you should do. She's like, I'll tell you what to do. You know, like there was. She's like go work. Exactly.

Exactly. Which honestly is probably like 99% of the coaching that most people need when they're starting out. It's like just talk to more people. But having somebody there to tell you to do that. But that really helped us grow. But then when I jumped into this mastermind, I still remember I was sitting on the beach in Tulum, not too far from here with somebody. And, you know, it was a lot of money for me at the time.

It was $15,000 a year plus the cost of the trips. And to me, that was like I was doing well, but it was also still a lot of money for me. And so I was like, oh, man, do I really want to do this? And that one conversation with a guy named Brent Daniels, a friend of mine in the beach, I shouldn't give him a call. So I'm glad I gave up. you know, literally that within that next 24 or sorry, 12 months, I was able to add, you know, almost a quarter million dollars in top line revenue to the company from one conversation.

And so I, at that point, I realized every single level of growth that we need usually comes with a new relationship we need in our life. So tell us about some of the other, so you said you partner with some other folks. Tell us about some of the other partnership. Yeah. One of my good buddies, We used to be at the same brokerage, and he started a franchise of another popular brokerage in the area, but we still remained very, very close. And I had an opportunity about a year and not ago to do like a sub two deal with parents applying supply. They weren't a really tight bind. And just real quick for anybody, most, I know a lot of you know what sub two is,

but if you don't know what sub two is subject to are essentially leaving the mortgage in the name of the seller and you take over the deed. did in the title and all the time. Yep. And we did a 30 day flip on it and, you know, we killed it. We were able to pay them out a ton of money. We had a really good net profit on top of it. And so we just kind of started from there and started off real slow. I think we did three like in that first year. And now we're under a few right now. I have a few flips going. So that was one partnership, obviously meeting you. You came down in April of last year and we started coughing. And I remember even that day, I had no idea what I was. walking into. I literally just came because a friend invited me and I had nothing else going on. It was a Friday, which is very, you know, chill for me usually. And by the time we left that launch, I was like, oh, I knew there was a shift happening. And that's also where I met Dustin the same day. And, you know, Dustin and I started just talking more, started going to be, he runs grid, which is a super popular investor meetup. And he was growing out in the Hampton Roads. We've done a couple of investments together and now we're actually in the middle of negotiating a buildout, you know, on a new office.

So we're opening up a bridge office and Virginia Beach, which we're super excited about. So yeah, it's just been kind of a natural progression. Also right before 2020, I partnered up with Oka and Bren of mine who runs an amazing TC company. And TC's transaction foreignators, they're like our, you know, angels on our shoulders, like help us get everything done. They're out of transaction and be really no working to grow that. We don't do webinars, but you're welcome to say who it is. You know, the sales finish, you're welcome to say who it is.

It's T.C. If you're interested and you need, I think we are currently in five states. We are growing into others, maybe six states. Obviously, I'm a behind-seeds person, but reach out, you know. So, yeah, it's just been, you know, a slow progression of really finding the right people. And I just been very, I'm a big believer in opportunity and keeping your eyes open. And I think when you're in tune with your purpose and with what your goals are, and even if you don't know exactly how you can fear, if you're keeping your eyes open and you're super in tune within and every day you're checking in, every time, whether you want to halt up, the universe, whatever, like the spirit will just bring those people into your path. And, and, you know, you just have people and say yes.

And here's the thing that I want to put out there, which I think is so interesting, was I was when I met Christ, Christina, I had been in talks with another group and I thought we were going to have a partnership with another group came down and still was like thinking that was the case. And somebody literally when I got there, they're like, hey, I've got a good friend. You should have lunch with her. She's, she's just great. And, you know, I think it'd be an interesting lunch, you know, whenever. So we were talking about it was totally out of left field because that was not what I was thinking was, you know, the purpose. of my, you know, relational time down there that the lesson that I've learned is, you know,

obviously like run hard but have open hands as far as the goals. Because a lot of times everybody's like, no, no, no, this is what I'm going to do. This is how I'm going to do it. And they stick to things that may not be a winning strategy. But if you're moving forward, you know, then you can, you know, be able to go the right way. And part of that, too, is, you know, make, like, just always continue. to move forward. Right.

Like we, last week I was hearing Cabo a week before, a different mastermind. And again, building relationships. And we went swimming with rail sharks. And one of the things they talked about with sharks is that if, if they're not moving forward,

they die. They've got to be moving forward. And I think that there's a lesson in that for all of us. I mean, obviously we can be the minnowes that get eaten or we can be sharks in our life. But the sharks have to be moving forward or they die. And I think that's important to be, to be moving.

and then you can pivot from where you're gone. So, Christina, let me ask, I know we've got about 10 minutes left. So let me ask this question. What are you doing right now to level up your game? You know, obviously your life grows and your business growth in the sense that you grow. How are you working to grow right now? So working alongside you and David, who is CEO of our team and he's just amazing as the CEO. And you guys have really helped me hone into my goals.

So I do have a few goals. My highest production year so far personal production has been 12 million and that was in 2024 and that was running a team of 19 across, you know, three different markets. And so I was very proud of that. But I really want to be able to attract high achievers.

And so I feel like to be able to do that, I have to do that. So I still have a goal of hitting 20 million. I really want to hit that and then I never want to do it again. And it's like, I want to run one full marathon. I've done a whole bunch of halves, I'll do one full marathon and then that's it. So I want to hit 20 million and then I am really focused and that's just my first home production. I do have team goals and all of that,

but really I'm focused on just the growth of the team. We did onboard two new team members this past week. We are growing back up. I think we're up to 12 or 13 now and I'm a goal by the end of the year to be at 25. And so I really want us to become a large force to dominate in our market. But also a safe place for Asians to come. I hear it all the time. Every Asian, talk to, it's so easy to get to ball through the preps and to get lost. And especially in some of the virtual, you know, road bridges out there, it's even easier, even though there's a lot of pros. There are cons. So I really want to provide them lace for people to get plugged in. And that's one reason we're doing the bridge office and just trying to attract and mentor and help people

achieve their goals and their dreams. All right. So I'm about to say something that's going to make Christina super, super uncomfortable. But I think it's a life lesson here for. all of us. Christina, you said that in your life you want to run a marathon. So let's put a date on it. Like this isn't, here's the life lesson. It's like, we all have things we want, but unless you put a date on it, it doesn't happen. Give me the date. Let's go. Can I do it after I hit 20 million? It's like a full-time job. Training for that crap. It's a full-time job. Press cratic. I'm just kind of looking at you, Len. You think about it. I will think about it. All right. Park. too. I'd like, well, I've let me think about that.

So I remember. I'm the person of my word. I don't want to just say it. No, yeah. That's fair. I remember one of my favorite little books. And Catherine and I used to do this when we go on vacation. We brought this massive book. I think it's called Tools of the Titans. And it was Tim Ferriss, just taking the best of all of his podcast interviews and putting it on two pages. And one of the ones that stuck out to me was Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal, and he's been involved with all these other things. But the thing I loved about, the thing I loved around Peter Thiel as a leader was he had people like the founders of

Google, like Elon Musk, like all of these like high, high tier individuals were all part of that table at PayPal that all went and did other things. And I think about that. And okay, the power of somebody like Peter Thiel to attract that kind of talent, what is it about him? That's what makes me interested in Peter Thiel. But with that said, one of the things he said is he says to, lot of the people he's coaching. He says, okay, what do you want to accomplish in the next six

years? And they'll name all these things thinking it's all a long way out, like running a marathon. And then he says, okay, why not in six months? And he said, when he asked that question, all of a sudden, everybody realizes the change that you have to create to accomplish their goals. Because if you say six years, you don't really have to change. Like you can just say, oh, I'll figure it out in time, in time, in time. time, but if you say six months, you have to change today. Yeah. Right.

And so that to me is like super, super, super powerful. All right. So your goal is to do essentially not quite double, but close to double the highest level of personal production and grow a team, which I think is really awesome. With that said, you know, Jim Collins talks about the levels of actually, sorry, is that John Maxwell. Anyway, no, Jim Collins talks about the levels of leadership. And to be able to attract that high level of leader.

you have to be, you know, a level five leader can attract other level five leader. But if you're lower than that, you attract people lower. Right. And so let me ask this question. I hear what you want to grow and whatnot. What is when somebody wants to come into business with you, what are you able to offer them to be in business with you as a team leader? Yeah. That's a really great question.

I think I struggled with that actually a little bit prior to our partnerships. But now I can confidently say, one, I have one of the best teams. And when I tell you that, like, most helpful, empathetic stand-up and like camaraderie, we are constantly, and it's not just the entire team that's constantly helping me and tired, which absolutely allowed. I want to empower everybody to really have ownership in it. Besides all the normal stuff, which you would hope is normal, but tons of training, everything's in contracts, like when you're brand new and you're not even sure how to work

the system in our MLS to listing health, to quality, like shadowing on appointments and and doing everything. And I'm at hands-on team leader. I love actually like draining people and seeing them catch on to it to the goal setting. And then the team overall, the Nuggets come overall, it's just there's something about aligning yourself with some of the highest quality, biggest producers out there. So beyond all of the local help that we have and all the stuff that we provide, we are giving people access to the biggest in the state. And I think that really shows people, people typically develop goals because they see someone achieving that ball and they go, I want that. You know, I want to head there. And I think by being able to provide that,

we are able to really empower people to go out at full speed. So we really pride ourselves as team as being a full concierge service, not just for our clients, but for our team members. I think That's really important. What I love about that is you were able to give a great pitch. Like, this is what I can offer. And I've coached a number of folks that are in the process of building a team. And one of the issues that a lot of times team leaders have is they don't, they're not able to enunciate that well.

And when there's fog around it, it always goes to commission. Okay, well, we'll have a smaller commission. Like, without a doubt, like literally ask 10 team leaders. that are growing the team and you can either hear that they can enunciate their value proposition or when you start hearing them talking through it and not being

clear, they almost always go to reducing commission because they're like, oh, well, that's going to be my value proposition. And so I would just recommend just like Christina did right there where she was able to be super, super clear. If you are not clear with it, spend a few minutes.

And I say a few minutes, it probably takes more than a few minutes. spend half an hour, spend an hour and just write down the reasons why somebody should want to be in business with you. And you may feel a little rough at the beginning because you're like, oh, I'm running out of things. But if you just force yourself to sit down and do this, and this is one of the things we've done for our agents to say 50 reasons why somebody would be an idiot not to work with you, by the end of the time you get to 50, your chest pops out. Your chin goes up. You feel the swagger, right? Like it changes.

is. I think it's also so important to point out. I think the biggest value proposition I've been saying is I don't know why to just say this now, but we are one of the few teams, the mega team, our whole entire team, not just my market, that we offer something most teams don't. Most teams are either retail focus or they are creative focus. You don't find many teams that are both. And they want you to dominate no matter what it is. And we are equally both. Like we focus on retail and we make sure we have the best service when it comes that. And then we train our agents how to find the investments, how to do all the creative stuff. And I can honestly say, I know for a fact that there is not a single team that provides leads and appointments and both realms legally. And I think

that's been huge because people are, people want it. They want investments. They want to chase it. They want to learn about it. And I feel like one of my goals as as a leader is not just helping people make more money, but helping people really become wealthy. Because if you, like, I mean, who's ever been to a real estate agent's retirement party? That just doesn't ever happen, right? But like I'm super proud Teddy, who's one of our top listing agents on our team. You know, he owns three properties now. And two of the three, we found on the team.

We were able to get him off market. And, you know, the team made some money on it. And we also gave him a super streethard deal on it. And so one of the things in if you're leading with people, one of the things that I always like to say to team members, if there's a deal that they want to buy it is, you know, make me an offer that's easy to say yes to. And I don't think you should just give a deal away where the team doesn't make any money because, you know, the team paid for it and everything else. But you don't have to make as much money as you would on the open market as a team leader.

And so if you can say that and bless your team members by saying, give me an offer that's easy to say yes to, then you can benefit them and help them. What's the one question I should have asked you that I haven't asked you? What am I most thankful for? All right. What am I most thankful for this past year was one of the hardest years just personally and business-wise. I was not a fan of 20 to like five. I was very happy to see a go.

And I am so incredibly grateful for having the support system. I mean, I really needed it and I'm not used to having that. Even in my personal life, I'm, you know, single mom, you guys, if you're out there, you know, give this to any moms going home. And you're used to doing it all yourself. I've never been so thankful to have the burgers that I have. And when I need something or I have a question or I don't know, I have a dozen people to call and ask.

And it's been, it's really been for myself a leveling up opportunity. It's crazy thankful. Christina's obviously built a number of successful businesses. She's super sharp. And obviously to be able to do a massive amount of production in her own, lead other people, you know, she's able to. And listen, everybody always feels like when you see your own, like, it's so funny. You feel like when you see your own life, you're like, oh, it's such a mess.

And then everybody else in the outside is like, dang, I wish I could do what you do. And I still remember the first time I spoke with like on a conference stage with a bunch of the people that I, when I first started, I saw on stage, we had a lunch or sorry, had a dinner afterwards. And it was so interesting because on stage they all talk like their business is this Ferrari and then like you're having dinner and they're talking about all the all the issues and everything else and you're like all right so it's a Ferrari and you open up the hood and a lot of stuff's rusted out right it's not perfect yet and so the fun thing is knowing that christina is a killer she's really really really good and she's also working through things and i love the fact that you know she's honest about the fact that it's not

all perfect because anybody that you ever hear out there saying it's all perfect i was just having this conversation with a friend of mine this morning It's just bogus. It's all smoking mirrors. Nobody's business is perfect. Everybody's working through things. And I love the fact, you know, you get what you get with. The way, Christina, she just tells you where it is.

I love it. I love it. And she's super talented. And she's really good at what she does. And so if somebody wants to reach out to you, what's the best way to get in touch with you? Best way to get in touch is obviously texting, but also Facebook and Instagram, messaging me through those other social media platforms. I'm constantly checking those, of course.

So you can really, you can buy me super easily. Facebook is just my name or at-home journey group on Insta and just should be a message. Boom. All right. Until next time, please, if this was helpful to you at all, or if it really sucked, either way, whatever it is, we just want you to leave us a review. Okay? Let us know your honest take. And if there's anything we can do for you, please reach out in the comments section.

you can also DM me on Instagram. I do answer my own Instagram messages. Sometimes it's not right away, but you will get an answer for me eventually at Crad Rock, C-R-A-D-R-O-C-K, terrible Instagram handle that I probably need to change. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. Everybody else does. It's an old cheesy high school nickname that I made into something and it just morphed and stayed with me. So it is what it is.

But until next time, make sure you don't live the same way that you lived yesterday, live Uncommon today, take actions to change your life. Go get it. Boom. Thank you for tuning into this episode of Uncommon Real Estate. Subscribe to the podcast to stay up today with the latest mastermind conversations from Chris, Jeff, and other Uncommon Real Estate industry leaders. If you love this podcast, please write us a review. And to fast track your real estate career, go to Chris Craddock.com.