KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Top 1% Solo Secrets Relationship Mastery and Silencing the Market Noise

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

Summary:Rebecca Durfee, a top 1% agent in Phoenix with 23 years of experience, joins Kathy Byrnes to discuss the blueprint for a high-production solo business. Durfee attributes her success to a "no secret sauce" approach: prioritizing deep client relationships, meticulous follow-up, and ignoring negative market "noise" in favor of unemotional data. She details her transition from a frantic solo operator to a "well-oiled machine" supported by a long-term, percentage-paid assistant and a Director of Operations. The episode emphasizes integrity, authenticity in AI usage, and the shift toward agent-led branding over traditional franchise labels.

There's no secret sauce. You take care of your people. You build the relationships. You follow up. You communicate. You do everything you can to make sure they know they're important and they will take care of you. So we haven't ever had that. I mean, it's a very difficult market right now in many areas. In Arizona, it certainly is for our sellers. And the affordability is difficult. But I just don't listen to the noise. I just, you know, we have a job to do. we put our head down and we figure out how to get the job done. Hey everybody's Kathy Burns here with Real Estate Riches. And today my guest is Rebecca Durfey. And she's out of the Phoenix area in Arizona.

Very exciting. And also noted as the top 1% in her MLS. And we're going to find out her secrets of how she's run in her business. Welcome. Thank you. I'm excited to have you on here. That 1% stuck out to me because as we were just, talking, it's so interesting to see how agents run their business or not run their business.

Yeah. And you really sounds like you've got this down to a science. You want to kind of give us a little background on who you are, how you got into this. And then then we'll start talking about all those pieces that you've created. Sure. I have been in real estate for, I think it's 23 years now. But the way I started, I had at one point I had worked for a corporation as a paralegal, just in their legal department. So I was real comfortable with contracts and the process. And I had family who were in real estate in different states. And it just felt like a natural opportunity. I have a daughter with Down syndrome. And so when, and I have two older sons. And when she was little, I knew I wanted to do something, but I needed to have some flexibility. And obviously our world changed.

because we were not ever going to be empty nesters, which, you know, I would never give up, but it just changed our direction. And so I wanted to find something that we could maybe make the ends meet, but also have some flexibility. And so she was in full day preschool just because that's what they do for the special needs. And so I started taking classes. And it was probably two weeks in after I had taken my class and my husband was out front of our home doing his yard work and the neighbor was out front and her mother was out front and she was telling him as they were both doing their yard work she was telling him how frustrated she was because her daughter and her son-in-law were getting a divorce and she would need to sell the home and they had a child and it was just very

it was a lot of heartache for the mother and he said well you need to talk to my wife and the mother was not local she didn't live in Arizona and and so he was walked in and he said, you need to go out and talk to our neighbor. They're going to sell their house. And I said to him, what are you doing? What are you doing? I was so nervous. I was like, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. It was so scary. And I realized at that point later, as I look back, I'm thinking, we all have to be ready for that first transaction. I didn't really, I had some mentors who were going to help me through that first transaction, but I just didn't know where it was going to come from. And I went out and talked to her. It turned out to be a very, very,

difficult. That was back in the day when we didn't have docusign. You know, we had faxes and it was just a different world. And it was, it was a very difficult transaction because there was so much emotion and they moved out and they left half the contents of their home. And this person buying was going to be my next door neighbor. And it was just a really, now you'd get in so much trouble. But I had somebody come just haul everything out. I didn't know what to do. The day was close. And but since then, I've always had something in the works. So it's been great. Yeah. I love that story. You know, because so many agents do just have to dive in. You just got to figure it out. And you got to be ready for that. It's coming. You've got to be ready for the first one.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's great. And so you have created your solo agent with a support team, as you said, right? So tell us about, tell us about that. And what made you decide that would be a smart way to go. I think people know, agents know when they are, you miss a deadline or you feel frantic. You know when you need help. And I think sometimes we're hesitant to get that help because in some cases it's your, you don't know if you'll have the money to cover a family's needs. Or for me, my first assistant was back prior to the crash to the 2007, 2008 financial crash. and she just kind of, she just stopped.

It was too much for her. It was so emotional. It was so difficult. And she just sort of shut down. And I was left kind of hanging. I didn't know what to do. So I went for quite a while without an assistant because I never wanted to do that again. I was like, that was so hard.

And I just knew I could rely on me. And then I started seeing it ramp up again. And I started seeing that my production wasn't changing. I wasn't getting growth. I wasn't. and I hired Sherry about 11 years ago maybe yeah about 11 years ago and she wasn't an agent I picked her out of just somebody who I know was very detail oriented somebody I call a doer a very service oriented and and she went and got her license very fast I mean she slammed through probably three

weeks and she just really put in the effort and then she's been with me ever since and I had met with some agents who told me give a percentage to your, you know, your assistant. And so I just decided to do a percentage. So as we grew, you know, we do about, I don't know, 58 to 60 million a year. She obviously, her income has grown tremendously. But she's valuable. And she brings so much to the table. So she's probably paid more than other assistants by two or three times.

but she's valuable to what we have a very well-oiled machine. And so, and then I have a PLLC, so I pay myself. And then my husband's our director of operations. We pay him through a W-2. But yeah, it was just, you just do not want to let things slide through the cracks. It's not worth it. It's not worth a grow at a certain point. I talked to an agent today who was sending a referral from Wisconsin.

And she said, I'm at about 10 million and I can't do any more than that. I totally get that. But as a single agent without assistance and without support, that's a lot. Feels overwhelming. I didn't want to turn down any work. I didn't want to turn down any opportunities. And I wanted to grow. And I wanted to be a business.

And so that's why I just hire each time I need something. I hire that person. And how did you do that fearlessly? Because that's a big factor there. why agents don't. They're afraid of the money, even though it's a percent. And also even the assistants saying yes, I'll say yes to a percent, knowing that if it doesn't close, they don't get paid either.

Yeah. Well, I think for us, it was good to have skin in the game for Sherry because she, there was every effort to make sure nothing fell through the cracks on our side. Things don't close. We know that happens. But, you know, I used to say all the time, and I still believe this. everything could go away tomorrow. We never know what's going to happen.

But there's no secret sauce. You take care of your people. You build the relationships. You follow up. You communicate. You do everything you can to make sure they know they're important. And they will take care of you. So we haven't ever had that.

I mean, it's a very difficult market right now in many areas. In Arizona, it certainly is for our sellers. and the affordability is difficult. But I just don't listen to the noise. I just, you know, we have a job to do. We put our head down and we figure out how to get the job done. And it's not fun for a lot of, if you bought a home after 2022 in Arizona, you likely don't have equity. And it's not been down, but it's sideways.

And so you just can't. You have to know, keep going forward, keep pushing, and you'll always have business. There's enough work for everybody. Yeah. Well, I loved what you just said. I don't pay attention to the noise because that's mindset. That is mindset right there. And we absolutely have to not listen to the noise because then you're allowing all those negative, that negative energy into your world that's going to sabotage your own belief system even. Like am I ever going to make another say, oh, you know, what's going to happen and is it all going to fall apart? That's how you go down bunny trails that I put. And for me, it was when I did my business starting, it was just non-negotiable not to succeed. I was going to figure it out. And just like really, unless you're a realtor who does this as a hobby, which I wish you'd just get out of the business, please. And because this is a business.

And it's not a hobby. And there's a lot of couples where the spouse works and they're just kind of getting some extra income. And I get that wanting some extra income. But man, there are people like you and me that this is serious business here. And I'm going to run it like a business. And I'm going to be knowledgeable because I'm running it like a business. I mean, my clients can really count on me because I've got systems in place, how to follow up. And even if I didn't have systems in place like that $10 million gal where she's stuck,

she isn't just at a point where she believes that she can hire somebody yet. Right. And that I remember when I was at rematch. one time I said to I had a business partner and I said we need an assistant and my business partner said no and the franchise owner said no you're not a hundred thousand and I go well I'll never get there and I do it I said see bigger people you know yeah well and I think like what you said was very important is because I don't listen to the noise but I still I'm very aware of the data

yes so knowing how to do your job is different than getting sidetracked by all the swaying opinions. And the data is unemotional. And so it's going to tell us the trajectory. And I am in the data every single day so that my clients don't have to be. You know, and as long as we know what we're doing, I don't care about anyone's opinions. There's all the Ds are happening. The death, the diamonds, the downsizing, the diplomas, all those things are happening where people are buying and selling homes all the time.

So I just need to tap into who they are. Yeah. Yeah. And are you doing that on social media where you're telling clients about the data? Yeah, I do. I mean, I have somebody that helps them with social media. I don't have time to focus on it. I'm not a social media heavy person.

I do put my client's homes out. I do, you know, all of that. I do put the data out there. I also send it directly to my database every month. Oh. So I give them that there's a commentary that my analyst, I'm on a Zoom call with my analyst every week and give us the numbers and what's happening and what we think is going to happen. So I share that.

I share it with my clients every week as well. So I just try and make sure that there's not a question mark of what's happening or what's next. Yeah. So you're doing that internally in your own database versus outgoing. So do you have a sizable database? actually I do not have this compared to other people I was in a Gary Keller mastermind and somebody had talked about having 60,000 people I don't do calls I have never I've never done a cold call or a knock a door whatever that's not just not my

business model but I was in this thing and I was like oh my gosh I'm such a loser I have I have probably 1200 people some of those are you know couples yeah I do and so I was talking to a gentleman one time. I had had a coach one time and he said, well, Rebecca, what's the difference? I mean, you know every single person in your database. And someone with 60,000 or 20,000, those are probably just collected and they don't know them all. But I can tell you what house they bought. I can, you know, if I look up an address, I know exactly what it looks like. So I do know my database intimately and I think they know me intimately and they take care of me and I take care of them. Yeah, I love that. So tell me.

me, how are you incorporating AI into your business? I'm not incorporating it as much as maybe some people are. I use AI every day, but I'm not, I do my own description write-ups in the MLS, but that's because I really like doing it. AI can do it a lot faster, but I like doing that. But I use AI to create lists and I use AI to create upgrade data. And so I will throw something in AI and say, formulate a bill of sale contract. So I use it all the time. I just don't use it to, I don't use it in a way that replaces the authenticity of me, but I do, there's no way I think, I just think it's foolish if we're not using it because it's so helpful. Just saves us so much time. Well, that's exactly the, the key point right there. It saves time. For me, I teach it to a lot of agents because I want them to learn how to

systemize their the things that they're already doing so that it can be done more efficiently even better than we're creating i was just working on a linkedin post uh well as a matter of fact i was working on a linked in a post and i want to talk about this in a minute a linkedin post about this whole compass thing and on tuesday that one went out at a very specific time i because i strategized my timing on my no stuff yeah yeah and so it went out at a tuesday at 830 just like planned 12,000 of views and got 12 shares and and I'm like blown away that's never happened. I'm like, wow. So then I do another one that I did yesterday.

And wait, that was last week I did it. So this was yesterday's Tuesday. It only went to like 500 people and I got no comments and I put it into chat. Well, I don't use chat. This was into Claude. Yeah. So I put it into Claude. and I said here was number one

and here was number two I said what did I do different and I was too heavy into coming to me on the second one and I said I feel like that that's the problem I was trying to pitch me instead of let's talk about the issue

information yeah right and it said you got that right and I go could you not have told me that when we were creating it you know I will say my social media person uses it all the time. Yeah. So I, if I get an award, I'm not, I just don't like to put that stuff out there. So she does. And I told her, please just make it downplay it. Don't make it a bit. So she'll put it

in chat, GPT and she'll be like, low key, you know, whatever and gratitude. And, you know, so he uses it for almost all of our posts. So yes. Yeah, that's well, I find, and you can study the analytics. You know, you talk about the different numbers that you're watching. I went into the analytics of LinkedIn. And I also added that to Claude. I said, here's the analytics on each one. I said, I don't want to make that mistake again. How do I fix that mistake? How do I go forward? Because I don't want to make that mistake again. I like those 12,000 people or views out there. And I loved all the shares because it was strong and made great connections, which was my goal. So what do you think about this whole Compass merger?

You know, to me, that's part of the noise is, I think, you know, I've heard for years you can't be a successful solo agent. You have to have a team. I've heard for years you have to be in one of the big businesses, one of the big brokerages, or you're not going to be successful. I just feel like the people out there that are looking for our service aren't looking at whether you're with Compass or with Remax or with E. New XP or Keller Williams, they're just looking at, are you going to do the job for me? Are you going to get me the result I'm looking for? And so we all care about that. We agents, because it matters, you know, we like to follow up on that and know what's happening and who fired who and who's now the CEO and all that. Yeah. None of my clients care about that. Right. And so I just, I,

somebody said, are you guys going to be replaced eventually by AI? Are you guys going to, you know, I mean, I've heard everything. And I just say all the time, no, we're not. You're not going to buy a home without touching, smelling, feeling that home. And I'm your eyes and ears and I will, you know, I'll be the guide. But now our lives might adjust through AI or through some of these big brokerages merging or whatever the case. But when it comes down to the client, I don't think as long as I can provide the service I'm going to provide and I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be sparse on any of that. then I think that's all I care about. I agree with that.

The one thing that I saw in one of my responses on my post about it was that no agent, what was it? It was about the firm. The woman was no longer with Colwell Banker and she'd been with Colobanker. She'd been with Compass and she was with another firm now. And for me, I've been with five. So for me, you're looking until you find your niche, right? You're looking to the right fit.

And she was saying, you know, people are always going to buy from established brands. And I thought, they're not going to buy from established franchise brands anymore. They're buying you. They're picking you. That is exactly right. And so I don't believe in that whole thing of the brand, that brand, not the company brand. It's me the brand. Right.

We, there are always going to be people who want to see a big name behind you. That's a certain buyer or seller. Yeah. But the typical buyer or sell. I have Keller Williams for very specific purposes for me. It fit exactly what you're saying. It fit what I needed. Could there be another firm brokerage?

Sure. But if I went back to my smaller brokerage that I was with for 20 years, it would be fine. I would still have the same clients. They would not say, oh, I'm not going to use you now. So I agree. I think there's a lot of talk about there's not going to be any. small brokerages anymore, no boutique brokerages. That might be the case if they're losing money or if they can't hang on because of this difficult market. But I don't think that's so much

because we've had this big merger and, you know, and there's conglomerate. I think it's more smaller brokerages. It costs a lot of money to run a brokerage. It costs a lot of money to run a brokerage. And that's, I do think the boutiques will fade away because of the mindset of needing an office. I don't believe you need an office. Well, Kathy, are you seeing, because I just had a mastermind with some top agents last week. And one of those guys who I've talked for years, he had his own brokerage. He went to a different brokerage because he still could keep all his people and move to that brokerage.

But he had the cloud type mentality. I don't need an office space. I don't savings 15,000 a month. So, yeah, I think you're right. Well, and I'm with the ex-be. So for me, Yes. Well, I think what we saw during COVID was COVID proved you didn't need an office. And I was with KW at the time. I was with KW. And I looked around, and this is before I even ever heard of EXP.

I just looked around and saw the office was fairly empty, except for the ones that are struggling and needed support who wanted to try and tag in and learn some stuff because KW hires a lot of new agents. So those agents were there. The seasoned agents were not there. And when I joined DXP, it wasn't like I even knew anything about it. I had just joined a team. And because I was going through my business partner and I had broken our partnership, but broken up. I got fired from a previous firm because I questioned the owner's integrity. I was one of their top listing agents.

And so I had 48 hours to figure out where I was going to go. And friends of mine who were at KW said, just come sit by us, get settled. And I also had I was taking care of my mother with dementia. And so a lot of personal things were happening. My assistant was hired away by that firm that fired me. And so like you, when you're not used to doing what the assistant does, I was paralyzed. Oh, absolutely. Paralyzed.

And then so then I was with KW. I think I was there about eight months. And they even offered me coaching position there. I turned that down only because I didn't like their. I'm a techie. And I didn't like the coaching that was going on in that particular office. And I thought, that's not me. So, and I needed the money. But I, I let that go. And that's when the team asked me if I wanted to join their team. And they were a mega team doing big dollars. And I said, sure, and two weeks later, they said, we're going to EXP. I said, I don't even know what that is. I'll go.

I trust you guys. And that's exactly how I moved over there. And that was a little over eight years ago. It was a great move for me. Yeah. And because I'll be 76 this summer. Oh, you look amazing. Oh, gosh. I try and get a little filter going on in soon. I just wear as much jewelry as possible, so nobody's looking.

Oh, gosh. Well, anyway, but the cloud base, I really saw that made sense because after COVID, that KW office was empty. Yeah. And I think most of the brokerage office is. Yeah. It's not just KW. It was all of them. And I knew they're overhead at that office.

So now you've got the little guy who's got the overhead. And then the agents aren't producing because the market's a disaster. Then the owner of that little one is trying to do it all. And so. I do think it's going to really impact that person. Yes, I do too. And that's why I want to be the hero and say come check out EXP. Yeah.

Yeah. But not everybody obviously will. come here and many leave EXP but they also come back to so it's a choice. I'm the same reason that we're all trying to figure out what are what's the niche. What are we trying to where do we fit? Where do we fit? Where do we fit? And so yeah, you brought up some good points and for me mine fits, yours fits, it's all good.

And I think the relation to me it's always been a relationship business. Yeah, for sure. I had a friend who did that Mike Ferry stuff and I'm not knocking it because he made a boatload of money. And I know many who just, and I even went to one of their events to see what is this all about because I was never wanting to do that ever. And but I saw the mentality and the focus and the systems that they got into and I saw the dollars that they were making.

But I said to my friend John, I said, John, are you following up with any of your people? Are you just always dialing for dollars? And he was. He was never working like you or me working our existing database. I want repeats. I want raving fans. And that's exactly what you probably have because that's what you, those people, I don't know if it's because in my age, I may have like a more nurturing motherly kind of part of me because I do. I feel like these are my family. I, you know, I want to take care of them. And I met. yesterday with a gentleman, I was in, you know, I was in interview for a listing and it was a high dollar listing and, and he had multiple agents that he was interviewing. And, and he said, you're very much a relationship agent. And I said, I am. Transactional agents might work for somebody. More power to them. Go do your thing. But I'm not in it for today. I'm in it for forever. Yeah. So it does. It makes a difference, I think. And, and they'll always be those people who are like,

One and done, they don't care. They want to just do their thing. But the value in those relationships, yeah. Well, what's your endgame? If that's your deal and you're always, what's your end game? You know, you're always be doing that. Me, I want an end game. So, and the end game can be where now I get referrals. I get business, but I can refer it out because I don't need to do it anymore. Right. Not that I'm gone. I, well, for me, I'm possessed. So I do a lot of training and I do a lot of international business as well. So I don't see myself quitting, but I do see local buyers and sellers not being my deal anymore. More outgoing referrals. And what a beautiful career that you don't have to quit.

You know, that you can do things that you love, but you can also manage your time and send this out here and send this out here. No, you're taking care of your people still. And even in my situation with my son, I'm like, I get to hand this. You know, you better take really good care of everybody. I'm going to hand this off. And I'm not going anywhere for at least 10 years. I keep telling him, don't plan on me going anywhere. But in 10 years, they will all know you.

You will be a part of this. And you will become a part of just we will become the same. And they'll be comfortable. But I don't want anyone to feel like I'm going anywhere. Well, and the truth is their kids have got kids and they got kids and all of the, that's how it evolves. And I had one client, I must have done 14 transactions with between her and her family. And they were all waterfronts. I really liked what they were doing.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was great. Well, this has been wonderful. Any additional tips you'd like to share with us? You know, I think if there was any tip I would share, it would be just. There's no secret. There's no, I always say I don't ever claim to be the best. I don't like that feeling of saying I'm the best. But I also say I don't think anybody's better. And by that I mean,

know what you're doing. You know, I get people wanting to be part-time, but this is the biggest financial decision of someone's life. And when I'm taking care of my side and working with another agent that does not know what they're doing, I'll help that agent any way I can. But ultimately, I really worry about their client. Like, you know, I just want so badly for people to, if you're going to do this career, do it right. Treat it with respect. I have a son that's a physician and I always say he saves lives, but we change lives. You know, we can make such a huge difference, good or bad.

And so I would just say, know what you're doing, treat people right, be honest. I am, I'll just share this quick story. my dentist for years. He was, you know, he was my dentist and he had bought a beautiful home. And he said to me one time, would you come look at my home and see if you can list it? And he told me a story. I said, well, who bought it with you? And why are you not using them? And he said, when he moved to the valley, he got in the car with this gentleman and he had a post-it note on his dash and it had three addresses. And on the three addresses underneath it had the amount of money he would make on each of those addresses. And he said, I don't know if he knows I saw that. But he said, I felt so gross. I just felt

like I mean nothing to you. And I just never, that was many years ago. I've never forgotten that. If it's ever about the money, then we've got to do something different. It can never be about us. It can never be about the money. It can never be about pride. It has to be what is right for the client no matter what. Right. It's integrity. Yeah. integrity too right yeah well that was great Rebecca I've loved having you on here thank you thank you it's been great it's fun to talk with you yes well that's it for another one everybody so I hope you subscribe and really love this channel and we will have all of Rebecca's information down below so you can reach out to her she's in

the Phoenix area she does the North Valley did you say yeah all of the North Valley I mean I go all over but that's my specialty yeah that's great so you can reach out to her and she will be excellent at her job, as you can tell. Thanks, everybody. Let's book a strategy call and see how it would look in your eyes. And if you're thinking, man, I'd like to have a conversation with Kathy Burns. Maybe I'd like to be part of this EXP company and see what it's all about. That sounds good to me.

Let's book a strategy call and let's have a talk. No pressure. But, man, it's worth a conversation. The links in the description.