How to Build a Culture That Keeps Top Realtors Loyal

Building a top-producing real estate team isn't about ego, it's about designing a business that serves your life. 

Eric Skogland is joined by Mark Richards, leader of The Richards Group and ranked 12th highest-producing team in all of Canada in 2025. 

From running a painting company at 15 to losing his real estate license early in his career, Mark's journey is a masterclass in resilience, community-rooted strategy, and intentional growth. 

He and Eric dig into the mechanics of building a team with purpose; when to hire, what to look for, how collaboration beats competition, and why wealth in real estate comes from investing in it, not just selling it. 

A can't-miss episode for any agent thinking about what they really want from this business.

Listen For:

3:09 How did running a business before real estate shape who Mark Richards became as an agent?
18:26 What made Mark Richards leave his old brokerage and join the RE/MAX Hallmark family?
25:08 When does it actually make sense for a real estate agent to start building a team?
40:23 What is the drive-around strategy and how does it build instant client trust?
45:02 How has investing in real estate, not just selling it, built Mark's real wealth?

Connect with Mark Richards, Founder & Team Lead | The Richards Group | RE/MAX Hallmark®

Website | Email | LinkedIn | Instagram

Connect with Eric Skogland, Manager | RE/MAX Hallmark® Leadership Team

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Email 

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Mark Richards (00:00):

We used to have this scarcity of when new agents would come onto the team, the current agents would pull back because they would think that their business would actually decrease or not be as successful and they were scarce of that. But the transition was as new people came onto the team, the team bred new life and more deals and transactions and connections happened because of that agent to agent collaboration.

Eric Skogland (00:29):

Okay, well welcome to Real Estate Strategies with RE/MAX Hallmark. I'll be your host, Eric Skogland, and I'm really excited to be sitting here with the man, the myth, the legend.

Mark Richards (00:41):

Oh, you're setting me up here. Look at that. He's already got me smiling.

Eric Skogland (00:45):

Mark Richards with the

Mark Richards (00:46):

Richards group.

Eric Skogland (00:47):

Thanks for coming in. Oh,

Mark Richards (00:48):

Thanks for having me, man. This is exciting. I know we've been trying to get this on the books for a little while. Yeah, we're here.

Eric Skogland (00:53):

I'm happy

Mark Richards (00:53):

We're here. Yeah,

Eric Skogland (00:55):

No, I'm really happy too. Okay, so a little preliminary, you are a large team leader. Last I checked 2025, you were the 12th highest producing team in all of Canada. Yep. 2025. Yeah, I have that right. Very proud member of RE/MAX Hallmark.

Mark Richards (01:19):

Very proud member of RE/MAX Hallmark. Yeah.

Eric Skogland (01:22):

And I'm proud to say a friend of mine. We've known each other a long time.

Mark Richards (01:26):

A very good friend and a previous work colleague. That's

Eric Skogland (01:29):

Right. That's right. We'll get into that.

Mark Richards (01:30):

Yeah, I bet.

Eric Skogland (01:32):

Yeah. I mean, we're still work colleagues, just very different.

Mark Richards (01:34):

We are. It was funny, Eric called me or I sent Eric a text yesterday and I said, "I may be a little bit late for this. I've got a showing that pushed off." And I don't do too many buyer showings now, but just for really great clients, great people, old friends, that kind of stuff. And he got back to me, he said, "We're good from 12:00 to 1:00. We'll see you there." And I loved it because I got into it where it was like, you know what? If I had a meeting with one of my agents or a client, I would be there on time. And so I was here at 12:01. Yeah, not bad

Eric Skogland (02:13):

At all. Not bad at all. All right, let's get into it. So how long have you been in real estate?

Mark Richards (02:19):

2026 is 20 years in real estate. So I got my license in July of 26. We had just had our first child in March. Yeah, we just had our first child in March, and I dug in deep and we got our going. So I started off as an individual. I started off with another brokerage, and I think within two years or three years, I was over with the RE/MAX Hallmark family.

Eric Skogland (02:54):

And you had seen some success pretty early on.

Mark Richards (02:57):

Yep.

Eric Skogland (02:58):

Before I get into all of that, you've been a business owner for a long time, and even before you were in real estate and maybe what kind of that transition into real estate, why don't you tell me a little bit about that?

Mark Richards (03:09):

So I guess it goes back high school. I ran a painting company through high school, and it was a great way to make money. I could work for my own hours. I started working at a very young age, so I was probably working 30 plus hours a week when I was 13 years old. I worked for a guy that owned a marina in Oakville and would do just his grind or whatever work I had to do. And I started a painting company when I was 15 or 16, worked all summers through that, went to college for a year, realized I probably got more of an education in partying and social than I did actually with college. And I went out with a good buddy of mine and we started a painting company called Next Generation. And I ran that for a couple years with him, and I had actually met my wife when I was 19.

(04:07):

So we just celebrated our 22nd year anniversary, and we've been together 26 years. And so she was in tech and corporate and came actually to work with me in the painting company in, I guess, the early, early 2000s. So we ran that business. We got that up to, oh my God, 23 people. We were doing residential painting. We were turning jobs. The average job was probably one to three days. So that process of selling a job, moving on to the next, dealing with the labor, the aspects of that, and pushing that forward was really my education. And by the time I was married just before I turned 25, my education was really in that because I closed it down just after we got married. And I think I was over $100,000 in the hole.

(05:10):

Had no real education. And said, "You know what? I'm going to get into some general contracting." And I did that for a little while as I sort of cleaned up the painting company and so on. But honest to God, it was one of the things that made me, I guess, grind in that learning experience, who I am today, was that sink or swim. And it was a great process. And my wife said to me, I remember it took me a while to get my license and I may have not passed all the courses the first time.

Eric Skogland (05:44):

I use you as an example. When I'm speaking with an agent that's going through the process or that's just starting out, I will all the time mention, whether you like this or not, I don't care. I will say if they maybe didn't pass one of the courses, I'll say, "Don't worry, Mark Richards failed it six times."

Mark Richards (06:01):

It's so true. I literally, I was like, "I don't know if I'm ever going to get this." And I think I failed one of the phases two times. And then - I

Eric Skogland (06:10):

Use six

Mark Richards (06:10):

Because

Eric Skogland (06:11):

It has more shock value.

Mark Richards (06:12):

Yeah. Well, in Obra, I probably failed four to six courses during the process. And then, and I don't know if you know this, I actually lost my license for a period of time because when I got my license, you'd do your articling within two years. You didn't

Eric Skogland (06:29):

Do it.

Mark Richards (06:29):

I didn't do it.

Eric Skogland (06:30):

Oh, perfect.

Mark Richards (06:31):

And I had a handful of listings that I actually, a good friend of mine, Michelle Walker, who I started in the business with, we had offices side by side. We'd always had these friendly competitions. And I was like, "I need you to help out and put these under your name. And then I work to get my license back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wasn't a proud moment, but maybe shows my enthusiasm for school and that whole process.

Eric Skogland (06:59):

I definitely left them to the last minute. 16 years ago or whatever it was. Yeah. But yeah, no, I mean, listen, I think it's a testament to this business. There is that sort of an untangible factor. Intangible factor. Where you don't need to. Everybody has different skillsets in this business.

Mark Richards (07:24):

And this business is very simple. Everybody tries to overcomplicate this business, but at the end of the day, it's very, very simple. And it really is just connections, working with people and being out there and talking with more people than you're not.

Eric Skogland (07:42):

Simple, not easy.

Mark Richards (07:43):

Simple, not easy.

Eric Skogland (07:44):

Yeah. And going back to creating that painting company, cutting your teeth in business, so to speak, having some similarities with the business, obviously a lot of differences as well. But one thing you also built with that business is a database, and that probably helped you a lot, right?

Mark Richards (08:03):

It did, because I actually still have people probably on that database from when I was a painter. But the big thing, we had great friends of ours that were living on Northern Dancers, so in Pleasantville, and selling their house. And I had met their neighbors and hung out with them and helped their neighbors buy a house. And they put my sign on the lawn first, which was unbelievable. I'd had a little bit of traction. I remember we had started and everything was going fairly well. It was sort of that first year in, and I didn't make a trade. I think it was going on four or six months or something like that. And I remember I double-ended a deal that closed in 30 days and I had to borrow against it from the brokerage to keep paying the bills and so on, but it was great.

(08:59):

And then from there, it just slowly accelerated. So I had a great first year in real estate. I always said I made rookie of the year, but I don't know if I actually did make rookie of the year, but if I did my calculations because I came in halfway through it, it was good enough for me.

Eric Skogland (09:18):

We'll ask Michelle later. So really you could say you had a really great first or second half of your first year.

Mark Richards (09:25):

You got it.

Eric Skogland (09:26):

Everything sort of snowballed from there. And I think the power of what a for sale sign used to have versus what it has now, I'd say so. I do,

Mark Richards (09:36):

And I still believe in this wholly, is that signs sell signs. And however you want to call that as old school, but I think our whole fundamentals of this business goes back to old school.

Eric Skogland (09:48):

100%.

Mark Richards (09:50):

How many people you talk to relates to how many transactions you do, how much you put yourself out there. It was funny, I was listening to Sean's in your podcast.

Eric Skogland (09:58):

Yeah.

Mark Richards (09:59):

And fantastic guy, just love him. Tunic. Yeah. He is straight off the cuff, no bullshit, and just is so honest, which is so great. And I think I forget why I was bringing that up now, but it'll -

Eric Skogland (10:13):

Well, just his

Mark Richards (10:14):

Style

Eric Skogland (10:15):

Of speaking with people.

Mark Richards (10:16):

And he said, "My business will determine if I'm out there and if I'm pushing more, it's a direct relation to what business is going to come back to me."

Eric Skogland (10:27):

For sure. And I think you're a great example of some of the old school tactics in real estate or some of the things that people were doing in the '80s with real estate, '70s, whatever, are still mostly the very similar things that the top producing agents like yourself are doing now. I mean, yes, you can add in AI to help your business. Yes, you can use social media, of course. But really what you're saying is just connecting with people.

Mark Richards (11:00):

Yeah, and it's a people business. And one of my strengths was connecting people to their homes. Knowing somebody and saying, "I found your home." And having that connection to put two people together in a room and pull that transaction together was fantastic. And it was for a benefit of both people. I'd educate both parties individually and what a seller will sell their home for and what a buyer will buy their home for is all in seeing if you can put that deal together. And that was actually one reason I didn't come up on Deborah Bain's radar.

Eric Skogland (11:37):

Oh,

Mark Richards (11:38):

Interesting. Because I was doing exclusive deals. And my numbers and traction weren't there. And as we got bigger, obviously more signs are out there, more deals are happening and all that kind of stuff. And I am so thankful that we made the move to Hallmark when we did.

Eric Skogland (11:57):

You became worthy of Deborah's phone call.

Mark Richards (11:59):

I did. Yeah, I should pick it up.

Eric Skogland (12:04):

Yeah. Speaking of people and connections, I mean, one thing in terms of people that's very important to you is your family. You do work with your wonderful wife, Celine.

Mark Richards (12:13):

I do. Yeah. Why don't

Eric Skogland (12:14):

You tell me a little bit about how that came, some of the positives, the negatives, just how it is working so closely with your partner.

Mark Richards (12:25):

Well, the easiest way to say it is we run very different aspects of the business. She runs the high level, the marketing strategy, and we collide very little. So on big decisions, we do that. But in essence, she has her role of how she set that up, and I've always been more the sales and sales guy. I would always be the guy that people came to in the company to cry to. That is not Celine's MO. And she's an extremely smart business person. I can't say enough about her in regards to how and what she's done for the business. I have been the front face of it, and I enjoy that, and she actually enjoys being in the background and doing her thing. And I also think having a husband and wife that works in the same business and both being sales agents or registered real estate agents is tough because you're both running on client demands, reactional out.

(13:36):

And one thing that was always important to us was family. I've got two beautiful girls. They're 17 and 20 now, which blows my mind. I know. That's crazy. Yeah. And time was always one of those things. And I think with the business model, although we do well, we run a great business, I've probably sacrificed income for lifestyle, which has come out. And I think it comes across with the way we've built our team. The thing we want our agents to have, the way we want our support staff to have is running with a bit of a balance. And that's, in essence, how we've built the team out is saying you have a core competency as a sales agent and getting the minutia or doing the other aspects of that job are not really what you should be doing. So if we can have that taken care of for you and you can really just solely deal with clients and personal life, it's a great concoction for success.

Eric Skogland (14:44):

I got to say that was something, I mean, we'll get into this a little bit more, but when I was a sales rep and I got my start with the right sisters and then -

Mark Richards (14:56):

I had wanted you, but I don't think I was ready for you.

Eric Skogland (14:59):

You assumed that I was just going to come over

Mark Richards (15:01):

Or something.

Eric Skogland (15:02):

Well, I

Mark Richards (15:03):

Thought we had a pretty good connection.

Eric Skogland (15:04):

Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, no, listen, it was such a great experience working with your team. It feels like so long ago.

Mark Richards (15:14):

It does. I'm trying to think of how many years we worked together.

Eric Skogland (15:20):

It was directly with the team. It was just under four years.

Mark Richards (15:23):

Four years. Yeah. Three to four years.

Eric Skogland (15:25):

And one thing that was a bit of a rude awake when I started my own thing, Scogland Homes.

Mark Richards (15:34):

Which you did great at.

Eric Skogland (15:35):

Yeah, but the first year was scary as hell. And I'll tell you why, not only because, I mean, the main reason was because you had created such a strong support system within your team. All I had to worry about was going on appointments and connecting with people. And then when you go out on your own while you were with two top producing teams, I had never even loaded a listing before. So that -

Mark Richards (16:01):

I still have never loaded a

Eric Skogland (16:02):

List. No, and it was scary. But that's a testament to what you've created with your team where your team members can really just focus on business building activities.

Mark Richards (16:15):

And it's interesting because for a long time we wouldn't hire newbies. And because we wanted that agent to know what that grind was like prior to coming over to us. Because if you started with us, you always just though that was the way it was. And real estate is a very lonely business, although it's a very social one. It's a very lonely business. You're eating your car on every other day of the week. You're answering phone calls during family time or Sunday dinner or whatever it may be. And it wasn't until we actually got a little bit, I guess, more mature as a company where we had great senior agents that could truly mentor our juniors and our newbies. So that was something where we came in and we've had some great hires over the last couple years, and thank you to you for - Oh yeah, thanks.

(17:15):

But we've had some great hires and they've been able to go through the process. We have a junior program that they have to stay on between six months and a year where they're not able to touch a buyer or a seller without a senior on it. And that drive has actually been very successful for us and the agents that have come on, as well as the seniors as well, because they get to see it from new people's eyes.

Eric Skogland (17:39):

And I think your team has evolved in so many different ways.Because it's interesting, you talk about that element, the junior and having mentorship. We really were just a bunch of relatively senior agents when I was working with you. And it's really cool to see the progression of your team, which kind of brings me to one of the things I wanted to talk about, and that's collaboration and masterminding. So that's been something that's been big for you. You know what? Before we get into that, the other side is I wanted to talk about your transition to RE/MAX Hallmark. So you were still somewhat of an individual agent when you came over?

Mark Richards (18:26):

I was. And Celine really wanted to learn how to build a team. And the brokerage that we were with, it was funny, there was a big exodus to RE/MAX at the time from my previous company. And the broker owner came to me and he said, "You'll be the top of the food chain here. You'll be number one in the office." And I was two or maybe three years in, and that wasn't appealing to me. I wanted somebody to chase. And that's actually been true when we get back into the mentoring, the coaching, the peer-to-peer group and so on that we do with Hallmark. And I looked at it to say, "I want to grow. I want to do better. I want more. And how do I learn that?" And they weren't necessarily really supportive of the team aspect of it, and it was newish.

Eric Skogland (19:18):

You mean the old brokerage you were with?

Mark Richards (19:20):

The old brokerage. And when we sat down with Deb, it was funny because I remember when I started and they said, "Well, don't go over to Hallmark. There are a bunch of sharks over there. They won't share and they won't do this and they won't do that." And from minute one, it was an opposite experience. So when I first got my license, I was actually friends with Audrey Azad, and an absolute wonderful person, a beast of an agent, and just so consistent and so uncanningly open and there to help.

Eric Skogland (20:02):

It's amazing.

Mark Richards (20:04):

And I was with another brokerage and I could call her at any time to ask her advice. And she was an open book and just absolutely fantastic. And when I came over to Hallmark, it was more and more of the same of people sharing, chatting, finding the positive or the growth by helping each other, which was a delight. And that allowed us to build the team.

Eric Skogland (20:31):

It's that collaboration over competition. It's one of the mantras we've got. And I think it's so cool to see and getting more into as your team continued to grow and you started to create these peer-to-peer mastermind groups.

Mark Richards (20:48):

Well, that came about. So I think we were number one, two or three in the company. And Celine, myself, Ken and Deb sat down and I said, "Guys, where do I go from here?" I was doing at the time a fair amount of speaking for Hallmark with individual agents or agents that were looking to start a team, build their business and so on. And I said, "Well, I've sort of grown to this point and I want to know where do I go next? Who do I learn from?" And we sat down, I remember it was at the Queen Street office. And within - The

Eric Skogland (21:30):

Old one or the new one?

Mark Richards (21:31):

The old one.

Eric Skogland (21:31):

Oh, yeah.

Mark Richards (21:32):

Yeah. If you Google some old coaching stuff came up with Ken and I and

(21:41):

When he started doing that. And within, I think, 24 hours, Kenny called me and he said, "I got it." And he was doing this peer-to-peer group with brokerages across North America or across. And he said, "This is what we're going to do. We're going to put together the top agents and we're going to put them in a room together. It is a non-competing markets. We're going to drive this forward so everybody can openly share. We'll go in and evaluate each individual's business on a six-month basis. Sort of tear it apart, your full financials open, culture of the team, how it's working, what the owner-operator needs to improve on, what they're doing great, and so on. And I'm proud to say we're over seven years now of that group. It's evolved, it's changed. We've changed the format. We've gone back to what works, what doesn't work.

(22:40):

We've got amazing people in that group, and it's still striving for further growth. And Ken, Steve, Deb are still there. And it's been a great thing for us, not only personally with the connections that we've made from amazing people, top producers, but on a business front, it's eye-opening of what other people are doing out there and how you can learn and grow. That competition thing, it's funny. Everybody gets so scared of it and somebody's going to take my business, but really everybody has a fit. Everybody has somebody that'll work well with them and not necessarily work well in other, and there's a connection there, and there's really enough to go around.

Eric Skogland (23:25):

For sure. I mean, there's 60-something thousand realtors in Trep, but there's still so much business to go around. And when I think of back to that sort of collaboration, that's something that I've always known about you. Even just from a recruiting standpoint, I know that if I'm in conversation with another agent,

Mark Richards (23:49):

I

Eric Skogland (23:50):

Know that I can give them your phone number and you'll be more than happy to chat with them. I mean, we're all stronger together.

Mark Richards (23:58):

And that's one thing that I think Hallmark has done through the entirety of its history is pull people together. And the way Hallmarkers deal with Hallmarkers is second to none. And it is a community. Yeah, it is a very tight community, and it's been the greatest thing I've done.

Eric Skogland (24:21):

Well, and you've created strong relationships from some of our agents out in Ottawa, in Durham, and Simco region. You've got some -

Mark Richards (24:33):

Jason Pilon and I, who runs an amazing business out in Ottawa, he's a part of our peer-to-peer group and learned so much from him. And that guy is not only a great person, great family man, and great business owner, is one of my great friends. We just went to sanctuary together. I came - You guys are

Eric Skogland (24:55):

Insufferable

Mark Richards (24:56):

Together. Yeah, literally. I came back and we just had probably one of the best times. My cheeks were sore from laughing so much.

Eric Skogland (25:08):

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. So going back to when you started a team versus an individual, one thing that I've noticed is that there's a lot of agents that want to start a team maybe even just out of the, for whatever reason, whether it's their ego, whether they think it's going to help their business, but they might not be busy enough or there's different factors to it. When did you have team building on the mind? When did you think it made sense? Obviously it was a pretty natural progression for you, but you went through a lot of -

Mark Richards (25:39):

Learning experiences.

Eric Skogland (25:42):

A lot of learning experiences, right?

Mark Richards (25:44):

But I think when I looked at it in regards to team, let's go to the progression of individual agent team and so on. When I got to a certain level of revenue, I hired on an assistant. The old numbers I used to use was if you're at 250,000 in GCI or more, you should have a full-time assistant that allowed you freeing up your time from doing paperwork to actually just dealing with clients. And then a lot of agents that I talk to will get into the base of I've got a team of five or six people that work with me, agents. And really what I get back down to is what do you want out of this business? And we read a great book when we were in our 20s, and it was Smart Couples Finish Rich. And it's like the cheesy old school book, but it actually taught us to think reversed.

(26:45):

So don't go out thinking about what money you want to make. Go out with thinking of what lifestyle you want. How many vacations, how much time with your family, what kind of cars do you want to drive? All of that kind of stuff. So that lifestyle drives the income that you need to make. And we wrote a five-year plan that we actually looked back at years ago and it was like, "Oh, wow, we actually..."

Eric Skogland (27:09):

You nailed it.

Mark Richards (27:10):

Yeah. And so on that, I see agents that are individual and they're starting to build and they bring buyer agents. But what they're doing is they're diluting the money that's coming in too great before they need it. So they're adding on agents before there's actually a need to add on agents. And there is an ego that comes about it that I have with this team, I have X, but really at the end of the day is what does it do for you and your family? If you're in this business, we're all in this business to create a life, financial stability, and whatever it is personally that you want. And when you grow it too fast, sometimes you lose sight of that because then it becomes about revenue dollars coming through and it doesn't necessarily become about what you're actually taking home and making.

Eric Skogland (28:01):

It's like, is that even growth?

Mark Richards (28:03):

Yeah.

Eric Skogland (28:03):

Right? Yeah. You see it a lot and it's something that some agents aren't built to also be team leaders from a standpoint. Or maybe I shouldn't say they're not built, but they don't understand what comes with it because you've taken on a lot of mentorship as well.

Mark Richards (28:24):

Yeah, which I think that's probably the guy that I am. I connect with so many people, but it's just if you're having an Uber ride downtown and you have a great conversation, or you're server at a restaurant and you get to find out a little bit about them or chat or have that connection. And it comes from, for me, a place of sincerity. It's just because I have an honest interest in it. And through the team, I get to see, I've had people with me for 16 years, and I get to see them grow, their families grow, their wants and lifestyle needs change and what's important to them from when they were in their 20s to their 30s still. And that's a great progression. We've got a couple people on the team, we've got three that are all expecting right now.

Eric Skogland (29:19):

Wow.

Mark Richards (29:19):

Yeah. And watching that whole dynamic of life change and all that stuff come together is really good. But going back to that team aspect of it, one, identifying what you want out of this business and what you want for your personal life. And then two, building on the time of need to build. Adding on an agent when you don't have time to keep up, or you're having leads that are unanswered because you can't get back to them instead of adding a flurry and trying to push volume over a balance. Right. Yeah.

Eric Skogland (29:56):

What do you look for in an agent?

Mark Richards (30:00):

Yeah. It's funny because you never know how good an agent's going to be when you're sitting down and you're interviewing them. They can come off absolutely fantastic and you'd think that they're going to knock it. They've got the best social circles, they've got the best partner makes great amount of money, they're influencers, they've got X, but they don't know how to push a deal across the finish line. They don't know how to service it. So overall, I think work ethic and good people. And that comes down to the core of who we bring onto the team. So what I do is in a hiring process is I'll go through an initial meet and then Celine and Arthur, Arthur's my right arm who - We're

Eric Skogland (30:45):

Going to talk about Arthur.

Mark Richards (30:47):

Arthur's my right arm. And so they'll go through me. And then I have the agent who's interviewing with us pick any three team members that they want to pick from the team. And I get them to go have a coffee with them or a Zoom or whatever it may be. And in essence, what they're doing is they're cross-interviewing each other. So one, the agents on our team are very protective of who comes onto the team. We are past, it's interesting, we used to have this scarcity of when new agents would come onto the team, the current agents would pull back because they would think that their business would actually decrease or not be as successful and they were scarce of that. But the transition was as new people came onto the team, the team bred new life and more deals and transactions and connections happened because of that agent to agent collaboration and how we would grow from one another.

(31:42):

So that's a great way for me, one, to have a new agent talk to anybody on the team to say the no bullshit of what it's actually like. Is Mark selling me a story or is this - Is it all snake oil? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sign to your press hard. Or is it reality and what's the actual culture like? And then I get feedback from my agents who say, "You know what? There's a spidey sense that's going off that's not right." And that has been something so great on the team because if somebody's not right and they're on, the team is strong enough to one, let me know, and eventually that person usually will transition out of it because it's not a great fit. Which is how we've kept our culture throughout the years.

Eric Skogland (32:38):

How important do you think your team growth has been with the help of Arthur? Arthur. Did Arthur come on with you?

Mark Richards (32:57):

Gracie just turned 17 the end of July, and he was with me within I think three months of her being born. Arthur is an amazing gatekeeper to all things in the company. His honesty, his never compromising for doing the right thing. He'll have my back. This is where the emotion comes

Eric Skogland (33:25):

From. He's an amazing person.

Mark Richards (33:29):

He really is. He'll have my back through and through, which I can say about so many people on the team, but he's been an amazing person to be able to look at how he protects us. And he's as honest as the day is long. And I actually almost lost Arthur one time.

Eric Skogland (33:50):

Really?

Mark Richards (33:51):

Yeah. And we were working together. It was the team of smaller. I was driving hard, working all the time. And we were going through this friction point and he wasn't happy. And he was like, "I just don't know if this is going to work out. And I think I'm remembering it right." And as you know, I'm quite an emotional character. And I've settled down a lot in my later years, but it was like talking to your spouse or your partner in life. I was like, "Are you not going to fight for this? I don't want to let you go." And we figured it out. And I remember I was on a showing with one of my good friends and long-term clients, and I told them that I don't know if Arthur's going to stay, and they were just beside themself. And they were like, "Arthur, you're everything.

(34:48):

He's number two on my favorites list. I talked to him." He's

Eric Skogland (34:52):

Always there. I don't know if you can see this on. It still says Arthur Hotline on my directory. He

Mark Richards (35:01):

Was - twenty four seven. And I try to be as respectful as possible. And as we've all grown in the business, he's got a beautiful young boy, has a great family, and so we try and balance each other out. But he is the voice that most of the team members go to on a technical question, comparable questions. He really is fundamental into our company.

Eric Skogland (35:33):

His growth's been amazing. To see your team grow, he's kind of personifies that. And to bring this back to how people can connect to that, I mean, you started a team and you needed somebody. You have your Celine and you have your Arthur.

Mark Richards (35:52):

Imagine Celine picking up my phone call. Oh, no,

Eric Skogland (35:54):

No, no, no, no, no. No, but you wouldn't have been able to do anything near what you've done.

Mark Richards (36:01):

No. He's been an uncanny support system for me and just fantastic. And now for everybody. And where the team grows, I think we're 24, 26 people on the team, 12 agents, and the rest support staff. So we're highly service oriented. And through that growth, what happens a lot of times is little pockets of the company happen. So where you've create friendships with other people and other people keep other people on the team. And that community may have started with Celine and I, but it continues with everybody on the team and the different layers of that and the different connections of how it runs is pretty cool.

Eric Skogland (36:50):

Yeah. No, it's a well-oiled machine, but to watch that, it took a lot of growing pains as well. I mean, I want to ask you about some of your strengths and maybe some of your weaknesses as well. Where do you see, aside from the team building, just as a realtor itself, where do you see your biggest strength?

Mark Richards (37:13):

As a realtor myself?

Eric Skogland (37:14):

Yeah.

Mark Richards (37:15):

I love my two favorite parts of a transaction are the meet and greet and the negotiation. The meet and greet, building somebody's trust, having them know it's a right fit, you feeling like it's a right fit, and sincerely wanting to find that person their place and watch their family grow. And I'll talk myself out of more deals for clients than I'll put them into. And I am so unbelievably honest on what I think is right and what I think is wrong for a client.

Eric Skogland (37:52):

So the trust factor is pretty huge

Mark Richards (37:54):

For your clients. Yeah, I think it's huge. And we have to do paperwork and we have to establish relationship and we have to go through all of that with what we do. And that being probably one of their largest transactions or largest things that their assets in their family. So you have to go through that. But I would say I can shake a hand and I know that we have a trust and respect and we're going to do the right things by each other throughout the process, which will drive that forward.

Eric Skogland (38:29):

Yeah. I think one thing that you might not mention in terms of a strength, but something that I've always, I've kind of chirped you about this before, but when it comes to, especially in the east end of Toronto, the beaches even more specifically, so you're like Rain Man. When it comes to you could just walk down Kenilworth and be like, "This sold for that, that sold for this. Oh, that was re-listed, blah, blah, blah." That's never been a strength of mine, to be completely honest. Can you speak to that? Is that just something that is -

Mark Richards (39:01):

I think it comes with interest. It comes with something like. I'm not a sports guy. So if you ask me about how the Jays are doing or how the leafs are doing or the raps or anything like that, I get lost in it and I play along a bit, but I'm out of my league. On the most part, you ask me when my wedding anniversary is, I have it written on my ring and I still forget, but it's a thing that both my wife and I do. But if you ask me what house sold, when it sold within the last 15 to 20 years, I'll know the history, the family to it, why they traded, what was great about the house, what didn't work about the house. And that's where I started doing these drive-arounds with clients years ago. And somebody coming into the neighborhood, knowing that product and knowing those ins and outs of what street was great, what was congested, what property should trade for, and then what the community that they were buying into was, and I've done a lot of moving as you know.

(40:04):

I wanted to

Eric Skogland (40:04):

Talk

Mark Richards (40:05):

About that. Yeah. Through the years. So I've lived on, I'm going to guess, 15 plus streets. That aspect of it has been fantastic. And I think my knowledge base on that product is fantastic. It is. And it's because I've been so involved in a community for so long.

Eric Skogland (40:23):

Can you talk a little bit about the drive arounds? Because I think that that's a unique feature that you've. I mean, it's always been very. It's interesting to me because before you even show somebody a house, tell me a little bit about what you do.

Mark Richards (40:38):

So you'll always have the dynamic between two people that are buying a house that one wants something newer, the other one wants more character, and you'll probably be a psychiatrist more than a real estate agent at most times going through that. And then when you actually get involved with somebody of what they think they want compared to what eventually they'll get to, it's shortening that pattern because everybody is driven down a street, but do they really look at the homes that go on that? So I'll spend two to three hours with a client, we'll grab a coffee, we'll go out, we'll run in what I would call the four quadrants of my neighborhood, and we'll start to explain what each value will, or what each positive and what negative will be, how they'll do it. And it's funny, after that drive, they'll be so much more clearer on what they actually want.

(41:43):

And although they've driven down those streets probably a dozen times, it's really taking a look at the houses, where they go. And that was a great way for me to find out what houses they visually liked the outside of. And it also, it was a clarity because my brain worked so well in regards to what everything sold for. If somebody had a million and a half or a two and a half million or a three and a half million dollar budget or whatever that number was, and they said, "Well, I really love this house." And they said, "Well, that house traded three years ago for a million dollars more than what your budget is, but this house traded in your budget. And if you like this house or if you wanted a little bit more of this community and what school districts are important." And that whole process was a really, it's always been and still is a great thing to do.

Eric Skogland (42:36):

It's built trust for your clients instantly. I mean, being locked in on your neighborhood basically shows them in these drive-arounds that you know what you're talking about. And it's

Mark Richards (42:49):

Interesting.

Eric Skogland (42:50):

It's usually

Mark Richards (42:51):

When I do that and I don't make anybody sign a contract with me to come out and do all that kind of stuff. It's more about making sure - They're probably

Eric Skogland (42:57):

Begging you to sign the contract right after

Mark Richards (42:59):

Because - After that, I haven't lost one.

Eric Skogland (43:01):

Yeah. And some agents might think of that and go, "Oh, that's a lot of time to spend with your client. You haven't even shown them a house." But what you're saying is it's probably saving them time on the amount of houses that you're actually showing them because you've already locked in a bit more of an understanding and they've solidified more of what they're looking for.

Mark Richards (43:20):

Absolutely. And that's where that education process of when you really dive into it, instead of a lot of agents will go out there, they'll meet a client, then they'll put them up on an auto search instead of actually getting to know them. Instead of diving down to what are their wants? What are their kids like? Do they have kids? Are they downsizing? Are they upsizing? What's their life look for the next three, five, seven, 10 years? And how do you find the right property for them?

Eric Skogland (43:46):

What's the couple's dynamic?

Mark Richards (43:47):

Oh my God. Yeah. Who's the boss? Yeah. Nine times out of 10.

(43:54):

Yep. And that's been great. And I'll bring my agents out on it. Another thing that I'll do with my agents is I'll have them do a drive around with me. And that gets them, whether they're a lifelong East Ender or if they're new to the community. And I always say when you're getting into real estate and whether that's the right move for you and how you want to do that and where do you want to sell and where do you want to live? Establishing where you are living, working, and breathing is so important because that community around you will support you through that. And it makes a great distinction of I got a fantastic life because on the most part, my transactions and the sales that we do are all within a 10 to 20 block radius. I had an amazing walk with a good friend of mine this morning and I finished the walk at 10:55 and I was at my first showing at 11 o'clock.

Eric Skogland (45:02):

Yeah, I know. I'm aware. Yeah. So okay, there was something that we almost broached, but how many houses have you lived in the beach? How many houses have you bought and sold? How many houses have you renovated? I don't need it. Tell me a little bit about that and kind of a two-part to that question. And I know we could talk for hours. We will have to wrap this up eventually. But there is creating wealth in this business through commission, and then there's building wealth in other ways while still utilizing the skills and talents that you have in real estate. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Mark Richards (45:42):

Yeah, of course. So probably an easy way to put it is my eldest daughter is 20 years old and she's probably lived in 21 plus houses. And that's from houses we've owned in the interim, houses we've rented while we've been renovating a house or whatever. And what I will say off the bat is we didn't do the moving out of a full financial base, but I come from a design, renovation, contracting background. I love the process of a reno. I love building something that you can be proud of. And my wife is extremely talented in design. And she came from moving a ton as a kid and her parents being in essence flippers before there were flippers. So also having, I think, that community of meeting people on new streets, creating new neighbors, new friendships. Some of my greatest friendships come from some of the houses that I've moved to.

(46:49):

And one was we lived on Scarborough Road and we built a house there, and it was this great time in our kids' lives. And the families around us were fantastic, but the family right next to us.

(47:07):

It's funny, Mike and I actually just went down to Nashville and went to a concert, just the two of us, which was off the charts great. But our kids used to play between the backyards. And it was like something what you did when you grew up where you didn't know if their kids were going to be at your place for dinner or your kids were going to be at their place for dinner. And that has come through great for us. But I also say, and I say this to a lot of agents, is I make a good living selling real estate, but my wealth has come from investing in real estate. And that's been a key part of where we are today, what we get to do. And it's also been an amazing part of Hallmark and how Hallmark has embraced that and wanted us to grow that and get into that and really looking at it as where do you want to be?

(48:02):

And it's been a great process for us. We finished a house a year or so ago that we're on in the beach now that we absolutely love. And my youngest daughter who's got one more year of high school has said, "I don't want to move." Just hold on. Just hold on. Hold on

Eric Skogland (48:21):

Six months.

Mark Richards (48:22):

Get me through. Yay 12 without moving. And

(48:28):

We're loving that. And we're building a property up north in Muskoka, which is so exciting and it's been such a great process. We're working with a great builder up there and having a lot of fun with the design. Celine also runs a design company with her partner, Shannon Cooper there, which is so great. And the design stuff that we get to see and do and feel on that is fantastic. But yeah, that has been a great part of what we do. And I went through a lot of iterations of it. When we first got into real estate, I remember buying a building at the corridor of Woodbine in Gerard. And then I've got some funny stories and if we had hours, we could go through them all. But that income-based investment, the long-term, not just a quick flip where somebody's paying your mortgage off for you and you are creating wealth through those channels.

(49:22):

And probably one of my downfalls is every house that I've been in, I thought that I couldn't necessarily keep or afford to stay in. And that's probably one of my own demons or one of my own paradigms that I've set in my head from the time that I was a kid or waking up every January and never thinking I'm going to sell another house again.

Eric Skogland (49:48):

Right. You're not alone in that. A lot of people have experienced that. Yeah. What's one piece of advice you would give to a new agent or maybe some advice that you would give to an agent that's been around the block, but is maybe struggling right now? Markets are different. I tend to try not to blame everything on the market, but any advice that you'd have for a newer agent or somebody that's struggling currently?

Mark Richards (50:11):

A newer agent? Do the work. I still to this day, I get up first thing in the morning, I get my coffee. I get to work, I get showered, shaved, and I'm at my desk. And consistency will pay off every day of the week. And I talk to a lot of new agents and I ask them what do they do? Well, I got up and I looked at my phone and then I went for a walk and then I did this.

Eric Skogland (50:41):

Or they're on MLS for three hours.

Mark Richards (50:43):

Three hours. I'm like, "What are you doing? You don't know everybody you're looking for." And so consistency, using data management source. We use Follow-Up Boss, which has been fantastic. Keeping in touch and connecting. And you don't do deals from behind your computer. You do deals from meeting people, being out there, being in your community. So treating it as a job. And I think a lot of people like the lifestyle of real estate, but the lifestyle of real estate comes from the work that's put into it. And then I think for -

Eric Skogland (51:23):

It's not podcasting. It's not -

Mark Richards (51:25):

It's not the best restaurants and what does this taste like? And how can I be on camera more? And listen, the Instagram, the YouTube, all of these things are different channels to show that you're out there.

Eric Skogland (51:39):

It backs up the things that you're actually doing.

Mark Richards (51:41):

You got it.

(51:42):

And I think those are all complimentary. Success sells success. And a part of being a team where our agents can utilize our sales of a more senior agent and pull that in and all of that knowledge that they're getting influenced by or surrounded by is absolutely fantastic. And they can use that to their success for their growth, for a faster change to support their family and make decent income and so on. One of the things that I see from a more seasoned agent is they forget what their job is. And it's fundamental. And we talked about it at the beginning was really it's how many people you talk to. How often do you put yourself out there? Are you sitting at home at night? Are you out connecting? Are you doing dinners? Are you doing lunches, coffees, walks, all of that kind of stuff? Because it is a network of networks.

(52:46):

And when agents come back to it and when they have a slow year, it's not necessarily, because you'll see this on the brokerage side. Agent has a couple bad years and what do they do? Well, I'm going to switch to this new brokerage because that new brokerage will change my whole career and it's going to pull me to the next level. I sincerely believe that if you have a great brokerage that you work with that supports you and that brokerage of the community is fantastic, you have to look into why you're not doing the work and why are those trades not coming? And what do you actually have to put in to do that? Because a lot of people rest on their morals. So they wait for a phone call to come in. They are not driving that business forward. And that is, again, whether you're in this for one day or 35 years, it all comes back to being out there and being relevant.

Eric Skogland (53:41):

Yeah. Connections.

Mark Richards (53:42):

Connections. It's all connections.

Eric Skogland (53:49):

Well, buddy, I'm so glad we did this.

Mark Richards (53:51):

Me too, man.

Eric Skogland (53:52):

We might have to do a part two where it's just wild stories of you and some of your investment properties. That'd be a good one. But thank you so much for jumping on. Really appreciate it.

Mark Richards (54:03):

Thank you so much for having me, and this was so fun, and I can't wait to hear all the other ones that you do.

Eric Skogland (54:07):

Yeah, fantastic. Okay, buddy. Cheers.