Broker Rehab
Broker Rehab is where independent brokers come to recover from burnout, rebuild their freedom, and recharge their love for the business. Hosted by Courtney Twiss and Jeff Sutherlin — two brokers who’ve lived the highs, the hustle, and the 2 a.m. emails — this is where real talk meets real recovery.
Broker Rehab
Episode 9 - The Secrets of a Luxury Real Estate Veteran
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Join us as we delve into the insights of Nick Segal, a seasoned luxury real estate broker with over 35 years of experience. Discover his secrets to success, the importance of integrity, long-term client relationships, and how technology and AI are shaping the future of real estate.
Takeaways
Success in real estate is a long-term organic process that requires nurturing client relationships.
Integrity and reputation are crucial for building a high-profile luxury brokerage.
Supporting agents with support and alliances accelerates growth and success.
Understanding and leveraging technology and AI can significantly enhance efficiency.
Clear internal values and qualities like loyalty, graciousness, and qualification differentiate top brokerages.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Nick Siegel and His Journey
03:01 The Evolution of a Luxury Real Estate Career
06:06 The Importance of Long-Term Relationships in Real Estate
08:56 Collaboration and Support in the Real Estate Industry
11:58 Hiring and Cultural Fit in Real Estate
14:58 Navigating High-Profile Clients and Their Unique Needs
17:59 The Role of Technology and AI in Real Estate
21:04 Differentiating Your Brokerage and Building a Strong Culture
Connect with Nick: nsegal@carolwoodre.com
Welcome to Broker Rehab. I am one of your hosts, Courtney Twist, along with my partner in crime, Jeff Sutherland. And we are so excited to have a very special guest today, Nick Siegel, who with Carol Wood Estates, one of the most respected names in luxury real estate, representing some of the most high-profile properties and clients in the country. But what makes Nick different isn't just the level he operates at, it's how he thinks. Earlier in his career, he hosted Speaking Kid Podcast, which focused on communication and relationships, something that still clearly shows up in how he approaches both business and life today. He's also an author and speaker known for his perspective on living and working with intention and integrity. So he's playing the highest level of business, but he's also deeply intentional about how he shows up. And that's exactly what we're diving into today. Nick, thank you so much for joining us.
SPEAKER_02You're very welcome. Thanks for having me. It's always fun to listen to someone else talk about you while you're there and think, huh, that's that's an interesting perspective. So thank you very much. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Of course. How would you how would you say the perspective is different than what you would say?
SPEAKER_02You know it. I'm so close to it. It's it's one of those things where you know we're every day it's one foot in front of the other, right? And and and the body of work speaks for itself, ideally.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but 30 years or more in the business? Is that accurate?
SPEAKER_0235. 35 and counting.
SPEAKER_00Kind of like Jeff. You guys are pretty similar. Not at years. A few years on you. Why don't you tell our listeners like where you're located and us a little bit more about you with your background?
SPEAKER_02Sure. So I'm sitting in Beverly Hills, uh, California right now. And uh, as you referenced, Carolwood Estates is uh my brokerage. I'm the managing broker and I'm one of the three partners of the firm. We started Carrollwood uh just over three years ago. Uh we've been very fortunate. Uh we have about uh 180 selling associates and um in about 210 with support uh licenses. And last year we did 4.7 billion dollars in in sales. So it's been uh a really uh it's been a wonderful ride and it's a great culmination to my career. So uh, but I've built and sold two other firms before. So I'm I'm well versed in brokerage and uh the dynamics, uh the emotional intelligence that's needed to be part of the equation, and also uh the tenacity that that is absolutely a requisite to be successful.
SPEAKER_00So most of our listeners for this podcast are brokers or team leads. And at least from my perspective, I'm very curious. So it's one thing running running an independent brokerage. Jeff and I both are grand independent brokerages. It's another, I feel like, running one of your caliber in the Beverly Hills market with that super high-end luxury clientele. Have you always done luxury or did you break into that market and or tell me a little bit about that journey?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I started uh just over my shoulder here in West Hollywood in 1989, 1990, and I was selling$250,000 homes. So I I've seen the spectrum, as it were. You know, we've all evolved, and if you're in the business long enough, your business will naturally elevate. Um, I I I always smile when someone says, I want to, I wanna, you know, up level my business. I want to take it to the next level. Well, that takes time and that's an organic process. And I think those that are most um successful in it are the ones that nurture the clients that they have and follow their trajectory as they grow in their own businesses, and you become part of uh uh of that lift as well.
SPEAKER_00That makes sense.
SPEAKER_01You know what's really cool about your your sorry, Courtney, uh you know what's really cool about your background, Nick, is that I was looking and in 2012, you're the real estate agent of the year, and you spent 15 years on professional standards. So it sounds like you've always been uh reinvesting back into our industry to help the consumers get a better experience. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think it's important that we always give back. You know, we're we are blessed to do what we do. Um, if you look at the landscape, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to be a real estate agent. Uh I I'm always amazed at how certain people can get a real estate license. And so my intention has always been to make uh the profession a more prestigious one, to make it more elevated, to to really honor uh each other as human beings. It is, you know, in many respects, the business is flawed in that we don't get paid until the deal closes. And that can cause people to um act very in a myriad of ways. So the more that we can hold the line, the more that we can be accountable to ourselves first and foremost, and that extend that um to our community, our real estate community, and then to the community of clients at large, I think that's very important. And so early on I made that commitment to myself and to the industry, and it has served me very well, both from an education perspective, also a way of seeing what to do, how to then impart that to the agents that I've had the opportunity to work with, and also uh how I conduct myself with my clients.
unknownI love that.
SPEAKER_00I love that. I think you know the world we live in right now, too, is so much around instant results, right? Everyone expects everything to happen instantaneously, and your brokerage is large, you have a lot of agents working for you. How do you help them with learning how to play the long game? Because I think those of us that have been in this a while, it's the long game. A lot of our newer agents might not realize that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, it takes there's a learning curve of this. You know, you know, you give an experienced broker an opportunity and you give a new broker uh that same opportunity, the odds of conversion are are stacked to that seasoned veteran more than the young broker coming in. So the more you can look at it philosophically from uh the the perspective of, okay, if I get an opportunity here, I realize I don't have all the answers. I need to bring someone in who can support me with that. So it starts with your brokerage choice. Who do you feel confident in that within that brokerage can support you? And if it's an agent, great, that you can co-list something with or work a buyer with, or if it's your manager or if it's your broker, um, make sure you surround yourself with people that inspire you first and foremost, because those are the ones whose business practices you want to emulate. And when you get opportunities, don't be pennywise and pound foolish. Um, bring someone in, help them build not only watching them in that moment, that also then uh, you know, two signatures on a page. Now you've got the opportunity to create business. You can then leverage every success for your growth over the course of time. And you'll uh a time will come when you'll naturally drop off from having to bring someone in. But early on, don't think you're gonna take these things down on your own. There's too much competition, there's too much, too much sophistication in it. And if you don't have allies and support to help you learn, um, you will flounder.
SPEAKER_00Agreed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so don't be a lone ranger, right?
SPEAKER_02Um I I you know, there's no there's no right way to it's like parenting, you know, there's no right way to be a parent, but you can learn from experience. And if you bring the best of who you are, but I will tell you one thing, no matter how long you've been in the business, if you have no track record of sales, you certainly have life experience. And you know, when when I've often challenged people, why should I hire you as a broker? And I get these flowery, nonsensical responses, and I'm gonna work hard for you. I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna get you the most amount of money and the least amount of time. That's all nonsense. It's all horseshit, candidly. Excuse my French. It's it's what who are you as a human being and what are you gonna bring to the party? And if you need reinforcements, you have the wit and the wisdom to bring those reinforces. So wherever your inefficiencies are, you're gonna have support. I just literally a guy, one of the guys I work very closely with, came into my office, which is talking about a property in in the flats of Beverly Hills for about$20 million. And he knew he was on the outside looking. And this is a guy that did$70 million on his own last year, right? And so he brings in another one of our wonderfully seasoned veterans and says, Would you would you go meet with this seller with me? And they went together, and now they have a very strong chance of getting it because the agent that they brought in has two properties in the immediate vicinity and has a track record as long as his arm in that immediate area that enhances the credibility that goes toe-to-toe with anybody. So it doesn't matter how long you've been in the business, read the tea leaves, see the landscape, and use it to your advantage and bring in the resources that you have around you.
SPEAKER_01That's gold. I mean, you're basically talking about going from a scarcity mindset to more of an abundance mindset, right? Instead of just doing it on your own, you're like, hey, let's look at creative ways to bring in alliances to go out and help my value proposition.
SPEAKER_02In every form of fashion, and whether it's technology, whether it's I mean, listen, start by knowing your contract. I uh there's so many agents that don't even understand the leverage that's available to them and the standard, and in this case, the California Association of Realtors contract. But I see people stub their toe and and fumble constantly. Uh that it just shows their inexperience. And if you show me your inexperience, I'm gonna eat you alive.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I bet you are.
SPEAKER_02Well, tell me a little bit about very soft smile. It's it's very charming, but there if you I I also say if you don't have a right cross in this business, if you don't have that that part of you that says, hold it, we're not doing that today, um you'll be walked over. So you need to you need to have we can be gracious, we can be loyal, we we are all those things, but we also know what is that limit that is not to be crossed, ideally.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Now, so you know that limit, but I I'm gonna go back a little bit when you were talking about with your agents and the way that they collaborate.
SPEAKER_02When it comes to hiring agents, who's your avatar and how does your process look uh by reputation, first and foremost, because we are uh established and people come to us. We last year, well, actually over the last 24 months, we turned down in company dollar commissions easily north of$2 million. That would have gone right to our bottom line profitability because the cultural fit wasn't right. So we are steadfast in who we invite to join our company. And I would hope that everybody, um, any broker listening in would really find their own North Star as to what is the tolerance level, what is the you know, the acumen that you're looking for, what is the ethos of who you are and how you're gonna run your business as a team lead or as a broker, and make sure that is the filter that everyone must pass through to align with you. Because if you sacrifice culture for money, you will you will compromise your business and it and those wheels will fall off the bus quickly.
SPEAKER_00We've seen it. All right, let me many. I mean, I've definitely have made some mistakes in my career as a broker, and you you learn that lesson the hard way, you go, okay, I will not do that again.
SPEAKER_02Well, but you court learned it in one, you're ahead of the game, right? Some people they don't trust themselves enough, so they need to learn the same lesson again and again and again. You know, when I Angelou says when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
SPEAKER_00That's so great. That's good.
SPEAKER_01I'm wondering about uh the prestigious people you've handled. Obviously, you have a portfolio of all these people that we probably know, you know, the common public knows. So did you fall into that over time or did you right out of the gates have these associations? That's the first question. And second question is what's different when working with those people than uh a non-public figure?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so no, that's again a part of the we've already talked about this, the evolution of your business comes because you do a wonderful job for someone and they refer you to somebody else. And along the line, that just happens to be people that are more household names. And uh, you know, I I've met many business managers and they handle wealthy people's money and they are their guideposts. Uh, and if you get a recommendation to um, you know, a successful person, a celebrity of sorts, uh, through that business manager, that's a very warm lead. And that must be nurtured uh above and beyond all else. Um and you know, they're just more layers of people you have to work through. Um the the the that client is not going to tell you the bad news, someone else is gonna tell you the bad news. They pay someone else to tell you that. So and and it's not really up for discussion when when when the hammer drops. Um, and you know, you're dealing with an attorney, you're dealing with a business manager, you're dealing with uh a lot of voices. Um, and so patience and perseverance are essential um when handling someone who um only hears yes in their life.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, this makes me have to ask this, and feel free to not respond if you can't. But do you have any like crazy stories or anything you can spill the tea on from some sort of you don't have to name any celebrities or anything, but I imagine you've come across some some pretty cool things in your 35 years. Is there any one story that you could share that's like pretty wild?
SPEAKER_02Well, I had a story in 1991, and I'm 18 months in the business, and I was referred uh to someone by a very credible director, uh very successful guy. And he said, This guy's coming into money and he's coming into town. And uh, you know, the the the origin of the money may be a little shady, but he's looking to buy houses for himself and he's got an entourage. They're staying at the Four Seasons, go take them out. And so I met with them, met them in the hotel room, and um suddenly they wanted to go to Malibu. And this is 1991, and they wanted to buy six million dollar houses and$10 million houses. And I'm buying one for him, and I'm buying one for you, and I'm buying one for you. Wide-eyed, bushy-tailed, bright and shiny, Nick Siegel coming out of the gate at about uh, I guess I was 30 years old, thinking that my ship has come in in a time when the market was terrible in 1991. And um, three weeks later I realized this was all a scam. This was all just a this was terrible sham. He couldn't even pay for the hotel room that he was in. And then I'm whisking him off to uh the airport to get away from uh all the people that he has shortchanged. So there are many stories in in the fair city. Uh that was a learning where I from that point forward my vetting process became far more detailed.
SPEAKER_00Good call. Good call. And there's even more scams there now, and they're getting more so sophisticated.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. Well, with wire fraud, and yes, we need to be very diligent with all that now.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if Jeff, you have a question, but I have another one. Not related. Do you want to go first? I know we have I want to wait to Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I guess the last thing I wanted to ask you, Nick, is there's so many changes happening at a breakneck pace in our industry. And, you know, obviously AI being at top of the list, right? Uh, what are you doing to incorporate AI? Are you incorporating AI? Uh, what do you think is gonna be the difference in the next like five years in our industry?
SPEAKER_02Well, I think we need to look at an 18-month horizon. Uh, I think five years, it's we're we're all gonna be getting into, you know, cars that levitate and shoot off in 82,000 directions. Um, no, I can't speak to that. But I think the next 18 months is what we need to look at because that's something that's more tangible and it and it's more realistic. AI is gonna become part of the fabric of everything that we do. Um, these alliances that are coming forward. Now, Keller Williams just yesterday announced uh a Zillow partnership, and uh I haven't really read into that too terribly much yet. Um, and then obviously the compass anywhere merger and now rocket mortgage coming in. So we're gonna have these alliances coming into play that are going to um certainly impact the market. We'll see how that translates ultimately to leads for the agent. We'll see how they're gonna disseminate that. Um, I think brokerage at its core is a very personalized business. And I think that it's important that we never lose sight of that personality of our business. But I think from a technology perspective, from an efficiency perspective, also how we value homes, we're gonna have more information. I mean, I'm I've been working on uh a technology for about five years. It's now incorporated into Carrollwood. Um, and we affectionately call it Rabingi. And what it does is you type in the address and it's it's fully it covers about 40% of the state of California, where in about seven, eight seconds you'll get not only a price, you'll get a price range, you'll get the market heat comps to tell you the story about what the trend of that immediate market is. You'll have all the comps you can pick and choose those. And you can sit with a seller in real time or a buyer and say, Well, you did your kitchen. So we've never had that ability to really sit in a room with the client and honor what they've done to their home, the square footage they've added, and in real time be able to refine your comps, refine the value. So that's something that we use effectively. We also capture, we have at any given moment right now. I saw the stats, we have$1.7 billion of off-market inventory in different stages of market uh that are going to come to market. That's all housed on everyone's phone, and you can connect your wants with the the buyer needs with the the inventory that we have. And then a text message goes right to uh both parties, the listing side and the buy side, to connect and and and start to create more commerce within our firm. So technology is playing a big role in everything we do. Um, those alliances are big, but I think uh, you know, AI is not intimidating if you understand like anything and how to use it. So do start to lean into it, see how it can make you more efficient, but don't let it think that it's gonna replace you. I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon.
SPEAKER_00I agree. Well, that actually kind of leads into my maybe final question for you today. I mean, you have clearly, you clearly have this amazing track record of success. You've built multiple brokerages, sold them, you've built another one that is just killing it. Other than looking at, you know, the PL or the EBITDA and all the things that you need when you're selling, how have you differentiated your businesses? Whether it's the one you're in now or previously, like what's your secret sauce for differentiating yourself? Because there's a lot of brokerages out there, and you clearly have set your bar high and done a really great job with your agents, your brand, your success. How are you doing that?
SPEAKER_02I think it's it's an internal process to begin with. It's it's no matter where you are with your brokerage, if you if you look at who your talent is, what your staff is, your location, all the dynamics, if you did your own assessment of it, um, and it's easier if you start from scratch, but if you're if you're you got to play the hand you're dealt already, um, it starts with what is the internal fortitude of what you want to create moving forward from this moment forward. If you listen to this, say, I want to do that, Nick. What am I gonna do? What do I need to change first? And it needs to start internally with where am I in alignment and where am I not in alignment. And I'll use the example of some years ago, literally maybe 15 years ago, I realized I was working with a host of different clients. And some of them had great personalities, some of them were loyal, some weren't, some were full of nonsense. And I realized what am I looking for? But I started with what am I willing to give, first and foremost. And I distilled It down to three categories, three qualities. And it was loyalty, graciousness, and qualification. And I am qualified. I know what I'm doing. I know how to negotiate a deal. I know, I know the dynamics of a deal. I know the contract. So I'm a solid foundation there. I am gracious. I will be very manage my time well. If I say I'm going to be there, I'll be there. I honor people's time that way. And my personality is such that I will be gracious with you. I'm not, I have a sledgehammer if I need it. That is not my first choice. And I'm loyal to you. I'm not going to put you in a deal that that doesn't make sense for you. And I'll pull you out of deals if I have your loyalty in return. And so I started asking of that of my clients. So you can do that with your brokerage too. Are the people that you have with you, are they going to meet the threshold of those qualifications, those qualities of how they demonstrate themselves in their life and what they're willing to give in order to make the brokerage better? You start pulling that together, and it may mean paring down a lot of things that are not that, and having the faith and the trust in yourself and the vision of what you want to create. But if you start playing at that level, you'll be amazed at how you start to shift the dynamic of what you're doing and you will create an enterprise that one, you'll be proud of, that two, that starts to be made in your image that will then start to become profitable and more enjoyable. So that would be my encouragement for everybody.
SPEAKER_01Wow. And a lot of people just don't know what they want, right? And they've never even written it down. They're not clear on their own, right? So how can you put that out to the world if you're not clear what your heart wants?
SPEAKER_02Big go. And that's where it starts, Jeff. It starts with your heart. And you know, the book that I wrote took me about four years to write, and it took me um a longer period of time of running um a lot of my associates with my previous firm through an eight-week course that we created in that was The Evolution of Think Can Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which is a wonderful book. And it was just a little dating, you know, it was a little chauvinistic. Wasn't really crazy about that. And so we created on your terms. And uh that's the book that I wrote. And my wife had a beautiful hand in editing that and making it fabulous because I would just write one run-on sentence if I didn't have someone to help me with that. Um, but it's a wonderful book, but it's about intentionality and it's about clear intention and taking the time to be clear about what we want and then manifesting that based on that clarity.
SPEAKER_00So great. Can we find that on Amazon? Would that be the easiest place to purchase your book? Okay.
SPEAKER_02You can hear my voice for eight and a half hours uh in the Audible book, or you can you can get the book. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, you have a nice voice. I would listen to you on Audible.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00Well, Nick, we appreciate you coming on here today. We now know where to get your book um through Audible or Amazon. We've got your secret sauce for building up our our brokerages and our our organizations. Where can people find you? They wanted to reach out or if they have clients, where's the best platform to reach out to you on?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, at my email, n Siegel at carolwoodre.com.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. All right. Well, we love we loved having you on. We appreciate it and definitely want to stay in touch.
SPEAKER_02Well, I appreciate you doing this. And you know, I I get a lot of these emails, and when I read uh your invitation and I got the spirit behind it. So there's a reason we're all connected. So I wish you guys the best. And to those listening in, um, it's a wonderful business, but we have to make it a wonderful business.
SPEAKER_00You men. Thank you, Nick. Yes. Thank you, Nick. We appreciate you.
SPEAKER_02All right. Have a great day, everybody. Thanks, you guys.
SPEAKER_00Bye.