RealTrending

On RealTrending, Tracey talks with DeAnn Golden, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia Properties, about how agents can plan for a changing market. Golden’s message is simple: build a durable business around relationships, strong service, and tools that give agents more time with people. She also shares how full-service brokerages, thoughtful AI use and succession planning c...

When the market gets uncertain, strong agents and brokers don’t chase quick fixes—they get back to the fundamentals. On this episode of the RealTrending Podcast, Tracey talks with performance and leadership coach James Short about how real estate leaders can guide their teams through a downturn with clear communication, consistent processes and a steady vision.  James shares practical advice...

The housing market may feel stalled, but Smokey Garrett, founder and operating principal of the GO Network at Keller Williams, says it’s still moving — just under a different set of rules. After years of ultra-low mortgage rates and fast-paced sales, buyers are hesitating over affordability and sellers are adjusting their expectations. Demand hasn’t disappeared as people are still searching and ma...

What does it take to build a real estate business by doing things differently? On this episode of the RealTrending podcast, Kenny Pleasant of Seattle-based NextHome Prolific shares how he went from laid-off iron worker to real estate entrepreneur and why he built a boutique brokerage focused on personal development, collaboration, and meaningful training. Kenny discusses why he favors training ove...

In this episode of RealTrending, Tracey Velt sits down with Chandra Vennapusa, a top-producing eXp Realty agent with a deep background at Deloitte, Amazon, and Expedia. Chandra pulls back the curtain on how tech-world principles like customer obsession, leverage, scalability and data-driven decision making can completely transform a real estate business—especially for agents working with high-inco...

In this episode of the RealTrending, Tracey Velt sits down with broker-owner Corwyn Melette of Exit Realty Lowcountry Group breaks down what legacy really means beyond a single transaction. He shares how his own family lost generations of rental properties — and how that experience reshaped his mission to help consumers and agents build lasting wealth instead of simply consuming it. Corwyn explain...

On this episode of RealTrending, Tracey Velt sits down with Eddie Garcia, founder of Realty of America, a brokerage that stormed onto the Real Trends Verified rankings in its very first full year of business — landing at number 45 by transaction sides, 63 by volume, and 24 among private independents. Eddie shares how growing up in poverty, with parents who were once homeless, fueled his ambition t...

On this episode of RealTrending with Tracey Velt, founding Compass agents and Paradigm co-founders Mark Jovanovic and Scott Hustis share how Compass grew from a 50-person tech startup in Union Square to a national luxury powerhouse.  They explain how helping build the platform from day one turned Compass into a true SaaS-style operating system for agents, with powerful backend tools that quie...

On this episode of RealTrending, Tracey sits down with veteran executive recruiter Stephen Kowalchuk to unpack why succession planning for brokerage owners can’t wait. With so many independent owners now in their late 50s and 60s, Stephen explains that the industry is heading into one of the largest generational ownership transfers we’ve ever seen. Add recent market volatility and aggressive conso...

In this episode of RealTrending, Tracey Velt talks with Jack Gaughan, president of Greater Nashville Realtors and managing broker at REMAX Choice Properties, about what’s really happening in the Greater Nashville housing market. Jack explains how the market has shifted from a post-COVID boom to a more balanced, hyper-local environment, where conditions can look completely different just a few mile...

On this episode of RealTrending, Jason Aleem, Redfin’s chief of real estate services, pulls back the curtain on what life looks like at Redfin one year after the Rocket Mortgage acquisition.  At the center of the strategy is Redfin Early Access, a premarket and coming-soon listings program designed to unlock reluctant sellers and put more homes in front of motivated buyers. Backed by survey d...

On this episode of RealTrending, host Tracey sits down with Neda Navab, president of Compass, at what she calls a major inflection point for the company and the industry. They dig into how Compass is navigating consolidation, AI and a choppy housing market while trying to stay relentlessly agent-first. Neda unpacks why she spent her first 100 days on the road doing 125 in‑person agent events, what...

In this RealTrending episode, Tracey Velt sits down with Anthony Djon, founder and CEO of Anthony Djon Luxury Real Estate in Michigan, to unpack how his team consistently converts internet leads at a staggering 7–9%, more than double the industry’s 2–3% average. Anthony walks us through how he started small with just a few Realtor.com zip codes, never intending to build a team, and how demand ulti...

In this episode, RealTrending host Tracey Velt sits down with two powerhouse independent brokerage leaders on opposite coasts: Michele Harrington, CEO of FirstTeam Real Estate in Southern California, and Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens in New York. Together, they unpack what it really means to be independent in an era of consolidation, margin pressure, and nonstop industry disruption. F...

In this RealTrending episode, host Tracey sits down with James Wong, CEO and founder of MAXA Designs, to talk about what it really means to become an AI‑enhanced real estate business. While most of the industry is still stuck on basic use cases—asking ChatGPT to write an email or a social post—James pulls back the curtain on how top teams and brokerages are using AI to reengineer workflows, elevat...

On this episode of RealTrending, Tracey Velt sit down with Thad Wong, founder and co-CEO of @properties Christie's International Real Estate, but under the Compass International Holdings umbrella, for a candid, wide-ranging conversation on the portal wars, national MLS, AI, brokerage scale and the future of data in real estate. Thad lays out why he believes a broker-agnostic national MLS is the in...

On this episode of the RealTrending podcast, Tracey Velt sits down with Craig McClelland, a partner in McClelland & Hahn Consulting,  for a wide-ranging conversation about the forces reshaping residential real estate. Beyond the latest merger and acquisition headlines, Craig explains why the industry's biggest shift is happening behind the scenes, as brokerages become part of larger ecosystems dri...

On this episode of the RealTrending podcast, Tracey Velt sits down with Rainy Hake Austin, president of The Agency, to talk about scaling a luxury brokerage without losing the culture that made it successful in the first place. Austin explains how The Agency has expanded from roughly 30 offices to more than 160 across 15 countries while staying intentional about hiring leaders who align with the c...

On this episode of the RealTrending Podcast, host Tracey Velt sits down with Felix Bravo,managing director, international for eXp Realty,  to talk about growing up in real estate, building resilience through hard work, and helping scale one of the industry’s fastest-growing international brokerages. Bravo shares how watching his immigrant mother transition from lawyer to Realtor in Miami shaped hi...

On this episode of the RealTrending podcast, Tracey Velt sits down with Chris Watters for a conversation that challenges one of real estate’s biggest assumptions: most teams don’t actually have a lead problem — they have a conversion and accountability problem. Watters argues that brokerages spend too much time focused on training and buying more leads, while ignoring the ongoing coaching and acco...

HousingWire’s acquisition of Keeping Current Matters (KCM) takes center stage in this episode as Tracey Velt sits down with KCM President David Childers to discuss what the deal means for agents, brokers and the future of real estate market intelligence. Childers shares the story behind KCM’s nearly 20-year mission of helping agents understand and communicate market trends, transforming complex ho...

On this episode of the RealTrending podcast, Tracey Velt sits down with Dan Rochon, head coach of the Greetings Virginia Sales Network,  to break down his “Teach to Sell” philosophy and why relationship-driven sales matter more than ever in today’s unpredictable housing market. Rochon argues that agents win by proactively educating clients, building trust before problems arise, and consistently sh...

On this episode of the RealTrending podcast, Tamir Poleg, CEO of The Real Brokerage, sits down with Tracey Velt to unpack why Real’s acquisition of REMAX is less about market share and more about combining scale, brand power and technology under one umbrella. Poleg explains that Real saw an opportunity to bring its AI-driven platform and growth mindset to a legacy franchise brand that still carrie...

On this episode of RealTrending, host Tracey Velt sits down with Leo Pareja, CEO of eXp Realty  and James Dwiggins, co-CEO of NextHome,  to unpack the growing wave of consolidation across the real estate industry and what it means for agents, consumers and the future of listing data. Pareja compares today’s real estate landscape to the airline industry’s consolidation era, arguing that fragmented...

On this episode of the Real Trending podcast, Tracey Velt sits down with Paul Boomsma, CEO of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World (LeadingRE)  to unpack the biggest forces reshaping the real estate industry — from consolidation and private listings to AI and the changing expectations of agents. Boomsma describes today’s market as a moment of “hectic opportunity,” where mergers, acquisitions...