
Real Estate Team OS
Real Estate Team OS is your guide to starting, growing, and optimizing a real estate team. Weekly episodes give you stories, insights, decisions, and hard-learned lessons of team leaders, operations leaders, brokerage owners, and real estate agents at every stage of business growth from solo agent to mega team.
Latest episodes

Jun 3, 2025 • 41min
[SUMMIT] How Our Teams Keep Agents Productive At Scale
Welcome to our first-ever, six-episode Summit Series. Here in this second episode, we host two operations leaders in one conversation:- Emily Smith, Chief Operating Officer for Wemert Group Realty- Gio Sanginesi, Agent Partner who's also served as VP of Growth for Pozek GroupThe Summit Series a new format that has an element of our Inside The Team series, but features multiple guests in each episode - with 10 total guests.In this conversation, Gio and Emily share with us the similar and different ways they work to keep their 30-agent and 60-agent teams (respectively) productive. Pod structure, tools and technology, transaction coordination - each shares what’s powering their organizations in unique and specific ways.Watch or listen to this Summit Series episode for insights into:- The “pre-real-estate version” of themselves - from corporate leadership to resourceful entrepreneurship- What their role is and how they plug into the organization, including who they connect with daily, weekly, and as-needed- The two very distinct ways they run a pod structure and how it helps the agents and the organization- Other key similarities and differences in roles and structure of the team- Fundamental pieces of the technology that powers Wemert Group Realty and Pozek Group- Where they find transaction coordinators and how they hire and task themStill ahead: an end-to-end walkthrough of agent recruiting, onboarding, and retention with these two leaders, plus two conversations with four real estate agents, and another conversation with four team leaders! We recorded these episodes at The Creator House, a studio in Orlando created and run by our friends at Sweet Fish Media.Sign up for subscriber-only episodes and email-exclusive insights so you don’t miss any of them: https://realestateteamos.com/subscribeFollow our Summit Series guests:- Emily Smith https://www.instagram.com/emily_t_smith/- Gio Sanginesi https://www.instagram.com/gio407realtor/Follow Real Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

May 27, 2025 • 59min
[SUMMIT] When, How, and Why We Started Our Teams
Welcome to our first-ever, six-episode Summit Series. In our first episode, we host four real estate team leaders in one conversation:- Jenny Wemert of Wemert Group Realty- Ken Pozek of Pozek Group- Ben Laube of Ben Laube Homes- Renee Funk of The Funk CollectionTo help you make your next decision or take your next step, no matter where you are on your real estate journey, we constantly bring you the voices, experiences, and lessons of team leaders, operations leaders, and agents. Now, Real Estate Team OS is bringing you the Summit Series a new format that has an element of our Inside The Team series, but features multiple guests in each episode. Each of our four team leaders runs their business differently - from vision to lead generation to culture. So you’ll hear similarities and differences, as well as agreements and disagreements, as we move through their team-building experiences, challenges, and insights. Why the team started. How you generate opportunities. Ways to preserve culture. How you find the right agents. Why they’re attracting $10-15M producers and even small teams. And more! Watch or listen to this Summit Series episode for insights into:- Who our four team leaders are- What sparked the start of each of their real estate teams- Who to hire and how to improve your delegation as you grow your team- What’s been unexpected, including when team building was most fun and when it was dark and unprofitable- How to guide agents through a more challenging market and through necessary changes- Ways to preserve culture as your team grows- How they develop agent avatars, what they look like in practice, and how they increase retention and success- The role of strategy vs the role of luck- How the right people, ChatGPT, and a content machine support each of their operating systems (Team OS)- How to develop confidence on camera or even in a listing presentationWe recorded these episodes at The Creator House, a studio in Orlando created and run by our friends at Sweet Fish Media.Still ahead in the series: two conversations with operations leaders, two conversations with agents, and another conversation with these team leaders!Sign up for subscriber-only episodes and email-exclusive insights so you don’t miss any of them: https://realestateteamos.com/subscribeFollow our Summit Series team leaders:- Ken Pozek https://www.instagram.com/kenpozek/- Renee Funk https://www.instagram.com/renee_funk/- Ben Laube https://www.instagram.com/benlaube/- Jenny Wemert https://www.instagram.com/jennywemert/Follow Real Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

May 22, 2025 • 10min
[MINISODE] Who Is The Right First Hire for Your Real Estate Team?
Hiring the wrong first person could cost you months or even years.Minisodes, a new Real Estate Team OS series, were made to help you get it right in 10 minutes or less!In under 9 minutes, you’ll learn:• Why hiring a buyer’s agent first is often a MISTAKE• What your actual first hire should be—and how to define their role• Real stories and hard lessons from top team leaders & coachesThis is high-impact, highly visual, and built to save you time. Whether you're hiring now or planning ahead, this Minisode can change the course of your business.New Minisodes drop exclusively on YouTube, once a month, so make sure you're subscribed to Real Estate Team OS so you never miss a turn in the road: https://realestateteamos.com/subscribeLearn more from each of these guests:Renee Funk: https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/real-estate-changes-opportunities-renee-funkMatt Smith: https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/real-estate-team-leader-leadership-lessons-matt-smithKatie Day: https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/oversimplification-hype-reality-real-estate-teams-katie-dayEmily Smith: https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/emily-smith-intrapreneur-entrepreneur-teamerage

May 20, 2025 • 56min
069 Facebook Groups as a Lead Pillar with Marisa Lindsay and Dubs
In this engaging conversation, Marisa Lindsay, a real estate agent and founder of The Collective by Marisa Lindsay, discusses her innovative Facebook Groups strategy that propelled her business to nearly 50 transactions in its first year. Joined by Dubs, they explore how introverts can thrive in real estate through community building and authentic engagement. The duo emphasizes the importance of a supportive team structure, creativity in execution, and leveraging technology like CRM systems and AI to enhance communication and efficiency in generating leads.

May 13, 2025 • 56min
068 On A Mission To 70 Agents and Beyond with Team Peterson-Jackson
Less than three years ago, Team Peterson-Jackson was a two-agent domestic real estate team. Today, they’re at 74 agents and counting. All along, they’ve been on a mission to:increase African American homeownership ratesbuild generational wealthcreate knowledgeable and productive real estate agentsIn this conversation, LaShawn and Towanna Peterson-Jackson welcome you into the education-based approach to expanding their business, including how systems and support anchor their value prop, their 12-week onboarding process and the mobile app that powers it, their agent- and client-attraction methods, and leadership challenges they’ve faced and overcome along the way.Early success was found connecting with people in Facebook Groups and delivering home-buying seminars in churches, schools, community centers, and non-profits in Detroit. Now, they’re preparing to expand into Houston, Atlanta, Indiana, and beyond!Watch or listen to this conversation with Towanna and LaShawn for insights into:- Carrying culture from your personal real estate business into your real estate team- What LaShawn saw in Towanna’s commission checks that had her get re-licensed as an agent- How the three aspects of their mission was sparked by a visit to Portland and Seattle, including insights into homelessness, gentrification, homeownership rates, and agent income- How home-buying seminars and an education-first approach helped launch the team- The roles and structure of their 10-staff, 74-agent organization- Why they prefer new, “baby” real estate agents, why they don’t recruit, and what they look for in agents who want to join their team- Why their value prop is more about onboarding, training, and systems than it is about leads and exactly what they provide agents in these areas- When and why they shifted from working with investors to educating homeowners- Which key challenges they faced in growing the team and where they sought guidance- How each of them defined and refined their roles as leaders- When and how they’re expanding to Houston, Atlanta, Indiana, and beyondAt the end, learn about Lions gear, a shoe habit, a shoe room, a lake house, and the next flight.LaShawn Peterson-Jackson:- https://www.instagram.com/lashawn_peterson_realtor/- https://www.instagram.com/teampetersonjackson/- https://www.facebook.com/lashawnf- https://www.tiktok.com/@tuts138Towanna Peterson-Jackson:- https://www.instagram.com/towannapetersonjackson/- https://www.facebook.com/towannaj- https://www.tiktok.com/@teampetersonjacksonReal Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

10 snips
May 6, 2025 • 46min
[SUMMIT] The Role of AI vs The Role of Real Estate Agents
Emily Smith, COO of Wemert Group Realty, and Gio Sanginesi, an Agent partner with Pozek Group, explore the intricate balance between AI and real estate agents. They discuss how AI can enhance efficiency but caution against its limitations in understanding human emotions. The conversation covers the potential of AI to replace certain roles within real estate, the importance of maintaining personal connections, and the nuances of technology adoption among agents. Insights into consumer decision-making and the crucial role of the human touch are emphasized throughout.

Apr 29, 2025 • 1h 3min
067 Opportunities Can't Be Equal with Dustin Oldfather
Over the past 20 years, Dustin Oldfather has connected with and been coached by the best in the real estate business, including several of our guests on Real Estate Team OS.As a result, he’s experimented with different methods and models - with VAs, ISAs, training cadence, lead distribution, and more.The top-ranked real estate team in Delaware, The Oldfather Group is an 80-agent team driven by responsibility-centered leadership, opportunity meritocracy, and interactive, one-on-one training.Dustin walks us through how they’re pairing local staff paid 15% above market with international VAs to improve performance and reduce vulnerability, how they’ve added meritocracy and agent voice to their model, why they’ve both insourced and outsourced the ISA function, and exactly how they deliver training day by day.Watch or listen to this conversation with Dustin for insight into:- Responsibility-centered leadership vs reward-centered leadership- Being humbled in the Nuclear Navy- Providing opportunities for a growing team at the dawn of online leads- How to mitigate risk and vulnerability by partnering stateside and international team members together- Testing an agent assistant model for agents doing 6 or 9 transactions per month- What agents need and want in this market in terms of skills, efforts, and opportunities and how it affects their recruiting and retention- Shifting to a meritocracy with three agent levels - Pilot, Captain, and Commander- The pros and cons of insourcing and outsourcing your ISA function (and what works best for them) and the importance of live transfers- Exactly how they do interactive training Monday through Friday, including specific topics covered, one-on-one time, live role plays, and accountability check-ins- The cultural benefit of helping people move on, especially in the face of “demonstrated unreliability”At the end, learn about Good Will Hunting and A Beautiful Mind IRL, John Wentworth, redundant JBL speakers, pushing back on Gary Vaynerchuk, and a specific structure for a healthy day, week, and year.Guests mentioned in this episode:- Howard Tager https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/howard-tager-ylopo-ai-artificial-intelligence- Jon Cheplak https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/jon-cheplak-real-estate-teams-traditional-brokerages- Tom Ferry https://www.realestateteamos.com/episode/tom-ferry-differentiation-accountability- Mike Schumm (coming soon!)Dustin Oldfather:- https://www.instagram.com/dustinoldfather/- https://www.instagram.com/oldfathergroup/- https://www.facebook.com/DustinOldfatherPublic/Real Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

Apr 22, 2025 • 52min
066 Outsourcing Operations with Jen Dillard
The JDRE Team was growing quickly in the relatively small and highly competitive market of Hood River, Oregon.But when their Director of Operations and Marketing Manager separated from the organization, team leader Jen Dillard found herself back in a challenging, undesirable, and familiar spot - wearing all the hats and doing all the things, but none of them especially well.Jen shares the process of getting operations and marketing back on track, as well as how she started her business from scratch after moving to a town where she knew no one, how to work with an outsourced operations team, and how she landed an exclusive builder relationship she’s servicing with her team.Watch or listen to this conversation with Jen for:- What is and isn’t coachable about drive, hunger, and passion, plus questions to ask to close that gap- The path from property management and condo conversions in Seattle to starting over in a small market where she knew no one- Why co-owning a brokerage didn’t work for her- Three specific things she did to build a business in a brand new market (including one that was “like a Seinfeld episode”)- How she started a team with an engaging coffee barista and when she finally added admin- The wrong way to hire staff and the pain it can create- Her options to rebuild operations after the departure of two key staff members- How she turned her operations solution into a business of its own- How communication, visibility, and strategy work when you outsource operations- Which systems and process were especially helpful to outsource- Two themes she’s hearing from team leaders via coaching and networking- Why Hood River isn’t as much a second-home market as it was when she arrived- How being “pleasantly persistent” landed her an exclusive relationship with a builder and how that opportunity plays out within her team- Advice for agents thinking about starting a team or joining a teamAt the end, hear about a “beautiful mess” and frivolous rewards. Also: “Go Hawks!”EOS conversation mentioned in this episode:- https://realestateteamos.com/episode/eos-principles-scale-faster-real-estate-harvey-yerginJen Dillard - http://instagram.com/jendillardReal Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

Apr 15, 2025 • 59min
065 The Identity-Based Team Model with Lisa Stafford
Seasoned agents and new agents alike often wonder what they’ll give up when they join a team - including their identity.Over the past decade, Lisa Stafford has refined an identity-based team model that blends the best of both the team and solo experiences - your individual identity and the team’s collective support.To reflect this approach, she changed the team name from The Lisa Stafford Team to NJ Property Experts - with feedback from the team’s agents, of course.Go inside the model and value prop behind this 11-agent, 2-staff team (TC and social media) - and find out why she got grief for this model when she launched. Learn all the elements of the accountability log agents fill out every week. Get her hands-on process for onboarding agents and jumpstarting their books of business. And hear about the limitations to team growth that she’s strategically working through right now.Watch or listen to this conversation with Lisa for insights into:- The top three things that have driven her team’s success: customer service level, teamwork, and constant learning- Her path from real estate agent to boutique brokerage owner to team leader- How she jumped in and got started with her team even though she “had no idea what (she) was doing”- Why maintaining your own identity while getting systems, structure, accountability, and coaching was her value prop from day one and what types of agents it attracts- What her Accountability Log demands of agents every week- When and why she brought on a TC- Why and how she changed the team name to NJ Property Experts from The Lisa Stafford Team- Two potential reasons people gave her grief when she launched with this model in 2015- How she jumpstarts new agents’ books of business- What onboarding looks like at this stage of the team- Why her own time and attention are the bottleneck to growth and the key strategic questions she’s working to answer right nowAt the end, hear about 10 days in the sun, the Eagles, and working to give your kids opportunities you didn’t have.Lisa Stafford:- https://www.instagram.com/lisa_njpropertyexperts/- https://linktr.ee/lisastafford- https://www.zillow.com/profile/NJPropertyExpertsNJ Property Experts:- https://www.instagram.com/njpropertyexperts/- https://linktr.ee/njpropertyexpertsReal Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/

Apr 8, 2025 • 55min
064 The Myth of Work-Life Balance (and What to Do Instead) with Jordan Quaresma
When you’re an early stage team leader who’s built your business on a high level of customer care, you have to figure out how to balance the needs and wants of your clients, agents, systems and processes, and … life. Instead of seeking balance, Jordan Quaresma has opted for integration. Jordan’s the leader of a four-person, four-year-old team that closed more than $50M in volume last year. He shares how he created harmony between work and life and how building a team helps.Brokered by RE/MAX RISE Executives in Kingston, Ontario, Quaresma Realty Group was built on the principles of doing the right thing for your clients and turning each client into several more.In this conversation, you’ll learn how the team was built, how they’ve brought that philosophy to life, and how Jordan turned a cold opportunity not just into his largest transaction, but also into several referrals and a rental property business. Watch or listen to this episode for insights into:- Being the snowplow and being the example for your agents- Recognizing individual differences in terms of real estate goals and motivations in getting commitments and holding people accountable - The time period from feeling discouraged to feeling everything start to click- Why he stayed with the brokerage as a solo agent rather than follow the team he’d joined to a different brokerage- The story of turning a cold opportunity into a large transaction, multiple referrals, and a business partner- Why he started a team, what the earliest days looked like, and how he found a coach- How he turned his own processes into an increasingly efficient system that staff and agents could benefit from and enhance- How he integrates his business into his life in a healthy way- The potential directions this team could go- Their key marketing activities, including a $15K travel voucher, family photos, and clients of the month- Why he still records monthly videos even after five years of hating it- Advice for agents thinking about joining a team or starting a teamAt the end, learn about a team that’s produced heartbreak, a team that’s earned respect, products that are over researched, and a two-stage process to improve learning and life.Jordan Quaresma: - https://instagram.com/quaresma.group - https://www.instagram.com/jordan_quaresma/Real Estate Team OS:- https://www.realestateteamos.com- https://linktr.ee/realestateteamos- https://www.instagram.com/realestateteamos/