Voices
Essays on the housing market, decision-making, and the craft of building a real estate business. Filter by topic to find what you’re after.
Yesterday’s Model. Today’s Market.
We did a thing. After years of talking about it, we finally made the move — and the word is out on the street.
Management by Cliche
A lifetime in sports taught me that most management advice is a bumper sticker. Here’s what actually holds up under pressure.
Click Here for Fear
Nobody ever got rich telling you everything is fine. A look at why fear sells — and why you should tune most of it out.
Stop Trying to Time the Market
Written for the person who kept insisting only idiots buy now. Timing the housing market is a game almost no one wins.
This Wasn’t on the Exam
I got licensed in 1993 — before online MLS, cell phones, or laser printers. The job they tested me on barely exists anymore.
2022 HOUSING MARKET FORECAST IN RICHMOND VA
Our annual read for agents, clients, and the public — where Richmond housing is headed and what’s actually driving it.
It’s Still a Train Wreck
A follow-up to one of our most-shared pieces. The inventory crisis didn’t resolve — it dug in.
How to Win a Bidding War
The perfect listing drops and your clients want it. Here’s how to actually win when everyone else wants it too.
Thoughts on Scaling a Business
Everyone’s talking about ‘scaling’ lately. A candid look at what it really takes — and what it costs.
The Train Wreck That is Housing
A region of 1.3M people with ~500 homes for sale. How we got to an inventory problem this severe.
Problems, and Why We Suck at Solving Them
At One South we’ve been thinking about thinking. Why smart people get problem-solving wrong so consistently.
Imperfect Information and Decision Making
Top of the 6th, Blake Snell dealing, and a decision that lost a World Series. A lesson in deciding with incomplete data.
The Overconfidence Bias
2008. A CEO in a custom suit, radiating certainty — right before it all came apart. The quiet danger of conviction.
The Lure of Two Commas
Million Dollar Beach House or Million Dollar Agent? Why the seven-figure fantasy distorts how agents actually decide.
The Smallest Viable Audience
A Seth Godin idea worth stealing: stop chasing everyone. The smallest audience you can serve deeply is the point.
Routine or System?
We all have routines. But a routine isn’t a system — and the difference is what separates busy from effective.
Houston, We Have a Problem
The most famous line from Apollo 13 is really a lesson in how to run toward a problem instead of away from it.
Change
A follow-up to ‘Why Are We Selling So Many Houses’ — on housing’s surprising resilience and what actually changes.
The Corona Hangover
‘Hey Boss, I can’t make it in today.’ What the early pandemic taught us about markets, motivation, and momentum.
Why Are We Selling So Many Houses Right Now?!?
COVID gutted restaurants, travel, and hotels — so why was housing on fire? A counterintuitive look at demand.
Subscribe to Tribe
When you hear ‘tribe,’ what comes to mind? Why belonging beats reach for anyone building something that lasts.
Quantifying Overpricing
I love MLS — clunky interface and all. What the data actually says about what overpricing costs a seller.
When Disruptors are Disrupted
OpenDoor stopped buying and cut 30% of staff; OfferPad paused iBuying. When the disruptors get disrupted.
COVID Doesn’t Care About Your Schedule
The mortgage is due on the 1st — so is the rent, the car, the AMEX. Why the calendar doesn’t negotiate.
The Modular Agent
Business & Technology, 1994, an arrogant professor — and an idea about modularity that predicted the modern agent.
A Brand is Not a Company
A URL, a groovy WordPress theme, a Fiverr logo. That’s a company costume — not a brand. Here’s the difference.
0% Mortgage Sounds Awesome!
The Fed drops the funds rate to 0% and the questions pour in. What a ‘0% mortgage’ really would — and wouldn’t — mean.
Why do you get paid?
Seriously — why? Access to MLS? A lockbox code? If your answer is thin, your value is too. Time to rebuild it.
Thinking, Clearly or Not at All
‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ rewired how I see decisions. A field guide to catching your own brain in the act.
RealtorBall
Moneyball was written for me. What baseball’s data revolution teaches a real estate business that still runs on gut.
Facebook, Ideas, and Growth
A college dropout gave Harvard’s commencement. What Zuckerberg’s arc says about ideas, growth, and staying power.
Steak Knives and MLS
What would you hand someone eating a porterhouse with their hands? The right tool changes everything — including MLS.
The Art of Niche
So you say you have a niche — explain it. Is it a neighborhood, a type, a price band? Most ‘niches’ aren’t.
How Are You Sized?
Bandwidth, capacity, workload — all names for the same thing. An honest audit of what you can actually carry.
What Band Are You?
Sounds like a BuzzFeed quiz — but the question we asked the office says a lot about how you position yourself.
Oh no, I’m Disrupted Again.
Google ‘disruption in real estate’ and drown in results. Disruption, redistribution, or just reallocation?
From “Practice” to “Business”
Most agents think they own a business. Most actually own a practice. The difference decides whether you can ever step away.
Our Random Musings About Team
There’s a whiteboard in our office covered in scribbles about ‘Team.’ The messy reality of going from solo to team.
Now’s the time to make those calls! Up your lead gen by 10x, Use your scripts!
I sat through the lead-gen webinars pushing scripts and 10x hustle. A skeptic’s take on the coaching-industrial complex.
The Certainty Tax
I’ve been extremely lucky — and I know it. On the hidden price we pay for craving certainty we can never really have.
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