Above the line leadership with Dermot Buffini

HousingWire

This week on RealTrending, Tracey Velt chats with Dermot Buffini, CEO of Buffini & Company. Tracey and Dermot got the opportunity to sit down in person to record an episode at HousingWire’s The Gathering.   Dermot breaks down the challenges in today’s real estate leadership  — from agent productivity to market shifts — and shares how to stay focused on what really matters. He also talks about “above the line” thinking to help leaders prioritize outcomes over distractions, and offers strategies for embracing technology and staying rooted in core values and customer service.   Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:   Starting a business is easy, but making it work is hard.  Agent productivity is crucial for business success.  Good markets do not create good habits; preparation is key.  Embrace technology and AI as tools for growth.  Distractions can derail focus; stay mission-driven.  The harvest comes for those who endure the cold seasons.   Related to this episode:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠Dermot Buffini | Speakers Bureau⁠  https://win.buffini.com/speakers/dermot-buffini/  ⁠Dermot Buffini | LinkedIn⁠  https://www.linkedin.com/in/curiousceo/  ⁠The Gathering 2026⁠  https://events.housingwire.com/the-gathering-2026   The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.

Transcript

00:00so dermot welcome to the real trending podcast we're here in the at the gathering in the final

00:12offer studio it's good to have you here thank you yeah it's always fun to do podcasts in person

00:17yes absolutely yeah and thanks for presenting today um i guess let's start with that a little

00:23bit you talked about um kind of being below the line and how to get above the line just give me

00:28your kind of elevator pitch for for that for leaders um you know where they really want to

00:34get to yeah well you know like any leader or any business owner you start you start a business with

00:40a lot of optimism yeah like a lot of excitement you see the possibilities and then you start the

00:45business and the reality hits you know i say to people like you know making kids is fun raising

00:49children is hard and starting a business is easy but making a business work is difficult and the

00:55better you do the bigger you become the more people you have the more problems there are and

01:00people who are you know good entrepreneurs they're generally good problem solvers but it's really

01:05about when i talk with ceos or i talk with companies like what problem do you want to solve what problems

01:11are most important and if you become known or if you if you even communicate that you're a great

01:15problem solver guess what people give you they give you problems so i think it was we're working

01:20with brokers and we're working with leaders and we're working with agents and in my mind everybody's

01:24a leader it's like what are you about what do you want to achieve and that's what above the line is

01:28and above the line is what are you gifted at what are you good at what are you excited about and what

01:33does optimal look like in your business and your life so work at a broker it's like okay great what

01:38is this about you want to create a great environment for agents to succeed there's so many things you

01:42have to do you've got to recruit you've got to retain you've got to have training you have to have

01:47a community you have to articulate your brand but at the center of it is your purpose is to help

01:53people sell homes and so we try and keep it that simple so the above the line is the outcomes you

01:58want to achieve below the line is all the things you want to avoid that's where the drama is it's

02:03where the toxicity is it's where the noise is it's where the challenges are and and what i talked about

02:08yesterday was to get if you're below the line a lot of people are because the business has been tough

02:14the last couple years yes if you can't just go from a below the line to i'm gonna have all my goals

02:20and dreams achieved you've got to draw the line and that the line has to be your process you have

02:25to process for recruiting to retain to provide value to train and that's where basically what

02:31we help people do is build those building blocks to say just stay right here fulfill on these

02:36principles and you're going to have a great business so when let's start with brokers but i do

02:41want to get into some agent issues as well um so when a broker comes to you and they you know

02:47they're you know my margins are down like business is horrible my agents are leaving um you know where

02:55do you start with them and where are you seeing their biggest challenges well you know momentum

03:01first of all brokers right now when we talk to we've got we've trained and certified seven and a

03:07half thousand brokers how to train our system our program called 100 days to greatness and our other

03:12training programs and it allows them to actually lead in a very meaningful way to go hey we're going

03:17to work on these things we're going to generate leads we're going to generate referrals we're going

03:20to focus on our database well obviously momentum is a big deal when momentum's going against you

03:26you're sliding down the hill you're just trying to grab onto a rock in markets like that that's what

03:29it feels like when you're under attack when agents are leaving so it's like okay where are you

03:35going to start from well for us it's sort and qualify the agents that you have who are the agents

03:40that you're like i can't lose them they're my most important people they're the folks we're going to

03:45win with not just today but in the future and they need my attention then i need to think about the

03:50agents that i'm okay with losing you know if if you lose a headache if you lose a problem

03:55you know sometimes loss isn't bad yeah um so we really try to focus on okay what's the center of the

04:02peanut butter and jelly sandwich you can eat the crust if you want to but the best part's in the

04:05middle and what's in the middle is agent productivity agent productivity agent productivity

04:10agent productivity and communicating their value proposition is like tracy i'm here to help you

04:15succeed in this business so you can have a great business and a great life and so that's where we

04:20train them on their mindset and then start with the winners and then attract who you are those agents

04:25who are your best advocates who are the best fit your office those people are also out in the

04:29marketplace doing deals with great agents and i said to tracy tracy who is you're coming across

04:35and you're doing deals will you keep your eyes and ears open i want to bring great people here to

04:38this office and it's i know this sounds simple because it kind of is but it also takes intentionality

04:44to to to focus on that to train yourself to give yourself that dialogue to train your managers to do

04:50this and say what do we want here we want great people we want to create great soil and we want to take

04:56the best seeds those agents and help them grow in this in this season so we simplify their business

05:01we try and create positive momentum in places that they can win brokers are typically people who did

05:07well in real estate who decided that they're going to do the next step is for me to open up my own

05:12office and sometimes they got into and realized oh my gosh i didn't know the margins weren't here

05:16yeah so we're like you got to go big or you got to stay small and so really it's a pruning process

05:22when our coaches go through it they're like sort and qualify the agents yeah what are you what's in

05:27your business right now that shouldn't be in your business what needs to be focused on in your

05:30business and who is it you're looking to attract when you attract them you have to develop them if

05:34you develop them you retain them and you can have a very very a business you enjoy and to be honest

05:40with you good markets don't produce good habits and this is the time to prepare your ship this is the

05:49time to prepare your business and i'm gonna i'm giving you very long answers here but you know

05:53i had a friend of mine who in ireland his dad is a farmer and he said if they could tell what a good

06:00harvest it was going to be based on how cold the winter was now i don't know about you i live in

06:06california for a reason i don't like the cold anymore i'm from ireland i don't like the cold i don't

06:11like the rain i like 68 degrees all year round but the principle is this the colder the season

06:18the better the harvest why the soil turns easier yeah the seed can be planted and not only that but

06:25the flies get killed and all the parasites can't live in the in the cold soil and so that's it's a

06:31cold market right now it's been a cold season yeah so i think it's a shift in mindset to say okay

06:35what's my opportunity on the other side of this and it's to get your business right get your agents

06:39right get aligned keep it simple and focus on your profitability and the things that are going to make

06:44the most amount of difference in your agents business and in yours and do you think i this this

06:50might be a i don't know controversial question i don't know whether it is or not but i'm gonna

06:56ask it um you know there's an explosion of new models that it's really all about getting as many

07:01agents as possible so they're not looking at being intentional in who they're hiring um so it's a

07:07it's a totally different way to do business what do you how do you coach that you know i i mean if

07:14i'm picking up what you're putting down here you know there's a lot and there always has been but

07:18there's this you know agents are entrepreneurs so the thought of them having a downline yeah okay

07:22and your downline is going okay great but multi-level marketing or network marketing as they call it now

07:28you know there is no revenue until somebody sells something right okay we've coached this for years

07:34it's not a new phenomenal and god bless those deals and if people are making that great that's

07:38fantastic but that's not the first thing you do okay we've had agents who've come to us and we've

07:43taken them to from very ordinary business to extraordinary businesses they've joined certain

07:49businesses certain certain new new brands and then they're like i don't know what's going on like

07:54i'm doing everything that i'm supposed to be doing i you know people by very nature in this business

07:58want to grow yeah they're entrepreneurial they want the next thing and they get bored in real estate

08:02yeah and they get bored they're at their most dangerous when they're successful and business is

08:06easy so they get caught up in these things we do the analysis where you spend in your time

08:10well next thing we see you're recruiting you're doing all these events you're trying to grow your

08:14downline and guess what's happening to your business it's going down so at the end of the day

08:18have it in the right proportion yeah like 80 percent of your focus and your business should be on

08:23selling real estate and that's good and then if you want to do 10 or 15 percent to encourage

08:28somebody else and it's a good model you believe in fine but i do think it's it's uh it's it's kind

08:35of like you know a bit of a curse on the industry anyway because when a realtor becomes very successful

08:42they become very vulnerable the next thing they're doing they're selling essential oils they're going

08:46to involve in other stuff and and the candidly we can almost predict we can predict what's going

08:50to happen to them when things turn if they don't have those fundamentals yeah in their business

08:54locked in yeah it's almost like if you do a downline you have to be good a good coach to be

09:00able to get that production out of the people in your downline for sure right and not every agent is

09:06a good coach um so you either need to build a team and be productive yourself yes or you need to be a

09:13really good coach and encourage other people to be productive you have to have really good systems

09:18right and you have to have great time management and you have to be ruthless in your focus but at

09:23the end of the day you know some of our competitors in the coaching business their model which is fine

09:28it you know every beach to their own it's not ours our model when we were our coaches are full-time

09:34certified coaches who make their living from coaching they're not realtors who are also coaches

09:39now somebody asked me about this last night and i said look that's not our model and here's why

09:43when the market is good that's fine our realtor is doing good business they're excited and and by

09:49nature they want to help other people so they become coaches yeah when the market turns guess

09:53what happens now you're like which business am i in yeah and if realtors have to choose they got

09:59to choose their real estate business if there's anything left of it because the coaching business

10:02goes through a cycle on a downturn people get out of the business and there is no clients so again i

10:07think you know have to know what business you're in and make sure that's the 80 percent anything else

10:12great play around with 10 and try stuff and 10 for other stuff great if that brings value to you

10:18and excitement to you and you enjoy it but i don't think most people most people don't do it very well

10:23yeah and it hurts their business so what are you seeing out there in the agent world as far as

10:28what are what do you feel are their top concerns and has it changed in the past five ten years

10:34well i think in the last i would say in the last couple of years you know i would say you know

10:40when our coaching calls they're heavier okay i think people are more stressed okay we're all on

10:44our phones we're all under siege from and then we're like is this true are we going to war are we

10:49going out of business is everybody going to die yeah um and so the drama level is higher and that

10:54affects us it affects and that's why i was saying like even get above the line like forget the noise

10:59um so the coaching calls are heavier because the agents are having to be more skilled in dealing with

11:06their customers because their customers are watching the same news right they're worried

11:09they're nervous this is a good time to buy is this so what we're trying to do is really um kind of

11:16encourage them to be professional and understand like get themselves right before they can serve

11:21somebody else know the market conditions know the timing know what's going on and then be the guy

11:25and say tracy we're going to be good okay we're going to be good and and guide their customers through

11:30these these times so i would say you know it's always the distraction and the tyranny of the

11:37urgent is something that as coaches are like okay great how's that help your business you know in the

11:42last couple of years people were and i literally had to reach out to some of our clients during

11:46covet yeah we had our we had some of our clients posting on facebook about covet and the political side

11:52and they were and i was like listen what business are you in unless cnn or fox or any of these folks

11:57are asking you to come on and talk about covet then i wouldn't do it if you get paid for it if

12:03you're an expert great they were talking about financial value curve and a v curve and it's like

12:08that has nothing to do with you or your business so i think for us it's just always bringing them back to

12:14you know how does this serve your business is this what you want are these your goals because i think

12:18when everybody gets distracted over here the people are not distracted they've got more market share

12:22more opportunity and if they're going to work and they're talking to people and they're serving

12:26people and giving great advice and making it a world-class experience they are going to pick

12:32up a market share so i would say to answer your question in the short calls are a little heavier

12:37people are a little bit more okay on edge and then we dust them off and say you know let's get back to

12:43work and go find some great people to serve and do a great job for so that you can be the person in

12:49that community and to these people that you have great relationship with yeah there's always

12:54distractions in this industry i mean i remember when zillow came to market and everybody's like

12:59i'm not putting my information my you know listings on the internet you know and um you know so so

13:06knowing that how how do you coach a leader through that because i i think that a lot a lot of leaders

13:14are passionate about their business right they and so they get involved in some of these distractions

13:19when it's really not necessary um you know what what advice do you have for them well number one

13:25come to events like housing wire like get outside your bubble come into like the room you have here

13:30and the people you've assembled you got some great minds and you have practitioners more importantly you

13:36don't have theorists right you don't have people coming out from outside the industry you've got people

13:39who are trying to figure it out and they're they're trying to solve we're all having the same

13:43conversations we're all trying to solve similar problems so get outside of your bubble okay go to these

13:48things by the way get outside your bubble of real estate go meet with other business owners you know

13:53i talked about it yesterday like i am i get outside of real estate and i i've got a great group of

13:58mentors i got a great group of people as i say my above the line people these people who go i meet

14:04with tracy and i say tracy go to breakfast and tracy's in another industry i'm like i'm dealing with

14:07this right now you're a talented person you're running the business how would you approach this

14:11well tracy might say to me well i don't know the real estate the rhythm of real estate what's

14:15involved but it sounds like this and have you thought about that so i just think don't get

14:19entrenched you know dave linegar who's been a mentor of mine founder of remax dave linegar built

14:24remax and he built his conferences because he went to see what harley davison did yeah dave linegar and

14:30if you know dave linegar okay he is a wild west man here from colorado right rough and tumble you know

14:35where he went mary k yeah conferences and he's like look what they do this great and how they reward and

14:40how they so like it's a big world yeah i think a lot of times we make our businesses very small

14:45why because they're overwhelming we have too much in our place the world is massive you know like

14:50you're saying for 25 years i've been around this business and every year we're going out of business

14:54yeah oh my gosh the line is going to come around the corner to devour us yeah that's and and at the

14:59end of the day i just know that people in this business are very resilient and as long as you

15:05are in front of the relationship and you're investing and finding those relationships and working with

15:10great people and make sure you are the center of your community you are the go-to person you're

15:16going to do great because i just i believe people are they're drowning in information and starving for

15:21truth and with the development of ai i don't know if you see this stuff you're like what yeah and you

15:26go is this real and the and the more that develops people are going to have more of the question is this

15:32real is this person i heard somebody talking this morning about we're going to have people on who

15:36are going to do appointments for you where you're lying on the beach i think that's awful you know

15:41i had a lady the day she was talking about online dating and she went on she goes there's nothing

15:45more disappointing than showing up for the date and you look at the guy and you're like in person you're

15:50like i just got duped yeah and i think it's the same thing you've got to be real you got to be present

15:55and i said get outside your bubble there's nothing new under the sun leadership is leadership is

16:02leadership and it's about clarity of your mission and your purpose it's about the communication of

16:07that it's about having the systems to go and actually align everything so that you can accomplish

16:12those goals and you can lead people in a meaningful way age old principles so let's talk agents a little

16:18bit um you know i think that a lot of them go for that shiny penny they hear oh that's a great idea

16:24i'm going to move there and i'm going to move here um what what do you say to them in being more

16:30intentional like how what what are the systems or ways that you could help them be more intentional

16:36in the choices that they make to find the right fit yeah well i think well number one is when we're

16:42coaching somebody in an agent we realize we at we we talk to them and say listen the disruption in

16:47your business for a change is massive okay so you really have to count the cost a lot of times like

16:53anything like any relationship there's peaks and valleys yeah okay you know my mother used to say

16:58love is blind the marriage is an eye opener somebody joins a new brokerage the the appointment's

17:04great you're drinking out of nice cups and then you know a week later you're drinking out of

17:07polystyrene and you're just like invisible what's the purpose what's is that environment going to help

17:13you grow your business does it fit you culturally are you meeting with people who they fire you up and

17:18you're excited to be around so again that that's legitimate and if that's something that your current

17:23environment is not providing that you need then do it i talked to a lady a year ago she worked at a

17:30very small brokerage and honestly the guy had just he never contacted her okay she had some significant

17:36personal challenges he never reached out to her and i was talking to her it's like you can't be by

17:40yourself like you need to be in an environment with other people yeah so again we coach people to go

17:45count the cost of a move you may think that take my sour milk and i put it in another fridge

17:51refrigerator somewhere else it's going to be fresh it's not yeah so it's like you know again it comes

17:57down to what's your what do you value what are your values what environment is best for you and if all

18:03of those things are like it's better over there and it's a healthier environment by all means do it

18:07but there is a cost of disruption yeah absolutely so final thoughts um what do you want to leave our

18:13audience with um that they can take away either brokers or or agents just real estate professionals

18:19i'm a principal guy so no matter what i'm always looking for the first principle okay if that serves

18:25the customer and if that serves your business and if that is profitable then you should do it i would

18:31say with i think you also can't be closed-minded because i look at technology can this technology

18:37fulfill on that principle can it expand it can it make it shine if it does do it if it doesn't

18:43don't do it and so i said i just think stay true to the principles that you know that work in your

18:50business that you believe in that you enjoy that are your strengths you're going to do great focus

18:56on the customer make it a world-class experience stand out service is a dying art if you go around

19:01like we're in the broad more the service is outstanding yeah and it really you really notice

19:05it don't you yeah so i mean like just up the ante on that and then i said stay the course and

19:10then be open-minded about technology don't be afraid of ai play around with it get on you know

19:16it's the best i remember people were terrified of facebook yes what's the best way to learn it get on

19:20it and play with it don't be afraid of it get outside your box learn pay attention and have fun in the

19:28growth of process you don't need to have all the answers yeah and it does everything doesn't need to

19:32work right away but don't abandon your core fundamental business and know what business you're in

19:37stay the course and if you do that i promise you it's a cold winter right now the harvest is coming

19:45for those who stay the course yeah absolutely well thank you for all your advice and thank you for

19:51being here i appreciate it all right awesome

19:53you

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