Context with Mike DelPrete

Mike DelPrete

Conversations with industry leaders about the businesses and technologies changing real estate.

  1. 23 AUG

    Deep Dive: Building the Brokerage of the Future

    If I were to start a real estate brokerage today, what would it look like? In this long-form conversation, I sit down with Austin broker-owner Eric Bramlett to answer that question. We cover: 1. What’s broken in brokerage today -- from “masses of asses” recruiting and misaligned incentives to the flood of part-time agents and industry noise. 2. What’s actually working -- the common threads between the brokerages and agents thriving, including eXp’s recruiting flywheel, Compass’s communications machine, various new business models, and the overlooked importance of emotional value and culture. 3. How we’d build it from scratch -- a focused brokerage designed for the top 20%: lean, selective, efficient, culture-rich, and boringly effective. The themes that emerge again and again: focus, clarity, culture, recruitment, and communication. If you want to understand where brokerage is heading -- and what it really takes to compete where you can win -- this is for you!

    1h 39m

  2. 14 JUL

    Garth Graham: The 7 Deadly Sins of Mortgage

    Garth Graham, Senior Partner at Stratmor Group, and I chat about the biggest problem in mortgage, the cost of origination ($12k), optimizing the consumer experience, being worse than you think, spending bad money after good, the loan officer compensation issue, training AI models, what consumers really hate (the 7 deadly sins), what makes a great loan officer, and why Garth will never be on my podcast again.

    29 min

  3. 2 JUL

    Deep Dive: The Redfin Post-Mortem

    Let’s try something new. I’m joined by Carey Armstrong for a deep dive on Redfin — the business, the model, and the legacy. With Redfin’s acquisition by Rocket, one chapter closes and another begins, so let’s see what we can learn. Over an hour and forty minutes, we unpack Redfin’s history, do a deep dive into the business model(s), discuss key challenges and structural issues, and wrap it all up with some timeless lessons learned. Among other things, we talk about: The vision behind the employee-agent modelWhy Redfin never really scaled profitablyThe consumer site everyone loved — but didn’t monetizeBig bets on rentals and mortgage that didn’t pay offAnd what happens when you try to do everything at onceThis is the first long-form podcast I've done. Let me know what you think!

    1h 41m

  4. 24 JUN

    Varun Krishna: How Do I Get You A Loan

    Varun Krishna, CEO of Rocket, and I discuss when to pick up your phone in the morning, being a newcomer to the housing industry, what he wishes he knew when he joined Rocket, the industry’s adversarial dynamic, AI as the removal of experience, why he got the top job, structuring the org chart to match strategy, different vs. better, the art of customer-driven innovation, and how to get big companies to innovate.

    28 min

  5. 20 JUN

    Levent Künzi: Aiming for #1 in Switzerland

    Levent Künzi, CEO at Switzerland’s Properti, and I discuss disruption and data limitations in European markets, sustainable growth, going against the grain of an end-to-end ecosystem, moving faster with more focus, international inspiration, permanently improving yourself, generating seller leads, why brand is so important, and exclusive listings in the Swiss portal landscape.

    27 min

  6. 5 MAY

    Lisa Farrar: The Hemnet Strategy

    Lisa Farrar, COO at Sweden’s leading real estate portal Hemnet, and I discuss starting your day with a forest run and swim, the importance of clarity in strategy, Hemnet’s top KPIs, balancing demands of different customer groups, partnering with agents, balancing a portal’s role in exclusive listings, copying with pride, a specific product f*ck up, and moving fast vs. moving perfectly.

    28 min

  7. 22 APR

    Lukas Rose: Exclusive Inventory in Europe

    Lukas Rose, CEO of Germany’s ProperBird, and I discuss the exclusive inventory power dynamics across Europe, how it encourages competition, the U.S. being the exception and not the rule, how to monetize home seekers, why tech adoption is so slow, killing new ideas, and why an agent’s top lead sources are his dog, his kids, and firefighters. Here's the research I mention: Scout24: Growing a New Consumer Revenue Stream

    28 min

  8. 9 APR

    Rory Golod: Executing Like Hell

    Rory Golod, president of Growth and Communications at Compass, and I discuss his 10 year journey at Compass, focus as a luxury, building boring products, being a lightening rod in the industry, companies as confusion machines, the inventory strategy and its momentum, outworking your competitors, a 2019 fortune cookie, and the lack of brokerage innovation.

    34 min
See All (45)

About

Conversations with industry leaders about the businesses and technologies changing real estate.

Information

  • Creator
    Mike DelPrete
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Mike DelPrete
  • Show Website
    Context with Mike DelPrete

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