Beyond the sale: Adam Sartin on building end-to-end real estate ecosystems

HousingWire

In an exclusive conversation with HousingWire president Diego Sanchez, Adam Sartin, vice president of franchise growth and development at Motto Mortgage, shared how real estate brokers can strengthen their businesses by moving beyond a traditional model.

Transcript

00:00Live from Dallas, Texas, I'm Diego Sanchez, president of Housing Wire. My guest today is

00:09Adam Sarton, VP of Franchise Growth and Development at Motto Mortgage. So great to speak with you

00:16today, Adam. Thanks for having me. Appreciate the time. So before we dive in, what's your role at

00:23Motto Mortgage and how has your experience there shaped your perspective on the evolving needs

00:29of real estate brokers? Sure. So I lead our strategic growth for our franchise network and I

00:34really help real estate brokers understand and really leverage the power of ancillary services.

00:40I've been in the industry for the past 15 years, so I've seen a lot, but I really understand the

00:45industry is changing. And so we really have a franchise model that helps broker owners understand

00:51how to operate a mortgage brokerage compliantly, but really leverage that experience and provide

00:57a greater experience, not only to their agents, but to the buyers that they're working with as well.

01:02So at House of Wires event, The Gathering, the title of your session was provocative.

01:09Your real estate business isn't enough anymore. What inspired that framing for that session?

01:16Sure. I think, you know, I really look that as being a wake up call, you know, to those owners that

01:23think that, you know, operating in today's environment with kind of that legacy mindset

01:28really puts you at a detriment. And I really think of it as kind of the blockbuster Netflix

01:33mentality, right? Of we're at that point of really understanding, you know, what can you do as a

01:38brokerage owner, as a leader of a real estate company to really take your company and, you know,

01:44really make it competitive in today's environment, right? And providing a greater experience to not only

01:49the agents, but to buyers that they're working with as well. So it's really looking at how to

01:55create an ecosystem that makes you competitive in today's industry.

02:00Yeah. And today's environment is really, it's been a challenging environment for a couple of years

02:05and really a low margin environment. How do you think brokers can rethink their value proposition

02:12to, like you said, stay competitive in this gold environment?

02:17You know, I think you look at value propositions today and they're all really sales driven,

02:23right? And it's really focusing on the buy side or the sell side of the transaction. And I think

02:28it's much more impactful to have the focus of being service driven. And I think that's what the

02:33consumer is wanting today. They are wanting an experience. They're not wanting someone that's

02:37really just a transaction order taker. They're really wanting someone that is helping them through one

02:42of the most difficult, stressful, maybe expensive purchases in their entire life. And so those owners

02:48that really have a value proposition that looks at the end-to-end experience of working with someone

02:54that is in the process of buying or selling a home is really going to be impactful for, you know,

02:59having something that is a relevant, you know, competitive proposition to the marketplace.

03:03Yeah. Talk more about that end-to-end experience,

03:07kind of moving beyond their traditional real estate vertical.

03:10So really it's looking at, you know, that end-to-end system and what does that experience

03:13look like? When you have a buyer, you're referring them outside of your doors and you lose sight or

03:19control over what that experience looks like. So being able to have those ancillary services and

03:23keep them in-house lets you control what that experience looks like. And, you know, at the end of

03:28the day, if you provide a great experience, you have a repeat customer. And that's really essentially

03:33the basis of the business is providing a great enough experience to want them to get to use

03:38you again when they are in that need. And so really understanding that mortgage is a part of

03:42that experience. You now get to create a seamless, you know, environment to where you not only help

03:49them get the house under contract, but now you help them get funding for the house and control that

03:53experience at the same time. Also in a low margin environment, those ancillary services can be

04:00helpful in terms of increasing that margin. Absolutely. Right. Again, you're referring

04:04that business outside of your doors. And so those are dollars that are leaving your doors and you

04:08don't get to control any of that. And so, you know, that really impacts, like you said, that profitability

04:13margin, that slim margin, you now get to have more control over having a positive impact on that.

04:20So what are some of the risks of brokers maintaining the status quo and maybe not looking to offer

04:28ancillary services? You know, I think it's, it's really, if you're not evolving, you're losing

04:33ground. You know, I, I mentioned earlier the, the blockbuster Netflix mentality. I think we're at that

04:39tipping point again of, of, you know, really having that legacy mentality of operating under the framework

04:45of what we see as traditional real estate industry to what the, the office of the future really looks

04:52like. And so, you know, the, the cost of really operating under that same guise, you know, is

04:58really going to impact what the future looks like for the industry, but for some of those companies

05:02that just don't understand the importance of what ancillary can do for their business.

05:07So we have RESPA, we have other regulatory and compliance concerns. If a broker is thinking about

05:16diversifying into new services, how do you manage those compliance concerns if you're thinking about

05:24moving into mortgage? Sure. You know, I look at compliance as being a foundation, but it shouldn't

05:29be a barrier for, for anything, whether it's mortgage or title insurance. And so, you know, what we have

05:35done at Mato is we've really created a franchise model that has compliance as the foundation, right?

05:40Compliance is the scary word that a lot of people don't like and don't want to deal with,

05:45but we've really created a framework under our franchise model that allows someone to get into

05:50the mortgage brokerage space, you know, operate a mortgage brokerage compliantly with the right tools

05:55and resources to, to, to, to have a good experience, not only for their agents, but other agents and

06:01ultimately the buyer that they're working with. What's one big piece of advice that you consistently give

06:09to real estate brokerage leaders who are navigating this difficult and shifting housing market?

06:16Don't wait. Right. I always say that that progress beats perfection. And so really looking at, you know,

06:22what can I learn? What new technologies, what new industries, what new streams can I learn within

06:27the industry to be able to provide a greater experience? You know, again, it's not just about

06:32the experience for the buyer, but think of the experience for an agent, but it's at the office,

06:37right? You're now creating kind of that one-stop mentality, one-stop shop mentality for your agents.

06:43That's a, that's a magnet to recruit and retain good productive agents. But more importantly,

06:48that is the, the impetus for that agent to create the ecosystem for their buyer to where,

06:54again, you're not referring that business outside of your doors. You're able to control that experience

06:58in-house. And so, you know, it's not only growth from the real estate side of the company, but it's

07:03also for the ancillary side of the business as well. Yeah. Let's help a little bit with that analysis,

07:09paralysis that people can get into, you know, give that pitch for Motto Mortgage and for Motto

07:17helping a real estate broker add the mortgage component to their ecosystem.

07:22You know, again, it really is looking at a framework to operate a mortgage brokerage

07:27compliantly. And so we really take someone that maybe hasn't been in the mortgage industry before,

07:32and we really walk them through the process of getting licensed. We walk them through the

07:37onboarding. We walk them through providing them with the framework for tools and resources and support

07:43to help them operate the brokerage compliantly. And so we really connect them with a mix of

07:49wholesalers. And we get to leverage our scale and our size and our network scale and size

07:53to be able to go to some of the wholesale lenders in the industry to be able to provide

07:58special rates and processes and pricing for the Motto Network. And so we really give the right tools

08:05and resources all done under that compliance foundation to be able to help an owner capture

08:11the business that's going outside of their doors right now. Amazing. And so as you look ahead,

08:16what excites you about the future of mortgage and really the future of real estate brokers adding

08:25additional services under their umbrella as we go into 2026?

08:31You know, I think the common theme is going to be consumer empowerment, right? You look at technology,

08:37you look at data, you look at AI, and all those things are kind of converging together

08:42to really empower the consumer. And I think it's really how are we going to be able to provide a

08:47greater experience leveraging those components, leveraging technology, leveraging data, leveraging,

08:53you know, what we want that experience to look like for the consumer. And so, you know,

08:57those that are going to stay at the forefront are those that really realize that they have to create

09:01an ecosystem to be able to provide a better experience to their buyers and their sellers that

09:06they're working with. Adam, this has been a really interesting conversation. I think you're right

09:11about offering that seamless end-to-end experience and that consumers are really going to expect that

09:16moving forward. Thank you so much for joining me today. Absolutely. I appreciate the time. Thank you.

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