64. The Black Sheep Model by Retired MLB Pitcher Pete Ruiz

Summary

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent Podcast

Episode 64: The Black Sheep Model by Retired MLB Pitcher Pete Ruiz

Date: January 6, 2025
Host: Jason Abrams
Guest: Pete Ruiz, Retired MLB Pitcher and Top Real Estate Agent

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jason Abrams interviews Pete Ruiz, a retired MLB pitcher who transitioned into residential real estate and built a $150M per year sales business. Pete details his journey from an unconventional path to the major leagues, the parallels between high-level athletics and real estate, and the specific "Black Sheep Model" he uses to revive expired and canceled listings. The discussion centers on strategies for winning in both life and business, with a focus on actionable models, building repeatable systems, and leading with service and discipline.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Pete’s Journey: From the MLB to Real Estate

• Background:
  • Pete describes his unorthodox route into professional baseball, emphasizing grit, resilience, and trusting the process.
  • Lack of initial recruitment, persistence in college (“I asked two times, three times, four times. The fifth time… I threw a bullpen…” — Pete Ruiz, 03:32).
  • His baseball career ended due to a serious elbow injury (13:26).
• Transition to Real Estate:
  • Anticipated the future by prepping for his real estate license while still playing (13:39).
  • Leveraged a connection on Facebook Marketplace to meet industry leaders, leading to a pivotal coaching call with Jason Abrams (14:00–15:24).

2. The Black Sheep Model: Reviving Expired & Canceled Listings

• Three Core Principles:
  • Price: “Anyone that tries to argue that it's not price, it's always price.” (16:55)
  • Preparation: “People eat with their eyes… it’s a beauty contest.” (17:37)
  • Presentation: “Hire a professional photographer… that’s your level of service.” (18:27)

Step-by-Step Model:

1. Data Mining & Compliance:
   • Extract expired or canceled listings only after their MLS status changes (19:09).
   • Scrub contact data for TCPA/DNC compliance (19:34–19:56).
2. Initial Outreach Script:
   • “Would you be willing to interview another agent to see another perspective...?” (19:56)
   • Handle objections with confidence and value ("I will. When you give me the ability to market your home." — 20:23).
   • Maintain respect for prior relationships and push for a value-based meeting: “If we sit down and you don’t like what you hear, you’ve lost 30 minutes…” (20:36).
3. Conversion & Follow-Up:
   • Realistic timelines: “It takes six months. My favorite ones… we have a tenant in there for 12 months… [I] database note… follow up the next year.” (21:16–22:13)
   • Standout follow-up is key: “No other agent's gonna follow up with them on that. No one. It's a gold mine.” (22:13–22:19)

Pre-Appointment Framing:

• Brand as “The Black Sheep”: unique, different, vertically integrated (custom merch, cultivated white sweatshirts, memorable presence) (22:28–23:15).
• Pre-listing presentations are digital, showcasing pricing tiers, staging, and in-house services.

3. The Secret Weapon: Staging as a Mandate

• Non-Negotiable:
  • “If our clients are not willing to work with our designer or stager, we don't take the listing.” (23:41)
• Owned Staging Company:
  • “We own a staging company. We got 5,000 sq. ft. of warehouse... a design team. We own all our own furniture.” (25:36–25:47)
  • Cheaper and dramatically streamlines listing prep + allows next-day turnaround (26:07–27:04).
• Marketing Impact:
  • Word-of-mouth, branded moving trucks, seller package (29:40–30:21).

4. Streamlined Value and Clarity in Communication

• Focused Pitch:
  • “Three things: Price, Preparation, Presentation. That's it.” (30:55–31:00)
  • Tangible commission/package options modeled after service industry transparency (from a car wash menu — 31:00).
• Supporting Both Sellers and Buyers:
  • Empathy for expired/canceled sellers: “A lot of people… have their whole life savings tied up and… now they feel illiquid and they're stuck…” (32:53)

5. Mindset: The “First Rounder” Attitude

• Mental Recalibration after Sports:
  • “Don’t ever act like you don’t belong, ever.” – advice from Josh Beckett (36:37)
  • Applies MLB lessons on perseverance, self-leadership, and focus to business (35:44–36:54).
  • “The promise that I made to myself was, have a first rounder mentality for the rest of your life. That's it.” (36:54)

6. Purpose-Driven Life and Family

• Work-Life Balance:
  • Early years: focus on growth, traded time for career (38:18).
  • Now: large team/on-staff admin = more family time, never missing kids’ events (38:18–39:36).
• Raising Grounded Kids:
  • Accountability, money lessons, investing basics, “I'm rich, you’re not” attitude channeling Shaquille O'Neal (40:25–41:45).

7. Jason's Takeaways and Audience Guidance

• Summary of Pete’s Model:
  • Compliant, relationship-oriented prospecting.
  • Relentless focus on value: price, preparation, presentation.
  • Willingness to niche down and serve a very specific need.
• Motivational Close:
  • “Anyone can pick up and take his model and put it into action in your marketplace today, but few will.” (43:36)
• Tim Hile Reference:
  • Value of offering specific solutions, not general ones (43:20).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Building Routine:
  • “You are 100% the CEO of your own mind, body, routine...” — Pete Ruiz (11:05)
• On Not Deviating from Process:
  • “If you adjust your routine based on a result, now you're just superstitious.” — Pete Ruiz (11:51)
• On Expireds as Opportunity:
  • “No other agent's gonna follow up with them on that. No one. It's a gold mine. It's crazy. And no one does it.” — Pete Ruiz (22:13)
• On Staging as a Requirement:
  • “If our clients are not willing to work with our designer or stager, we don't take the listing. Hard stop.” — Pete Ruiz (23:41)
• On Mindset After Baseball:
  • “The promise that I made to myself was, have a first rounder mentality for the rest of your life. That's it.” — Pete Ruiz (36:54)
• On Children and Wealth:
  • “I drop the Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal] on them every now and then—I'm rich, you're not.” — Pete Ruiz (41:35)
• On Value Clarity:
  • “Three things: Price, Preparation, Presentation. That's it.” — Pete Ruiz (31:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & Pete’s Baseball Story: 00:06–09:22
• Baseball/Real Estate Parallels: 11:05–13:19
• Exit from Baseball & Real Estate Entry: 13:19–16:55
• Breakdown of the Black Sheep Model: 16:55–19:09
• Expired Listing Prospecting Scripts & Objections: 19:56–22:13
• Follow-up and CRM Best Practices: 22:13–22:19
• Branding & Pre-Listing Process: 22:28–23:54
• Staging Company Details: 25:36–27:04
• Package Transparency & Communication: 30:55–32:53
• Mindset Shift & “First Rounder” Mentality: 35:44–36:54
• Family Balance & Accountability: 38:18–41:45
• Jason’s Wrap, Key Messages: 42:03–44:36

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Final Thoughts

Pete Ruiz’s "Black Sheep Model" flips the challenge of expired and canceled listings into a systematic, high-value, repeatable niche. His approach—grounded in discipline, routine, and relentless value—demonstrates that the habits and mentality honed in professional sports can directly drive real estate excellence. Key takeaways include the necessity of precise process, non-negotiable standards (especially around staging and presentation), and the continual need for personal accountability and leadership both in business and life.

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For further breakdown, actionable checklists, and model details, sign up for the show notes at mreanotes.com.

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Memorable Quote to End:
“Anyone can pick up and take his model and put it into action in your marketplace today, but few will.” — Jason Abrams (43:36)

Transcript

[Pete Ruiz]

Foreign.

[Jason Abrams]

Welcome back to another episode of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. I'm Jason Abrams, and this is the place where we lift the curtain on the world of real estate like never before. Every week, I sit down with visionaries, pirates and mavericks. We're here to document, demonstrate, and most importantly, demystify their game changing models and systems. What secrets propel them to the top, and how are they living their dreams? This is about passion. It's about strategy. But above all, it's about real, tangible success. So buckle up and let's dive in. This is the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. You know, for most people, having a career playing major league Baseball, being a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox would be enough. Someone would accomplish that and say, okay, did it. I'm good. Not this guy. This guy does that and then decides to get into the residential real estate business. And it isn't a few years later until he is a true Mrea. Friends, this gentleman does over $150 million a year in volume, and he is gonna tell us exactly how to do that. I'm talking about none other than Pete Ruiz. Not only is he one of the coolest guys that you'll hear, but he has a model that guarantees results. When you run it, you're gonna love it. Sit back and buckle up. This is Pete Ruiz. Pete, how are you, sir?

[Pete Ruiz]

I'm great. Jason, how are you?

[Jason Abrams]

I am fantastic. I get excited about every episode.

[Pete Ruiz]

I'm.

[Jason Abrams]

But I'm really excited about this one because you have one of the most interesting pasts that leads you into the industry of anyone that I've ever spoken with. So before we talk about the 150 million you sell every year, before you teach us a model that we can go put into place in our lives, let's go back. How did you end up in the greatest industry in the world?

[Pete Ruiz]

Had a lot to do with you, actually. So once upon a time, I was a baseball player. Played seven seasons in the Red Sox organization, which was a amazing. A lot of that translates into my business today, which we can unpack later.

[Jason Abrams]

All right, stop the tape. Hang on. Dude, you can't just say yada yada, I'm a major league baseball player. We've never had a professional athlete on this show. And so walk us through. What does it take to get into the major leagues before you become a real estate agent?

[Pete Ruiz]

Yeah, you know, actually, I think that's a cool thing to share because my path was incredibly unconventional. So I was, you know, freshman year, didn't play JV year. Sometime My junior year I really broke out, started getting some playing time. And then my senior year, I wasn't really recruited by any big schools, D1 schools or anything like that. And I went to a showcase and I linked up with a community college coach, junior college coach who said, hey, I think you got some skills. So I go to college as a junior college as a third baseman and I'm there and I'm like, you know what, I'm undersized, I'm not big enough, not strong enough, I need to pitch. And so I like begged my coach and he was like, no, we don't need another right hander that throws 80. Like, you know, we're good. And I said, so it was literally one time, I asked two times, three times, four times. The fifth time, and that's no joke, the fifth time I said, I'm going to throw a bullpen today and you can either watch or not. And so I went to practice early, I threw a bullpen and he was like, I threw two pitches and he's like, that's the most athletic thing I've seen you do on the field. And he goes, can you spin the ball at all? Do you have any off speed stuff? And I said, yeah, and I could. I was blessed to be able to throw a ball very well. And so I broke off. In the baseball world, we call it a hammer. So I snapped one off and he was like, you're a pitcher. And so I ended up red shirting, which means I was on the team, but I did not play in any games. And so the benefit of that is it doesn't count against your eligibility. So I still get four years. So I red shirted and I trained my butt off, ate right, lifted, long, tossed, and I left two years later a 10th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox as a right handed pitcher.

[Jason Abrams]

So by the way, my producer just popped in and told me we did have one other professional athlete, it was Robert Lucido who played professional baseball as well. So I digress. We've had two. Let me ask you this. The year that you red shirted, that adds a year of eligibility. So you now have a five year collegiate run. Dude, that's a really long time to wake up every day and focus on something and hit the nail. Especially that first year when you're not playing, is that just built in self discipline that you have? That couldn't have been easy.

[Pete Ruiz]

It was really tough and it was really tough because I progressed very quickly. So it's funny, the pitching coach was like, hey, why are we red shirting this guy? Like we could use him right now. And it was my head coach who said, listen, this is a journey, you know, this isn't about four months of us being really good. This is about Pete's career. And if we nurture him the right way and we give him the time to develop the skills he needs to develop, he's going to play at a higher level than any of us ever did. And he was right. And so he was the one who really got me to understand that it's the process, right? Trust the process. And the process for me was that 12 months, like I said, long tossing, weightlifting, training, everything. And that's what helped me develop throwing 10 miles an hour harder. And yeah, you better believe I'm throwing harder in practice and have better stuff than a lot of guys that are in a uniform. But I believe what my head coach said. And he was like, hey, if we trust the process, if you're patient, it's going to pay off in massive ways you can never imagine.

[Jason Abrams]

So you persevere through this. You have a great experience in college and you end up becoming an early round draft pick. What happens next?

[Pete Ruiz]

So then I go, okay, this is it. I'm in pro ball, right? I sign, I get six figures. I'm like, this is sweet. I'm 20 years old and I go to Fort Myers, Florida and I play in front of four 70 year old dudes at one o' clock and it's 900 degrees, it's like 9 million degrees, it's every bit humid. And I was like, I'm in hell. Like, this is hell. And they're like, yeah, pitch your way out of here. And I'll never forget. So I went to rookie ball, it's called rookie ball. When I played, that's changed a little bit. But it was rookie ball. Advanced rookie ball, low A, advanced A, double A, triple A majors, a long journey.

[Jason Abrams]

Oh my gosh. So you come out of school and you're just now getting on the ladder.

[Pete Ruiz]

You haven't even started yet. So my velocity is way down. I'm dying in Florida. I hate it. And I went and talked to my manager and he's an old school guy out of Montana and he's just leather, you know, because he's just been in the Gulf coast league for 30 years and he was just like, if you don't like it, play better. And I was just like, touche. And so I just made a goal that I was going to pitch my way out of hell. And like I just, I got to find a way to do it. And it was really hard. It was not easy to show up every day, like I said in front of, I'm not kidding, three guys that were just retired dudes that are like, maybe I'll go watch some 16 year old Dominican kid, you know, now who becomes the major league superstar. For me, that was where the pressure really started because it's like, okay, I've worked my whole life for this. I mean, I have a thing, my mom has it framed still. Second grade. What do you want to be? Blah, blah, blah, blah. I want to be a baseball player. And now you're right there, you can taste it. And you start getting little glimpses. Like you get invited to major league spring training. All of a sudden it's like, oh, these guys get paid different, they eat different, they have masseuses, they, I mean, it's like you walk in every day and you're all your workout gear, everything is hung, your shoes are cleaned, like, and you're like, okay, I want a part of this. And then, you know, you get close to the end of one season for me, at close end of camp, you're like, maybe, man. Then it's like, no, you're going to aaa and it's just like, all right. And then your cleats are not cleaned and you know, you're not eating steak and everything else. So it's this really challenging tether and dynamic of not only just trying to get there, but then staying there. And so it's really hard when you get a taste and then you go back and then you get a taste and you go back. And so that was my journey. And I'll be the first one to say it. You know, I wasn't some superstar that was, you know, made $50 million like we all read about. I was a journeyman. I was a complete grinder. That's what helped me when I got into real estate. Because I'll be honest, the things that I hear agents and other people complain about in real estate are just not difficult to me or they're not hard to me compared to what that lifestyle is and was.

[Jason Abrams]

Well, before we get to real estate, I want to close off this conversation about baseball. Do you make it to the big show and did you throw a pitch in big league stadium?

[Pete Ruiz]

Oh, yeah. And I got my time and it was incredible. However you got here, doing what you do, so we're not going to interfere with that. And so that's a two way street, right? There's a lot of freedom there. And so with that freedom, you'll see athletes take complete advantage of it, where they just don't do anything. And like, you know, in my neck of the woods, over here in California, central California, you know, the Giants are a big deal. And Pablo Sandoval was a player where it was like he got all this money, $180 million, whatever it was, and then he came to camp like 70 pounds overweight and couldn't play. I mean, literally couldn't play. And they had to send him to rookie ball and they just send him to hell and say, hey, you gotta get thinner. And then there's also guys that really thrive with that, because the cool thing about sports and about life is that there's not one way to do it. And especially if you look at baseball, know, as a pitcher, I've seen guys have tremendous success throwing straight over the top. And I've seen guys throw submarine all the way at the bottom and do well and everything in between. And so it's not right to try to put people in a box and say, this is the way that it has to be done, because there's a lot of ways to do it.

[Jason Abrams]

You're kind of forced. And the reason I think this is an important point is because it, it's going to show up again later in the show, gang, when we talk about real estate. But you're forced to make your own schedule and you're kind of the CEO of your own baseball career, which is a really unique thing only shared by that and our industry. You had to create your own training calendar.

[Pete Ruiz]

100% it's a routine, right? And so if you talk to any really successful, especially baseball, you're playing 162 games. And so it's like you go out there on Thursday and you get your ass kicked. And then it's like, oh, here's the ball again. Friday, same stadium, same lineup, go get them, right? So you really have to have routine and process because that's the only way that you can create equilibrium or stabilization, right? Because if you start changing your routine based on your results, then that's literally going to be your season. It's just going to be, things are going great, so I'm going to do this and then, oh, I had one bad day. I'm going to completely change everything. So you're right, you are 100% the CEO of your own mind, body, routine, whatever it is. But the really great ones, they create a process, they create a routine, and they do not deviate from it. They Might adjust it a little bit here or there, but if you adjust your routine based on a result, now you're just superstitious, dude, you just made the point.

[Jason Abrams]

So genius, by the way, and that's the same in our business, is you make your routine and then you run your routine and if it isn't on your calendar, it doesn't exist. It's always been that way.

[Pete Ruiz]

That's it.

[Jason Abrams]

Okay, so how does the career in baseball end? What happens?

[Pete Ruiz]

Elbow goes okay. I'll never forget it. Training table, getting a shoulder stretch and I'm just feeling like acute pain in my elbow. And I was like, that's not sore. And it was crazy because they tried to figure out what it was and I'm like, it feels broken. And they were like. And it felt like it was in my forearm and they were just like, well, keep pitching, you're doing great. Like, and you know you're an injury away from getting back and whatever. And so it's like in velocity down and. And so long story short, after they finally really MRI'd it and got in there, I had a broken elbow. The very tip of your elbow is called your electron process and that was fractured. And then I had bone chips, bone spurs, and I had a torn tricep as well. So it just kind of. Not Tommy John, but it kind of just all blew up. And so I woke up and I called my agent at 5:30 and I was like, I'm hanging them up. I'm gonna be a dad and I'm not gonna do this. And so that's how it ended.

[Jason Abrams]

I didn't know that part of the story. That's incredible. So now you look up and you're about to be a dad. You've just walked away from the career you've spent your entire life building. You have plenty of money, but not plenty of money to retire, right? What happens next?

[Pete Ruiz]

So I position myself to be able to obtain my real estate license when I was playing. So I had taken the why I saw the writing on the wall for baseball. Once you're in it long enough. I'm a numbers guy. So I just started doing math and I'm like, okay. Even if I'm in the big leagues for an entire season, at league minimum, that's 500,000 bucks. And you got to do that for three years and then you get to arbitration and then you got to go as a right handed, probably old at that point. Reliever. They're going to give you a million bucks a year every year. They're not going to buy out your arbitration for $10 million or whatever. And I was like, oh. I'm like, maybe this is a way to make a connection. So I asked my wife, I'm like, let me use your phone. I'll let you read the message, right? And so I, you know, hey, Nina, my husband just retired from playing baseball with the Red Sox. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're expecting our first child. Like, these, all these baby clothes are great, but could we, like, do a bundle package on all of them or something like that? And in the message I said, actually, when I said he retired from baseball and he just got his real estate license and he's with Keller Williams. And she was just like. Like, she latched right onto that. And I was like, okay, cool. Like, that was my intention, right? And she goes, you have to meet Jason Abrams. Now all of you know why I'm on the show. This was a shameless. This was a shameless plug for Jason. So she goes, you gotta meet Jason Abrams. She's like, he's the guy. And she goes, you know what? I'm gonna set up an appointment for you. And so Nina reached out to you, and obviously, based on your appreciation for your relationship with her, you and I had a two hour coaching call when I was licensed for three days, maybe.

[Jason Abrams]

We did.

[Pete Ruiz]

Yep, we sure did. And so it was great. And you gave me, like a lot of different pillars. And you were like, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. And I was like, okay, like, trying to sift. Like, you were like, make a newspaper. And I was like, how do I do that? I mean, it was like the great rap session. But there was one thing that you said to me. You go, if I could give you a list of names and addresses of motivated sellers, would you call them? And I was like, yeah, don't even know what the hell MLS is. No clue, right? I'm just like, oh, yeah, sure, I'll look that up.

[Jason Abrams]

Well, hang on, because we're about to unpack this because you came up with a great model. So friends out there driving, I get it. You are flying down the road in a new BMW. I am taking the notes so you don't have to. You can sign [e-mail] the notes come out on Thursdays, and everything that Pete is about to teach us, we're going to document. And you'll get it. So this is brilliant, by the way, because at the taping of this show, 47% of all of the active listings in the United States have been on the market for 60 days or longer. And 7 out of 10 of those listings have been on the market for 30 days or more. And when you put both of those things in context, it means that the average days on market is elongating. And what you've done is you developed a model. So walk us through. I'm an agent out there, I'm a mega agent. I'm driving in my car and I say, you know what? I haven't even had expired or canceled listings in my market in the last 10 years. What's the play? Walk me through it sequentially. Tell me exactly how to do it.

[Pete Ruiz]

Okay, so what's really cool is that the birth of our company was based off of expired and canceled listings, which is a formula of three things. In my opinion, it's price. Number one, Anyone that tries to argue that it's not price, it's always price. I mean, it doesn't matter how crappy your marketing is, if you are at or below market value, it's going to trade, period. So price is a big piece of the recipe. Number two is preparation, meaning getting inspections done up front, staging. If you have a really, you know, brutally aggressive color in your house, painting, you know, wood chipping, your yard, mulching your yard. I mean, we're in a market now where things aren't just signing the ground gone. Signing the ground gone. And so if you haven't figured it out, people eat with their eyes. We're on our digital devices. Everyone gets pinged within three seconds, and it's a beauty contest as someone swipes through their phone or clicks through their computer. So you have about 15 seconds to get their attention. So that's the preparation part, where, listen, we're talking about $2 million properties here, right? Or a $300,000 property in whatever market. It doesn't matter. Right? The preparation needs to be the same because again, you have to understand that it's a digital sale first. I always tell people there's two sales in today's market. The first one is online. The second one is boots on ground in person. You gotta back up what you put online. So step one, price. Step two, preparation. Step three, presentation. For the love of goodness, hire a professional photographer. The fact that I see people getting 50, 60, 110, $5,000 commissions taking iPhone photos still is ridiculous. And you wonder why they're trying to eliminate the real estate agent from the market. It's your level of service. And so what I'm saying is those are our three things. That's our formula. Price Preparation, presentation. It's really that simple.

[Jason Abrams]

Take me to the process of even getting in front of someone who has a property to sell that's a canceled or expired. How do you do that?

[Pete Ruiz]

So it's really this simple. Mls, look through what's canceled and expired. You cannot contact someone before it cancels or expires. Okay? Like some agent, like, hey, I know you're going to come off the market in three days. You can't do that. It's got to cancel. It's got to expire. So don't pre call someone that you think is going to expire. That's an ethics violation. You can't do that. So it's got to be canceled or expired. Number one.

[Jason Abrams]

So step one is getting my data together as far as what's canceled or expired. And step two is getting the contact information in a TCPA friendly and compliant way for those folks that have expired or canceled. And then step three will be washing that against the do not call list to make sure you're in complete compliance 100%. So now I have clean data. What do I do next?

[Pete Ruiz]

You call them. Hey, Jason, I know by now you've probably realized that your property's either canceled or expired off ML. I mean, again, I'm going to say which one it is. Off the Multiple Listing Services. Would you be willing to interview another agent to see another perspective and approach to how they might successfully sell your property?

[Jason Abrams]

Okay, stop. When you say that, do you get the cohort of people that say, look, dude, if you have a buyer, bring it, or if you had a buyer, why didn't you show up when it was on the market?

[Pete Ruiz]

That's my favorite question. Well, just bring me a buyer. I will. When you give me the ability to market your home.

[Jason Abrams]

That's so great. What's the other most common thing they say to you?

[Pete Ruiz]

I'm going to re list with the same agent before.

[Jason Abrams]

What do you say?

[Pete Ruiz]

I say, hey, I completely respect that you have a relationship with another agent, and I'm not trying to step on any toes. I just want to show you a different approach that's unique. And if they push on that, my next hammer is listen. If we sit down and you don't like what you hear, you've lost 30 minutes of your time. If we sit down and you see what we do and why we're the number one real estate sales team in Monterey county since 2018, then you've gained everything.

[Jason Abrams]

Mic drop. Love that. So I know you know your numbers really well, but I know it's going to be different for every market in the country. What's the percentage of expireds that you speak with that you end up getting in front of?

[Pete Ruiz]

I would say out of every three calls we're connecting with someone and out of every connection, I would say one in five or six we're going to meet with. But a lot of them take time to materialize. They take a lot of time to materialize. And I think the biggest mistake that people make with an expired or canceled is they think they're going to get a listing agreement on that first call. Like, Pete, I was waiting for you to call. And you know what, can you come over this afternoon and sign this? It's like it takes six months. My favorite ones are, they go, you know what, we rented the property, we have a tenant in there for 12 months. I go, oh great, no problem. I complete first thing I do, database note tenant is leaving in December of whatever and in November, the month before. Hey, I know your lease is coming up. Remember we talked when your property didn't. And they're like, what? And no other agent's gonna follow up with them on that.

[Jason Abrams]

Isn't that crazy? Isn't that nuts?

[Pete Ruiz]

No one, it's a gold mine. It's crazy. And no one does it.

[Jason Abrams]

So now you're gonna get in front of somebody, sets an appointment with you. Does anything happen after that? Is there like a pre appointment package you send? Cause so much of sales is in the framing.

[Pete Ruiz]

Yep.

[Jason Abrams]

How do you frame yourself before you get there?

[Pete Ruiz]

So our focus is being different. I didn't wear it today, but we have these cool white sweatshirts. I have a big black sheep on em with our logo. And so we pride ourselves in being, you know, the black sheep of real estate. And so again, that means that your communication and your style and what you're sharing with these people needs to be unique and different. So that whole formula that I told you about, pricing, preparation, presentation, all that, we've digitized that. And we've also digitized it with we have really cool commission packages or different tiers for different levels of service. And then we have in house staging. So we're vertical with our own staging company. So we have that information. Because staging is typically the biggest problem in my opinion, outside of price, with an expired or canceled, it needs to be represented staging.

[Jason Abrams]

It's interesting because the casual observer would tell you that staging is somewhat pedestrian. And by all accounts, the majority of real estate agents still do not use staging in all of their listings. We've seen different Surveys done that it's less than half. So why staging? You say it as if it's a magic bullet, Pete.

[Pete Ruiz]

It's 100% necessary. In fact, if our clients are not willing to work with our designer or stager, we don't take the listing. Wow.

[Jason Abrams]

Hard stop.

[Pete Ruiz]

Hard stop. Because that's our brand. And so what's really powerful about that is typically when we sit in someone's living room or at their dining room table and we're trying to, you know, pitch a listing, you know, from the seller, and we're in agreement that we're going to execute everything that's on this list that we're going to do together.

[Jason Abrams]

Well, needless to say, all commissions are negotiable. But let me ask you this, Pete.

[Pete Ruiz]

Right?

[Jason Abrams]

Because you have very clear cut value packages that you offer and a seller who's sitting there. I think that the person who sits in a vacant home understands staging. It's the person who sits in a home full of things that matter to them, that they've collected over a lifetime that doesn't. How do you explain it to people?

[Pete Ruiz]

I say just that. I go, I understand that these things are personal and mean a lot to you. And like you said, it's your curation of all of your things and your tastes and your likes and all of that. However, we are here to cater to the largest demographic possible. And in order for us to do that, we have to neutralize this space as much as possible. And I think sellers really underestimate how much dated furnishings, or not on trend furnishings, can make an entire space feel dated when it's really not. I mean, if you have updated floors and windows and everything, you know, really nice, and you put a bunch of really dated furniture in there, it's not going to feel updated. And especially it's definitely not going to look updated on someone's phone, period.

[Jason Abrams]

So how do you do it? And when you say you own a staging company, what does that mean?

[Pete Ruiz]

We own a staging company. We got 5,000 square feet of warehouse with three box trucks, a full moving team, and a design team. We own all of our own furniture.

[Jason Abrams]

Get out of here. Really?

[Pete Ruiz]

Yeah, I have an office back here. That's where I am right now, at our warehouse. Dude.

[Jason Abrams]

Okay, so walk me through that. Because you went out and bought 5,000 square feet worth of furniture. You bought a furniture store?

[Pete Ruiz]

Yeah, 100%.

[Jason Abrams]

How do you do that? Where do you get the furniture? How much do you have into it? How does the math work? Why does this make sense?

[Pete Ruiz]

So in our market, if you're going to go stage, 1800 square foot, three bed, two bath home, you're going to get charged 3500 to $4000 just to install it. And then you're going to get charged 500 to $1,200 a month from a stager. But I'll tell you this, the money part is great. And it pencils we're about 50% of market cost to stage because we still have to pay people for their time. But it wasn't the money, it was the streamlining. Because the problem, what would happen is especially these expired and canceled listings, they're eager to get back on the market, or you get a new seller, and they're like, their expectation, I sign a listing agreement, we're on the market tomorrow. Right. And so every time I feel like I have to go to another source, a third party as part of our listing, streamlining, it was a problem, meaning I would call a stager. Yeah, I can get to it in three weeks. Wow. Because they're playing a game of like, well, how much furniture do I have? How much is out in circulation? It's a logistical nightmare. But at the end of the day, we can stage someone's home tomorrow if that's what it took. And it's the level of service that we provide. Again, in terms of being able to say it's going to be tight, but we'll have all inspections done. We'll have you, you know, everything we talked about, yard mulch, paint, touch up, whatever we need. And we're going to have you staged in 10 days and photographed it on the market. Right. So it really was more about being able to control our own destiny and being able to say yes whenever we needed to say yes. But it started a lot smaller. I mean, it started back in 2016. I was going to yard sales and Craigslist and, like, buying furniture myself and, like, doing it myself. I mean, for a really long time. And then when the business got big enough, then we just outsourced it. And then, like I said, I got really tired of not being able to control my own destiny and say yes whenever we wanted. So Pottery Barn, Scratch and Dent was the first place I hit. What do you want to sell me off the floor? You know, Marshalls or home goods, I should say. World Market is another great place. So, like, we kind of started that way. And then what's really crazy is that over the years, a lot of our clients are like, hey, do you want anything for staging? Like, could you guys use this stuff because we're moving to Washington and we're like, yeah, sure, so. But I would say, you know, we probably spend 30,000 a year probably in furnishings. And what I love about it too is at the end of the year, it's a really great tax deduction as well. At the end of the year, it's like, okay, here's my tax liability. Well, I can go buy $40,000 worth of brand new furniture that I can provide to my clients that's new and on trend. That's another great benefit of it too is the cost.

[Jason Abrams]

The rent of the warehouse and the cost of the team there. Those are all just fixed expenses that you've learned to live with. Or do you own the building?

[Pete Ruiz]

I lease it currently, but we are looking to buy. The only problem is like, you know, this kind of building in my market, you know, a couple million dollars, that's where it's more cost effective, just to lease it for 3500amonth rather than own it.

[Jason Abrams]

Do you mark it out? Like, do you use the fact that you own all of the staging company as a mofer in any way? Do you market to the world that you own all these things, or is that just a piece that you pitch when you're with a seller?

[Pete Ruiz]

We do market it in certain ways. We don't market it as much as we should. But I will say this, it's incredible how much organic marketing has taken place. In fact, I just signed two canceled listings yesterday from a lady that had called me and she said, I've heard about you and I've heard about your group, I've heard about what you do, and I've had two goes with two different agents, and I'm ready to plug in and see what you guys do and how you do it. So again, it's getting around town real quickly. And our box truck says on it, and it's a driving billboard, complimentary staging for our clients. You know, so we do put it out there, but it's really more. So it's a piece of our package, you know, that we offer.

[Jason Abrams]

I think it's genius when you go back and you look at it. We're getting into the MLS and we're getting our data, we're cleaning that data so we have people to contact and we're washing it in all the right ways so that it's completely compliant. We're making the conversation about, are you open to hearing a different idea about getting your home sold? You got nothing to lose and everything to gain. I think that's brilliant. Then when you're getting in, we're focusing on three things. Price, preparation and presentation. And the thing that I noticed about you, Pete, you're very focused. You didn't say it's 91 things. You said it's three things.

[Pete Ruiz]

Thank you.

[Jason Abrams]

And you're very clear, it sounds like on what sells real estate.

[Pete Ruiz]

So important. Everyone takes, you know, these listing presentations that are like, well, let me tell you about this, and let me tell you about that, and let me tell you about. And that's the thing where we're really transparent and say, look, this is the formula. This is it. If you did this with John Smith or Susie Q at other brokerages and you really stuck to this, okay, you would sell your home for the highest value possible in today's market. The process of it is the hard part. And so again, we outline in our commission packages every single thing it says what you do and what you coordinate, what you pay for, what we do, what we coordinate, what we pay for. And the value of that is the consumer loves being like, okay, this is what I'm getting for what I'm being charged. A lot of people just go, well, it's this much percent. Why? So it's tangible. And where I came up with that was at the car wash, actually, I was at the car wash, and it's like three options, and I'm like, okay, basic and then something. And then the third one was like bubble letters and blue and this and that. I'm like, yeah, it's probably just dirty water that they're going to throw on my car, but I'm going to pay for it. Right? And so I think what's been a really cool thing that we've seen, and you touched on it earlier, where it's like, okay, the expireds are coming back around, and we're already positioned for that. In the beginning of my career, it just forced us to create this process of what works. And it's funny because that process is the same exact process that you should follow when you get a listing for the very first time. So what we do is we appeal to two different demographics. You know, we really appeal to the expired and canceled market because they're like, thank you. I mean, these people go through a lot emotionally. You know, they're like, is it me? Is it my property? Like, and then a lot of people, you know, they have their whole life savings tied up and this is their nest egg. And now they feel like they're illiquid and they're stuck. And a Lot of times some people are stuck. And so being able to come in and say, look, it's not the easiest path. We're going to roll up our sleeves. That whole preparation word sounds simple, but it takes a lot. And we have six staff members that are exclusive to administrative stuff and we can talk about that later. But we make that process that's very challenging, very labor intensive, really simple. We really make it easy and we take it off of their plate just.

[Jason Abrams]

Listening to you and don't expound on it because I don't want to get you in trouble. But it must burn your ass when you read in newspapers that real estate agents don't do anything because it sounds like you're doing an awful lot.

[Pete Ruiz]

And it's amazing how many of our clients, like, if you read our Google reviews, they say they're like, this is the best real estate firm or agent and I've done multiple transactions because we deal with a wealthier demographic here, right? And I mean, I can't tell you how many times people are like, this is the best group, these are the best people. They have the best process that I've ever had in a real estate transaction. And I think again, what's amazing is we really help these expired and canceled people. But then also we just knock them up and nail them down the first time when someone goes on the market so they don't go through the pain of being on the market expired and canceled. Because if your property sits on the market for 8 to 12 months and doesn't sell, you better believe that's going to devalue it. It's like if you get three hits out of 10 at bats, you're the greatest in the world. That means you're getting out seven out of 10 times, you're getting out 70%, you're getting a hit 30%. So again, it's a game of failure. And then it's like, well, you got drafted but you didn't make it to double A. Or you got to double A but you need a triple A. Oh, you got in the big leagues but you weren't an all star. And it's like you're a three time all Star but you never won a World Series. So it's like not many people put up their feet at the end and say, I'm done. And so for me, my failure that I experienced was that when I got drafted and I got into the system, I did not recalibrate my goals to be I'm going to play in the big leagues for 10 years. I'm going to be a Hall of Famer. My goals, when I was in community college, red shirting, like we talked about, I'm getting drafted. And that was just tunnel vision. Whatever it was, I got there, I didn't recalibrate. And so there was a lot of do I belong? Comparing myself to other people all the time thinking someone else's failures were going to help me or be my success as a pitcher, starting pitcher. It's like, oh, well, you know, Zach got shelled today. That's got to be good for me. It's like, well, no, idiot, you got to go out there tomorrow and you got to do it. And so I lived this very roller coaster ride of a career of really highs and really lows. And I was constantly seeking approval and I wanted coaches and people like, no, you can do it. Like, you're going to be an established big leaguer. You got this. And what I noticed was that first round draft picks had a different mentality. Or guys that had an unrestricted free agent contract, they were financially free, right? And guess what? Their first round picks, because they're really flipping good. So now you have these incredible athletes that just were given, you know, four or five million dollars. So they got to eat the best food, they got to train in the off season at these. I had to work. You don't get paid in the off season. So when I got out of baseball, I said to myself, and this actually came from Josh Beckett. Josh Beckett was my childhood hero. He like kind of pulled this prank on me and he pulled me up at the end of it and he looked at me in the face and he goes, don't ever act like you don't belong, ever. And I was like, whoa. And I didn't take his advice enough in the moment when I was in uniform, but when I got out of uniform, I said to myself, I was like, okay, you botched that one. Because I was really good. I had a lot of God given talent. I was really good. But I made peace with the fact that it wasn't what I wanted it to be, the promise that I made to myself was, have a first rounder mentality for the rest of your life. That's it. And so when I got into real estate, and believe me, in this small community around here, every single day, still to this day, people, you're not from here. You're not. The only reason you do business is because you were a baseball player. You're above, I mean, every single day. And I just put on my first round blinders and I stand tall, and I just keep going down my lane. And that's what it is. And so once you understand that you are your own worst enemy, and you either get in your way or you get out of your way, that is when you can make everything happen or not.

[Jason Abrams]

How are you purposeful? You're living a really big life. You got big businesses. I mean, you're busy. How are you purposefully building relationships with kids? You get out of baseball because you have a little boy on the way, and that's a huge decision. Have you honored that decision? And what are the rituals you've put in place to make sure it happens?

[Pete Ruiz]

Oh, yeah. I made a pact with my wife. I said in the beginning of my real estate career, I'm like, I'm not going to be around a ton. I'll be home every night, but weekends I got to do open houses. I got to grind. And she was like. And I said, listen. I go, he's going to be zero to two years old, right? Like, he's a baby. He needs you. He's gonna nurse, he's gonna cry, he's gonna all that stuff. And he's gonna need his mother to nurture. I said, I want to have the relationship with my kids when they're 4, 5, 6, 8. And my big thing is I want to be able, hopefully my. My kids, you know, go on to do great things wherever they want to do. And I'll be in a position to be like, oh, you have something big going on in your life in Denver? Yeah, I'll be there. No problem. Right. And so everything in our life is a trade, right? And I traded early that time on weekends and home, whatever. But now, like I said, we have a full staff of six, seven people. And that's the big benefit of why we are almost at 20 agents in our group, because we, our staff takes care of almost everything in the transaction, which frees up my time to be with my family. And so we all trade on our team, you know, some capital, like, we got to pay them, right? But we get back our time again, we have a really cool structure in. In how we execute all the things I've talked about, which gives me my ability to have never missed one of my son's game. I have two boys now. I got three kids, so I got boy, girl, boy. I went to my daughter's horseback riding on Monday. Yesterday I was at her cheerleading. Sunday, I'll be at both boys flag football games Saturday. My oldest has basketball. And so again, I haven't missed a single thing. I get family time, and it's great.

[Jason Abrams]

How do you keep them grounded? Your kids are growing up rich kids, and dad was a professional athlete, and there was an internal drive in you, dude. You have a coal engine in your heart, man, that burns hot.

[Pete Ruiz]

Yeah.

[Jason Abrams]

With kids that can have everything, how do you keep them grounded?

[Pete Ruiz]

I hold them accountable. Right. And the accountability is. Okay, what do you want to do? You guys need to do something extracurricular. You choose what it is, but you're gonna do it. And when we choose what it is, you're going to be the best at it. That's just what it's going to be. Right. And so it's creating a standard of work ethic. And so we have a lot of conversations about money. Our kids know that we own a ton of rental property, and they understand, okay, so we buy this, and then someone pays us to live. Here we go. Yeah, right. And so we talk about taxes. And my kids invest with me in terms of they have cash, and I'm like, okay, let me borrow that $200, and I'm going to give you 10% on that money. And they understand, okay, I'm going to deploy the 200, and I'm going to make two bucks a month. But they understand the power of that. So we talk at a very high level with those things while instilling a standard and work ethic, because we tell them it's okay to have money. You just have to work to earn it. That's just what it is. And then I drop the shack on them every now and then. I'm rich, you're not.

[Jason Abrams]

I love that. Final question, for me, you've arguably had two very distinct careers. Which one did you find the most fulfillment in?

[Pete Ruiz]

Oh, my current career. Not even a question.

[Jason Abrams]

Pete, thanks for joining us.

[Pete Ruiz]

Thanks for having me.

[Jason Abrams]

Did I tell you or did I tell you how good is the story about getting into baseball? And how crazy is it that he goes through that entire process? Only. And here's what blows me away. Only to find out that there's wild parallels between playing baseball and selling real estate, namely the fact that you're responsible for how you're going to practice, and you're best off practicing like you're gonna play. He attacks the things that he wants in life. He doesn't say, well, I'm gonna try it. If it works out, he calls his shot and then goes right at it. And you got a choice to make. Do I sit back and rest on my laurels and continue to Run the plays that I have been or do I seize the market of the moment? And if you're going to seize the market of the moment, I think you run Pete's model, which is number one in a TCPA friendly and compliant way. He says, I'm not trying to take a listing on the first call and I'm trying to build a relationship. And then once I actually get serious about doing business price, I'm going to make sure it's priced right. Preparation. The house is going to look incredible. And he will not work with you unless you stage the house and let him make it look incredible. When I ask him why, he says, because the way your house looks is what my brand says about me. I think that's genius. And then presentation. He's got a listing strategy that he is going to take to market for every listing that he has. You know, it's no accident that he specializes in selling homes that didn't sell the first time because his entire model is based around bringing specific value to that user. And if you go back and listen to Tim Hiles episode on this show, here's exactly what he said. He said, when you wake up in the morning trying to provide solutions for everybody, you end up providing general solutions that don't fit anybody. But when you wake up and you get wildly specific about the type of person you're trying to serve now you can offer specific solutions to their problems and you will always have a marketplace place for it. Friends, here's the thing about Pete Ruiz. Does he sound laid back, cool, Northern California? Absolutely. But underneath that is one of the most burning competitors that I have met. Here's what I'm going to tell you. Anyone can pick up and take his model and put it into action in your marketplace today, but few will. Friends, everyone knows that. On mreanotes.com you can sign up for the newsletter, but did you also know that you can ask us a question and if we choose your question, you will hear your voice on our show? Well, this week we have one that came in from Dominique. Give it a listen.

[Pete Ruiz]

What is the one thing that you feel real estate agents should be doing in 2025 to increase their business?

[Jason Abrams]

Thank you, Dominique. The answer is always the same. As a matter of fact, if you go listen to Jay Papasan's episode of this show, he talks about the one thing you should do, and he does it for 45 minutes. The one thing that every real estate agent should do to do more business in 25 is simply generate more leads to talk to More people about real estate. Now, these leads are going to come from a multitude of sources. Number one, new people that you don't know that you're meeting and discussing real estate with cold. Number two, people that you do know. That's your database, and you're having real estate conversations. I'll tell you, the greatest way to kick off the new year is call, in a TCPA friendly and compliant way, every human that you know and simply wish them a happy New Year. Here's the way that I like to say it. Hey, it's Jason. I owe you an apology. We haven't spoken in 41 years. I know it's on me, but I thought I'd call. I just woke up thinking about you, and I wanted to wish you a happy New Year. How have you been? Friends, it is just that simple. You ask somebody how they've been, and it is a very short jump to where they start talking about where they live, how they live, and what's going on. Dare I remind us that those are all conversations about real estate? Go forth and do likewise. There it is. That wraps another episode. Friends, I don't know where what you're taking out of this. I really don't. I'll tell you what I want you to be taking out of it, which is these are the people that are having tremendously big lives. And the reason it's happening is because they're setting up the models and systems to do just that. Gary Keller told me that leadership is teaching people how to think so that they do the things they need to do when they need to do them, so that ultimately they get the things they want when. When they want to have them. And that's what I want for you. You're all leaders, but it begins with leading ourselves. If you're enjoying this podcast, I want you to click the subscribe button anywhere that you get your podcasts. We want to be the voice in your head every single week. And every week, we're dropping new content. We also send out a newsletter at the conclusion of every show to make sure that you get the highest points and the models and stuff systems that were discussed. So if you want to sign up, I need your name and your email address. Head over to themillionaire agent podcast.com millionaire agent podcast.com enter your name and your email address, and every week that newsletter will be in your box. Friends, you just went on a journey. I hope that what happens between now and the next time we meet is absolutely wonderful for you. Thanks for listening. I'll See you next week.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Host]

This podcast is for general informational purposes only. The views, thoughts and opinions of the guest represent those of the guest and not KWRI and its affiliates, and should not be construed as financial, economic, legal, tax, or other advice. This podcast is provided without any warranty or guarantee of its accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or results from using the information.

[Pete Ruiz]

Must.

[Podcast Disclaimer/Host]

Comply with the TCPA and any other federal, state, or local laws, including for B2B calls and texts, Never call or text a number on any do not call list and do not use an autodialer or artificial voice or pre recorded messages without proper consent. Contact your attorney to ensure your compliance.