Couch Chat with New Era Founder John Stegner

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with our founder, John Stegner, to ask him about how New Era got started and grew into the #1 team in Colorado for three years running. His leadership and support have guided us for over a decade, and we’re excited to share more of his story with you.

John Stegner with his wife Kris.

Let’s start at the beginning. You founded New Era back in 2005, is that right?

Yes. I started it with another realtor that had been a friend in technology, and that was really the thing that was the catalyst. We had some unique marketing on the website side of things, and that allowed us to get a quicker start in the industry than most.

Fast-forward a few years and New Era  joined Your Castle Real Estate. How has joining them improved the experience for your clients and your agents?

Well, the real estate industry is such that there are teams that are small, and they can only provide a certain amount of training resources just because of the nature of the size of the team. Your Castle being the largest independent brokerage in Colorado has an incredible training platform for all of the agents at New Era, and then we give a cultural overlay. The wonderful thing about being part of the number one team in Colorado and the largest independent brokerage is the agents get big company support with small company culture, and it’s the rarest thing to find in the real estate industry. It’s great for our clients because we can have boutique high-end marketing and yet have reach into a larger agent pool for off-market deals and such that are very helpful in a competitive market.

Sounds like the best of both worlds! The company has seen a lot of growth in recent years from 30 agents to more than 60 now. What do you think New Era is doing to attract so many top agents?

We don’t do any recruiting. So the agents are finding us because of our reputation in the marketplace. I think that stems from our culture of collaboration with other agents, and just quality as far as mentoring within the group. Not just from me, but good agents join because they know another agent who’s successful, and in that process they learn what it takes to be a great agent. It’s the culture in our organization that’s creating growth, and the nice thing is that agents take advantage of the office when they need social interaction and collaboration, and then they work from home when they need focus, and it gives them a balance in their work life.

So, if you don’t do recruiting how would you describe the process for on-boarding agents when they express interest in joining the firm?

We do have an orientation meeting and everybody interviews with me. What I’m looking for is people that are practicing real estate to help people. I think the more you focus on how many people you can help in a year as opposed to how much money you can make,  you will find the profession more meaningful.

That’s really my main criteria: do I believe that they have the resources and abilities to be a successful agent, and do they have the mindset of seeing this as a consulting or a helping profession as opposed to a sales profession. We get the right people. They go through the orientation process in our group, but they also have the full on-boarding at the employing brokerage, Your Castle Real Estate. There are a lot of good training programs and classes at Your Castle, and I don’t think there is another brokerage in the Denver marketplace that is competitive on that front. Everything is available from a running start program if they are new agents, to ninja training if they are an experienced agent.

It sounds like you’re very intentional about the culture, from what you look for and how you hire folks. Can you talk a little bit more about how you developed that office culture to contribute to New Era’s success?

I think there are a couple of things. One, I lead by example; I’m just one of the agents. If you look at our org chart in my mind it’s flat. We are all peers. I generally pay it forward a lot as far as giving agents some support, and help, and mentoring. I share my mindset and it’s contagious. We do a coffee club on Mondays where we just simply get together, and often 10 to 20 team members will show up just to have a cup of coffee together, and talk about what’s going on with each other, and collaborate, get to know each other. We have an internal Facebook group that allows collaboration. It stays positive. It stays focused on sharing ideas and resources. I try to avoid any negativity in my work life, and I think that again I just have to lead by example and make sure that the people in the firm are the right people.

Seems like the environment of supporting one another has been one of the major keys to success.

Real estate is somewhat of a solo sport, but what we find is that when agents back each other up and get together to motivate each other, magic happens. They do schedule coffees to collaborate, and that’s when the connection with other like-minded individuals creates something greater than an individual can do on their own.

In many brokerages they have their preferred title company, their preferred lender, and their preferred you name it, and they try to really heavily encourage the agents to use those particular entities. I am very careful to keep the New Era Group such that everybody can go out and find best-of-breed partners. Again it’s one of those environments where agents feel empowered to build their business in a way and through relationships that serve them.

New Era has been the top real estate team in Colorado for three years running. What do you think keeps you at the top?

Well, the New Era Group is a unique team in the real estate industry and our sheer size is part of what keeps us at the top, but within the team we are seeing individual production level increase year over year, and we are seeing agents’ careers mature such that they are getting awards at Your Castle for amazing production. The nice thing about the way I’ve got it structured is that we can focus on culture and collaboration, and we remove what is typical in the brokerage industry, like the competition and the prestige that’s associated with GCI, which is gross commission income. Within our environment it isn’t about who is selling the most on the team, but they still get the recognition for the growth of their career from the brokerage. I think that one of the keys to our success is just that agents don’t come and go. We have a very stable group of agents that are selling more year over year.

Amazing, and that really speaks to the culture when you don’t have a high turnover rate.

I try to provide amenities that other teams don’t and keep it fun, little things like giving everyone hoodies with our logo. We all love wearing them them on days when we are not out in the field. Reminds me of the dot.com days. Or having the holiday gathering at my house…I like it to feel more like a family if possible as I think authentic relationships are important at work.

The TalkBox privacy booth allows agents to make important phone calls and have a space to focus.

What else is unique about the New Era office?

The physical space is reflective of the culture in that we have both private and collaborative spaces. The office has a nice reception area and two conference rooms we use when interacting with our clients as well as some private offices for focused work. My favorite part of the office, however, is the more informal “coffee shop” type space in the back with Sonos speakers and a TalkBox.

What is a TalkBox?

The TalkBox is an acoustically private booth, kind of think of it as the most high-tech phone booth ever with a work surface, USB ports, good lighting and even air filtration. It has to be my favorite thing in the shop. The team and I step into it for important phone calls or any call that just requires greater privacy. It works well as team members can be relaxed and working on marketing or other creative activities together one minute and then quickly step away when they need to write or discuss a contract, crank through their e-mail or even do an interview like this one. I decided to buy one because I found myself taking important calls in my car sometimes and the TalkBox was the solution. Turns out it was a good idea because it gets a ton of use.

Shifting gears a bit, let’s talk about you! Your family has been in Colorado for five generations. What do you like most about being a Coloradan?

Well, the roots of the Stegner family run very deep in agriculture and immigrants really into Colorado on both sides. I just feel connected to the people and the land. I love everything that my children can do and that I can do in the state from mountain biking to skiing to backpacking. When I was younger I actually worked in a PhD program in a forestry department, didn’t finish my dissertation, but I still have that passion for the outdoors. I just think the quality of life in Colorado for my children is exceptional, and those mountains are always calling me.

I think all Coloradans hear that call! I also understand that you transitioned from the tech industry into real estate, but now it sounds like there is another step we were missing in there, from forestation, to tech, to real estate.

I studied psychology, and then I studied computer information systems. My LinkedIn profile has a complete history of my work from being a dairy farmer, to being a psychology major, to being a social psychologist in a forestry department, to eventually settling into a new career in consulting and IT as an engineer. What I found was I didn’t find it meaningful putting my heartbeats into lining shareholders’ pockets in corporate America, and when I discovered real estate it really was a nice merger of psychology, my background in technology which is a big part of the real estate industry, and my desire to help people.

In real estate, how does your background help in more specific ways?

I worked as a stress management bio-feedback technician when I was studying psychology. Buying a house is one of the top ten most stressful things people do because it’s typically their largest investment. My experience of working with people that were having test anxiety or migraines or TMJ actually comes into play a lot when I’m helping facilitate people making difficult decisions about real estate. Then just the ability to use all of the different social media and web assets to help my clients evaluate and see what has the best usability and make house hunting easier for them is a great benefit from my tech background.

I think that psychology and technical Masters and a bit of information systems make a very nice blend, and I also did the Masters in business administration. When it comes to working with people with high net worth, having been at a high level in corporate America, I’m just very comfortable working with anybody from a farming family to a CEO. That ability to relate to their lives makes me a better advocate and advisor for them.

In what ways do you think technology will change how real estate agents help their clients over the next few years?

Well, agents have to keep delivering value, and it used to be that we controlled how people found out homes were for sale. Now that information is in the public domain, so our role in delivering value is really helping people make the right decision for them on the real estate front. The role of technology has changed our job a little bit, but the fundamentals of having an agency with somebody where they are trusting you to negotiate, and they are trusting you to advise them, and you have fiduciary responsibility to the client—I don’t think that technology is going to change those fundamental aspects of the job. A good real estate agent is like hiring a lawyer when you need one. It’s like going to a doctor when you need one. A good real estate agent is someone who brings their experience and knowledge to a situation that is unique to you, but familiar to them.

What advice do you have for folks who want to buy or sell a home this year?

If you’re buying or selling a home this year it’s more important than ever to pick your agent carefully. It’s a seller’s market and in a seller’s market transactions are very labor intensive, in that you might think it’s going to be easy to sell your home, but if you get 12 offers you are going to have to have an amazing agent. They’ll need to sort through the quality of those offers and help you pick the right one, because it’s not just about which one is the highest price. Twenty-five percent of contracts fail. You could have a really difficult experience as a seller in a seller’s market because you are not getting great advice on which buyer to work with, because the agent isn’t digging deep into the qualifications of the buyer, the experience of the other agent, the lending institution that’s standing behind them.

On the buyer’s side I think it is good to work with an agent that has a support and a network that’s extensive. You might have to look at homes quickly, and you have to pick an agent that can find the “win” if there are 12 offers on a home. At New Era we are always sharing ways to differentiate our clients offers, to set them apart and help them win the home they want. My main advice when the market is as out of balance as it is, is that picking your real estate agent carefully is more important than it has ever been.

Can you break that down a little bit? What are some specific qualities that folks should be looking for?

I think that you want to look for someone that honestly has time and your best interests at heart, and that they are supported within a good broker network. That’s why we are with the largest independent brokerage that is Colorado-based. Because of the sheer volume of transactions that are happening at Your Castle Real Estate and the knowledge sharing, we are nimble when norms in real estate practice change. We are aware of them, and we don’t have lag time. There are agents that haven’t sold a lot of homes, but are great agents because they have time and are tied into the right network. There are agents that have a lot of experience that are amazing agents as well, but take an agent that communicates well, is responsive, sets clear expectations, and you are going to be in good shape.

I’ve got agents in my group that I would hire to sell my home that have been in the business for one year, and they are going to do as great a job as someone who’s got 15 years like me. I would say maybe don’t research on any specific criteria. Interview the person and make sure that they are someone you believe is going to truly work in your best interest.

That makes sense. I think that’s a great note to end on. Is there anything else that you want to add to wrap it up?

One thing I would add: you don’t need to look for an area expert in real estate. You need to look for an excellent human who’s a project manager, and understands the real estate process. We have access to information now such that we can advise people in all parts of town with respect to value and taking them through the right process is the key to a great outcome. It is important because sometimes people are researching who knows an area that they want to buy in, and often that person may not the right agent for them.

You go where there are houses that are priced right. That you can afford to buy and then you start working the process. So being a real estate agent is also like being a great project manager. The client has a project and your job is to manage them to a successful outcome.

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