How Citi Atlas Closed 250+ Real Estate Deals Across 25 States Using Technology

Tim Serpe (00:00)

I want things to be done right. It’s just it it’s that simple. If if it if we do things right, people are going to people are going to share those good experiences. Yeah. I’ll tell you what people don’t share. They don’t share the bad experiences. Or or or if they do, they shit they they they exaggerate those bad experiences and heighten the the the negativity associated with it.

So it gets back to like and and and I’m sure we like everyone has has kind of heard the point of like like great sales salespeople like sell feelings.

Quentin Edmonds (02:07)

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am excited to be here today.

I have another fantastic guest. And this gentleman’s business name is Citi Atlas. And listen, from his own words, they maximize value, they work in the consumer interest, and they put clients first. So I’m excited for us to dive in and see just how that looks, right? Sounds beautiful, but I want to see just how that looks. And so I’m super excited to introduce you all to Mr. Tim Serpe.

Mr Tim, how you doing today, sir?

Tim Serpe (02:45)

I’m doing well, Q. Thank you for having me on today.

Quentin Edmonds (02:47)

Absolutely, my friend. Thank for being here. You’ll hear me say this again at the end. Thank you for your time. I I value people’s time. It’s not, you know, missed on me that you can be doing anything in the world, but you’re here with us. And so I I appreciate you being here. And Mr. Tim, I am the type I like to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in, and then tell them what market you’re operating in.

So Ms Tim Mr Tim, sir, you have the floor.

Tim Serpe (03:19)

All right. So origin story is is is pretty simple. Born in Washington DC, my mom and dad met while working on Capitol Hill. We ended up moving to the Northeast, specifically Connecticut. My mother was came up to came home to take over the family business, which my my grandfather started back in nineteen fifty.

I originally thought I was gonna I was gonna make my money the old fashioned way and inherit it. But she ended up growing it to the largest privately held clinical research lab in New England and sold it. So then I had to find something else to do. So grew up grew up in Connecticut, went to upstate New York for to Syracuse for college. College wasn’t for me. I came home.

And my mom said, you need to get a job. She was she was a a real estate agent at the time. So I ended up going to work in the marketing department of the of the real estate company she was working working at. The CEO came in one day, saw me printing out postcards, said, This is not worth your time.

Quentin Edmonds (04:14)

Mm.

Tim Serpe (04:34)

Fired me, told me to go and get my real estate license and and start selling real estate. And that was two thousand two thousand three, two thousand four. And I’m still here. I can and and I can go down the road of of of four to eight to everything in between, but now I run I I run an independent brokerage called Citi Atlas Real Estate.

Quentin Edmonds (04:44)

Yeah, yeah.

Tim Serpe (05:00)

We are a real estate investment brokerage service innovations firm. We are completely virtual. We operate throughout the entire country. We currently in the last 18 months, we’ve closed well over 250 transactions across 25 states, 58 markets. And simultaneously over that period of time we built a a proprietary like

platform for our business model that helped us analyze underwrite properties appropriately to a point now where we are we’re actually opening it up to the consumer market

for usage which is a platform called SellSide and what we what it was used for and what we’re still using it for is is underwriting deals, estimating estimating repairs.

Quentin Edmonds (06:42)

Yeah.

Tim Serpe (06:44)

Providing qualified qualified offers for our three offer program that that we offer sellers and then it connects once we have properties under contract for those services that we offer the platform connects our agents with partner brokers and agents in the respective markets to deliver services such as listing them connecting with wholesalers or selling off to

Two end buyers at the end of the day.

Quentin Edmonds (07:15)

Yeah, yeah. Sir, thank you, man. Thank you for walking me through your journey, showing me kind of how it got started to where you are now. Shout out to your mom and the intricate role that she played in the decisions that she made. And shout out to that boss that fired you, right? Because so let me frame this, right? Because so, Mr. Tim, I have the saying where I say, Destiny has no wasted moments, right? There’s nothing random, everything.

It’s happening for a reason. And we borrow from each leg of our journey. So I love the story that you shared. And so I would love to know, Mr. Tim, you know, listening to your story, thinking about where you are, what has the moments revealed to you about yourself? Have they made you humble, more disciplined? Has it changed your outlook on innovation? Like, what has these moments taught you about you, Mr. Tim?

Tim Serpe (08:05)

So I always say that like si success really comes down to consistency and discipline. It’s it’s constantly it it’s taking proactive actions to deliver like proactive and positive results. So I I mean, when I realized college wasn’t what wasn’t for me and I came home.

The like the question mark was is like, what do you do next? And I think a lot of people do that. And and I’m a perfect example of someone who was I was 20, 21, and I didn’t know what direction in which I was going to go from from a professional standpoint. And so I think really what it what like the thing that I’ve noticed over the course of my my career and tenure is that every time there has been a setback.

Or I’ve fallen behind, there’s always been one or two opportunities that have revealed itself, whether that’s whether it’s whether it’s like like you you see it up front or it just happens serendipitously. So I I mean I I there’s some ways you can say that it’s luck. There are other ways where it’s just like it’s recognizing like opportunity when it presents itself and making making the decision.

And more so than anything else, like I think an awful lot of it comes down to being all right with the decisions that you make, whether they’re good or bad. Because there are there are plenty of investments and decisions that I’ve made in my life that have been bad decisions. Yeah. And I’m gonna be the first one to raise their hand and say, This was a bad decision, this is what I learned from it. From various different partnerships to to friends to to deals to properties we’ve purchased.

To to business strategies and initiatives that we’ve taken on. And there are ones that succeed and ones that fail. And you just gotta be all right with with with the ones that fail, take whatever whatever lessons you learned from it and then move on. It’s it it’s just don’t don’t make them again. And so the the the there’s a constant evolution to at least to my decision making where I’m

I’m constantly l playing the game like like if I knew this then, what would I do now?

And so that’s how we’re that’s how we’re currently operating right now within within our business, both on the real estate and the technology side, because we see like real estate has not changed in a hundred years. Like it is the same exact transaction and and it has been for ages. Whether you are a wholesaler or whether you’re a real estate agent, I mean that it’s it you we’re just using different paperwork. And then

The the transition though is that is technology. How are you how are you using technology to strip away all the friction and create and and and make the process as simple and seamless as possible? And I think that that’s how how we need to start looking at looking at our business and our industry, whether it’s in real estate or you’re in in in any in any other like b business model.

Whether it’s consumer based, retail base, it could be housing, financial services, you could be in the automotive industry, you could be in insurance, you could be in sales, you could be in marketing, you could, you can be in operations. It it doesn’t matter. We’re just constantly having to try to try to track and retool the the successes and failures so that we’re staying ahead of the trend versus behind it.

Quentin Edmonds (12:07)

So well said, Mr. Tim. So well said. I mean, you say you said so many things that sparked so many ideas and maybe even some questions. But so I’ll I’ll I’ll I’m gonna ask you this. What’s what’s one operational thing that you’ve put into place, let’s say the last two years, that’s made the biggest difference in how you do business?

Tim Serpe (12:25)

So our our recruitment process. Absolutely. So so again, it’s not like there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. So I come from a I I come from the brokerage background. So it’s it’s interesting because like I I see an awful lot of investors who will transition into the retail space, but very few people on the retail space transitioning into the investment space. I was I was that I was that reverse reverse effect.

So when I when I started, it was like Gary Keller, who many people know of Keller Williams, he wrote a he wrote a book called The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. And so like every everyone that I knew that I worked with in the in the industry read that book. And there was something that he that he talked about in that, which was recruit, train, and retain. And so

When I transitioned into the the investment space, I I looked at it with like what majority of people did.

Was was they would hire acquisition and disposition they would hire members of the team they would either the like pay them a base and then commissions and then you’d have this constant constant training tracking retooling holding performance improvement plans and that was that’s really successful for for a lot of business owners particularly who are very operational and KPI mindset. I’m not that type of I’m not that type of leader. It’s

It it’s hard for me to to to keep monitoring all of those activities on a on a daily basis. So I did I did really well at it up to a certain extent. But what we saw is that there was what I was seeing more turnover than that than I wanted. And given the fact that this is not an easy business, I mean it it’s not a simple sale. I say I I tell people this all the time is that like

Real estate is the most expensive consumer-based product in the world. Like like your your your regular mom and pop like like like John and Jane, they are not they they’re not buying and selling real estate that like their house like on a on a daily or weekly basis, the way that we are. So they take a very emotional approach to to these types of transactions. It’s not easy.

So what we so we we saw we saw turnover to to be high. So what we ended up doing is like it it was becoming a strain on our operations because it was tracking and managing the people who we were recruiting, bringing in,

Managing, training up, training out, and then cycling through the cycling through that that process again. So we got to the point where where we just created a very simple

A very simple model of recruiting recruiting sales professionals into our into our business model, giving them the appropriate tools and resources and the technology platform for them to be successful. And then we we simply like train train them on a daily, weekly basis. We monitor their activities and the people who who succeed, they rise up and the people who fail, they they cycle out.

And so what it did is it it it allowed us to reduce our operational expenses where and and I would probably say the operational oversight of having to sit there, monitor, track, and and not not have to directly manage our our sales rep on a on a daily basis because they’re either going to succeed or fail. And so what it allowed us to do is focus more attention on the recruitment side.

So it allows us to recruit more individuals into our into our ecosystem, provide them the tools and resources for them to be successful. If they’re if they have the consistency and discipline, they’re going to be successful. Like I can get I can guarantee that for for anyone who comes into our system, but it’s a matter of taking the action. And those who don’t take the action, they just find their way like cycling through.

And it doesn’t take any additional operational overhead on our side to have to call them every day to say, well, why didn’t you hit your numbers? If you didn’t hit your numbers, inevitably you’re going, you’re just going to cycle out. And so that has been an operational component that we’ve we’ve woven into our into our systems that has that that that that has shown to to it’s shown returns across the business as a whole.

Quentin Edmonds (17:37)

I love it, man. I love it. So, what’s next? What’s the next real goal for Citi Atlas? What are you looking to solve at scale next?

Tim Serpe (17:44)

Think what we’re trying to do is we’re we’re trying to bring on more more partners. We want to bring on more agents into our ecosystem. We and and provide more the more opportunities for sales professionals. One of the things that I’ve seen that that I’ve seen in the past is is that like there needs like when you’re analyzing deals particularly in real estate it is not easy.

Underwriting deals because here’s the thing is that what you think a property’s worth may not necessarily be what the what what the homeowner feels their property’s worth. They’re they’re typically two two dramatically different numbers. And so if we’re just it i if if our if all we’re going to do is get on the phone and try to convince someone to do something that they don’t want to do, we’re gonna fail more often than we succeed.

And so what what we’re trying to build is a simple, seamless transactional experience for both the consumer, but also for our agents. And when I say agents, I say s those are our sales reps, whether they’re licensed or unlicensed. And and what that’s a what our system has allowed us to do is actually recruit people who may not necessarily have the have the the the

The experience analyzing pricing properties that they then have to negotiate with the seller. We like we’ve simplified our entire process to the point where all we’re looking for are people who have really high EQs, who have the emotional intelligence to get on the phone, connect with sellers, understand, understand their needs.

Provide them a solution to those needs of one of our three services, like create a level of urgency, like basically like telling the story of like what what is current educating them, what’s currently going on in the market. And then and then gain their commitment to close them on one of our three, one of our three services so we can transition them into our transactions and start actually like providing the value in which sellers are ultimately looking for. So

Quentin Edmonds (19:47)

Yeah, yeah.

Tim Serpe (19:49)

That’s that’s what we’re really focused on right now within the within Citi Atlas.

Quentin Edmonds (19:54)

Yeah, I love it. I want to get your perspective on building healthy relationships within business. So I would love because I asked every guest this, because every guest has a unique perspective, right? And so what’s your perspective on building healthy relationships within business? And what are some of the relationships that you feel like have served you well? I already know one one place you’re gonna go, but I still wanna ask that question cleanly to get your feedback.

Tim Serpe (20:16)

So

I I I mean from from my perspective, I just

I want things to be done right. It’s just it it’s that simple. If if it if we do things right, people are going to people are going to share those good experiences. Yeah. I’ll tell you what people don’t share. They don’t share the bad experiences. Or or or if they do, they shit they they they exaggerate those bad experiences and heighten the the the negativity associated with it.

So it gets back to like and and and I’m sure we like everyone has has kind of heard the point of like like great sales salespeople like sell feelings.

And so like beyond just beyond selling the feelings, why not just go the extra step so people feel better at the end? And it’s like it it’s prom it it’s it’s underpromising, over delivering. Whether that’s w people within the organization or outside the organization.

Quentin Edmonds (21:08)

Yeah.

Tim Serpe (21:14)

I mean, so and that’s and I mean that’s probably something that that I constantly wrestle with because I’m I’m a very blunt person. I always go like straight, like I’m I’m a straight shooter. And so some people can be turned off by that. So what I have to do is I have to I I have to assess the current situation and the person that I’m that I’m speaking with up front, setting the tone appropriately.

In order to understand where that person is coming from so that any presentations that I make to them, they’re like they they feel comfortable, safe, and and they like trust and want to actually do business with me.

Quentin Edmonds (21:52)

There you go. There you go. No, absolutely. Mr. Tim Man, I really appreciate you coming on. I appreciate this conversation. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, sir?

Tim Serpe (22:07)

So really simple, you can either Google me, it’s Tim Serpe. I’m a very easy person to find. You can also catch me on Instagram, Tim Serpe, very simple again, or email me at tim@citiatlas.com and that’s spelled C I T I atlas dot com.

Quentin Edmonds (22:27)

Yeah, yeah. Well, Mr. Tim, I told you I would say this again. So let me say I want to say three things to you. First, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you so much for being here. Secondly, thank you for your story. Thank you for sharing. I believe when we tell our stories, when we tell what we do, when we tell, you know, what we’re good at, it plants little seeds. And those seeds can take root in somebody else’s story and grow. And so I believe you really planted some seeds here. Lastly, sir.

Thank you for your mindset, man. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. Mr. Tim, I greatly appreciate you coming on today, sir.

Tim Serpe (23:01)

Thank you, Q. Really appreciate you, my friend.

Quentin Edmonds (23:03)

Absolutely. But listen, y’all heard Mr. Tim. His information is in the show notes. Please get in contact with him. Get in contact with Citi Atlas. But definitely make sure you are subscribed here. Because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like Mr. Tim. So, sir, I’ll say thank you again. And everyone else, listen, y’all have a fantastic day.