From Business Failure to Real Estate Comeback | Steve Barton

Steve Barton (00:00)
I watched the tumble all the way down to the very bottom and having nothing and trying to reinvent myself again and

You know, it the one thing I got very lucky is having a person next to me that stuck through me on that because she had to watch this person go through that and that transformation and then that failure, right? And then trying to figure out if I would turn into a phoenix or actually just sit there and crumble in the ashes a little bit. But you know, what everybody the other fun thing everybody likes to say, the bigger the setback, the greater the comeback, right? And so-

Q Edmonds (02:07)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the *Real Estate Pros Podcast*. I am your host, Q Edmonds, and I am indeed excited to be here today.

I have a fantastic guest, and I am looking forward to us talking to him. I get to see things through his lens, glean through his experience. This gentleman has 20 years of knowledge in the business, has bought a ton of real estate. He owns his own mortgage company, Core Community Mortgage. And I hope we can make space for us to learn more about why it’s called Core Community Mortgage, because I think you guys are gonna find that fascinating.

And so I love his communication style. I love the things that he stands for. And I’m super excited again for us to get to peek through his lens. So I just want to introduce to some, present to others, Mr. Steve Barton. Mr. Steve, how you doing today, sir?

Steve Barton (03:01)
If I was any better, Quentin, I’d be you.

Q Edmonds (03:04)
I hear you, man. I hear you. Listen, man, I’m so glad you’re here. This is going to be fun. And I know it’s going to be insightful. And so I’m the type, sir. I like to dive right in. So, man, 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 origin story, kind of how you got to the space where you’re at, and then tell us what market you’re operating in. And so, sir, you have the floor, my friend.

Steve Barton (03:31)
Thanks. I know I’m excited. I you know, I I started in mortgages over twenty years ago and I’ve always loved human beings and then challenges, solving challenges, and the mortgage industry seemed to give you both in spades, right? A ton of humans and a lot of challenges. So that’s you know helped me to find a portion of my career, but it also led me into real estate investing, both on the the residential side and commercial side as well, and opportunities there. So I I’ve been really thankful.

And then as I grew companies that sold a couple over the last, you know, three to four years, I really looked at where I was at in my life. And I do you look at what’s happening with technology and everything’s trying to get bigger and I just made a decision to get smaller and get hyperlocal. Because it’s the one thing that technology is still gonna struggle to do. It can’t meet you at Del’s hamburgers in Richardson, Texas. Right. And so

That, you know, if somebody needs me to see me face to face, I I could get there. So for me, you know, we we still are doing what what we’re great at, which is helping people grow their wealth and and take care of their families through real estate on the mortgage side. But we we launched Core Community Mortgage this year after selling my company last year. Really try to affect families in a different way. We’ve always been

I feel above average, I guess, at mortgages, right? Everybody thinks they’re the best, but we we have a lot to learn always. And so now it allows me to do that. And then the reason why we go around Core Community Mortgage, just because our core values drive us, it’s very important to have a compass when you’re making decisions that really rely on on your ability to make the hard decisions, even when it’s not the one that’s the most popular, but also

From a standpoint of being in the community, is the other part. So when you put those two things together, it’s we’re gonna be in the community, we’re gonna be active, we’re gonna give everything we possibly can to to our communities that we serve. And so if we get called upon, if the Bat-Signal goes up, we put on our cape and we’re in. So let’s go.

Q Edmonds (06:29)
Yes, sir. Passion, man. Where did this passion come from? I hear it gleaming through you, man. Where did the passion come from? I’m gonna say to serve people. That’s kind of how I hear it. So where did this passion come from, man?

Steve Barton (06:40)
You know, I honestly my dad, you know, he worked for a really large company out of New York. It was a a fortune ten company or fifteen company. And so his first, you know, he was hanging out with Jack Welch from GE in New York when he was working. And so my first book was *How to Win Friends and Influence People*. And I think I was like eight. So he knew Zig Ziglar and all that stuff. And those and so like for me, he just when he stepped out of that, he opened a soda shop in the fifties and sixties.

Very entrepreneurial minded. But he was one of those servant leaders, and that’s a real catchy phrase that people use nowadays to kind of buzzword or maybe get searched on Google. I actually got to watch my dad run a small business in a small town that didn’t have a lot of jobs. And I worked beside him for 10 years, learning that you have to do all the jobs of the people that follow you, because if you can’t lead people if you don’t know what they’re going through. And so for him running like this

Fast casual restaurant 1980s and 90s. You know, he had three employees that worked for him for over 30 years in that environment. That’s tough. But he would do car loans and he would help people get their stuff situated financially. And you know, he just that’s where he was always if you could help people, you know, that’s what you should do, even outside of our family. And so raising our kids, we did the exact same thing. They didn’t do birthday presents from friends and stuff like that.

They had to pick charities that we people would come and donate to for their parties. You know, and we’re fortunate, right? I still to this day talk to my kids all the time where I’ll do things and like, why are you doing that? I’m like, because we can, you know, and if we can, then what what good are we really if you can have all this success and you can’t share with them? My friend Don Eden in Tennessee, you know, his dad has a quote that he says, and he’s one of my best friends, it says, Your your your goal in life is to find your your passion and your excess.

The the the dream is to give it all away, right? You know, and so we just try to do that on a daily basis. So I and I love humans, like I said. I love talking to everybody.

Q Edmonds (08:46)
Yeah. No, you right, people have that that servant leader, people have made it their nomenclature, but like the core of it is like, hey, did you really know what that means? And so one of my favorite proverbs is is Proverbs 11:25. It says, When you refresh others, you in return will be refreshed. And I think that’s like that’s just like a core, right? And so I just hear that servitude just shining through you man. And so I often say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning

We are borrowing from every leg of the journey. And so I would love to know what has the journey taught you about yourself, Mr. Steve? Has it made you more humble, more resilient? Like what has been some aha moments that this journey has taught you about yourself?

Steve Barton (09:29)
Yeah, I’ve definitely had some humbled moments where I’ve got way outside my my core DNA and failed. I thought success was a result of me just being so awesome at everything.

And then I watched the tumble all the way down to the very bottom and having nothing and trying to reinvent myself again and

You know, it the one thing I got very lucky is having a person next to me that stuck through me on that because she had to watch this person go through that and that transformation and then that failure, right? And then trying to figure out if I would turn into a phoenix or actually just sit there and crumble in the ashes a little bit. But you know, what everybody the other fun thing everybody likes to say, the bigger the setback, the greater the comeback, right? And so

This time I know what I’m fighting for and I’m very focused on just helping as many people as I can and lifting as many people up and then that will be the legacy, not not the failures.

Q Edmonds (11:03)
Woo, yes, sir. Man, one of my mentors said something to me at a pivotal point in my life, said when you know who you are, you know what to do. And it sounds like you got a good grasp of who you are. And I think that’s probably part of your compass of why you can keep falling forward because you know why you do what you do. That’s what it sounds like to me.

Steve Barton (11:20)
It takes a while sometimes. I tell people you don’t have to figure it all out. You know, you know I like my kids they’re they they constantly are like, Dad, you don’t even know anything about this and I’m like, but I trust myself and I know where I’m going. And so when I jump, I don’t need to know where I’m gonna land sometimes. I’ll just go figure it out.

Q Edmonds (11:37)
Yes, sir. I love that, man. So listen, I you I I’m assuming, I’m gonna make a strong assumption, you don’t get to where you are without having some good systems in place. Yeah. Right. And so I I would love to know what’s one operational thing you’ve put into place, let’s say like the last two years, that’s made the biggest difference on how you run your business.

Steve Barton (11:59)
Well, I think this day and age, especially where we’re at now, data is the most important thing that you can have, right? Because if you look at all the big companies, they’re trying to take your customer, they’re trying to take information and then repackage that data and kind of use it against you a little bit. So I believed in that eight years ago. So I’ve been collecting my data and then building systems around that. So having a critical customer relationship software that allows me to highly engage.

But doesn’t take me out of the day-to-day interaction, right? Just allows me to interact. So it’s it’s keeping focused on, like let’s just say in the mortgage industry, as a loan’s progressing forward, customers need to be kept up to date. If I’m handling, you know, 200 customers at a time, that’s not something I can individually do. But that’s something that if it’s done correctly with a personal video with me still involved, they’re still getting my face, but it needs to be automated. But secondarily.

Now using the AI behind it, I’m able to give better data and better results to whether it be a customer or a partner in real estate or title to really help grow their business. So I really shifted this year with our team to say we’re going to change our mindset and whatever’s important to other people, we’re going to make it important to us. And then we’re going to have to build their systems around it to help them grow 20%, either personally or professionally.

So now we’re on that mission to grow everybody by twenty percent around us because it’s the old adage of rising tide will raise all ships.

Q Edmonds (13:32)
Yeah. Man, I’m just taking notes on things that you’re saying. This is I I I I mean I again I said earlier, I love the way you communicate. So I’m taking notes personally because of some of the things that you’re saying. And so I appreciate that. What’s what’s next? I know you said you want to, you know, grow people by 20%, but what’s next for you as a business? Is there something that you are looking to solve or scale next outside of the 20%?

Steve Barton (13:59)
Yeah, I mean, so there’s a—each business that I have businesses in four different different types of verticals that do different serve different customers and provide different things. And so one, you know, trying to make sure that each one is foundationally sound. So using kind of the the new stuff with AI that’s coming around, like our websites are all now being built by AI so that I can make it very specific to each customer and things like that. But

For me, the real next thing is how deep can I take these relationships in the community aspect? So Richardson is where I live, but obviously we serve a lot of the places in the nation. So when I go to those communities too, I do the exact same thing that I do in Richardson. I get hyperlocal, but so Richardson, the mayor here has a very clear vision with the the people in the business, economic development and the and the people.

About what they want to do. And so I I see a lot of stagnation in Richardson that’s happening. And so we are part of that solution. The first thing was we had to plant our flag here. And so we bought a building, my partner and I, my two partners and I, to really renovate it in downtown Richardson and and become kind of that flag for the rebirth of downtown and and help bring that back. So that that’ll be something that I’ll be working on. I also run a charity organization.

That helps Richardson ISD elementary schools that we started, Wes Pingelton and I, in his backyard 10 years ago. And now the event raises over $100,000 every single year for Richardson ISD elementary school shortfalls.

So we’re reinventing that as we said, because technology on even fundraising and charity work has changed, right? And so you have to look at everything. And I’ve always told my team is every day when you wake up, come in and challenge everything that you do.

And then if it doesn’t work or that’s not the best process, we have to throw it out and reinvent ourselves. And I think acting like that and having the team and all of my businesses make sure they know you never arrive, right? You’re never gonna get to the finish line. And that not being a failure, that being part of the journey, right? That the destination is actually how many people that we can add to the community, to the bus, not getting to a beach and sitting down.

Q Edmonds (17:00)
Yeah, yeah. Man, again, love the way you think, you know, how you talked about adding people, you know, to the bus. I often think about the word relationship when you break that down, relationship. So we’re all in a ship together. How are we relating in this ship? Because this ship this ship is going somewhere. So how are we relating? And and how are we divvying up the responsibilities? Because if we’re on a rowboat.

We need to know all of us rolling? Like what like what’s going on? Like if we go to a Titanic, like who’s manning this? Who’s manning that? So I love it. And so, Mr. Steve, this literally walks me right into my next question. And I’ma love hearing this from you because it seemed like you and your dad are relationship type people. So talk to me. You’ve talked to me about relationships. Let’s dive a little deeper. What are some of the relationships that have served you well? What is your philosophy on building healthy business relationships?

Talk to me about relationships and the people in your sphere that is really helping you be successful.

Steve Barton (17:58)
Yeah, no doubt. And and it, you know, I I was having this conversation with my son and you know, he’s he’s in college right now and he graduated from high school and a couple of his friends have fallen off that were really close friends already. And he just said, Well I do and I said, Look, you you when you get to the end of your life, you’re gonna have a culmination of all the relationships that have lasted the time, right? Some of those in high school or college or business come and they go and and they’re they’re not meant for that, and that’s okay.

And I and that’s one of the things I can show to them in each part of my life. There’s there’s definitely three to four people that are still with me today that I’m like, man, these people are just a part of my soul, right? They’re part of your DNA. But for me, I’ve had partnerships that are based on friendships that have started there that have gone extremely great. My partnership with Wes and Soccer Spectrum and what we’ve been able to rebirth a legacy business in Richardson and bring it back to life.

A little bit like myself. You know, has been one of my favorite partnerships in my life. And I know I can rely on him when I’ve been down. He’s always been there. And no matter how hard it’s been, when people are doubting me and tearing me down, he’s been really good. And then I’ve had partnerships that I’ve grown in business, like my partnership that I have here with the building that I own that I I know that that that person has my back. So, you know, it’s really critical because you’re never gonna stop adding partnerships and

It’s about making time too. So I always have on my calendar every morning stop and call anybody who’s on your brain. Right like most people just think, man, I should have talked to that person, or I wish I would have done I just literally immediately if I think of somebody, I text them and say, Hey, what are you doing? Or I call them and just leave them a message. Just because the the only thing I don’t wanna have is regret. And most of my life it was a lot of things I wish I could have, shoulda, coulda, woulda, but

Now it’s gonna be people showing up to to raise the glass because they know I squeezed every second out of this thing.

Q Edmonds (20:01)
Yeah, Mr. Steve, again, I I’m going to echo what I say. I I love the way you think, man. It parallels a lot of how I think. I’ll share with you another proverb that I often live by. It’s Proverbs 17:17. It says, a friend loveth at all time, and a brother is born for time of adversity. And I tell that to my friends because I want them to know how serious I take.

What we have, and I’m like you. If somebody comes across my mind, I’m stopping what I’m doing because it means a lot to me that friendship, that connection. And so, man, I appreciate you sharing that. That lines up a lot with the philosophy that I have. I—listen, I gotta get you on Core Community Mortgage, Core Community. It it means something to you, that name means something to you. Talk to me a little bit about the name, Mr. Steve.

Steve Barton (20:50)
Well, you know, obviously in Richardson they have a thing called The CORE District and it’s the it’s pretty funny. I call it the five boroughs of Richardson. It’s like it’s so small in The CORE District. He’s probably like, Hey, is this New York? Am I in Brooklyn? Where am I at right now? You know But but at the end of the day, The CORE District is where we’re located. Our building and our business that operates here is the Core Advocates building.

And so Core Advocates was a name that one of my friends, Kelly Wicker, that passed away. We were buying this building together when she passed away. And she wanted it to be called Core Advocates because she said we’re in The CORE District and we need to advocate for everybody in the community. So when she passed away and I decided to relaunch my mortgage company, I wanted to keep the core at the front because it was everything that we were building, because it would be in our DNA.

And then the community kind of lined up with her vision for the advocacy of the community. And then what we’re doing in The CORE District to bring people together. And the great thing is is core community, it it’s for every community because everybody has the community at its core, right? And I can go to other cities because we do do mortgages and real estate and invest in multiple states. So when I go, it allows me to confidently ask them.

What’s important to your community? What’s in what are your core values? What do I need to do to serve you? And it opens up that conversation reciprocal. And ’cause I don’t care about what my deal is. I don’t I don’t need to talk. I need to listen. So that allows me to ask the questions to get that information to know how I need to serve.

Q Edmonds (22:27)
Yeah, I love it. I love it. I always say community. One of the ways I look at it is common unity. It’s people doing things together. So again, I love the way you’re serving people.

Steve Barton (22:37)
A lot of

Good stuff today. Like from community and the ship partnership. I am literally stealing all of it.

Q Edmonds (22:44)
Please do, man. So I can’t say these are not things I thought of. These are things when I talk to people like-minded like you, the people that I listen to, the information that I take in, these are the things that’s getting that’s getting planted. And that’s why I keep echoing, I love the way you think, because you’re literally like regurgitating in your own way, things that people within my community are saying the exact same thing. So yeah.

Steve Barton (23:09)
I’m plugged into you

Q Edmonds (23:12)
No, that listen, like minded is just like mindedness. That’s it, that’s it.

Steve Barton (23:16)
No, my stuff’s not copyrighted, so you can use it all. There you go.

Q Edmonds (23:23)
Absolutely. There you go. Man. Well, listen, before I tell people how to get in contact with you, I just want to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Is there anything that you had on your mind coming in that you wanted to make sure that got shared? I just want to kind of create that opportunity if it was something like that.

Steve Barton (23:39)
No, I mean I’m just thankful and I appreciate you allowing us to have this time together and let me learn about you and and now that now that I know I gotta go brush up on my Bible verses. So I’ll then but just thankful and and look at the end of the day you we’re both just trying to fit in where we can get in, serve as many people as we can and wake up every day and and see if we can win for everybody.

Q Edmonds (24:04)
Yes, sir. You hit the nail on the head, my friend. But listen, 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?

Steve Barton (24:13)
Yeah.

So I mean obviously the interweb is really great for searching things these days and the LLMs, but you can always go to our website, corecommunitymortgage.com, check us out there. My cell phone—I still give out my cell phone number because I don’t care who calls me. It’s (214) 673-1319. It’s funny, I own I own a new soccer club and that I started in Richardson is now part of the pro club here in Dallas, the new pro club. And

All the boards people would be talking bad about our soccer club or something where we customer service let somebody down and I would just go on the boards and say, I’m the founder. My name’s Steve Barton. Here’s my cell phone. Just call me and I’ll fix it. And people at our club would be like, dude, what are you doing? There’s like 20,000 people on there. And I’m like, I don’t hide from that stuff. We’re gonna fail. Just own it. Get on the phone. Apologize. Take the energy away from what happened and put it into solving.

But what needs to be done?

Q Edmonds (25:12)
Yes, sir. Well, I’ll give you this one too that I thought I thought this is an original thought, but when I went to actually brand it, it’s not an original thought. But I always say failure is fertilizer, right? It’s that’s all it is, is fert fertilizer. And sometimes, you know, fertilizer, the smell is not

The best. Some of it is just dung, right? But if you let the fertilizer do its work, something beautiful grows from it. The smell starts to change and everything starts to change. So yeah, embrace the embrace the failure because it’s just fertilizer. And so I appreciate you sir. Yeah. Yes sir. Yes sir. I appreciate you so much. So then you gave the contact information, right? I was listening, but we we got that you gave it correct.

Steve Barton (25:52)
Or just go to like Steve Barton. My team has got me on social media active now on Facebook and Instagram and I think TikTok now. You can do that or go to it like go to your favorite computer person, you know, either you can go to Elon Musk’s Grok or you can go to Sam Altman’s ChatGPT and look me up.

Q Edmonds (26:11)
Absolutely. Well, listen, let me say three things to you, sir, sincerely. One, thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you for your time. Secondly, thank you for your story. I think our story is plant seeds for people. And we don’t know when those seeds are gonna take root and grow, but the seed is there. So thank you for planting seeds. Lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on, sir.

Steve Barton (26:37)
No, thanks, Quen. Have a great day.

Q Edmonds (26:39)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Steve. His information is in the contact notes. Please get in contact with him. But definitely make sure you subscribe here. Cause I promise you we’re gonna continue to bring up amazing people, just like Mr. Steve. So, sir, I say thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.