People-First Real Estate: How Scott Harris Built a $2 Billion NYC Business

Scott Harris (00:00)
If I’ve made mistakes, Scott, it’s when I’m when investing in real estate for sure, it’s getting a little cocky when the market is strong. I’m a runner, I run a lot of marathons and I so I’ll use this metaphor. You don’t want to make decisions when you’re on an uphill or when you’re on a downhill. And so here we’re talking about you’re running down a hill. It feels easy. You’re coming down, you’re flying down the hill, and you’re like, I don’t need to do due diligence.

Scott Bursey (02:02)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast, powered by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Scott Bursey. And pros, we are delighted to have Scott Harris with us today. Scott is the founder of Magnetic Real Estate in New York City. Over the past two decades, he’s helped people buy and sell over two billion dollars in residential properties. He recently published the USA Today national bestseller, *The Pursuit of Home*, to share how he and his agents help their clients become successful in chasing their real estate dreams. Scott, welcome to the show.

Scott Harris (02:37)
Scott, thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Scott Bursey (02:40)
It’s awesome having you here and to help our pros get up to speed. Please give us the 90 second highlight reel and how your career ignited and where you’re pouring your fuel now.

Scott Harris (02:52)
I’ve been a residential real estate agent for almost twenty five years and started my business just like doing rentals in New York City, scrapping it out, eventually grew into where I was really advising people on buying and selling and learned my way, made my way, and last year launched my own brokerage firm, Magnetic Real Estate. And in the context of that, really got clear on how we do what we do differently than other real estate agents.

And I had the good fortune of publishing this book that you were just mentioning. And it’s just been really a joy to start recruiting agents to join my firm now that we’re really kind of getting our we’ve got our feet under us.

Scott Bursey (03:35)
Love it, Scott. You know, taking a spark and turning it into a wildfire. It’s clear you’re not just building a business, you’re building a legacy. And you know what really caught my attention about you was the way that you’ve been able to dominate a market as hyper competitive as New York City for two decades, while at the same time distilling that experience into a bestseller. That’s the gold standard.

Scott Harris (04:03)
Thanks for saying so. it’s it it feels good to to be viewed in that way, Scott. I would say that from the the inside scoop it it sometimes feels like I’m making lots of mistakes every day. and at the same time I I think, you know, it’s important to say that I really it’s about caring for clients. You know, I just care for them, I really go above and beyond, deliver as as what

what has been called in other in other books and so on, unreasonable hospitality, you know, over the top, be above and beyond. And if I do that and I just focus on servicing clients and being of service, ultimately it has really helped us grow and be successful. And I’m I’m grateful for what for all the opportunity success we’ve had.

Scott Bursey (05:40)
Curious to know, looking back at that two billion dollar milestone, what was the specific shift in mindset that turned you from just selling property into a true market maker?

Scott Harris (05:54)
I think you you said it right there, Scott. It’s it’s shifting away from a transactional mindset. You know, I I was talking to an agent based out of San Diego and he was telling me that some of his agents like close a deal and then they go on a vacation. You know, they’re they’re it’s all about what these deals are gonna do for them. And that’s fine. I don’t have any no judgment. Like

You you know, you’re maybe you’re not the main breadwinner in the family. You close a couple extra deals and then your kids, you know, you pay for your kids’ tuition or you pay for that vacation for the family, and that’s great. But for me and and for Magnetic, it really has been about

moving away from the transactional mindset. This is about helping people through transitions. You know what I I I I’m not this is not me being hyperbolic at all. I think that the work that real estate agents do is sacred. It doesn’t get more important than the home that you live in because your home can be the launch pad for everything you try to you want to do in your life for that vision of what you’re trying to do with your life. And so it’s it’s not that I mean

Seventy percent of real estate agents do one or fewer deals a year. So how do we succeed? It’s just about if we can serve our client in this really beautiful way, it’s just going to grow as a result. You know, your business is gonna your referral business, everything’s gonna come from everywhere because that feels different than somebody who’s just trying to pay for a vacation.

Scott Bursey (07:28)
Thank you for highlighting that. It really resonates with our listeners, that approach. And Scott, please walk us through what is the biggest strength in your Magnetic methodology that allows your agents to consistently outperform New York City market averages?

Scott Harris (07:48)
It’s a people mindset. Okay. It’s a people first mindset. When you sit down with a buyer, I’m telling my agents, look, this is a conversation about getting to know the people. It’s if you go on any real estate website, you’re going to see a checklist of what’s your budget, how many bedrooms, where do you want to live, location, do you want to be near a church? Do you want to do this and that? At the very end, there might be, is there anything else you want to share? That line is where we start.

That’s where the whole thing, that’s the whole of it. Who are you? What are you about? What are you trying to achieve in your life? The clearer we get on that, then all the other details, like it’s knowing you serves the rest of it. Because a lot of times, and this is not, I’m not trying to tell people that they don’t know what they want, but oftentimes they think they want one thing, that first draft of their their checklist, so to speak, is wrong.

And over time they were like, wow, actually what I wanted was this whole set of other things. I thought I wanted this, turns out I want something else. So that it’s that people first approach. It’s not a numbers first, it’s not a dollar first, it’s not a transaction first, it’s a people first. And that applies internally to our company as well. You know, we want people to achieve their potential. And I’m sure we’ll talk more about it, but there are large companies out there.

that don’t treat their agents like anything but a number. And agents start to feel that too. They are people. They want to feel like you care about them. So we we really, it’s all one thing, Scott. Caring about people is just it when you start there, it just has that magic kind of, you know, fairy dust on over across everything you’re doing.

Scott Bursey (09:40)
And Scott, on that note, how do you replicate that magnetic pole when you’re onboarding new agents?

Scott Harris (10:21)
Well, we actually have them fill out assessments. We want to get to know what is their personality. What are they really about? there are gonna be some agents that may not be a personality or a culture fit because they’re it’s and they might be hugely successful and you know, God bless them, but they may not be a personality fit. They may be they may not have the same integrity.

or people focus that we’re looking for. And it it’s a marathon, not a sprint. So it’s it’s about finding people that really are looking at this as as we do. You know, it I’m not trying to create a whole army of people like me. In fact, you know, there everybody has a certain set of skills, like us like superpowers. You know, some people are more operational, some people are more a whole variety of different combinations of things, but they have to care.

And they have to be coachable. You know, Michael Jackson, pardon me, Michael Jordan is sitting there on the sidelines. He has a coach, just like everybody else. And if you think you have all the answers, you’re gonna be first, eventually you’re gonna be you’re gonna learn your lesson, but you’re you’re you might not be a right fit for us because we want people who are like, I know I don’t know all the answers. I know I want to grow, I’m ready to learn it from wherever I can learn.

Scott Bursey (11:48)
Being the smartest person in the room doesn’t wash well with you.

Scott Harris (11:54)
I’ve been that, Scott. Don’t you know? Like there was a time when I knew everything. I I know less every year. It’s incredible how that happens.

Scott Bursey (12:03)
We’d love to understand with a volume of two billion plus, what is the one operational bottleneck in your agency you’re currently working to tighten up?

Scott Harris (12:13)
Yeah, I mean the the bottleneck is often the leader. I mean, for me, the bottleneck is certainly if I ever ever have tendencies to try to turn this into the Scott show or I’m taking care of everything, that can definitely be a bottleneck. I think for us right now, we have a lot of business opportunities and so we’re recruiting to kind of fill seats and we we’re we’re picky, as you can tell. We want the right people. So I found myself

sweeping the floors, mopping the floors a lot more than I would like to. And that’s okay. You know, I’m grateful that I that we have the business we have. But I think the the operational bottleneck is making sure that we have enough people and that we can scale properly. and you know, it’s a challenge every day because you wanna you just wanna be intentional about it. And I’d rather hire more slowly than

than be in a position where we were because we cleaned house a lot to get rid of some people. As we raise the floor, or whatever you whatever the metaphor is, when the tide goes out, you realize, gosh, these people just aren’t the right people anymore. And you you know, you have a chance to look at your business.

Scott Bursey (13:21)
I love that framing. And wanting to get your take on given the shifting residential landscape, where do you see the biggest green light for expansion in the luxury sector right now?

Scott Harris (13:35)
Well, it’s there’s been a lot of consolidation, Scott. So if you can imagine, there’s there’s some very large companies that have all come together. Realogy was purchased by Compass, and I’m not singling any any agency out, but there has been a lot of consolidation. I would argue we’re kind of in this peak consolidation time. And so the focus inevitably from a publicly traded company.

That just took on billions of dollars of debt is going to be how do we service the debt and deal with the bottom line? That means the sort of luxury brand that’s all of a sudden 10x the size sort of becomes Walmart. And, you know, so that to me, the opportunity, the green light for a boutique agency that is really people focused is just staying true to our own, our true north, right? Our magnetic north. Like we know what we’re going for.

And as we stay the same in our caring and approach, I think a lot of these companies that are losing their focus on the agents in their own companies and their clients, I think we inevitably will grow be as a result of just caring about people and being a people first company.

Scott Bursey (14:50)
Scott, has the success of your book, *The Pursuit of Home*, opened new doors for your acquisition strategy?

Scott Harris (15:38)
Well, we it’s helped us with recruiting for sure. And we found that some clients will maybe be trained a little bit better from the outset, meaning like they say, you know, let’s set up this time for this meeting. I forgot you want us to have like both of us here for that meeting. You know, like little nuggets that they’ve pulled out of the book where I’m like, you want to sit down with everybody all the decision makers. So you like so that because

making sure everyone’s aligned in the deal, cause they’re four steps to the book, to what what we call our Magnetic Method. So it’s it’s been fun to see when people actually pay attention. But I think more than anything, it’s just given us like an extra level of credibility. I didn’t write the book for for credibility. I wrote the book ’cause I felt called to write the book. You know, I’ve felt this calling and I’ve trusted my intuition and my instincts on

Every every great decision I’ve ever made has been an intuitive one where I listened to my gut. And almost every bad decision is where I knew the right answer and I went the opposite direction, right?

Scott Bursey (16:42)
That kind of clarity is exactly what attracts the smart money. And Scott, interested to know, looking at the New York City market specifically, what is the one external factor or potential threat that you’re most focused on regarding your growth direction?

Scott Harris (17:01)
I’d like to say that I strongly believe that you make your own market. Okay. There are external challenges in New York that people are reading about across the country. We have a mayor and a city council that seems a little bit opposed to capitalism in general. That can be a problem. the way that they’re approaching their relationship with landlords and things like that can

We could look at that and go, throw our hands up and like run screaming for the hills. I I I’m not taking that approach. I believe that New York City is has weathered many, many storms and people love New York. And so it’s just a matter of of being patient and with buyers and sellers, making sure we find the right opportunities and we lay it out and give people, show people a path, stay calm in the storm and show them like, okay, this is how you navigate this situation. We’re gonna give you the best advice we can for.

the moment. but it it’s there’s definitely headwinds at any given time. I mean, you could go back and look at headlines every year and there’s always, Scott, there’s always something to focus on negative if you want, or you can choose to build based on your own belief that you can if you need to, you can capture market share. or at other times you can sort of rise with everybody, you know, as a as a market expands and and gets stronger.

Scott Bursey (18:25)
How are you shielding your agents from those broader market headwinds?

Scott Harris (18:30)
We are helping them stay positive. We’re helping them focus on like what’s the vision for your business? You know, what’s gonna get you excited? Why do you do this in the first place? I mean, if you ask investors, why are you investing in a thing? You know, what what about why are you buying real estate? Well, I want to make money. I mean, that’s the first level of answer.

And then you can get deeper and deeper and deeper. And then you’re like, well, you know, I want a legacy. I want to have something for my grandkids. Like it starts to get real and it starts to get emotional. And when that happens, it’s not as exhausting to look through deals and think about and learn more and whatever, because you’re like, wow, I’m really investing in the future. And this is what it inspires me. so for agents, you know, it’s it’s about really uncovering their why.

Why is this important to them? Why is this important? And dig and dig and you know, if you start crying, then you know you’re on the right track.

Scott Bursey (19:31)
Well, thank you for sharing your perspective on that. And Scott, interested to know, looking 18 months out, where are you doubling down on your focus to stay ahead of the curve?

Scott Harris (19:44)
We are very much doubling down on AI and how it’s gonna enhance our business. as much as we have very simple rules when it comes to technology and really, you know, our systems. They have to be easy to use, they have to be easy to scale, they have to allow you to be more present for your clients. And AI is so incredible.

In the sense it’s like the best assistant you’ve ever had. If I can be more present for the people that I’m working with, doing less effort. And if I can help my agents be more present, it’s a huge win. So we’re doubling and tripling down on building systems that are so easy to use that agents can be so much more productive and can be more present with the clients they serve.

Scott Bursey (20:43)
It’s great to hear how you’re sharpening that focus as you scale. And Scott, if you could tell us, what does your professional network look like right now?

Scott Harris (20:54)
it’s it’s a network across the country of people from every part of my life. So I grew up in New Orleans, I went to a private school in New Orleans, so it was a lot of people who ended up leaving the city and spreading out across the the country. Then I went to Philadelphia for college, I went to the University of Pennsylvania. That’s another really tapped in network of successful people.

everywhere I’ve gone, I lived in Boston before I moved to New York. I’ve just stayed in touch with people. I I’m really like a person that for whom like real estate is just the vehicle for me helping people. But it’s not the only one. It’s just the one that I happen to get good at. Whatever it could have been any number of things, but it for me it’s always been about serving people, connecting people. And so when you add so much value.

You can’t help but that network just grows. I mean, I have networking groups that I’m a part of, I have philanthropies that I’m involved in, alumni networks, our my children’s school. I they’re just incredible people doing the coolest things. I mean, I feel as a real estate agent, I get to meet people from across across so many different professions. and also we’re part of our company is part of it, an organization.

That’s like a they’re the our back of house, our vendor partner. They they sort of power our tech stack, as it were, and they power over 700 companies nationally. So we have a network of those 700 companies. They’re all top 20% real estate residential real estate brokerage brokerages in their respective cities. So that’s been incredible as well. But it’s it’s just it’s like the the aggregate of all of those things, if that makes sense.

Scott Bursey (22:48)
It most certainly does, and that’s a powerful peer group. It’s no wonder you’re seeing the results. You’re clearly in the right rooms.

Scott Harris (22:57)
Yeah, it’s

I think it’s there’s there’s a tendency for people to think, I can’t do that because I’m not in the I don’t I can’t grow because I don’t have the right rooms or whatever it is. I think it starts but by wanting to be of service at whatever level you are at. I mean, I when I first got into the working world, I made twenty-four thousand dollars a year. but I wanted to help people and so I volunteered my time, more than my money. And as time went on, I

You know, I didn’t take girls on like dinner dates for a while there, right? You know, like before I could figure it out. Believe me, you know. So I I think it’s you have to start where you are. But if you’re being of service and you care and you show up and you do what you say you’re gonna do, it’s like you can build it brick by brick. But I don’t want by any I don’t want anyone to think like I didn’t make a ton of mistakes and that I I started very modestly, that is for sure.

Scott Bursey (23:53)
I love that. And Scott, if you had to launch Magnetic Real Estate in a completely new cold market today with your current knowledge, but zero brand equity, what is the one activity you would execute daily to build trust and generate that first yes.

Scott Harris (24:12)
Wow. That is an awesome question. I would probably go first and meet all of the great agents in the market and understand like what about what are they doing here in this particular market that works here? And then I would probably start going to like networking meetings just to understand like what’s the vibe in that town? What have

Because I grew up in the Deep South where people you have to spend time talking to people and getting to know them. And it’s you can’t just dive right into business. You know, it if you’re transactional, you lose. it’s about relationship. And so I think it’s like building like anything else. You have to know, you know, I have a vision. I want to build this. I know what it’s gonna look like in a year and a half, two years. I’m gonna start to have relationships and be like, wow, this guy this guy made it in New York.

And he’s in our little town or whatever it is, like, man, I want to talk to him. You know, like if he can, if he can make it in this cutthroat New York City market, surely he can help us here. And I think it’d be I think it’d be a lot of fun to see how that real estate market operates. And I think, and I’ve seen that there are a lot of real estate agents who just are not operating at the level of care that I think there’s always room for a good agent to pop into any market.

Scott Bursey (25:39)
That is pure gold, Scott. It’s a testament to the fact that while markets change, the fundamentals of building trust remain the bedrock of this business.

Scott Harris (25:52)
Boom. Amen. I love it.

Scott Bursey (25:55)
And you have given us a lot of great knowledge here today. But is there anything else that you’d like to leave with the pros? Any additional advice, Scott?

Scott Harris (26:05)
Well, I have made if If I’ve made mistakes, Scott, it’s it’s when I’m when investing in real estate for sure, it’s getting a little cocky when the market is strong. my one of my I’m a runner, I run a lot of marathons and I so I’ll use this metaphor. You don’t want to make decisions when you’re on an uphill or when you’re on a downhill. And so here we’re talking about you’re running down a hill.

It feels easy. You’re coming down, you’re flying down the hill, and you’re like, I don’t need to do due diligence.

And you know, like you just kind of make a a rash decision. And so I just be careful when you’re thinking like everything is perfect. that’s time, that’s a time when you can make a really dumb, you can overpay, you can like get lazy. No one’s immune to that. So I would my my my advice my advice would be.

to stick to your fundamentals, to whatever your buy box is and don’t veer, you know, like be be thoughtful and you, you know, you better have a lot of reasons, but don’t feel inclined to say yes just because you’re feeling like wealthy at that moment.

Scott Bursey (27:25)
That’s powerful. Thank you for that, Scott. And for our listeners that want to keep this conversation moving, stay in your lane or collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you, Scott?

Scott Harris (27:39)
I am the most active on LinkedIn. So if people look up Scott Harris, Magnetic on LinkedIn, they can find me. I I write a weekly piece on the New York City market, on real estate, the psychology of real estate, architecture. But I also post every day if you want to go behind the scenes to New York City real estate. I talk about deals. I talk, I I’m very compassionate.

But I’m also talking about like what are the things you need to know to make good decisions buying and selling in New York. And if you want prettier pictures, you can follow me at Scottie Harris on Instagram. But you can also follow go and check out my book, which is the is pursue at the website is pursueyourhome.com. The book is called *The Pursuit of Home*. So if you go to Pursue Your Home.

you can take all there’s all sorts of free resources that talk about really the psychology of buying a home and a whole bunch of practical tips on how to do that.

Scott Bursey (28:48)
Scott, thank you for joining us today on the Real Estate Pros podcast. This has been truly spectacular. And to our listeners, we appreciate you. If you receive value from today’s episode, please subscribe. We’ll be filling your tanks with a lineup of elite guests, just like Scott Harris, who are accelerating and setting the pace for the rest of the industry. Until next time, keep your standards high and your vision clear. We’ll see you in the next episode, everyone.

Scott Harris (28:52)
You’re welcome.