Hi everyone. My name is Jeff Sutherlin and I am an Associate Broker with EXP Realty in Arizona.  I have been blessed to be in the real estate business since 2001. I have been in several roles since I started in this business which gives me a pretty good perspective on the evolution of the real estate industry. There are a few things that you should probably know about me. First, I am a father of two and I have been married for twenty-five years. I have loved being active in my community, helping where I can and I am very active in my church. In fact, I am a pastor in training. In my church, they call me the “vicar.” That is a fancy name for a “pastor in training.”  I get to do some of the jobs that the Pastors do not want to do.  I am kidding…kind of. You can learn more about me in my introductory video where I talk about my background and why I am so excited to be working on The Monopoly Project.

Being a man of faith, I try to live out that faith every day in my dealings with clients and other real estate professionals. I try my best to always tell the truth and be a man of integrity. I deeply care for my clients. I love serving them. It is a small industry and bad service and lack of follow through catches up with an agent. I have had several sales, management, and ownership positions in this industry since 2001. I have sold new homes for KB Home and was promoted to a regional manager where I managed twenty-five REALTORs®. I have sold residential resale homes and I was a “team leader and CEO” at Keller Williams Southeast Valley for four years. We grew that branch to 150 agents. I recruited, trained, coached, mentored, hired, and fired agents where I was also a minority owner. In 2009 I took a huge leap! I was the co-founder of United Brokers Group, aka “UBG,” a real estate company that still exists in Chandler.  We grew UBG to 235 agents between 2009 and 2015. Most of that time was doing the “great recession” which hit Phoenix really hard. In 2015, after selling my shares at UBG, I led two title and escrow agencies between 2015 and 2018.  I have been back selling real estate since 2018 and I love it more than ever!

If I am not out representing clients in a real estate transaction, I am developing my organization at EXP Realty and mentoring agents through my proprietary training system called Operation Catapult. Additionally, I am a part time seminary student at Concordia University out of St. Louis.  It is a distance learning class and I have been journeying through this program with seven other Christian brothers since the fall of 2017.

I look forward to participating on The Monopoly Project team. I do have positions that I really believe in after seeing so much over the last twenty years. Many people do not realize that there is a difference between a real estate agent and a REALTOR®. A REALTOR® pays dues to the National Association of REALTORS and to their state and local associations. A REALTOR® is bound by the Code of Ethics and takes an oath to uphold those professional standards. If someone is just a “licensee” that does not mean that they are a REALTOR®.  That means that as a REALTOR® I should not do anything that would hurt the real estate profession or the consumer experience with a REALTOR®. For example, I will not be talking about price fixing, “the going-rate” of commissions, or any other verbiage which would incite a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Another example would be that I would never share opinions that could potentially damage the reputation of any other REALTOR®. Finally, I will not be divulging confidential information about any client that I have represented.

Finally, I am just a regular guy that believes in the value of a full-service REALTOR® and believes in the agency concept. In fact, when it comes to sales as a whole, I am a value-added oriented person. I believe that when you show massive value, people will pay for your services. I believe in free markets. If the competitor is offering more value at a better price, then you have a problem. We can be a victim to change, or we can adapt to change. The choice is ours. Our industry is not perfect and I will concede where I believe we have fallen short. I will also share my thoughts where I believe the industry is going.  Finally, I will share my hopes, dreams, and fears when it comes to the real estate industry. I am hopeful that my comments will bring about good debate and ultimately, a spirited conversation which will help people understand how to increase the value of their investments through real estate. I also hope to cultivate great friendships with those on The Monopoly Project and hopefully help others who want to learn more about buying and selling real estate.