Living The Red Life

How a Small-Town Realtor Became One of Canada’s Best

18 min
Apr 27, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Terrence Tate, a top-ranked realtor in Canada's Yukon region, discusses the realities of real estate entrepreneurship, emphasizing that success requires emotional intelligence, resilience, and authentic personality rather than appearance. He shares insights on building a high-performing team, managing client relationships during high-stakes transactions, and the psychological toll of sales-driven careers.

Insights
  • Real estate success depends primarily on emotional intelligence and counseling skills rather than sales ability—the actual selling is the smallest part of the job
  • Money reveals true character in clients; high-stakes transactions expose people's values and willingness to compromise on minor issues for major deals
  • Team building should prioritize cultural fit and trainability over hiring experienced realtors who bring entrenched bad habits and shortcuts
  • The real estate industry has a 2-year attrition rate of 85-90% for new agents; only those who survive 5 years typically become lifers
  • Personal relationships and family responsibilities fundamentally reshape priorities and work-life balance for high-performing entrepreneurs
Trends
Shift from agent-centric to team-based real estate models with specialized roles (photography, marketing, listing management)Facebook remains dominant social platform for real estate marketing in smaller markets despite global decline in platform relevanceIncreasing emphasis on work-life balance and personal fulfillment among top performers, moving away from 24/7 availability cultureRise of personality-driven real estate branding and content marketing (TikTok, Instagram) as customer acquisition channelsConsolidation of real estate services with agents focusing on listings-only model rather than full buyer/seller representationMental health and divorce prevalence in northern Canadian markets creating demand for counselor-like advisor relationshipsAuthenticity and personal brand differentiation becoming competitive advantages over traditional credentials in real estate
Topics
Real estate team building and hiring strategiesClient relationship management in high-stakes transactionsEmotional intelligence in sales and negotiationsWork-life balance for commission-based entrepreneursSocial media marketing for real estate (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)Personality-driven business brandingResilience and persistence in entrepreneurshipGeographic market dynamics (Yukon real estate)Divorce and family law impact on real estate marketsCareer longevity in sales professionsListings-only business model strategySmall-town business success and local reputationEntrepreneurial mindset and psychologyProfessional presentation and dress code standardsDelegation and outsourcing in real estate operations
Companies
Yukon Real Estate Advisors Group
Terrence Tate's real estate company, created 2 years ago, branched from larger firm to become independent entity
People
Terrence Tate
Guest discussing his journey from small-town realtor to top-ranked agent in Canada (88th nationally in 2022)
Rudy Moore
Host of Living The Red Life podcast; formerly in real estate, now focused on fitness and lifestyle content
Ray Gutierrez
Credited at episode conclusion as part of production team for Living Your Legacy podcast
Quotes
"In real estate, the biggest thing is like you do a lot more than sell. I mean, selling is the smallest part of it. You're a counselor, you're an advisor, you're a marriage counselor, you do everything."
Terrence TateEarly in episode
"As soon as it gets down to dollars and cents, you really see people's true identity. That's what it comes down to. And some people are great and some people are horrific."
Terrence TateMid-episode
"The average lifespan of a new realtor is two years. Then the next lifespan after that is five and that's when most people—85 or 90 percent—quit. And then if you pass that point, then you're a lifer."
Terrence TateMid-episode
"Make sure that you stick to what you are good at and be yourself and don't try to be someone who you're not. And understand that some people will just not like you and that's just life."
Terrence TateClosing advice
"You really can do whatever you think you can do. You just have to work for it. That's all."
Terrence TateFinal message
Full Transcript
Do you really have to be good looking to sell real estate? You just have to have like, you know, the outgoing personality and be able to talk to people and make sure that you're good at handling a lot of emotions and a lot of people's problems and stuff. So in real estate, the biggest thing is like, you do a lot more than sell. I mean, selling is the smallest part of it. You're a counselor, you're an advisor, you're a marriage counselor, you do everything, right? And divorce is huge up in the north. And so you're always dealing with people and they're not always in the best mood. Yeah, man. Any tips for anyone that wants to be you or become you and they're listening to this and watching this make sure that you stick to what you are good at and be yourself and don't try to be someone who you're not and understand that in the last few years especially i've learned that some people will just not like you and that's just life like there is just no nothing you can do to change that and you have to let go of that and you have to just be able to keep moving forward. If you can't, then it's just not going to work. If you can and you believe in what you're going to do, it's classic, but you really can do whatever you think you can do. You just have to. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Welcome to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, the Red Life Edition. Joining me today is Terrence Tate. He is with the Yukon Real Estate Advisors Group Church. What is this lesion, Terrence? Tell me, what is this Yukon group of advisors? No, Yukon's Real Estate Advisors is just a company that I created. In the last basically two years, it's become its own identity. It used to be part of a different real estate company as kind of my team name and then eventually branching out to become just its company itself in real estate. Pretty simple. Cool. I'm going to be honest with you. We get a lot of real estate entrepreneurs, solopreneurs here. Yeah. And I always like to ask, it's not as easy as folks think it is, huh? Not at all. Not at all. No. No. I mean, it's a lot of like these influencers online going, look at this penthouse for 3.800. Yeah. No, no. The biggest thing is like. Oh, no. People think it's like printing money, and it's not. I mean, I wish it was, but it's not. Like a late night. I mean, obviously, I've come to a point now where I don't stay up till 4 a.m., but I have fell asleep at my desk wearing the same clothes more than once when I started. It all depends on how successful you want to be. Real estate is like anything else. It just comes down to whatever you put into it is what you're going to get out of it. But most people honestly just either don't have what it takes to put into it or just don't know how to find the will to do it. You really need to put the time and effort into growing it for it to be successful. The problem though, and one of my friends once told me is once the tap open, it never closes. Oh yeah. So there's no way out once you start to get busy other than if you decide to stop doing real estate. So you grow, you grow, you grow. And then at one point you're like, I'm tired, but then you're like, the phone doesn't stop ringing. So then you're like, well, now what do you do, right? But it's not as easy at all. It's really hard at first. I mean, at first you're scrambling, especially like where I live. You know, it's a big difference and that's a big challenge. I was going to say, this is going to sound like a Miami question and I apologize in advance. Do you really have to be good looking to sell real estate? I'm like, enough is enough. And I'm like, everyone's in real estate. Just like. That's funny. So no, no, you don't. No, no, you don't. Let's be clear. I live in the Yukon, which is next to Alaska. For most of you have no idea what I'm talking about. So like there aren't that many good looking people. So I'm not even going to get into that. That's not right. You just have to have like, you know, the outgoing personality and be able to talk to people and make sure that you're good at handling a lot of emotions and a lot of people's problems and stuff. So in real estate, the biggest thing is like you do a lot more than sell. I mean, selling is the smallest part of it. You're a counselor. You're an advisor. You're a marriage counselor. You do everything, right? And divorce is huge up in the north. And so you're always dealing with people. and they're not always in the best moods. And so, yeah, I used to sell cars for a living when I was young. Nice. And that is like fun because people come in they look for a car they happy they leave right Real estate not always like that Sometimes it fun but sometimes it the opposite of fun You just doing it because it got to get done Where in the grid is like you know evil wedding planner versus real estate Like where do you see the really bad like human negativity? So money, money for sure. Like money, I grew up in a small place. You know, I'm a big personality. I got a big voice. French is my first language. I'm very touchy-feely. I'm very loud. Back in the day, there was a lot less French people. So I was always kind of standing out. And so it's really kind of out of the side. But as you get older, you kind of grow into it and you use it as a tool. But what you've noticed, though, is a lot of the people that I used to think were great people, and this is like really the biggest thing. When I started to do real estate, I realized that I actually didn't think they were that great. And then a lot of the people that I grew up, you know, you grew up in a small town that I thought were not very good people turned out to be great clients, right? As soon as it gets down to dollars and cents, you really see people's true identity. That's what it comes down to. And some people are great and some people are horrific. Like, that's what it is. Like they just, you just see a side that you can't even, you just go home at night, look at the wall. You're like, did that just happen? Or did you just, you know, kill a deal for 700 bucks on a million dollars you know because you're not willing to fix the fridge you know like holy moly i'd like to be exaggerated but that's a true story like i just i'm sure it is yeah like i it's crazy like it's crazy it really is yeah i'm sure if rudy were here he'd give you all his horror stories because you came from real estate before he got into uh working out and that was his hustle like he he basically just turned over properties and but it was his niche was college kids yeah he basically just got these these these townhouses and kind of just made it TikToki looking enough back in the day where there was no social media. Right. Yeah. So he kind of found his role. And then yada, yada, yada. Now we're here. For sure. So what is kind of your hustle? Because you mentioned that you are quite a personality. Yeah. So are you on camera all the time, like educated? Are you more of a character? Do you have an alter ego? Like how do you hustle and understand that sitting in this chair will actually, you know, bring in clients? clients and not just clients but the the universe is going oh this guy wants it more yeah and then you'll start seeing things happening yeah i don't have a character uh some people do for sure one of the things that uh a lot of people say about me is i am what i am and i'm like a 70 30 person right you're 70 of the people that know me really like me and 30 of those other people they really don't like you it's just what it is just what it is and i'll be i know that i've at least gotten old enough to get there but um no it's it's i am just usually out there talking to people shaking hands i've gotten to a point you know now where i mostly do listings only sure so like i'll do the presentation i'll get everything ready but i'm also at the point now where like i am not a writer a photographer none of those things you know and i tell people that i was like i won't write your script i won't take the pictures i won't i'm just the guy who's gonna sell it my assistant will take care of the script. My photographer will do the photography. My marketing guy will do the marketing thing or a girl, sorry. And, uh, and it comes down to a good team is what that comes down to. So, but I don't show as many houses as I used to for sure. Uh, I do more listings, not that I have any issues with it. It's just kind of transitioned into that. Let's lean back into your personality. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you build your team, like, are you building your team, uh, based on the tolerance level or their expertise? so right now the team is quite small but i've gone through yeah yeah so i've gone through a lot of uh you know iterations of of my life so it's gone up it's gone down um at one point i used to work for one of the largest real estate companies in the world and at one point in 2022 i was 88th in all of canada living in the yukon next to alaska in this company so which is huge like you can imagine the amount of sales I have to do compared to Vancouver, Toronto, to equal the same amount of commission based stuff. But now, you know, things have changed, you know, company left to still have a lot of respect for that company, but wanted to kind of, you know, you go do your own thing and you take a different path. And now it more of a smoother path like where but I just on the cusp again of like now we getting too busy to not have more staff again so it just going back the one thing i can tell you though is i have zero interest and this is the thing in hiring someone who's already done real estate zero like i have come to that conclusion for sure uh that was part of like the journey that i've learned is like i want it done the way i do it i do a very professional job and i have a certain expectation about things and most people who come in who's already done have already you know developed their bad habits or what i consider to be bad habits shortcuts and you know and just like whatever or show up to a listing presentation you know not wearing what i would consider appropriate i'm not going to say anything more than that but i'm just not there anymore like i just so so you can give me your resume all you want it means nothing to me yeah you have to come in i have to see what you can do and we'll go from there. Yeah. You got to have the guff. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's all guff. It's all guff. And you don't have to be as outgoing and as gregarious as me. That's not, you know, some people are a good one. Yeah. Some people are more calmer and that works better. Like I'm not for everyone. Like, you know, I get a little old lady. I'm like, Hey, what's up there. They're just not like, Whoa, but I'll have my other part. Who's a little calmer to walk in and be a little bit more. But that's kind of how I roll it. Yeah. Right on. Yeah. yeah uh hacker gray here i gotta use that dude so uh a lot of folks are are they in it for the long haul or like they lifers are there it's very seasonal like you see a lot of fresh blood come and go they make their hustle no no yeah so no it's long haul like right on the no sorry pardon me long haul is not the thing yeah like i am one of few people that have stayed most so the average lifespan of a new realtor is two years yeah that's like your average max uh then the next lifespan after that is five and that's when most people it's i think it's 85 or 90 quit and then if you pass that point then you're a lifer then that then that's it that's what you do uh you'll eventually probably branch and do other things as well but you'll always keep real estate going because then you know what you're doing but that first few years is is the key and most people give up why do they give up just because the hustle is really it's extremely hard man i mean you you have to work late evenings, weekends, you're on call forever. I mean, I've gotten to a point now where that's not my life anymore, but, but for a long time, you know, you know, you're picking up your phone forever. Uh, you know, you're taking every call. I mean, the latest deal I've ever written was 1 40 AM and the earliest deal I've ever written was 5 15 AM. And that comes like, Hey, I got to go to work. I'm on a plane. I got to get out of here. I got to sign this contract. So you're there, you're doing it. Again, I don't do that as much now, but I did it. And it's tough. Like you're doing, you know, it's heavy. And most people just can't handle it. It's just what it comes down to. It's really hard to be able to maintain that. Are you married? I was. Yeah. Children? I have one son. He changed my life. So I worked really, really hard my whole life selling. I've been in sales my whole life, 16. It's the only thing I ever know. I don't know anything else. i've never gotten a nine to five paycheck i've never had benefits i don't know anything about that i think it's weird i don't know what that is yeah i think it's weird yeah i was like you go to work you get paid you don't go to work you don't get paid i mean it's i don't know man it's pretty simple like i just i just grew up that's the same hustle i have you're like what the hell what's a 401k is that like a video game yeah like i i didn't even know what a 401k was until like well it's not a term we use in canada so much but still i didn't even know till i started like i was like oh okay i was a didn't even know that thing like no it's uh he though really made the change when where i've changed what i do too and i don't quite hustle as much sure because i spent a ton of time with him uh you know i'm still in the midst of going through uh the uh divorce yeah uh it has had its challenges not going to speak too much about that but it definitely changes your view on things and what's important uh and where your focus goes um but yeah it uh and the only reason The only way I ask is not for the awkward moment. No, no, it's all good. Folks that watch this podcast are a lot like you and I. Like, dude, we're in our prime, but we don't have the daily grind that the standard male individual at this age has. We're quite excelling, but we've made some sacrifices. Yes. I mean, I don't know what else. Because of my Gregorius personalities Yeah like I don know what else to say here yeah like sacrifices have been made and they come at a cost Yeah obviously ups and downs are there You know I been at the top and I've been at the bottom and I've done both a lot of times. Like the question is, look at me. Are you, where are you on the top or the bottom? Like when you're sitting in this very situation, you're looking at me right. Right now, like I'm, I'm, you know, definitely amongst the top people in where I live a hundred percent all the time. Yeah, I'm doing really well. Uh, but now, right now I'm at a point where, uh, I'm taking like different paths. Like, uh, you know, me, I have a partner. Uh, she's the most amazing person I've ever met. She's very different than I would say every partner I've ever had. She's calm, collected, you know, very mild. Yeah. So exactly. And it's funny because like, yeah, she just like walks through. I was like, oh wow look at that they're very like so and sometimes i'm like oh but like it's great it's awesome because they keep you grounded and they keep you level yes so and we're kind of working on a business venture ourselves too so like something side from real estate which is the and then i've got like uh another thing that i'm working on as well and one of the things i really want to start doing a lot more of is speaking to people uh it's always something i really like it's always something i really was good at uh and just explaining like kind of what it takes to be successful it doesn't have to be in real estate but it there is a mindset that you have to have to be successful and it's just that simple you either have it or you don't uh 30 percent of people are gonna not like you for it yeah 100 whatever your math was yeah yeah 100 like you know like 100 like you just go and do your thing and some people are just no matter what especially when you're a small town and you become successful and let's say they didn't you know that's instant doesn't matter what you do doesn't matter how nice you are doesn't matter they'll just look at you and be like, I don't like that guy. Like, you know, and that's not always the case because sometimes they have a good reason not to like you. I'm not going to deny anything. I'm just saying it happens. And so you just, but you have to keep going. And that's the thing, right? Is learning to keep going. Cool, man. What are we going to learn about you in your Legacy Makers episode? We're literally about to walk into that room and film it. We're just going to learn about where I came from. You guys here in Miami have no idea about what I'm going to talk about and how I grew up. And then, you know, with what I grew up and then how it grew to become to what it is and the ups and downs I've gone through in my life. I've had some health issues. I've gone past them. And then just getting to the top and then losing the top and then getting back there and then losing it again and then kind of climbing the stage and realizing just have to keep going. Then that's the hardest thing to master, I think, personally. How can people find you and follow your journey? I'm all over Facebook. it's weird because Facebook's not really big anymore around the world but where I live it's like it's still pretty big it's like crack man it's crazy it's like everyone does everything I would say I sell 60% of my listings on Facebook of course yeah yeah and then Instagram and then obviously Twitter we're on all this stuff yeah this is where all these funnels came from all these ads it all came from Facebook too yeah yeah absolutely that's where I mean that's obviously what started the whole thing the whole thing and now they're just branching into TikTok That one first guy that's pulling on a piece of white paper. I don't know. This and that. And the rest is history. The rest is history. And then that one guy with the cars. Yeah. The one guy with the cars. Yeah, we actually know that guy. He's one of Rudy's friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a very bizarre day in Vegas. Anywho. Yeah, man. Any tips for anyone that wants to be you or become you and they're listening to this and watching this? Make sure that you stick to what you are good at and be yourself. And don't try to be someone who you're not. And understand that in the last few years, especially, I've learned that some people will just not like you. And that's just life. Like there is just no, nothing you can do to change that. And you have to let go of that. And you have to just be able to keep moving forward. If you can't, then it's just not going to work. If you can and you believe in what you're going to do, it's, you know, it's classic. but you really can do whatever you think you can do. You just have to work for it. That's all. Right on. Terrence, Tate, Monsieur. Oui, Monsieur. Oui, oui. That concludes another episode of Living Your Legacy podcast, the Red Life Edition. For inside success, we're Ray Gutierrez.