Check Out Brian Pate’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Pate. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was originally licensed in 1993 with Fonville Morisey Realty on one of the Raleigh offices. While there, I began my teaching career in 1995 and taught pre-license and continuing education for the FM Real Estate School. From 1998 through 2000, I worked with Coldwell Banker Advantage. After being diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis, I returned to teaching during my chemotherapy so I could stay in the business. 

After finishing my treatments, I returned to an office for Fonville Morisey as an assistant manager where I served until September of 2006 when I was hired to be the director of new agent training. 

From there, I was moved to managing an office in Youngsville from 2009-2012. 

In November of 2012, I joined my current company, Keller Williams Preferred, and have been there as an agent, Team Leader, coach, and Broker in Charge during my tenure. 

In addition, I opened Brian Pate Seminars to teach continuing education to North Carolina licensees in October of 2012 and then also joined the teaching team at the Superior School of Real Estate learning from great instructors like Bill Gallagher. 

Today, I am still with Keller Williams Preferred and Brian Pate Seminars continuing to sell and teach to over 2,500 students per year. 

During my career, the teams I have managed, coached, and trained have produced over $2 billion in real estate sales and I have taught over 10,000 real estate students. 

I am also a real estate investor, part-owner of a title insurance company (Beacon Title), a mortgage company (1st Raleigh Mortgage), and an insurance company (HUB Insurance. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I remember older agents in the office at the beginning of my career talking about technology being so difficult. They were complaining about the fax machine and the new “Direct Inward Dial” phone system. I can only imagine how some of those agents would react to today’s social media frenzy and operating a website. My biggest challenge as a trainer is keeping up with all of the options for agents. There are so many and we could waste a ton of lead generation time if we focused constantly on how things work. My lesson is usually to dive in and learn as you go. We all make mistakes. We just have to learn to “fail forward” and learn from those mistakes. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Before my real estate career grew, I was in the DJ business in nightclubs and shows all over the United States. As a performer at heart, I always said I would retire from the DJ business when I found something that gave me the natural high of a good show. Teaching brought me to that point in my career and when I began to focus more time on teaching, I sold my DJ company. At that time in 2014, we had been named the #1 wedding DJ company in the United States so it was big for me to step away. 

After that, I decided I wanted to be one of the biggest producing teams in the Triangle market. We set out with a business plan to be in the top 100 teams ranked by MLS and set our sights on the target. 

In 2017 and 2018, we did just that. However, my time was managed by forces outside of my control and my work life was taking over my family life. 

From January through May of 2019, I allowed team members to leave until only my Buyer Agent, Donna Burnette, was still there with me. By doing that, I have worked much less and make more money. More importantly, I have been much more involved in each transaction making it a better experience for me and the client. I just was not at a point where I wanted to put that much time into managing a team. I wanted more free time. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I am the father of two daughters, Shannon (21) who graduated from Appalachian State and now attends West Virginia University; Cassidy (17) a senior at Heritage High School in Wake Forest. My fiancé’, Kirke Hooper, and I live in Wake Forest with her daughter Hannah Kirke (17) and her son Nate (20) also lives in Wake Forest. We have two Labrador Retrievers named Dixie and Deacon. 

In our spare time, we LOVE baseball! We have season tickets to the St Louis Cardinals, NC State, and UNC so we watch a ton of baseball both in person and on TV. 

We also love to travel. In 2021, we will have been to St. Louis, MO, Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, Tallahassee, FL, Topsail Beach, NC, and Asheville, NC just to name a few. We also like to Shag Dance. I used to dance competitively and we like to still cut a rug once in a while at our favorite club, Loafers Beach Club in Raleigh. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.paterealty.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bp8realty/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djbrianpate
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/djbrianpate
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/brianpaterealtor