Tyler Forte is a VC turned entrepreneur who started Felix Homes, a Nashville-based real estate firm that is creating a financially responsible way to buy or sell homes. After experiencing first hand how expensive it is to sell a home, Tyler decided to start Felix with the goal of helping homeowners keep more of their hard-earned home equity. Felix Homes does this by employing top real estate agents, advanced marketing techniques, and technology-driven home pricing models to make sure the homeowner gets the highest price. Not only do they help get the highest price, but Felix Homes also charges just 1% to sell a home compared to the 3% most real estate agents charge.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is Felix Homes all about?
Felix Homes is a tech-enabled real estate brokerage based in Nashville, TN. The company was started as an alternative to the traditional brokerage model which is oftentimes expensive and lacking the efficiencies created by technology. At Felix, we’ve set out to make the most financially responsible way to buy or sell a home. This not only means charging a lower commission but also ensuring that our clients get the highest price for their home when it comes time to sell. To do this, we employ advanced marketing techniques to make sure each listing is advertised across the web. In order to charge a lower commission, 1% vs 3%, we’ve built an internal tool that our agents use to make the selling process more efficient and transparent. To date, this has resulted in our clients saving $8,100 on average in home equity that they can use to take a vacation, or use as a downpayment on their next home purchase.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
I started out as a venture capital investor after college working in the bustling New York City tech scene. It was an exciting time that allowed me to combine my loves for technology, entrepreneurship, and investing. I was primarily sourcing startups focused on property technology or proptech since it seemed like an industry that was ripe for disruption. After a few years on the investment side I got the entrepreneurial bug myself and decided to start Felix Homes with the goal of making the most financially responsible way to buy or sell a home. This mission is important to me because I believe we have a huge problem with financial responsibility in the United States. The average American doesn’t have enough money saved for an emergency medical expense and the average household is burdened with high interest debt.
What was the biggest problem you encountered with your business and how did you overcome it?
The biggest problem we’ve come across is educating the market on our service. Real estate is an established industry and the 6% commission rate that most traditional agents charge has been ingrained in our society. We’ve had clients think that paying a 6% commission was the law and many clients never heard of a low commission brokerage until we came around. It’s been a challenge educating clients about the home buying or selling process and how Felix Homes uses software and technology to make the process more efficient so that we do not have to charge as much as the traditional firms. It’s also been difficult dealing with much of the misinformation out there when it comes to selling a home. Many people may believe ‘you get what you pay for’ when it comes to the level of service we provide but the reviews we’ve received from past clients speak for themselves.
What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
The biggest mistake we made early on was not being in our launch market. I was still based in New York and my Co-Founder was living in Los Angeles when we first launched in Nashville. While we were able to hire great agents to get the ball rolling in the Nashville market, it was a big mistake from a company culture perspective not to have the Founders of the business leading the ship from the ground.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
We differentiate ourselves from the competition through pricing and technology. The tech we employ allows our agents to be more efficient while providing a great quality of service. In fact, many of our agents are closing 10 transactions per month while the typical real estate agent closes just one. By building this technology platform, we are able to do a higher volume of business per agent which enables us to charge a 1% commission compared to the 3% commission most agents charge.
What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?
As an entrepreneur, I try to learn one new thing everyday. I once got advice from a serial entrepreneur who said if you cannot learn something new, master it, and then train someone else to do it, you are using your time inefficiently. As the Founder of Felix Homes, my job is to always be learning something new that I can later train someone else to do. Recently, a lot of my learning has been related to marketing and how to scale our sales channels. In this quest, I leverage twitter, industry blogs, and courses on online education platforms like Udemy.
What are three books or courses you recommend for new entrepreneurs?
One of my favorite books for other entrepreneurs is The Everything Store by Brad Stone. It is a book about Jeff Bezos and the story of how Amazon started out as an online bookstore to become the e-commerce giant it is today.
I’m also a big fan of Measure What Matters by famed VC John Doerr. Measure What Matters teaches readers about the concept of OKRs, a popular goal setting technique used by some of the most successful startups.
My last pick for new entrepreneurs has to be The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. In this book, Ben captures the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and how every successful founder faces periods where they feel like they are in a dark abyss.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Our most effective marketing strategy has always been word of mouth. We knew from the start that if we provided a great service and saved our clients thousands of dollars, they would tell their friends, family, and coworkers about us. It’s proved to be a large acquisition channel that reliably brings in 2-3 new clients for every 1. To increase our social trust quotient, we also rely heavily on customer reviews and testimonials.
If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
If I only had $1,000 to spend on starting a new business, I would probably use it to collect data on my potential customers. This can be achieved by running online surveys or making a simple landing page or MVP and running a minimal amount of ads to the page to see if anyone is interested in the product or service you are trying to offer. On the landing page, you could have a waitlist and if you get a few people to sign up, it may be worth reaching out to them personally to see why they were interested in the product and how much they may be willing to pay for it if you decide to build it out.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
My biggest piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to understand what the journey of an entrepreneur truly looks like. Often, the media likes to glorify entrepreneurs, however, the process to become a successful entrepreneur is never easy. There will always be ups and downs so being persistent and maybe even a little stubborn are necessary.
What is your favorite quote?
My favorite quote that inspires me to keep moving forward as an entrepreneur even when times are tough is:
“if you’re not building your own dreams, you’re building someone else’s”.
This quote resonates with me because I believe it to be true. At the top of every successful company is a founder who had a dream to start a business. Simply put, if you are working for that person, you are likely helping them build their dream, not yours.
How can we get in touch with you?
The best way to contact me is by visiting my business website Feflix Homes, on Twitter, and email me at tyler@felixhomes.com.
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