Real Estate Distilled

03/01/2026

Have your prioritized yourself? Do you have a thirst for knowledge?

02/26/2026

How is it possible that our Independent Broker Forum is only 19 days away?

01/30/2026

Attending the conference and want to show your support? Visit https://seeyouatred.com to create an announcement graphic you can share on social media or turn into your profile.

Share your love for Real Estate Distilled. Create a custom graphic for social media and share with the world that you have a thirst for knowledge.

01/29/2026

Haydn Halsted is a Spokane-based Realtor, content creator, and founder of the Halsted Hometeam at REAL Broker. But before all of that... he earned his degree in Music Education from the University of Montana and worked as an educator and performer. And honestly, that background explains everything about how Haydn approaches real estate today.

That teaching mindset he developed? It's still driving everything he does... from advising clients to creating content that actually simplifies the market instead of making people's heads spin. And speaking of content... Haydn runs one of the top real estate-focused YouTube channels in Spokane, publishing weekly market updates, neighborhood tours, and relocation content that attracts buyers and sellers from all over the country.

Here's what's wild... his YouTube channel alone brought in $300,000 in revenue last year. Let that sink in for a minute.

Haydn has been recognized as a Realtor Magazine 30 Under 30 honoree and named one of REAL Broker's Top 20 agents nationwide by units sold... out of more than 30,000 agents. He serves on the Washington Realtors Board of Directors and supports Spokane's creative community through his role on the board of Spark Central, a local arts nonprofit.

FUN FACT! - Haydn still performs music locally and remains deeply connected to Spokane's arts scene. Once a musician, always a musician.

Haydn's session, "The Binge-Watch Effect: How to Become Your City's Go-To Local Celebrity on YouTube," is going to show you how to stop chasing leads and start attracting them. He'll break down his content strategy that turns viewers into clients and positions you as the only logical choice for anyone moving to your city.

01/24/2026

Today's speaker announcement is a double whammy. In my best Michael Buffer voice... "Hailing from Chandler, Arizona by way of Louisville, KY, in the black hoodie..." is Kris Durbin. A few of the locals might know Kris and his wife Jackie already. Kris and Jackie run the D Team brokered by REAL.

Kris Durbin is a high-producing real estate operator and automation strategist who builds repeatable systems that transform real estate from transactional work into a long-term freedom engine.

Kris's counter part also from the suburbs of Phoenix, AZ is
John Evenson. John has the nickname of the "Millionaire Mailman"
John Evenson is a Wealth Architect who helps professionals design integrated capital strategies, aligning income, assets, and risk into coherent long-term plans that go beyond traditional real estate thinking.

Together, Kris and John are the faces of the Apex Initiative. They combine on-the-ground ex*****on with strategic architecture, focusing on automation, leverage, and decision discipline to help you build systems that scale with clarity and intention.

Kris and John's presentation won't be a magic show, but it sounds like you'll learn a few tricks to save yourself time, energy and regain some sanity.

Help me in welcoming Kris and John to Real Estate Distilled, 2026.

01/23/2026

People don't always believe Liz and I (Scott) when we say that we work on Real Estate Distilled nearly year round. Sure, we aren't putting in hours and hours ALL of the time, but we never look at a venue, unique experience or restaurant the same now. We are always looking at things through the lens of what that experience might be like for our community.

So... back in APRIL of 2025 I was having a conversation with Greg Chaplain about business to business lead generation and building referral pillars and I just knew that it was something that would be an amazing topic for RED and something that Greg is passionate about. So I called him up and asked him if he would be willing to come POUR into the community and share his expertise.

Pouring into people comes pretty natural to Greg, who ironically was previously in the wine business running sales teams to help sling cases of wine. Now he is helping his clients and the agents at his team and at the brokerage with their housing needs.

For those of you who do not know Greg, he is with The Real Estate Group in Coastal Virginia. Coastal Virginia is a term that I picked up from our mutual friend Gary Lundholm. This year Greg also picked up the title of principle broker and also has an ownership stake at the multi office company which has sales and property management divisions.

Help me welcome Greg to Real Estate Distilled, 2026!

01/17/2026

Lindsay Dreyer is joining us all the way from... well, actually two places! She's the founder of Happy Agent Co., host of the Happy Agent Co. Podcast, AND brokerage owner of Reverie Residential with offices in both Washington, DC and New Hampshire. Which just went through a rebrand, so be sure and ask her for tips on that if you are considering one...

She's a self-proclaimed tech nerd and workflow lover who has spent over two decades in real estate, so she basically started when she was 10.

FUN FACT! - Lindsay has an RV named Walter. Because of course she does... AND this is a bit of a return for Lindsay to Louisville. Her and her now husband spent some time dating in Louisville.

Lindsay's session, "Train Your AI Assistant: No Tech Skills Required," is going to show you how to get AI to actually understand YOUR business and save you hours every week. No coding required... just practical help that'll reduce your mental load and give you time back for what matters.

01/16/2026

I don't think I'll be divulging any secrets here, but there are two things that you need to know if you want win over our next speaker.

Number 1, offer him a LOCAL craft brew... and number 2, pick something from Tom Petty on the jukebox.

In fairness though you won't need those tips as he might be the most approachable person we have had on our stage.

That's right, our next speaker is none other than Sean Carpenter. We're bringing Sean back to share his expertise with the community. Not only is Sean a wealth of knowledge, but he has an amazing ability to deliver content in a way that CONNECTS with people. He truly has a gift and we are lucky to have him plugged into our community. The only bad thing I can say about Sean is he is a Gator's fan... but everyone has their faults, right?

FUN FACT! - We were able to be the first conference that Sean and his daughter Riley attended together.

Sean will be sharing the similarity's to music rock starts to rock stars in the real estate industry. Until then, as Sean says "Build relationships, solve problems and have fun."

01/15/2026

You all probably thought I forgot to share our next speaker for Real Estate Distilled, didn't you? Have no fear, Ronda is here!

Ronda Ross owns and operates Texas Living Company, an independent brokerage in Houston, Texas, and if you've been around the Real Estate Distilled community, you've probably already crossed paths with her.

When we talk about "being in the right rooms with the right people," Ronda is the poster child for actually DOING it. She didn't just dip her toes into our community... she cannonballed right in! And it's not just our events... Ronda is intentional about networking and collaborating with other brokers.

Here's what I love about Ronda: she's equally comfortable as a student AND a teacher. She shows up ready to learn AND is an active participant, but she's also out there educating real estate agents across the entire state of Texas through contract classes.

FUN FACT! - Ronda went to high school with Scott's cousin! It's a big world... what are the odds?

Ronda has over a dozen builders she works with and in her session, she is going to give insight into how to partner with builders to add more production to your pipeline.

01/15/2026

You all probably thought I forgot to share our next speaker for Real Estate Distilled, didn't you? Have no fear, Ronda is here!

Ronda Ross owns and operates Texas Living Company, an independent brokerage in Houston, Texas, and if you've been around the Real Estate Distilled community, you've probably already crossed paths with her.

When we talk about "being in the right rooms with the right people," Ronda is the poster child for actually DOING it. She didn't just dip her toes into our community... she cannonballed right in! And it's not just our events... Ronda is intentional about networking and collaborating with other brokers.

Here's what I love about Ronda: she's equally comfortable as a student AND a teacher. She shows up ready to learn AND is an active participant, but she's also out there educating real estate agents across the entire state of Texas through contract classes.

FUN FACT! - Ronda went to high school with Scott' cousin! It's a big world... what are the odds?

Ronda has over a dozen builders she works with and in her session, she is going to give insight into how to partner with builders to add more production to your pipeline.

01/14/2026

Excited to continue introducing our speakers for Real Estate Distilled, 2026. Patrick Keller runs an independent brokerage in the greater Indianapolis area and coaches clients across the country.
You really only need to spend a few minutes chatting with Patrick to truly understand how much he cares about the people in his world... and how that naturally overflows into the people he comes into contact with. He is truly one of the most genuine people that I know

FUN FACT! - Patrick is our unofficial yoga instructor as well. I think it was in 2024 that Patrick led an impromptu group in a yoga session at the hotel pool. An experience that had a repeat in 2025. Will it return in 2026? Only Patrick knows!

Patrick will take the traditional team model and turn it on its head and share the proven model that he has used for growth... and last time I chatted with him his per agent production numbers were also very impressive!

01/14/2026

In a first for Real Estate Distilled, Liz Abrams will be sharing her expertise on property management with the community. We have historically focused on sales as a community, but we have heard the community ask for education in this pillar too. I know A LOT of people are curious about property management or are dabbling at it and ready to up their game.

Don't know Liz? No worries, you'll have no trouble getting to know her. She and her husband Jim have an 80+ person independent brokerage and property management company in Virginia Beach, VA.