Hi my name is Andrew Yentzer and I’m the creator of Referral Real Estate Success. I want to share with you why I decided to become a Real Estate Referral Agent.

I started out my adult life in the Navy, then went on to open several businesses, a CrossFit Gym, a wedding photography business, and eventually real estate. The reason I’m telling you all this is not to show how great I am, but to tell you that I discovered hands down that what I’m doing now in real estate, I wouldn’t trade it for any of my previous jobs. I’m making the most money I’ve ever made and have the most freedom in my life I’ve ever experienced. I discovered an easy and enjoyable way to make a lot of income and I still get to actually enjoy the things I like doing.

But how did I stumble into this? It goes back to when I started selling real estate at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. I just lost my government contracting job because we couldn’t travel anymore. So I saw an opportunity in real estate to make money to support my family when it seemed like everyone else including myself was losing their jobs left and right.


I really just wanted to make enough money to support my wife, 2 kids, and the third that was on the way so I was really kinda scared that I didn’t have a job. But I also had a goal to live the lifestyle we desired to live, with a little bit of work flexibility so I could spend time with the family.

I felt guilty that my wife was taking care of the kids full time and working, while I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life. Not to mention that I really wanted some level of security because of what was going on in the world. I mean, we couldn’t even find toilet paper in stores at the time! The fear of not having that security was almost crippling and caused me to lose a ton of sleep. So I saw this opportunity of selling homes and I knew I had to take it.

You know, prior to real estate, as I mentioned, I served in the US Navy and ran several businesses, so I was no stranger to working hard. I knew if I set my mind to it, I could make this work. And it didn’t take long to start having some success. Quickly after I got started, I was able to close over 30 deals a year on average in my first 2 years, and the money I earned was pretty nice. So I at least had the money part figured out. But there happened to be other issues.

The problem was this. That all the success I had and all money I earned came at the expense of my personal life. I had no time to go to the gym anymore. I had no time for my kids anymore. I was always driving around and never home, and when I was home, I was still on the phone trying to close sales and listen to clients complain or dealing with all the fires that constantly came up at the most inconvenient times.

You see, When I was in the Navy, I was constantly gone as well, always away from home, and then when I had my first child, I decided to get out of the military so I would be able to see my kids grow up. But it seemed like when I got into real estate, it was putting me right back in that same scenario, because I was never there, and even when I was, I was distracted. It was taxing on my life, and I could tell that it was slowly killing my marriage, the relationships I had with my kids, and my sanity.

So I decided I needed to find a way out of this mess, but I didn’t want to quit real estate.. I told myself that if I could just manage my time better, then I could spend more time with my family. So I tried every time management system under the sun. The problem is that when the client calls ready to sign the offer at 9PM, you have to take the call. And If closing is tomorrow and the lender calls with an issue that needs to be fixed, you have to take the call. When the market is hot and listings sell in 2 seconds and your buyer wants to go see a home, you have to get in the car. Right? It’s not that time management doesn’t work, it just doesn’t fit into the model of real estate very well.

Then I thought I would just try and take less clients. Less clients = more time back, right?. The problem I discovered there is that no clients or transactions are created equal. Some are absolute nightmares, and some deals are super seamless and smooth, but limiting my clients did not help with my time at all. I actually ended up working just as much, but making less money in the process, so I needed to try something else.

That’s when I tried to hire a team of assistants. I always saw other realtors with a small team and would daydream what life would be like to have someone else do all of the work for me. But it turns out that all hiring a team did was double my workload. Not only was I juggling all of my clients, but I was also trying to answer a barrage of questions coming in from the team. It’s kinda like I had twice the amount of fires I was putting out on a daily basis. Not only was I having to sell houses, I was having to manage people also.

Nothing I tried solved any of my problems. In fact, most of them made matters worse.

This tunnel I was in, there was some light at the end of it, and I discovered it in one of our Monday morning sales meetings when my broker said something that made me have this big “aha” moment. We were on the topic of real estate referrals and he said “The easiest money you’ll ever make in real estate is sending referrals.”

I thought ok that’s pretty obvious. We all know this. This is what most agents do when they have clients buying or selling homes in a non-local market, usually out of state. They send their referrals to other agents that can work the deal for them, and get a nice hefty referral fee check in return. Easy money right?

So At first, I dismissed this as an obvious notion that I swore I had heard before, but then all of a sudden, the lightbulb went off in my head. I said to myself, “Wait a minute…If I can do this with clients out of state, why can’t I do this in my local market also?”


I felt guilty that my wife was taking care of the kids full time and working, while I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life. Not to mention that I really wanted some level of security because of what was going on in the world. I mean, we couldn’t even find toilet paper in stores at the time! The fear of not having that security was almost crippling and caused me to lose a ton of sleep. So I saw this opportunity of selling homes and I knew I had to take it.

You know, prior to real estate, as I mentioned, I served in the US Navy and ran several businesses, so I was no stranger to working hard. I knew if I set my mind to it, I could make this work. And it didn’t take long to start having some success. Quickly after I got started, I was able to close over 30 deals a year on average in my first 2 years, and the money I earned was pretty nice. So I at least had the money part figured out. But there happened to be other issues.

The problem was this. That all the success I had and all money I earned came at the expense of my personal life. I had no time to go to the gym anymore. I had no time for my kids anymore. I was always driving around and never home, and when I was home, I was still on the phone trying to close sales and listen to clients complain or dealing with all the fires that constantly came up at the most inconvenient times.

You see, When I was in the Navy, I was constantly gone as well, always away from home, and then when I had my first child, I decided to get out of the military so I would be able to see my kids grow up. But it seemed like when I got into real estate, it was putting me right back in that same scenario, because I was never there, and even when I was, I was distracted. It was taxing on my life, and I could tell that it was slowly killing my marriage, the relationships I had with my kids, and my sanity.

So I decided I needed to find a way out of this mess, but I didn’t want to quit real estate.. I told myself that if I could just manage my time better, then I could spend more time with my family. So I tried every time management system under the sun. The problem is that when the client calls ready to sign the offer at 9PM, you have to take the call. And If closing is tomorrow and the lender calls with an issue that needs to be fixed, you have to take the call. When the market is hot and listings sell in 2 seconds and your buyer wants to go see a home, you have to get in the car. Right? It’s not that time management doesn’t work, it just doesn’t fit into the model of real estate very well.

Then I thought I would just try and take less clients. Less clients = more time back, right?. The problem I discovered there is that no clients or transactions are created equal. Some are absolute nightmares, and some deals are super seamless and smooth, but limiting my clients did not help with my time at all. I actually ended up working just as much, but making less money in the process, so I needed to try something else.

That’s when I tried to hire a team of assistants. I always saw other realtors with a small team and would daydream what life would be like to have someone else do all of the work for me. But it turns out that all hiring a team did was double my workload. Not only was I juggling all of my clients, but I was also trying to answer a barrage of questions coming in from the team. It’s kinda like I had twice the amount of fires I was putting out on a daily basis. Not only was I having to sell houses, I was having to manage people also.

Nothing I tried solved any of my problems. In fact, most of them made matters worse.

This tunnel I was in, there was some light at the end of it, and I discovered it in one of our Monday morning sales meetings when my broker said something that made me have this big “aha” moment. We were on the topic of real estate referrals and he said “The easiest money you’ll ever make in real estate is sending referrals.”

I thought ok that’s pretty obvious. We all know this. This is what most agents do when they have clients buying or selling homes in a non-local market, usually out of state. They send their referrals to other agents that can work the deal for them, and get a nice hefty referral fee check in return. Easy money right?

So At first, I dismissed this as an obvious notion that I swore I had heard before, but then all of a sudden, the lightbulb went off in my head. I said to myself, “Wait a minute…If I can do this with clients out of state, why can’t I do this in my local market also?”

It was at this point I really started to understand the power of outgoing referrals. Whether I could drum up business elsewhere and simply connect buyers and sellers with agents in their area or do it locally and just not transact myself, I began to think that this might be the key to finally being able to control my schedule and not be held hostage by my clients. Would I no longer have to take phone calls at the most inconvenient hours? Could I now go on vacation or take time off whenever I wanted to? Could I get rid of all this anxiety I was feeling over all my transaction problems? Could this be my chance to not ever have my kids ask me again if I’m able to play with them that day?

Initially there were a lot of doubts in my mind. Could I even make enough money if I focused solely on referrals? What would my friends and family think if I told them I wasn’t transacting real estate anymore? Could I really save time and not get sucked into a whole new set of problems? I scoured the internet to find someone that was implementing this business model to at least give me confidence that it would work, but to no avail. I could not find any trace of anyone else doing this. But the opportunity seemed almost too good to not at least try it out. What’s the worst that could happen? I would have to start selling houses again?

I actually shortly thereafter received an email from a referral brokerage. Not knowing what this was, I clicked through their site and I learned that I could get 100% of referral fee commission through this brokerage compared to the broker split I was paying out currently on referral deals.

So I came up with a plan to slowly wean myself off of doing my own transactions and to start to serve my clients in a different way by matching them with the best Realtors in town based on their goals and personalities. Then all I needed to do was focus on getting more clients and my partner agents would do the rest in exchange for a referral fee. It was a win win win scenario.

In fact, After I put my full attention into building this new business model and became fully committed, I started getting commission check after commission check without doing any of the selling or contracts myself. In fact, I was making more money than I was as an active agent, because I only had to focus on just one piece of the pie, rather than the whole thing.

But the best part was that since I was no longer doing paperwork until midnight or juggling calls with clients, I was finally able to spend time with my wife and my kids, and I now get to see them grow up and not miss out on any of these moments that won’t ever come back.

Let me tell you, when I officially decided to become a Referral Agent and made that switch in my mind, I could literally feel the stress and anxiety I’d been carrying around flow out of my body. It was one of the biggest moments of relief I’ve ever experienced. I didn’t immediately give up all transactions, but just knowing I could and still make it was life changing.

Personally, I’m now working about 1-3 hours a day, on my schedule that I choose, offering true flexibility, and making about the same income I did selling houses, but working way less and taking time off whenever I want. I’m spending more time with my family, and I actually got to start learning how to play the guitar, which is something I’d been dreaming about for ages but have never been able to do because of my hectic schedule. And I took back up my old hobby of rock climbing and I’m able to get to the gym every day again. And my family loves that we get to go on vacation whenever we want! Hopefully now you can see why I decided to become a real estate referral agent. My only regret is that I didn’t figure this out sooner.