Be the Solution with Maria Quattrone

Why Top Real Estate Teams Are Moving to LPT Realty: Growth, Grit, and Scaling Without Limits (with Suneet Agarwal)

• Maria Quattrone • Season 1 • Episode 356

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In this episode of the Be The Solution Podcast, host Maria Quattrone sits down with Suneet Agarwal, founder of one of California’s top real estate teams and a nationally recognized leader at LPT Realty. Suneet recently celebrated his one-year anniversary at LPT Realty, and together, he and Maria unpack why they both made the move—and why so many high-producing teams are following.

This conversation is a real, unfiltered look at:

  • What it’s like to shut down an independent brokerage
  • Why compliance and broker-level overhead stall growth
  • How LPT Realty removes friction for team leaders
  • The emotional side of letting go of “your baby”
  • Why getting in early matters when building something big

If you’re a team leader, broker-owner, or high-producing agent thinking about your next chapter, this episode offers clarity, perspective, and real-world experience. 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

  • Why Suneet Left His Independent Brokerage
  • Why Alignment With Leadership Matters
  • The Fiduciary Duty of Team Leaders
  • Maria’s Perspective: Community Without Chaos
  • The Emotional Side of Shutting Down a Brokerage
  • Why Listing Power Tools Changed the Game
  • Why Getting in Early Matters
  • Grit Creates Leaders


Best Quotes (SEO-Friendly)

Suneet Agarwal:

“As leaders, we have a fiduciary duty to put our agents on the best path forward.”


Maria Quattrone:

“Your goals get bigger when you stop playing small.”


Guest Information

Suneet Agarwal
Founder & Team Leader — Sacramento, CA
LPT Realty
National real estate leader and coach

Connect with Maria Quattrone:
Facebook: Maria Quattrone
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535

Maria Quattrone:

To be the solution podcast and this is Maria Quattrone, your host. And today, super duper excited to talk with . Suneet is an amazing um human and friend. Sunet is out of Sacramento, California. And today we're all gonna unpack what's going on with LPT Realty, why I joined, why Sunit joined. Sunit has just celebrated his one-year anniversary with LPT Realty. So tell us, tell us.

Suneet Agarwal:

What's up, Maria? So good to see you uh this morning and hang out with you and chat about business and life and all the good stuff. So yeah, you pretty much nailed it, right? Like December, about I think it was the beginning of last week, was my one-year anniversary at LPT. And then I was super excited to hear that uh to talk to you about it and share some things that have worked for me. And honestly, it's been a great first year, and it got me really excited about real estate. Is that kind of how you're feeling too right now?

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, we're we're totally jazzed for sure. You know, just we're still in the onboarding process, so uh no that's never fun. Onboarding is never a fun thing because you got to change some things and this and that, but forget you know, outside of that, I'm just ignoring that.

Suneet Agarwal:

You know, there's other people to handle that there are, and I think that are in my experience, we moved over, I think, over a hundred agents, many transactions, many listings. Um, the hardest parts of it were the silliest parts, right? Like somebody wanting a different business card and like the the 11th hour with like the wrong photo. But for me, um, the onboarding team at LPT was so supportive.

Maria Quattrone:

Oh, yeah, they're great, yeah.

Suneet Agarwal:

They're great.

Maria Quattrone:

It's it's it's on our end of you know just figuring out some new things, but it's all good, it's all gonna be fantastic.

Suneet Agarwal:

Yes, yes. Like I remember one agent at like the last minute wanting that different headshot, and I had all the cards done. One of my people on my team had all the cards done, and I was all seriously, like, is this the my biggest headache about moving over? Uh that's the the that's like the most minor thing. I don't even think that agent is still on the team, right? Or something like that.

Maria Quattrone:

So uh super interesting, but yeah, yeah, they're they're they're really good, really good group of people that have been around for a while with Robert. So yeah, yeah, super exciting, super exciting to see that. So I'm like, what things have you it's a year now. I mean, it's a real year, and what have what has gotten you most excited about this transition and where you are now with your group?

Suneet Agarwal:

Sure. So, you know, a little backstory is I owned a fairly significant brokerage, indie brokerage, kind of like a franchise. Um, but we were indie brokerage here in Sacramento, Big Block Realty North, and owning the brokerage for me meant doing a lot of activities that don't make any money, such as compliance, such as uh arranging payments, right? Um, broker level support. To me, those things were not money-making activities. Man, I want to recruit and sell houses. That's it. Well, marketing and training, sure, but the main things, right? Like, if it's not about making money, then it's really just gonna be just a pain in the ass. Uh, I didn't want to have to personally address all the ever-ending changes in the industry, you know, at that time um was when they made was when um that lawsuit and they made the changes to the contracts, which you know could have been considered inconsequential at the time, but I didn't want to have to figure that out on my own. Yeah. You know what I mean? And then there's a lot of people out, there was a lot of groups out there that have different different thoughts on that. So alignment around those big things was important to me. Getting rid of the compliance, getting rid of the broker level support, getting rid of um worrying about payments. That was really important to me, and then also I wanted to work with an executive team that was ready to grind. You know, I've been in this business for not as long as many of our friends, only 12 years, but I'm still in the thick of it. You know, we were talking offline, like I'm still we're filming this right now on a weekend because I still am booked every 30 minutes, entire day. So um I'm still grinding and I want to work with people that still grind. And I feel that a lot of leadership is ivory tower leadership, and I ain't gonna hang with that, right? Um you know, alignment. I want to align with the people that I work with, so I'd spoken to everybody. I have friends who were in the top executive staff at multiple different places, and LPT was the one that I knew the least, right? Um, I was also looking for the best financials for my agents. As a leader, you have a fiduciary duty to the people that you lead. I want them to have the absolute best opportunity, and looking on this big landscape, LPT check those boxes. So it was so once I knew about it, it was a once I knew about it and knew about all the other options out there, it was the easy choice for those specific reasons. Does that make sense?

Maria Quattrone:

I agree, I agree, yeah, yeah. And the opportunity for you know, one of the things that I always had a problem with was I had a team, but my team, the way that I run things, because I'm like a bit of a Gestapo.

Suneet Agarwal:

You said it, doesn't fit for most humans. Totally.

Maria Quattrone:

So I didn't have a place that made sense for them and that that would that we could logistically work because of the broker side, the compliance. Like I can have the team because that's like do do do do. But then if there's other people that want to be part of our community, I couldn't, I couldn't do it because there was too much, I was too worried about all the broker stuff that needed to happen. Yes, I'm I I own the company. Like totally, I'm shutting my company down, totally. So now I can have people that they don't make they don't fit the team because they don't want to do these things. Okay, maybe they don't want to, you know, do the stuff on my team thing that you have to do.

Suneet Agarwal:

Totally. They don't want to meet the standards, which is okay, right?

Maria Quattrone:

Which is okay, but now they can still be part of our community and still sell real estate when they want, how they want, and it's handled by the brokerage, yeah, absolutely. And now I can do that.

Suneet Agarwal:

It requires no oversight from us, and that oversight can be draining.

Maria Quattrone:

It was because we attempted to do it in the past, and it was just um besides draining, it was uh what's the word I'm looking for? Messy.

Suneet Agarwal:

I agree.

Maria Quattrone:

It was messy, and I don't want that. And and it was also quite disruptive because here we are, right, in our thing, and then people just want to come and want an answer to a question right now, and we can't I couldn't humanly do it totally, so it didn't allow me to really grow the way I wanted to grow. And you know, I looked at LPT when we talked in December of last year, and we set it up for um you know, the return from the motherland when I returned to the Italy, yes. And I was just like, okay, well, this is fine, this is nice, but I had you know, and I explained to me, I said I had some other things in my mind already, totally. So I wasn't probably looking hard enough at the time. And then, you know, when I looked and and re-looked at everything and and sat, I had a I had to really like sit down with myself and say, what is where can I make the biggest impact? Where can I and and have agents have the biggest impact? And you know, if you're not doing deals every month and you want to be an agent who just wants to do like 10 transactions a year, which is fine if that's what you want, you know, maybe you're a fireman and you you have a full-time fireman job and you just want to sell something else's. So when you're done being a fireman, you can have a full career.

Suneet Agarwal:

Totally.

Maria Quattrone:

You you can do that here, right? You can you can do that here, and all the support online is there, and all the tools that you need are there, you know, and it it it it's coming in, and I also like, you know, I'm gritty, you're gritty, you know. We get down and like roll up the sleeves in the in the trenches in the dirt, and I like that scrappiness too, totally about you know, joining an organization when they're at 20,000 agents versus you know a hundred thousand agents. So, and that was important for me as well. Um, and it's exciting to be with a company that's only three and a half years old. Totally. So we're the first people in Philadelphia County and local. Um Gary Mercer and his group joined and uh six months ago, and they're in Westchester County. I mean Westchester, uh, which is about an hour, hour and ten away. Okay, so local, but we I I haven't I haven't been to Westchester in years, like we don't go out that way, you know. Sure, too far.

Suneet Agarwal:

I know nothing about your state, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that you live there, yes.

Maria Quattrone:

Yes, I live in Pennsylvania. I never say that though. I say I'm from Philly.

Suneet Agarwal:

You know, funny story is um I used to breed dogs, talking about Philly, and I had to send a puppy to a client, and he was either in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, and I got it wrong. I sent the puppy to the wrong.

Maria Quattrone:

You sent the pup. They're like, you know, we're like seven hours away, right?

Suneet Agarwal:

Yeah, that's what that's what he said. Yes.

Maria Quattrone:

The puppy made it to someone else's house.

Suneet Agarwal:

Yes. Well, no, I mean everything got squared away, but uh yeah, you know, and what you're saying about um seeing other options like and thinking about what's out there, it also took me a good six months. You know, I had original thoughts about impact on my coaching business. Um I had thoughts about just right, like losing control of everything I had the control about for years when I would get recruited. I would always tell people I love having control over the bank accounts, all of them. I can do whatever, whenever. Do you know what I mean? Um, however, now I don't miss that part at all because I haven't had any issues, right? Like the big issue would be some agents wanting to get paid on something outside of standards and then having to put your foot down, right? And then you know, um, maybe doing an exception to fix your headache. I don't have to deal with that anymore, so I don't need the control of that bank account, right?

Maria Quattrone:

It it's something, it's a real thing for sure. Um, and I had to go through that same process, like totally this was my baby. I had for 12 years a long time. I started this from nothing, you know, from coming from as an agent and a team with another company and opened a brokerage, and it was a lot, like it was a lot to do, a lot to learn. Um, and in fact, you know, I I somebody said I asked me, I said, Well, it's better sweet. Like absolutely Thursday morning. I didn't go to the office right away at like 8, 8:30. I usually do. I um ended up getting there at like 10, and I around nine went to the coffee shop up the street. Yeah, because I walk to the I'm in the city, so different things. And I sat there. I got myself a gluten-free cookie, which I don't eat cookies at 9 30.

Suneet Agarwal:

You needed something sweet, yes.

Maria Quattrone:

And I and I haven't been drinking any coffee at all for like a month and a half. I got myself an espresso. I sat there and I I was told, like my husband, I said, I I had like a small little like moment with myself.

Suneet Agarwal:

Wow.

Maria Quattrone:

Like, I said, he's like, what happened? I said, well, I start crying at the coffee shop, I had tears streaming down my face for like you know, not long. I mean, it this is like people don't understand, you have to go through a process. Like I'm and I'm being vulnerable right now in the sense of like saying this, right? But I sat there and I literally had tears, and I'm like, You're doing the right thing, it's gonna be okay. Like you did what you wanted to do, and you had this business for 12 years, and your goals are bigger than where you are right now and what you wanted to do, and you're gonna go to the next level, absolutely, you know, and I think a lot of times we don't take that time to really you know talk about the moments you go because you have will have a moment, you'll have a moment where you're like, Okay, and I had to call cookie and dress up water, and I uh myself my computer away, and I walked over the office and all was fine.

Suneet Agarwal:

I thank you for sharing that with me. That's really impactful. Uh, and the thing for anybody listening, I get from that too, is like the real estate industry continues to change. True or true, 100%. All right, the real estate industry continues to change. We are leaders in the industry. We have a fiduciary duty to the people that we lead. It is our job to put them on the best path forward in a changing real estate industry, period. Like that's your job if if you're a team leader or a brokerage owner. So, does the current trajectory address the changes in the industry? For me, it didn't. LPT is leading all the new things as far as mindsets and developments and doing these things with aperture and with all the tech and with on the boots or boots on the ground, executive staff. That it just, you know, I think for both of us, that's why it was the only answer.

Maria Quattrone:

Really, truly, truly what it came down to. And I had to think about you know, the next five to ten years, like let's face it, we're not going backwards in age.

Suneet Agarwal:

No, definitely not. No, I feel that every day in my lower back. Yep.

Maria Quattrone:

So you know what what does that look like? Where's the opportunity? You know, and I said the opportunity is so much greater being with on a national platform and soon eventually international platform.

Suneet Agarwal:

Absolutely.

Maria Quattrone:

And it it had that that aligned with what my goals were, you know, and launching I did a soft launch this fall of my um listing boss, 90-day listing accelerator training. Oh, I'm launching that. Yeah, yeah, it's really awesome. Yeah, I uh I don't know. I saw when I look back and I owned LPT listing power tools, the listing power pack. That thing is like listing on Star Wars. I did over 180 listings this year. I personally took. I know you're a beast. So I was like, I need this thing, and my agents need this thing. And they're they look they're like this is great. Yeah, Cindy, could we replicate it? Something like that. Sure. I bought a full-time person on tons of money. It's not doesn't make financial sense.

Suneet Agarwal:

It doesn't.

Maria Quattrone:

There's no upside on it for me. This power pack is you pay shipping, 30 bucks. Like 30. You can't even take somebody up for lunch for 30.

Suneet Agarwal:

No, right? It's so funny, and I'm glad that you brought that up because they sent me the box. Uh Robert and Lewis sent sent me the box, and I put and it lived in my trunk for two weeks before I opened it, and then I put it in the garage. Um, now I work out at home in the garage, and I was working out like I was really winded, and I saw the box there. So I was taking a break on some big set that had me winded, and I saw the box there, and I'm like, you know what? Shit, I'm just gonna open it up this thing. Mid sweat, mid set, you know, just tired. And I opened it up and I was oh my god, why did I wait so long? This thing for 35 bucks, which is just shipping, honestly, this thing is dope. So yeah.

Maria Quattrone:

So I had uh the box came, two boxes came. I looked at it and I was just like, oh, you know, like I said, I had something else in my mind. So then fast forward, and I'm like, all right, I gotta talk to the LPT people again. So I I've it was a weekend, it was a Sunday, and I wasn't home. I was down shore. So we come home Sunday night, Monday. I spend in the office and I'm in the basement now looking for this box. I'm like, what the F did they do with the boxes? So I finally find the box, I bring up the boxes. I'm like, all this stuff, I can use this. Expires. I'm like, my brain's going, and I'm like, I'm like, I feel like saying you're dumb to myself. Like, what are you doing? You're like listing queen. Listings are everything. How do you not do that? Then it became okay, let's work through the other stuff. Can I get these other things figured out? You know what was really also important to me? We're a branch office, right? We're getting approved as a branch office.

Suneet Agarwal:

Yep.

Maria Quattrone:

Was my phone number to be on that sign without 888, blah, blah, blah, being a branch office, right? Because that was important because of the list, all the listings I have.

Suneet Agarwal:

Totally.

Maria Quattrone:

So, you know, there were other things that came in, and you don't think about these things when you have a brokerage for 12 years, like it doesn't even register in the brain. But I knew this from another conversation with somebody else, and that came up, and it was a real problem for me. So there's a lot of things that you don't really think about, you're not even you don't even know to think about them.

Suneet Agarwal:

Totally.

Maria Quattrone:

And you know, and then there's all the other uh things that are great, right? You get stock based pre-IPA stock based on production, which is crazy, right? Because how many houses you sell?

Suneet Agarwal:

Listen, I mean, we've been selling houses for years, owned our companies. I don't have any friggin' pre-IPO opportunities coming at me from anywhere else. Like that is that could potentially be life-changing.

Maria Quattrone:

Um our people deserve it, yeah. The people deserve it, and then if you want to build your your organization, you want to build, bring people in, you can and get Rev share if you want to do that. You don't have to do that. In fact, you know, you're required to sell real estate, right?

Suneet Agarwal:

So absolutely, you can't just be an influencer, put it much to my dismay, but I accepted it. Just kidding. Of course, I'm gonna sell, yes, yeah.

Maria Quattrone:

So part of that program. So there's so many things. I mean, you know, those things like we can't you you couldn't offer, I couldn't offer. No, never. It's just it's not possible. So then when you look at it, you look at the financials, and you look at getting rid of a bunch of headaches, and you look at oh, you have a problem with the whatever, yeah, corporate, they have a ticket, ticket system, you get an answer within an hour. I mean, beautiful.

Suneet Agarwal:

I love it. That has been so that is so helpful to me and my team on a daily basis, to me and my agents on a daily basis, right? Like, so much of the chunk of ops is taken off our hands. It's just it's awesome.

Maria Quattrone:

It's great, it's great, it's gonna be great. And I so big news for you, you just uh brought on a big team out of in LA County.

Suneet Agarwal:

Yep. Uh number two team in the state. Yeah, we got many more coming over. It's gonna be it's gonna be uh it's gonna be a lot of announcements every week. It's gonna be a lot of announcements every week because I think, you know, at first, and this is the part of growth, right? Like LPT is growing in uh their brand name is growing. More people are paying attention. The growth over time over this last year, something that I bet on happening happened straight up, right? And now it's continuing to compound. The growth from my last year, now one year in is gonna double the next year, right? And then it's gonna double, right? So that's what you get when you get that early, that just like you, right? Like the the age and count, you came in at a perfect the opportunity is still abundant, yeah. And some other places I feel like the ship has sailed a long time ago, yeah, right? The opportunity for us is so abundant and massive because it'll continue to double, it'll continue to grow at such a clip that right now makes it the best opportunity for anyone listening.

Maria Quattrone:

I agree, I agree, especially you know, before I think you and go in public. Oh, yes, I think there's just a tremendous opportunity, and you know, I'm happy, I'm happy to be able to share it. Yes, yes. And listen, I don't know if it's the right solution for the person or not. It depends what your pain points are, but was the right solution for you, was the right solution for us, was the right solution for our friends Gary and Shara Mercer. And I think it's gonna be a good solution for a lot of people.

Suneet Agarwal:

I agree.

Maria Quattrone:

So yeah, super excited to meet, super excited uh to be partnering with you. Hell yes, and uh yeah, we're gonna do a lot of fun stuff. So giddy up, giddy up, get on it, yeah. Let's let's get on it, let's go get them 2026.

Suneet Agarwal:

I'm excited too. That's awesome.

Maria Quattrone:

We're living in the best times of our life, crazy, right?

Suneet Agarwal:

But we are.

Maria Quattrone:

We are. I listened to you yesterday. I had everybody in the conference room.

Suneet Agarwal:

Oh, cool, yeah.

Maria Quattrone:

And I said, you said you were going to Walmart to get the under Starbucks to get the Wi-Fi to send listings out because you didn't have internet, you didn't have any money.

Suneet Agarwal:

Yep.

Maria Quattrone:

And I said, everybody, hmm, that's gritty. Yep. He's gotta go sit in Starbucks parking lot.

Suneet Agarwal:

Yep. I said I wasn't gonna spend any money on coffee either. I didn't have it.

Maria Quattrone:

No, doing what you gotta do. It takes what it takes, what it takes.

Suneet Agarwal:

Yes, like let me tell you, sitting in Starbucks parking lot was hard, but having like take like the checks to Walmart because like whatever bills, I think I had a cell phone bill, and by then I must have had internet because I was getting checks, right? Um, yeah, internet and cell phone, and like those were the only bills I think I really had. Um, I would go to Walmart, get the check cash, and then get that money put on those prepaid cards so I could actually pay those bills. Um that's like that's some shit.

Maria Quattrone:

Indeed.

Suneet Agarwal:

That like standing in there like doing that. That was something else.

Maria Quattrone:

Well, it's uh uh it's the experience is what made you who you are today, yeah. Yeah, I mean, no problem doing the work. That's easy.

Suneet Agarwal:

Oh, yeah, that's that's easy. Beats better beats doing all that stuff I had to go through to get back here.

Maria Quattrone:

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. I'm looking forward to uh a fantastic year, Sunit. Thank you for your support. Yes, and uh let's go get them. Let's go, be the solution.

Suneet Agarwal:

I love it.