Real Tea Podcast – Season 3: Episode 1

Angela Shields (AS): Alright, I am excited today to have a special guest on the Real Tea Podcast. We have the one and only Robert Morris, also known as “RoMo.” Robert is serving as the 2026 President-Elect of REBI. And before we do anything else, I’m going to let you say what “REBI” stands for.

Robert Morris (RM): Well thank you so much. I am excited to be here with you all for this opportunity to tell you about our wonderful organization. As a matter of fact, I really feel like it is the best kept secret in the NAR family.

So, REBI, which is the Real Estate Business Institute, is one of those organizations under the family of the National Association of REALTORS®, but we strive in elevating in what we call “business leadership” pieces—management, brokerage, excellence. We just—the emphasis that we try to put on it with educational courses and our designation courses. All of these resources help real estate professionals themselves build what we call a “sustainable business”—not just to compete in the marketplace—not just to do transactions—but if NAR is the “why we do it,” then we’d like to think of REBI as the “how we get it done.”

AS: And we’re going to talk a lot about how you get it done, why we get it done, what REBI can do for brokers. But before we get out of the gate, I’m gonna back up because we have to ask you. This is an extremely important question. We are called the “Real Tea Podcast.” We are so excited to have you here but you have to answer the traditional question: What do you take in your tea, Robert?

RM: I actually take two to three scoops of raw sugar and honey.

AS: So you actually drink tea.

RM: I actually drink tea.

AS: That’s exciting! Morning or night?

RM: Anytime I can get a good cup but usually when it’s cold out is when it goes down best.

AS: Well, it’s been cold lately that’s for sure.

RM: That’s an understatement. Yes.

AS: And I would think that as an instructor—which REBI, in my opinion, has some of the best instructors at the National Association of REALTORS®—I would think that as instructor, tea is very important. You have to protect those vocal cords.

RM: That is so very true. And a lot of people don’t think about the instructors being athletes. We like to call ourselves athletes as well. And the vocal cords are those important things we have to take care of.

So, we’ve got all kinds of remedies that we do—when we start getting hoarse or when there’s some strain in the vocal cords, and tea and honey is one of the main culprits that we use to help with that for sure.

AS: And you are around so many people. You’re always greeting people, you’re always seeing your friends, hugging people. And even today, you’re always in hotels, so we’re catching you at a hotel as you’re going to teach a class. So, instructors are on-the-go all the time and around so many different crowds.

RM: You know what, that brings to mind the vaccines that we have. You know, people always ask me about—I say, ah, I’ve had them, the COVID five or six, and then the flu shots, and then the other shots, because you have to really be healthy when you’re out here on the road. It would be difficult to have a room full of students and the instructor cannot go. So, yeah.

AS: That’s right. I can’t imagine putting on a conference, counting on an instructor such as yourself to be there when we have so many people coming and all of the sudden you call and say, “I’m sorry, I’m sick. I’m not going to make it.” That would be horrible!

RM: I really try not to do that, that is for sure.

AS: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so you started out talking about what REBI is but let’s dive a little deeper into it. So I know that someone like yourself can join this particular institute. It’s like an institute society council and you can be a member. So tell me what drew you personally to REBI and why you decided to be a member of this organization.

RM: Well, to be honest, I was introduced to the organization some years ago and being a broker/owner of my own firm, I wanted some type of avenue that would help me as a broker develop my business, help me with recruiting, to help me know what HR is and the and the like.

And so I started investigating the CRB designation—Certified Real Estate Broker. And what happened was at the time, we were not REBI. We were just CRB. And so we didn’t have a name change until like around 2015, 2016. And so we were just CRB at the time, similar to what CRS was at the time.

And so, those courses and that curriculum that they talked about of helping me do the things that I needed to do to to help launch a successful real estate company is what drew me to the CRB designation and eventually REBI.

AS: I think a lot of people may not be aware of all of the resources that are there for brokers specifically um in all that REBI has to offer.

I know for me, thanks to you, I had the the great opportunity to really get to know REBI this year by helping with the strategic plan and I learned so much about what the organization actually offers.

Can you go over just a few things that that they do offer for a broker or a member who might have interest?

RM: Well, of course I can and I—I want to thank you again for agreeing to participate with us in our strat plan. You, you brought—

AS: It was a great pleasure.

RM: Yeah, great information and it was an honor to have you share your thoughts with us which help us be better at what we do.

As far as the—as REBI, we have four—we have two certification programs and we have two designation programs, not to mention the certificate programs that we have. So most people would be familiar with our CRB program for our brokers, our broker council and then of course we have what we call the C-RETS, which is a Certified Team Specialist designation. So those people who are really building their teams and want to have them learn the different aspects and so forth, we actually have a certification in that particular area.

And then we have the SRS which is the Seller Representative Specialist, which deals with the other side. You know, people talk about the ABR, the buyer side, but we actually have a course designed to help those who are working with sellers really hone in on what they need to do in seller representation and getting the job done for them.

And then finally, we have a negotiating course, which is the RENE or Real Estate Negotiation Expert. And again, that’s a two-day certification course that actually helps and develops agents’ negotiating skills because what we found in the Buyer/Seller Profile of NAR, one of the main things that they that consumers said they wanted was an agent who could negotiate well on their behalf. And so that’s been one of the courses we put emphasis on.

And of course, there are other resources we have. We have the right start program. We have a digital—we have—we have a digital class. We actually have a certificate program for assistants for those who would actually want their assistant to be more honed in on what was necessary and develop their skill set.

So there’s a gamut of resources that we have that most people not even aware of that we are happy, that there has been exposure to be able to make—make it more known and—and so again, we thank you for that.

AS: There’s a lot of information on the website for the organization. Um, do you want to share the website, how you get to the website?

RM: Yeah, you simply put in rebinstitute.com. It’s not—and people say, “Well, Reebie, Reby—that’s that’s kind of one of the things we we just create when we hear.” But it says REBI Institute the that’s the Real Estate Business Institute.com, is where you would actually find the information. Uh, and there’s a ton of information. We have micro courses that are out there.

We have more resources as to what brokers might need. And that’s not even talking about the 10 courses that we offer under the CRB program—everything from running your business financially, recruiting and retention, HR issues—we even talk about risk management—we have business planning and we have profitability, so almost all the areas that a business would need to know about or would like to know about as they structure those pieces we even have one getting and building a real estate company starting in in building a real estate company.

So, we try to cover the gamut in those particular pieces to assist those who are looking as owners, broker managers, team leaders, and we wanted to dispel a rumor that anybody could take our courses. They’re not just for people who were going to manage. And who knows, one of one of our young agents might decide later on in life they’d like to manage. And so having this information would would be nothing but an advantage for them should they decide to pursue that particular route. So—

AS: Well I know one of the things I had thought about was that it’s not just if you are opening your own company a lot of times you have someone who maybe is starting a team and it’s about how to set up that team and managing that group of people. It seems to me that you would even get the benefit of learning those skills from taking some of these courses.

RM: Absolutely. I totally agree. Whether you were going to take the C-RETS program, which is the the Certified Team Specialist or you were taking some of the the CRB courses, without a doubt, there would be a gamut of information that you could actually taken home to help build and strengthen your team. Absolutely.

AS: So, as you think about brokers and managing brokers, how do you see ways that they could leverage being a member of REBI to help with their training and to help with their—just how they run their office?

RM: Well, one of the addages that we’ve always said even in business and in life, education is power.

Knowledge is power but only if you act upon the knowledge you’ve acquired. And so when we we talk about it, how do you separate yourself from your competition is in what you know, what your skill set is, what what particular value propositions that you bring to the table that that that is different from what your friendly competitor might be bringing.

So I, I would tell anybody who’s who’s looking to do this, if you were really serious about building your real estate brokerage business, then REBI is a place you’d want to be. Just, just the synergistic mix that we have in the courses that we have whether they be online—live virtually, hybrids—we, we try to address all the different ways that people learn because they learn differently but we try to keep the information current and timely we want it to be forward-thinking—we don’t just deal with the here and now and and a lot of things have been happening in NAR so rapidly.

One of the things we work on is making sure our courses stay ahead of what that is, what’s next, not just what is now going on and what the future would look like and how we prepare you for it. So, I just think once you immerse yourself in the curriculum in the resources in the organization, you will find the benefits are overwhelming for you.

AS:You have some amazing instructors that are part of REBI. So, how you mentioned staying ahead. How do you stay ahead with what’s happening at NAR?

RM:Oh, well, thank you for that. Uh, they would feel great by you saying amazing.

I think they’re okay. What we do is, well, we are committed to excellence in our chosen fields. It’s not just something we do as a pastime. It’s not something we do as an extracurricular activity. All the instructors are committed to their craft and what they’re trying to convey. Most all of us are practitioners and that we’re in the field that we know they’re running offices, they’re product development specialists in their companies, all of those kinds of things.

And so we look forward as to what the industry is changing, what what things are going on in the industry, what could impact. And we did the same thing when we saw the settlement coming and we came out with courses about what’s next, what’s over the horizon that we need to look at and and that we need to make the adjustments in our company with our agents as well to be able to be ready for what those pieces are. And so we just have forward thinkers that are immersed into staying on top of what those trends are and reading the tea leaves forward uh so that we can give the best uh course curriculum and content uh to our students who attend the courses.

AS:Yeah, that’s—that’s always and the industry is always changing. I think it always will be changing forever on.

That’s—that’s when you look back, you can think of so many things that we’ve watched evolve over time. It’s just the way it is, right?

RM: True. It changes every day, every single day. And, as a matter of fact, as instructors, we often say what I’m telling you today in class may be different tomorrow. So, you know, if as as we go through just to let them know how quickly things are changing and it’s a new dynamic. It’ll be a new way that we practice real estate. I—I we always talk about the ancillaries. I call the the AI stuff, the social media.
I personally call them the ancillary.

Some of my colleagues call them the the the lifeline. But what we really talk about is is that people still do business with people that they know, that they like, that they trust, and that they get in the flow with. The ancillary pieces help us be more efficient. They help us reach more people. They help us to stay consistent. They help us to to to stay on time. So I say you integrate those things and we tell agents all the time AI won’t replace you but those who use AI will replace you.

AS: Yes.

RM: Yes.

AS: Yes. It’s definitely a relationship business.

RM: Yes, yes, yes. I always say real estate’s a contact sport and people laugh, you know. This is real estate’s a contact sport, you know. So how do you see the people? How do you get out? Those things allow you to get to see more people, but you still got to build the relationships and I don’t know how people are overlooking those those those really crucial elementary things that you have.

If nobody likes you, you’re not going to do business with them. If nobody knows you, you’re not going to do business with them. So it is a people business and you have to treat it as such. And and the thing we always say is people want to know how much you care before they want to know how much you know. And so when we actually put these pieces together, you can be a very productive agent, very productive office, very productive company uh if you if you merge those things uh together and work them in harmony to to get the end result.

AS: Absolutely. So when you think about how brokers can leverage REBI, what about associations? You’ve got local associations and state associations. How can they leverage REBI?

RM: Well, to be honest with you, one thing is just knowing about it. I think that there are a lot of associations who are not aware of our particular institute or society, and it’s ironic because we’re the largest. We have over 55,000 members and and we’re the largest of all the institutes and societies but we’re the biggest secret I guess of all of them that are there. So once I think that they would know about them and we have information we’d love to get out to associations to be able to say what REBI is about—what are the the certifications, the designations, the resources to help them help their members be more successful in the real estate business. And we know that associations have to have members. They have to have members. That’s how they actually thrive and survive.

And, I think them knowing about us would be first of all. But always call on us. Always kind of start to look at the website, look at the pieces that are made available to them. I think that if associations wanted to have broker summits right now, it looks as if on the national level, we’re starting to outsource those to the state associations and the local associations. There are packets that that assist any of them who would want to do it, whether it be regionally or locally, call us up, ask us to come. We we’d love to be able to come and participate or or put a booth or whatever and have a conversation about what REBI offers and how we can help their members be successful in the things that they are trying to do and maintain in the real estate business.

So I think research a little bit about who we are. Have a conversation with any of the—our CEO Ginny Shipe—any of the people that are there having a conversation with them. If you catch up with any of our leadership team we would be more than happy. I know that whenever I’m in a particular state and somebody is doing something and they say, “Oh we got an REBI leadership member here. Will you actually come and speak or say something at our—” and, and we try to do that. We try to get out to make sure that is done and then we’re trying to do boosts or tables or let people know that we would be available to do those pieces.

So I think once we’re able to get these things out more about what the organization offers, I think it would draw more associations whether it be state or local associations into the mix just like you met.

AS: Well, and I would offer that with REBI, that is a great resource for any association that is planning a broker summit type program.

You have a again a wealth of knowledge for speakers that you could tap into from all of the instructors because as you mentioned you are keeping up with all of the topics that are top of day and all of them could be great plug-ins for any of the agenda items that you’re trying to fill and be able to educate your brokers that you’re that you’re communicating with.

So great wealth of knowledge there.

So, let’s turn our attention to the fact that you are now installed as the 2026 President-Elect, will be serving as the 27th president. We’re very proud of that here in Tennessee. But what is your outlook? What is what do you see coming up on the horizon for REBI in the future? What are some of the next steps you see over the next two, three, five years for them?

RM: Well, I know that we are committed to growing leaders. You know, it’s it’s often said leaders should be looking to replace themselves. They would be—and so when we when we look at that, I was just going over some things that I had before.
We want to strengthen the leadership pipeline and when we do that the REALTOR® organization—and it’s regardless of whether they want to be on a local level, state level, national level—no matter where they are in their particular career and we want to have what we call, you know, whether that’s the training piece that prepares them to lead—those things are kind of important to us. And so, building a future leader is going to be the heartbeat of what we want to actually look at focusing at at REBI.

And with that, you know, I always say to people, they ask, “How did you get started?” And I, and it’s funny with me because I always said I wanted to stay on the education side. I didn’t want to get involved in politics. And people go like, “Well, what do you mean?” And what I’ve learned over the years is is that real estate is not in politics, but politics is in real estate. And so you you you kind of have to put those pieces because I was totally happy on just the educational side. And I got tapped to say, would you help out in this leadership role on the local level and I did from director ended up being president. I paid a lot of money to people, hey, you know, I made it rain.
Go ahead and do that, and then of course I was fortunate enough to be a DVP on on our state level. And so I don’t know, I just do what I do. And most people talk about how authentic leadership is and and how people are and what they do. And so I just know for me I didn’t have all the answers.

Leaders don’t have all the answers. You know, you grow into leadership roles.
You know you actually help others grow as well. And so when you—Henry Ford said it best, when you surround yourself with people who know more than you, it proves that you know more than them. And so as I go through I’m looking at people uh and I tried to solve everything early in my career, you know, because being an only child, it was like, okay, if it’s to be, it’s up to me. And I had to do it.

But now I understand the power of delegation you know uh the power of collaboration trusting other people trusting the leaders and I don’t have to do everything right and so empowering others is where it is now and how you develop those people coming forward so I think REBI that is one of the biggest pieces that we’ll be working toward as we continue to develop uh state-of-the-art curriculum staying forward on what we need to be able to offer to brokers the things needed to be vibrant and successful in their real estate businesses and careers going forward.

AS: That’s great. And speaking of those associations, again, another resource with REBI is those leadership classes.

Many of you teach or are involved in leadership classes. So, that is fabulous to—another resource to have with REBI. That’s a great thing to be looking at for the future.

RM: Yes.

AS: So, I know you go all over the country.

RM: I am fortunate enough to go all over the country. Yes.

AS: Teaching all kinds of classes. So as you are meeting different REALTORS® from all over. You’re teaching classes from all over. What are some of the technologies technologies or the opportunities that you actually see for REALTORS® that you’ve seen kind of trending?

RM: Well, I would say all of the normal ones above. But I grew up in the education of inside-out marketing. And inside-out marketing says do what it is that you do best that you are willing to do because if I gave you a number of things in marketing but you hated them then you’re not going to put your best foot forward in them. So trying to find what you do best. And I know—me, like for example, I don’t like wearing name badges too much. At national, I wear them, some people don’t but I like meeting people. I like having to engage with people. If I told—if you told me, “Well, you got to wear your name badge every day.” I may not even speak to people. You know, it would might shut me down for I wouldn’t even have a conversation. So, I don’t believe in having agents do things that they’re not heart and soul in. So, you find the things that they do. So if you said Facebook or Instagram or Tik Tok or you said any of these pieces, they would need to be things that they feel good in in those environments to be able to do.

Chat GPT is a big piece now. And we know that it will help you. It’ll write courses. It’ll give you all kinds of information, but we have to tell the person using it that you have to check it and does it really sound like you.

So, so even in using all of the pieces and I and I use chat GPT, you should use some of those pieces in limited forms to do certain things that you need to do.

Uh if you’re participating in social media, how are you participating in social media and to what extent and how does it benefit you or the people that you’re working with? Just to be in it, to be in it, you you’re not going to post, you’re not going to put things in it, you’re not going to earn equity in in those particular platforms. So it would be of no use to you. So try to find what you really like to do and do a lot of it. What whatever that is that you like to do in the way of marketing and prospecting. But I think that the Chat GPTs, the AI pieces are still going to be big. You need to have a working knowledge of how you would use the parts for real estate. In your social media pieces, you still need to have—what is the goal in your social media? Is it to make the phone ring? Well, that’s a colloquial, but I mean, if it if it’s to get contacts, that’s why you do the social media, or is it just to have top-of-mind awareness? What is your purpose for what you do?

So, being purposeful in what you do in those areas is going to be important. Not all the the the technology is is right for everybody but once you find those pieces that help you reach more people in timely fashions, be consistent with the message that you have and deliver your unique value proposition to those individuals because people want to know how much you care before they want to know how much you know. You master those pieces, you’re going to be successful in this contact sport called real estate. And so, look at those pieces, see what you need, see what you would like to participate in and how you could benefit from those things. People say, “I don’t like—,” they say, “I don’t like video. I don’t like myself on video.” So you don’t like yourself, but that is the way you look. You know that is and so we go to tell people you don’t you don’t like that but people want to see you. They want to see the authentic you. So, don’t get so hung up in it that you won’t even do a 30 second video of something that you’re sharing some pertinent information with somebody.

So, as we go through, we’re looking at those. I think they should take AI courses that focus on real estate specific benefits, not just to take AI to take AI because there’s so many facets you can go into and rabbit holes you can get into that might not serve you well for what you do in this people business.
So that’s what we as we go forward.

AS: So true. I I think that can be said about so many different things about staying very specific to your industry and not just taking broad classes on so many things. That makes perfect sense and that kind of leads me to the next question, but I think you answered it.

So you may tell me I’ve already answered that, but if you could leave everyone with one message today, that would be—just a specific “here’s my advice to you kind of message,” what would that be?

RM: Well, I mean, first of all, I’d be honored to be able to share that and if anybody was to care to listen, that would be great. But here’s what I always say: You got to invest in yourself. You know when we talk about this the market is going to change you know the the tools are going to change they won’t stay the same; the industry is going to change but your skills, your mindset—even your professionalism—are what are going to create longevity in the business so I would always tell people education isn’t an expense right it is your competitive advantage the more you Well, the more you’re able to work out those challenges that your customers and clients will have, the more seamless you make them appear to be, the more valuable you become, the more knowledgeable that you have in these particular areas. The mountains don’t look so big and the valleys don’t always last so long.

I always tell people all the time that education will never hurt you. It it will never hurt you. And so when you actually put those pieces together, I think that working smarter and not harder is going to be a key, particularly as we go into the new phases of real estate. What you bring to the table is what people are starting to look for. What what value proposition? Why should I hire you? Why should I let you find me a house? Why should I let you list my home? what is it that you have that’s in it for me? How do I win in that respect?

So, having the the knowledge, investing, investing in your education, investing in yourself so that you put out a better product for the people that you’re going to be working with is just paramount. And all it does is said you’re committed to excellence in the chosen field of endeavor that you chose to be at. You chose to be in real estate. be the very best you can be. You chose to be in real estate. Get what you need to get that separates you and sets you apart from everybody else. And then when you go talk to people, they will be able to see clearly who’s a professional at what we do and those who may not necessarily be.

So that’s my my message that I would leave at you today.

AS: Well, I love that message and it’s clear that you live by that. I know that REBI is a great place where members can go and get all that education and I encourage all of them to go and check out everything that REBI has to offer.

Robert, thank you so much for being here today and for sharing everything that REBI has to offer and congratulations on being the 2026 President-Elect.

RM: Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity to to come and address you all and sending my love to Tennessee and all my REALTOR® family there. Thank you all so much.

AS: Thank you. We’ll see you soon.

RM: Okay. Bye-bye now.

AS: Bye.

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Thanks for listening.