CEO, Elise Bickel-Tauber of Bridge Home Realty

"At Bridge Home Realty, we are here to navigate you through every step of the real estate process. We welcome anyone and everyone to join us in the journey of renting, buying, selling or investing. At Bridge Home Realty, we are dedicated to giving our clients the best experience possible. Bridge Home Realty is in the business of helping, whether it’s your first rental, growing your investment portfolio, or finding your forever home."

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
And welcome in. This is theCEOs You Should Know podcast. I'm your
host, Johnny Hartwell, let's sayhello to a lease Mickel tober Bridge Home
Realty. Thank you for joining me, thank you for having me. So
tell us everything we need to knowabout your company. So I own Bridge
Home Realty and we are a realestate company that is based in helping our
customers with the full real estate experience, more than just buying and selling real

(00:27):
estate like a lot of the companiesaround here do. We do everything from
investment services to helping renters find rentalproperties, which most renters don't have any
type of representation to everything all around. I mean, we really are trying
to create a better real estate experienceand stop having the image that we're a
bunch of car salesmen and really justpeople here to help you guys buy,

(00:50):
sell, invest in rent real estate. Now you're out of Wexford, what
is your area that you serve?So our physical home office is in Wexford,
Pennsylvania. We're actually going to bemoving to cramp Berry Township a new
office in the fall, but weservice all of western Pennsylvania. We are
licensed in the entire state and wehave helped people over all the way to
Philadelphia. But our bread and butter, our niche is really within forty five

(01:12):
minutes of the city of Pittsburgh.So so if you're moving to Cranberry,
does that mean the company is growing? It is, It's been growing quite
a bit the last few years.We'll tell us the history. Where did
it begin? So I've been inreal estate almost twenty years myself personally,
When did you start? When didyou start? When did you start?
When you were a fetus? Prettymuch right before I turned eighteen, I

(01:34):
got a job as an assistant forour top agent in the city and intrigued
the heck out of me. Andafter that I ended up getting my license
and being a licensed agent on myown, and then I screw a little
team, and then in twenty eighteenwe actually opened the company and we've been
kind of growing ever since. Soin five years you're already starting to expand.

(01:57):
Yeah, So when we started intwenty eighteen, there was five people.
The current staff for just the BridgeHome realty side is currently sixteen.
So so what is the climate ofreal estate today? You know, anyone
who's in real estate part time,I find it difficult for you to really
be able to keep a pulse onthe market, I think you have to
be a full time agent. Andthe reason is because every single day is
a different day. Interest rates playa big part of what's going on in

(02:22):
the industry right now. But Iwould say for the most part, it's
a great market. It's a solidmarket. It's not soft that all.
You just have to be very intelligentabout what's happening and ways to combat what
is happening in the market so thatyou're buying intelligently and that you're selling intelligently
as well. In Pittsburgh, youknow you're always going to need another home,
but we were a little more insulatedthan other cities. You know,

(02:44):
when you talk about other cities,there's the big fluctuations. We don't generally
get that right now. And Iactually work directly and I mentor with Ryan
Sirhant from Million Dollars Listening New YorkRobro. It's a TV show, And
when I talk to him or whenwe talk to him about what's going on
in the New York market, itis much more volatile. You know,
you can buy something today for fivemillion and in three years to be worth

(03:05):
ten million. That's not happening inPittsburgh. It's a slow and study market
and one of the big benefits ofthat is you're not seeing these crazy booms
that you're seeing in La San Francisco, New York City, etc. So
it's a great market and it makesthe top list for real estate across the
board in all the different Zillos namedit at the top. Bigger Pockets,
which is an investment site, namesat one of the top markets, and
it continues winning awards because of that. All right, so you dropped a

(03:28):
name I did. I can't letthat go without some sort of explanation,
right, right. So back inactually twenty I think it was eighteen,
Ryan Sirhan started a small mastermind groupfor agents in New York City. Even
though I'm not in New York,I joined it and he's been doing some
programs on some mentorships ever since,and myself and my husband have really just

(03:51):
been involved with him ever since.We get to work with him, his
marketing team, his agents, andit's been one of the most incredible experiences
I've ever had. What did youlearn? I mean everything, everything from
becoming a better agent to get morebusiness, to becoming a better agent to
service your clients better because he's allabout, just like we are, the
client experience. And it's not abouthow much money can I make. It's

(04:13):
really about building relationships with people andmaking sure that they're well taken care of.
And I just I love that,all right, So tell us the
history behind Bridge Home Realty and let'sstart with the name. Well, you
know what, I have to givesome credit to my marketing team, the
one girl who's no longer with me, Her and I we worked together and
we were trying to rebrand for anew name because we started in twenty eighteen
as a property management based business thathappened to do real estate sales, and

(04:35):
when we pivoted in twenty twenty toreally focus in sales, we wanted a
name to really compass everything that wedo. And we played around with a
lot of names, you know,still city and Bridges and we want to
be proud of where we came from. And one day I was just like,
how about Bridge Home Realty And it'sstuck. It stuck ever since then.
You know, we're a city Bridgesand so in just five years you're

(04:58):
starting to expand and how many howmany agents do you have now we right
now have nine licensed agents and youcover quite a bit, like within forty
five minutes of page. And we'revery selective. We don't just you know,
if someone calls and says, hey, I want to work there,
we don't just say, okay,come work for us. We're very selective
because a lot of these big companiesthey're doing real estate, no one's really
watching what they're doing, and there'sa lot of mistakes and a lot of
things aren't happening right, and we'renot doing that. We want to make

(05:20):
sure that our agents are well trainedand well supervised and make sure that they
are you know, taking care oftheir clients. And so you have nine
and you said you you really putthem through the paces I do. And
so what makes what makes Bridge HomeRealty different than other realtors. I mean,
I think it comes down to,you know, a lot of the
real estate companies that are out there, the agents are just off doing their

(05:42):
own thing, which is fine.But everyone that's at Bridge Home Realty comes
into the office and we communicate everyday and we're working together as a team,
every single agent, you know,and we're training and again everyone is
learning to become better so they canserve as their clients to the best level
possible. All right, So giveme an example of how you have become
better health this team has come togetherand maybe made a difference. I mean,

(06:06):
I think it comes down to justthe individual transactions. When something goes
wrong in a transaction or we're tryingto figure out how to handle a certain
situation, instead of just you know, handling the situation and moving on,
we use every single one as alearning experience. You know, we're combined,
you know, myself and my secondagent, who is Austin who's been
with me for six years, buthe's been licensed for fifteen. Him and

(06:26):
I combined have over thirty years ofexperience. The number of transactions we've done
is well over two thousand transactions.So by taking our experience and teaching our
agents, Hey, here's what we'vewent through so they can become better agents,
I think is very important. Andyou have a variety of things as
services, right, and so whatwhat is your what's the overarching philosophy of

(06:46):
your company? Every day work tobe better than the day before. Okay,
yeah, as a team efforts.As a team effort. Yeah,
and we have to call each otherout sometimes. I mean, every person,
including myself, makes mistakes, andour job is to learn from the
mist and become better at what wedo. Because you know, we're human.
Things are going to happen. Let'sjust work to be better. What's
your goal? I think my goalreally at this point in time is just

(07:08):
to continue to build a stable,profitable business that can make a difference in
the city. You seem so youngand so put together, and you come
up with some really great You're verywell spoken, thank you. So I
really see this as you know.Is this your passion? It's not my

(07:29):
passion. It's not your passion.I love it. I absolutely love what
I do, but it is notthe number one thing in my life.
What is the number one thing inyou? It's music. Music. It
is interesting, all right, Sotell us about a Lease and her music.
So I am actually a graduate ofthe Pittsburgh High School of the Creative
Performing Arts. Oh yeah, Iwas a voice major, a piano minor,

(07:51):
and I was the first graduating classfrom the city of Pittsburgh. For
those who were around when they werestill in I believe it was Homewood.
I was the first graduating class fromtown incredible experience. I went to do
Kane University for music and fun fact, I actually have recorded five albums all
before I turned eighteen. Wow.What kind of style of music? Singer
songwriter, popish albums? Yeah?Ever pursued a music career? Yeah?

(08:18):
So I actually had thought about itquite a bit when I graduated high school.
But an individual who was doing musicat the same time. We have
the same manager, and he wasout in LA and not doing great,
not horribly, but just you know, wasn't making a solid living, and
it made me very nervous. SoI was like, I'll just do something,
you know, to make the money, and then I'll do music as
my side project. And then unfortunatelylife happened and children. I have four

(08:41):
children now and I just haven't hadtime. But we're going to change that
for sure. Okay, So howoften do you perform music? I haven't
been for years. My husband's isthe same thing, to be honest.
A couple of years ago I hadstarted recording an album, just a you
know, first album, just tokind of get back into it, and

(09:01):
I recorded about six or seven songsand then did nothing with it. What's
the style? So give us amaybe an artist that we would know that
that is kind of your style.Well, my favorite singer songwriter or a
person to cover it's Christina Aguilar.I love her music, so I cover
a lot of her music. Notexactly sing I did, but I cover
a lot of her stuff though okay, but I love a lot of ear

(09:22):
in that style, yes, okay, but I do a lot of Ed
Sheeran. Um, you know,I did a lot of um Norah Jones,
who is actually a little more jazz, but I love her music.
Um, you know, Gavin DeGraw, that's the kind of stuff that I
really gravituated. When's the last timeyou performed live? Two thousand and five,
which feels like a year ago,but it is not. Yeah,

(09:43):
I know, Elise, I knowElise, I hear the music, colleague.
So do you think you'll get backon stage? Oh yeah, I
hate to ask you, but howold is your oldest? So my stepdaughter,
it's my husband's daughter's thirteen. Butmy oldest just turned ten, so
they've never seen you. We've neverseen me before. We gotta we gotta

(10:05):
change that. So. Uh.You know, when you especially when you
have as many kids as you have, you know, life does go and
certainly, um, I've been told, uh, you know, real estate
is a bit of a risk,but a music career is probably even more
risky, but it has more ofa fulfilling yeah, more of a calling.

(10:30):
So are any of your kids musicallyinclined? My youngest, who's two,
I think might be. But myoldest three are very sports, which
is great, but it also meanssports. I mean, my oldest is
a she pitches with fast pitch,and then my oldest son is hockey goalie,
and then my son who's six,is into football. So we're just

(10:52):
going, going, going constantly.So what is it like being a female
in as a CEO? Tell usyou know, it's hard. It is
hard on so many levels across theboard. I mean, internally is the
struggle between I want to stay home, be with my kids and be part
of their lives and growing up andteaching them and also running this amazing business
and they're both pulling at me constantly, and not to mention, then I

(11:16):
still still don't have any time formy own life or my own things.
I think also in this industry,while it's accepting, people prefer male led
businesses, you know, they feellike women run a lot with their emotions,
and that's not necessarily true. Soit's been about, you know,
overcoming a lot of hurdles and alot of obstacles and you know, doing
what I can to prove that,you know, what I'm doing in this

(11:39):
industry matters. I can see that, and I can see that. But
when it comes to home buying,it's been my experience it's the females that
are making the decision. Here's whatI've learned in my personal experience from the
last almost twenty years. They wanta real estate agent that is a woman,
but they want the company to beowned by a man. I'm just

(12:01):
telling you that's been what I've seen. They want the woman to be there
to show them the house and givethem the feels. But if something goes
wrong, that they want to knowa man can step in and take care
of it, and that might notbe true. I think that's why a
lot of husband wife teams are sosuccessful. It kind of gives people at
that psychological ease of mind that they'regoing to have both handled. But I've
seen that. I mean, anda lot of the big businesses here are
male owned, you know. Andactually now that I think about it.

(12:22):
Almost every real estate brokerage that Ican think of either has a male owner
or it is a male and femaleduo, and so it's it's definitely part
of struggle, I see. Butdoes that make you more determined? I
don't know if it makes me moredetermined or not. I think I have
the same goal. I just feellike I sometimes have more obstacles than you

(12:43):
know, maybe a male lead business. So what do you do when that
happens? You just keep going.You know, There's been a lot of
highs and lows in this business,and it's again, take every low point,
every bad thing that happens, everymistake that is made, and use
it as a lot learning opportunity tobecome better. Because at the end of
the day, if you keep workinghard, just like Pittsburgh, strong and

(13:05):
steady and slow, and you keepgoing, you're gonna build something. It
doesn't have to be tomorrow overnight you'refamous, and you're tomorrow and night you're
the biggest business in the city.It's about slow and steady will win the
race. Are you from Pittsburgh.I'm from Pittsburgh, born and race,
born and raised. What does thecity what has the city taught you.
You know, I don't know exactlywhat it's taught me, but the people

(13:28):
here have taught me. It's abouta community. I look at these events
in my lifetime, you know,everything from the little things like the Steeler
games and the events that have happenedwhere we all kind of come together,
and then the big tragedies that havehappened through time. You know, we're
a city of people that have cometogether. You know, we can put
aside all of our differences. We'revery ethnically diverse in the city. You

(13:50):
know, we can put all thatstuff aside and agree that we are one
city and we're going to be greatpeople and work together and you overcome anything
that has thrown our way. I'vealways said the philosophy of Pittsburghers take care
of Pittsburgh absolutely. So how doeseither a lease or bridge home realty give
back to the community. You know, we've done a lot of things over

(14:11):
the last few years, and we'restill looking for a charity we can partner
with more permanently, but we've donea lot of you know, food drives
and helping the homeless. We've beenworking with a lot of different charities,
just trying to give back in general. I know for me, a personal
mission is is that I want usto continue to work with the homeless population.
I don't know if I have aplan yet in mind, but I

(14:31):
just see there's so many abandoned,dilapidated buildings, and there are so many
homeless and there's got to be somethingwe can do where we can kind of
pair the two together, you know, especially you know, a real realty
company and homelessness. It makes aperfect opportunity. I mean it just everyone
should have shelter. I just can'timagine not helving shelter, and I just
wish there. I know there's morewe can do, and that's something we're

(14:52):
going to be continuing to work on. Is that solution? What's your biggest
challenge? I think overall our biggestchallenge right now is the keeping up with
the market, because there's so muchjust happening day in and day out,
and it's not you know, we'renot writing a high high or low low.
It's really every day is different,and so it's about, you know,

(15:13):
staying on top of that market.And where do you see it going
in the next six months. Iactually think for the next six months,
I think it's going to continue tobe a little volatile, a little up,
a little down. But I've saidthis before and I'll say it again.
If the interest rates hit into thefives, it's going to be a
blood bath. And so I thinkyou should buy if you can buy now,
sell if you can sell, andthen when the time comes the interest

(15:33):
rates do come down, you refinance, because if you wait till that interest
rate is low, it's not goingto be smart. I do think we're
going to be starting to lead intothis next election. Regardless of your political
affiliation. I think we all canagree depending on who goes in or out,
it's going to affect the market's right, And so I think that for
me, I'm already starting to lookand say, Okay, I wonder what

(15:54):
that's going to do. So andwhere do you think it's going to go?
I don't know. I don't know. Um, well, if we
did, we'd be written. Youknow. You know what's really funny is,
um, my political opinions in thelast twenty years have changed. I
think that happens just with you know, life and whatnot. But you know,
the last couple elections, I thinkwe can agree it's been a lot

(16:15):
more. I've heard from people,it's been a lot more vote for who
you dislike the least. I wouldlove to see some candidates get up there
and just be people were excited about. I think we've been like just trying
to like not the least of theevil. And I'd like to see some
great candidates out there. And Iyou want some new blood, you know,
I would love to see, youknow, a nice John F.

(16:36):
Kennedy type of you know, ayoung president who has a lot of ideas.
I don't know if it'll happen.I don't know, you know,
who's really in the running. Idon't pay us close of attention until we
really get into the you know,a little further along. But uh boy,
we covered it a lot. Wetalked about you know, female CEO.
We talked about real estate, Wetalked about the future of your business.
We talked about your your family,We talked about your your singing career.

(17:00):
What else? What else? Throwanother curveball at Johnny? So what
else is that? What else about? At least don't we know? You
know, I I'm not sure whatelse there is to know. I do
know that, um that every dayis a new adventure. And I'm just
excited to see where the next fewyears take us. For sure, You're
fascinating. You're very fascinating. Thankyou. At least this has been fun.
Yeah, it's been wonderful. Ilove it. At last, Bickle

(17:22):
tober of Bridge Home Realty get moreinfo at Bridge hoomerealty dot com. This
has been the CEO you should know. Podcasts showcasing businesses that are driving our
regional economy. Part of iHeartMedia's commitmentto the communities we serve. I'm Johnny
Hartwell, thank you so much forlistening.