EP 341: How Phil Martin Turns Real Estate Into Life Design

What Makes Phil Martin with The Martin Home Team, Brokered by eXp Realty, a Good Neighbor?

Big moves demand clear thinking, not just pretty listings. We sit down with Phil Martin of The Martin Home Team, brokered by eXp Realty, to unpack a smarter path to buying and selling in Collin County and the North Dallas suburbs—one that starts with your life, not the granite.

Phil’s journey from infantry officer to corporate leader, lender, builder, and now boutique team lead shapes a rare blend of empathy and analytics. He explains why “payment comfort” beats “price point,” how taxes, HOAs, MUDs, and PIDs bend affordability, and how to avoid the model-home trap that lures buyers into costly mistakes.

We dig into his “math to market” framework: begin with cash on hand and a firm monthly limit, map areas that fit your financial safe zone, then layer on lifestyle—schools, commute, community, and the day-to-day rhythm you actually want. For downsizers sitting on low rates and big equity, Phil opens up what’s possible without sacrificing freedom or safety. For relocating professionals, he shows how data, process, and proof points replace guesswork, backed by his experience building nearly 100 homes and working with investors who care about return, risk, and maintenance over time. The result is a plan that helps you move confidently, not just quickly.

Phil’s philosophy is simple but powerful: listen first, show homes last. By understanding lifestyle, goals, and financial comfort, he helps clients make clear, informed decisions. His boutique approach—built on gratitude, systems, and personal connection—means when you call, you speak directly with Phil. Together, he and his team protect your real estate assets and your way of life.

We also talk modern real estate marketing: YouTube as a relocation lifeline, education-first content that answers real questions, and the power of a small, purpose-driven team supported by eXp Realty’s scale. If you’re weighing a move to Frisco, McKinney, Allen, or Plano—or simply want to make a smarter housing decision—this conversation gives you practical steps, sharper questions, and a calmer way to reach the right outcome.

Subscribe for more local stories from operators who measure what matters. If this conversation helped you rethink your next move, share it with a friend who’s planning one and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find trusted, local experts.

To learn more about The Martin Team, Brokered by eXp Realty go to

https://www.searchtexashomes.com/

The Martin Home Team, Brokered by eXp Realty

📞 [phone]

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place

(00:02):
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a realtor?
Well, one maybe closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
Phil Martin, with EXP Realty.
Phil, how's it going today?

SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
It is going great, Sophia.
I really appreciate you invitingus here on the show and uh
looking forward to chatting withyou.

SPEAKER_02 (00:32):
Yes, and I am looking forward to chatting with
you too.
But what our audience is reallyexcited about today is learning
all about you and your business.
Can you get started with tellingus a little bit about your
company and its unique model toreal estate?

SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
Absolutely.
Um Martin Home Team is the nameof my team, and we're brokered
by EXP Realty.
I don't own our own broker forbroker for um or brokerage for a
number of years.
About two and a half years ago,we shifted over to EXP because
of just uh the organization thatit is, almost 85,000, 90,000
agents and the support.

(01:09):
Uh and it's it is just ajuggernaut and what it
represents to buyers and sellersin terms of the the huge support
network that comes with it.
Uh, and then just backing up ouryou know, 12, 13 year track
record here in uh in the in thein the Collin County area north
of Dallas, Texas.
It's just it was a great match.
So um our team is a boutiqueteam.

(01:32):
There's not a lot of agentshere, just a couple, along with
a number of assistants.
So we can give highlypersonalized um red carpet uh
service to our clients.

SPEAKER_02 (01:42):
Amazing.
And how did you originally getinto this business?

SPEAKER_00 (01:46):
Oh my gosh.
Well, Sophia, I uh had a uh wentin the military right out of
college uh as an infantryofficer, went into the corporate
world and and moved through theranks quite uh quite quickly and
eventually landed in ananti-counterfeit industry, uh
running around globally uh doingdifferent things.
And in 2006, I I had to stoptraveling and focus on uh my

(02:09):
daughter.
And uh that led me to lending,which uh was pretty
straightforward to me at thetime, which then introduced me
to real estate about 2006, 2007.
And I thought, um, wow, what aninteresting uh industry.
I never wanted to be a realtoruntil about 2010.
Um, I was at Prime Lending atthe time, uh doing lending, and

(02:30):
some people from out of stateapproached me and said, We we
understand your businessbackground, developing
companies, growing companies.
We want to grow a real estatebrokerage.
I said, I don't want to be arealtor, but if you put me in
the back office, I willabsolutely help you do that.
And that led me to have someexposure to some very top
agents.
And it just blew my mind.
I was thinking, wait a minute,um, you don't have to have an

(02:51):
office, you don't have to haveW-2 employees.
And these contracts are, youknow, with my with my experience
of doing some prettysophisticated contracting and
business development with largecorporations.
I looked at this as anopportunity to to not just be
somewhere pulling strings, buthave on the ground, face-to-face
interaction with people andreally add value and just see it

(03:11):
and and what they said and whatthey experienced.
Um it just it just kind of gotme excited and I got hooked on
it.
Um, my my mission statement fromday one, I, you know, being from
the corporate world, I put allthat together.
Um, you know, serving familieswith a grateful heart to help
preserve and protect their realestate assets and way of life.

(03:32):
Um, I don't publish that, Idon't say that very often, but
for me personally, that's whatkeeps me going in the hard times
and the good times because realestate assets are the underlying
asset which facilitates your wayof life.
Literally.
And that's the way I look atthis.
And uh, you know, when I everyonce in a while I'll say some

(03:53):
things which put puts this inperspective.
You know, first I'm own buyers,I'll say, you know, you're
asking somebody for a third of amillion dollars.
Yes, they're gonna ask somequestions.
It's like you're buying andselling, you realize you're
involved in over$2 million inreal estate transactions.
If we step back and just thinkof that for a second, that's why
my model insists on we planthoroughly and we really ask a

(04:16):
lot of questions.
We really push the perspectives.
You know, some a lot of peoplehave bought one or two houses,
and so they have someexperience, some have no
experience.
But either which way, I'm theexpert.
I consider myself an expert on anumber of levels.
Um, and so I like to askquestions and and broaden

(04:36):
horizons, build perspectives.
And you know, the goal is whenwhen people are done, they have
an asset which will facilitatethe way of life, their quality
of life, their lifestyle thatthey're looking for.
And so I look at it like that.
I don't work, you know, bedroomsand bathrooms are everywhere.
That's one of the last things Italk to people about.
I'm more interested in uh, youknow, your lifestyle.

(04:56):
Well, how do you envision lifebeing when you get new bedrooms
and bathrooms?
Because you have bedrooms andbathrooms.
Why do you want new ones?
And in and in Collin County,whether you're in Frisco or
their surrounding cities,they're all beautiful, all of
them.
But what's different is wherethey are located and what that
affords you, right?
Do you have to drive somewhere?
Is it close to where you want todo the things with your kids,

(05:18):
your faith-based activities?
So once we understand that, um,and it has to be a good
investment.
So uh my background, I have anMBA uh from Duke University.
That happened in the corporateworld.
Um, I I do a lot of investing.
I've flipped homes, I work witha lot of investors now.
I started a home buildingcompany.
We built almost 100 homes from2017, 18 out to 2022.

(05:42):
Um I understand the mechanics ofthis industry very well.
And um, but my favorite thing isto just bring it down to a
personal conversation and nothaving to tell everybody all
those things, but it comes outin the conversation and the
questions that I'm askingpeople.
And if I can give you an ahamoment, like, wow, I hadn't
thought of that, that's when Iknow that we're making progress.

(06:05):
So hopefully that's not too longof an answer.

SPEAKER_02 (06:08):
You definitely had answered my question.
And at the end of the day, Ithink everything in life should
be an investment towards abetter future.

SPEAKER_00 (06:16):
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 (06:17):
So I love I love your heart behind the business.
Now, when it we know when itcomes to the business, marketing
is the heart of every business,it's what keeps you expanding.
So, who are your target clientsor audience?
And in terms of marketing, um,what are you doing to attract

(06:37):
them right now?

SPEAKER_00 (06:39):
Yeah, I uh I'm a big, big into marketing.
Um, you know, when I got intothis business, I looked at it
like a business.
It's not just sales.
Um, sales is just one aspect ofthis particular business.
And on my motto, when I rememberfirst when I first got into
lending in real estate, I wouldsay to young people, I say,
Look, are you marketing?
Do you have a CRM now?

(06:59):
A client relationship managementtool.
They'd say, No, why do I got todo that?
Business is easy.
You could stand in the streetand if you could fog a mirror,
you were making six figures backin 2007.
Um here's young people to ask,are you marketing?
They say, No.
I say, you realize if you're notmarketing, you're not really in
business.
So I uh as the years have goneby, I really focused on

(07:20):
first-time home buyers in thebeginning.
I love doing first-time homebuyers.
I don't consciously try toattract first-time home buyers
now, though.
Um I my my sweet spot is, youknow, I just like to, I do a lot
of um YouTube.
I have a huge YouTube channel.
Um probably 40% of my businesscomes from relocation out of

(07:41):
state on YouTube.
I was one of the first agentswho jumped into that particular
foray, um, invested a lot intoit.
And um, besides that, I I I justcontinually add value through
texting and emailing me,emailing to my database, which
is probably about 10,000 peopleat this point.
Um, but my target is, you know,if if you have gray hair like me

(08:04):
and and you're sitting in a bighouse and all the kids are gone,
and you realize that you want tomake a change, you want to turn
the page in life, right?
You don't need all themaintenance, you don't need all
the lawn mowing, but you stillwant to have this life that
you've been waiting for, and nowis the time.
But you're sitting on a superlow interest rate and you don't

(08:24):
know what to do, what's next?
What's what's even what's ifwhat's possible?
That's one of my favoritesayings, is what's possible.
And you really want to work withsomebody who has experience.
Uh, they're not gonna take youfor granted, they're not gonna
talk at you or you know, notknowing what you're saying.
Um, if you like analytics, I amyour guy.
If you just went the bottomline, I am your guy.
But I understand you're dealingwith your literally.

(08:49):
This is where this, you know,probably two million dollars
plus in transactions for peoplerelocating or downsizing.
It's so critical because you'reyou're literally turning a page
in your life.
And so if you're uh, you know,my sweet spot are those people
who are looking to downsize orrelocate, not just in a in to a

(09:09):
different neighborhood, we'retalking different job, different
state.
Crazy.
The the change in the anxiety isoff the chart, and so uh, you
know, looking uh at thatdemographic is is what I'm
really focused with thesecondary on.
If you're an up-and-coming um,you know, executive or or

(09:30):
mid-tier manager, and you needto make a move with your family,
um, and it can't be a mistake,but you're so busy, right?
So it has to be well thoughtout, it has to be underpinned by
analytics, it has to haverationale, it has to have a
process.
So you know that um I amrepresenting your best interests
at all times, and I cancommunicate and and prove it.

(09:52):
And if I say this thisparticular thing is an
opportunity, I can give yourational reasons why.
Um, and one of my favoritethings to do too is uh you know
push the boundaries of what'spossible, but also real people
back in.
Because looking at houses iskind of a sexy thing, especially
new construction.
You know, your eyes get this bigand you're like, wow.

(10:14):
But that's the fastest way tomake a mistake is to focus on
the house, as it turns out.
Right?
Especially here in Gallon Countywhen you know every neighborhood
has a different tax rate, mud,PID, uh, etc.
an HOA, which varies your totalcost of ownership quite a bit.
So, you know, most agents willsay, What's your price point?

(10:36):
I never ask people what theirprice point is because to me
it's almost not quite, butalmost irrelevant.
I like to ask what is thecomfort zone for the monthly
mortgage payment all in?
Because that can end up beingbecause of the difference in
homeowner insurance, in hoa,mortgage insurance, and taxes.
It can be a house that's has aprice of this, or it can be a

(10:56):
house a price of that.
And if you're not careful andyou're focused on just the
price, you may end up with amortgage payment you can't
afford.
But the but you could you couldbuy it.
Wow, or you know, you may beleaving money on the table.
Um, so I explain things.
I have some very unique toolsthat I've developed over the
years.
Um, I call it math to market.

(11:18):
And uh my my usual startingsalvo with people is let's have
a conversation.
If if that looks like it washelpful, if you think there
could be you know more value ina longer conversation, we have a
Zoom call.
Uh, we're scheduling for 45minutes based on your questions.
I usually on average spend aboutan hour and 15 minutes with
people on the first Zoom becausethey do have a lot of questions,

(11:39):
but everything is visual.
We go through the math firstvery quickly, making sure we uh
you understand the two the twonumbers that are important.
How much money do you have tobuy the house?
Cash in your pocket, and monthlymortgage payment you don't want
to exceed.
And from there, we're gonnaidentify the areas which will
dovetail with your financialsafe zone, if you will.

(12:02):
And from there we can audit acouple of houses and say you
might say, Oh, heck no, I ain'tliving there if that's all I can
afford.

SPEAKER_02 (12:10):
We have a limited amount of time for our podcast
today.
Um, but have you ever thought ofhaving your own podcast before?

SPEAKER_00 (12:20):
Yeah, uh, I I did it for a little while, about uh two
years ago.
I was interviewing localbusiness owners specifically,
uh, over in the McKinney, Allen,Plano area.
And um just as an effort to youknow network and combine
databases and generate uh wordof mouth for local businesses.

SPEAKER_02 (12:44):
Amazing.
And final question for youtoday, Phil, because we are
about to be out of time.
Where can our listeners go tolearn more about exp realty?

SPEAKER_00 (12:56):
Well, exp realty.com would be one thing, or you can
come to searchtexashomes.com.
That is the name of my website.
Um, so if you want to learnabout exp, exp realty.com, um,
searchtexashomes.com is whereyou can learn about me and and

(13:16):
what we do here.
Uh, if you want to learn aboutthe area and you're relocating,
or you're just curious aboutwhat's there in Frisco, what's
the lifestyle like, or othersurrounding cities, you can go
live north of Dallas, Texas,which is a YouTube channel.
And there's a ton of videosthere you can you can choose
from.

SPEAKER_02 (13:37):
Well, Phil, I really appreciate you being on the show
today.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 (13:44):
I appreciate it.
You too, Sophia.

SPEAKER_01 (13:47):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on the
show, go to gnpfrisco.com.
That's gmpfrisco.com or callfour six nine two two two two
two two two two two two two twoone nine three four four four
four four five.