- 2 hours ago
In this episode of RealTrending, Tracey Velt sits down with Chandra Vennapusa, a top-producing eXp Realty agent with a deep background at Deloitte, Amazon, and Expedia. Chandra pulls back the curtain on how tech-world principles like customer obsession, leverage, scalability and data-driven decision making can completely transform a real estate business—especially for agents working with high-income tech professionals.
Chandra explains how today’s Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta employees are no longer asking, “What do I qualify for?” but instead, “What can I afford without losing my financial freedom?” He shares the biggest mistakes he sees tech buyers make with RSUs and stock-based compensation, and how savvy agents can step in as true advisors—balancing emotion with numbers to protect their clients’ long-term wealth.
From migration trends between Washington and Texas to using real estate as a diversification tool for high-net-worth clients, Chandra breaks down what’s really driving demand in today’s market—and why proximity to the office and total cost of living now matter more than headline affordability. He also talks candidly about what’s scalable in his business, what will always require a human touch, and what ambitious agents must do now to stay relevant in an AI-driven future.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Tech buyers now ask: “What can I afford without losing freedom?”
Biggest mistake: using all RSUs for the down payment.
Don’t plan housing on today’s stock price or rosy forecasts.
Migration is shifting back toward job hubs and office proximity.
Decisions now factor total cost of living, not just home price.
Real estate = diversification + unique tax advantages.
Success requires hyper-local knowledge, not just online data.
Agents win by negotiation, coaching, and decision support.
Scalable: docs, marketing, CRM, client touchpoints.
Not scalable: human judgment, negotiation, and local insight.
Future-proof agents embrace tech, AI, and strong online presence.
Chandra’s next move: luxury and commercial expansion in TX & WA.
Related to this episode:
Tracey Velt’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyvelt/
Chandra Vennapusa's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandra-kaladhar-vennapusa-realtor/
eXp Realty
https://www.exprealty.com/
Buy one, get one FREE tickets to the Mortgage Banking Summit on October 1st
https://events.housingwire.com/mortgage-banking-summit-2026
Want more from Tracey? Don’t forget to subscribe to Real Estate Daily.
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
Chandra explains how today’s Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta employees are no longer asking, “What do I qualify for?” but instead, “What can I afford without losing my financial freedom?” He shares the biggest mistakes he sees tech buyers make with RSUs and stock-based compensation, and how savvy agents can step in as true advisors—balancing emotion with numbers to protect their clients’ long-term wealth.
From migration trends between Washington and Texas to using real estate as a diversification tool for high-net-worth clients, Chandra breaks down what’s really driving demand in today’s market—and why proximity to the office and total cost of living now matter more than headline affordability. He also talks candidly about what’s scalable in his business, what will always require a human touch, and what ambitious agents must do now to stay relevant in an AI-driven future.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Tech buyers now ask: “What can I afford without losing freedom?”
Biggest mistake: using all RSUs for the down payment.
Don’t plan housing on today’s stock price or rosy forecasts.
Migration is shifting back toward job hubs and office proximity.
Decisions now factor total cost of living, not just home price.
Real estate = diversification + unique tax advantages.
Success requires hyper-local knowledge, not just online data.
Agents win by negotiation, coaching, and decision support.
Scalable: docs, marketing, CRM, client touchpoints.
Not scalable: human judgment, negotiation, and local insight.
Future-proof agents embrace tech, AI, and strong online presence.
Chandra’s next move: luxury and commercial expansion in TX & WA.
Related to this episode:
Tracey Velt’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyvelt/
Chandra Vennapusa's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandra-kaladhar-vennapusa-realtor/
eXp Realty
https://www.exprealty.com/
Buy one, get one FREE tickets to the Mortgage Banking Summit on October 1st
https://events.housingwire.com/mortgage-banking-summit-2026
Want more from Tracey? Don’t forget to subscribe to Real Estate Daily.
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
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NewsTranscript
00:00How are Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta, and other tech employees looking at real estate decisions differently today?
00:09Well, my guest, Chandra Venipusa, he is one of the top agents at eXp Realty, has come on to share
00:17all of his insights working with those buyers.
00:21But not only that, he's also worked within some of those companies.
00:24And so he's seen the shift in how the tech employees are buying differently.
00:31So enjoy the insights that he shares on this podcast.
00:45Chandra, welcome to The Real Trending Podcast.
00:48Thanks, Trithi. I'm glad to be here and thank you so much for taking the time.
00:53Yeah, you have a really interesting background.
00:55You came into real estate after working with Deloitte, Amazon, Expedia.
01:00So let's talk a little bit about that.
01:02What did you understand about systems and data and consumer behavior from the tech world that maybe translated into the
01:09real estate world for you?
01:11Yeah, absolutely, Trithi.
01:12The main and most important thing that I learned by working with all these companies is customer obsession.
01:20You know, we always put the customer first and customer is always right.
01:25We work backwards from always backwards from customer is right perspective and then peel the onion.
01:32So that's a very important aspect that I learned and nurtured over a period of time that I was able
01:38to leverage when I'm in real estate.
01:42It really helped me to put myself in customer shoes and understand what the customer is looking for.
01:48That is definitely one main aspect.
01:51The other aspect is leverage.
01:54Leverage and scalability is something that is underestimated in real estate from my perspective.
02:00You know, a lot of realtors, they try to do a lot of things by themselves.
02:04But in a corporate world, your thought that leverage is something that you need to always use.
02:12And came into real estate, I was always looking for opportunities to be able to use that leverage, whether it
02:19is, you know, hiring people to help me with various aspects or, you know, to become scalable and things like
02:25that.
02:25So leverage and scalability is something that I learned from my corporate world as well.
02:30And the third most important thing is data driven approach.
02:36So having worked for many Fortune 500 companies, data is very important and a lot of decisions are made using
02:44data.
02:45And I was able to use that leverage of data driven approach in real estate, which worked really well for
02:52me.
02:53It did a lot of wonders while working with, you know, customers.
02:56Real estate is, you know, home buying process is a very emotional journey.
03:01A times, you know, clients make decisions out of, you know, emotions.
03:05So I have to, you know, guide them and drive them to look at the data and make the decisions
03:11many a times.
03:12So that was one aspect that really helped me when I came into real estate.
03:17Okay.
03:18So you decided you leave, I don't know which was the last company, but you left and you decided to
03:23build your own business.
03:25What was the first thing that you did that most, you know, agents starting out probably wouldn't have done?
03:36So I was actually working for Amazon when I started real estate.
03:42And I did real estate and Amazon for almost four years.
03:47You know, I was a part-time realtor.
03:50So the thing that I did really well is, again, leverage.
03:58Initially, I used to make appointments with multiple clients at the same time and meet them.
04:04So that way I can minimize my time.
04:07At the same time, I can do a lot more transactions with the limited time I have.
04:12So leverage is definitely something that I was able to do that a lot of agents may not have been
04:17thinking about.
04:19And leverage of the network as well.
04:22Since I have built a lot of network over a period of time, I was able to leverage that network
04:26that many agents may or may not have starting out.
04:30And I was able to use that network really well to start off the business.
04:35Okay.
04:35And do you have a big downline or is it more of a team?
04:41So I'm actually a solo realtor, Tracy.
04:45I don't have like a team of agents.
04:48I'm still a solo realtor.
04:51But I do use multiple different team members to help me with various aspects of the business.
04:58I have team members helping with documentation.
05:02I have team members helping with several non-customer-centric activities like setting up key boxes and directionals and things
05:11like that.
05:12And I have team members who help with marketing and strategy in terms of building videos and content and everything
05:20for my social media.
05:21And I have team members that help with managing my CRM database.
05:27So I have different team members that help me so that I have that leverage to be able to focus
05:33on customer service.
05:34Okay.
05:35When you said leverage, I thought maybe you were building a downline as well.
05:40So, yeah, that's why I had asked.
05:43Sure.
05:43So you've worked with a large number of tech employees.
05:49So how has the way that a group thinks about buying real estate changed over the last few years, especially
05:55as we've seen interest rates and layoffs, everything become more volatile?
06:02Absolutely.
06:02The biggest difference that I have noticed, Tracy, is previously a lot of tech employees, they think about what can
06:11I qualify for, right?
06:13So how much of a home I can afford and they work backwards from there.
06:18But now the question has changed.
06:22The new question is, what can I afford without losing my financial freedom?
06:27So what that means is that they're not looking at just their qualification.
06:32They also want to make sure they have enough financial freedom to be able to do other things.
06:38They don't want to put all their money just in housing and not have emergency funds and other things.
06:46So right now, a lot of the clients that I work with, although they have very high affordability, but they
06:53are not buying the homes at that qualification they have.
06:57They're looking at various aspects, you know, thinking of thinking of, hey, what if I lose my job and if
07:02I don't have a job for the next six months, you know, what do I need to do?
07:05So they are doing all those calculations.
07:06So the question has changed from what can I qualify to what can I afford without losing financial freedom?
07:13That's the biggest difference I see.
07:15Okay.
07:15And with a lot of them getting, you know, company stock in that, what are some of the biggest mistakes
07:20they make when making that choice to buy a home?
07:24So the number one biggest mistake I see is using up all of their stock for down payment and not
07:32having any liquidity.
07:34So when they don't plan for that, if there are any risks in terms of, you know, layoffs or, you
07:39know, things like that, they don't have any fallback option.
07:44So the number one mistake I see is using up all of their RSUs for down payment.
07:49The second mistake I see is that, you know, making financial plans for housing based on the current stock market.
07:59Yeah.
07:59The stock value today may not be the same as, you know, tomorrow.
08:03So, and sometimes people even make assumptions that the stock will go up by 10% every year or whatever,
08:10right?
08:10They plan their housing accordingly.
08:12And that may or may not be the case, right?
08:15So making decisions based on current stock value or predictions of the stock is the other mistake that I see
08:22a lot of people commonly make.
08:23So I always recommend people to think about having that, you know, emergency fund and think about the risks of
08:32layoffs and all of that and plan their housing accordingly.
08:35Yeah.
08:35Yeah, absolutely.
08:36And then, so you work both in Washington and Texas.
08:39So, you know, two markets that have very different migration trends.
08:45So what are you seeing today in the national migration numbers that aren't really captured?
08:52So the biggest difference I see is, Tracy, the migration trends are moving into locations that are closer to work
09:01locations.
09:03See, there are increasing employees, employers that are asking people to return to work.
09:09The work from home concept that we had during COVID and for a large part after COVID is slowly going
09:15away.
09:16Many employers are asking their employees to come back to work.
09:19So what that means is that locations that are closer to work locations are in increasing demand.
09:27And locations that are further away from work locations that boom like anything in COVID are getting negatively impacted.
09:36So the migration trend right now that I see is it's more driven by, you know, closeness to location, work
09:44locations than anything else.
09:47Because, you know, many employers are making it mandatory for you to return to work.
09:54That's one major trend I see that national numbers are not capturing.
09:59And the migration trends are also very local.
10:04For example, you know, the employers are also shifting locations depending on, you know, where the demand is for employees.
10:14So the locations are also shifting.
10:16So the real estate is more trending towards more work, you know, to areas where there are work locations.
10:23Yeah, definitely.
10:24And, you know, the narrative for years has been people are moving, leaving like expensive coastal markets for places like
10:31Texas.
10:32And do you feel like that's still the story?
10:34And has affordability changed the migration equation?
10:39Yeah, so definitely there is a change.
10:41As I mentioned, you know, people are preferring more closer work location.
10:46And the trend right now is not, oh, you know, I will move to Texas because it is cheap.
10:52It's not the case anymore.
10:54The migration trends and demand for the location is based on various other factors now.
11:01You know, one is, you know, job availability, like, you know, are there enough jobs available for my skill set
11:06that I bring to the table?
11:08And, you know, do I need to commute to work or is it a work from home location type of
11:13job?
11:15You know, you know, also, previously, when the migration was happening, it was more focused on affordability specific to housing.
11:24But now people are looking at the overall cost of, you know, living.
11:30It's not housing part.
11:32People are looking at insurance, health insurance costs, you know, auto insurance costs, you know, house insurance costs and cost
11:39of living from a grocery perspective.
11:41There are various costs that are being factored in.
11:43It's not just the housing anymore alone.
11:46So the migration is also happening just because, you know, Texas is cheap.
11:52But to, you know, what can Texas offer for me?
11:56Right.
11:56Not just from a cost perspective, from my overall, you know, quality of life and all of those things.
12:01So the migration is still happening, Tracy.
12:05But I would say the way the migration is happening, the factors being considered in migration are very different from
12:11what we have seen before.
12:12Yeah, I'm in Florida.
12:14That's the same that's happening here.
12:16So and you talk about using real estate as part of a broader wealth building strategy.
12:22So for high income professionals who already have stocks, retirement accounts and maybe equity in a business, what role should
12:29real estate play and where can people get overextended?
12:33Yeah.
12:33So there are two main advantages that I see for high net worth individuals.
12:41So many of the high income individuals that I work with, they would have been working in technology or higher
12:49end sectors.
12:50They would be having significant amount of their wealth in stocks.
12:57And then the risk of that is, you know, whenever stocks go up or there is a there is less
13:04diversification in terms of their portfolio.
13:06So I offer real estate for those individuals as a diversification.
13:11So rather than, you know, it's it's like keeping all of your eggs in one basket.
13:16So recommends that you should do that.
13:18Right.
13:18Right. So I offer to them that, hey, they need to diversify their portfolio.
13:23So that is one key aspect for net worth individuals.
13:28The other aspect that a lot of people give very less importance to is income tax benefits.
13:35So the income tax benefits that you get in real estate, you don't get it in any other investment portfolio.
13:40For example, if you own a primary home and sell that home after two years, up to 500K, you don't
13:48have capital gain tax.
13:50Right.
13:50There is no other investment where you get is, you know, taking out your depreciation costs and, you know, using
14:05depreciation as a leverage.
14:06Real estate is the only investment where you get paid for owning an asset.
14:14Yeah.
14:15You know, if you think about depreciation as getting paid for owning an asset, this is the only investment.
14:20So that is another aspect where, you know, people do it.
14:23Where I see people might overdo is that I have seen a lot of high network individuals think that buying
14:32real estate anywhere will grow.
14:34Right.
14:35That's not the reality.
14:37You have to have very local nature knowledge and trends and, you know, what to buy and what not to
14:44buy.
14:45For example, you know, I don't recommend buying a lot of townhomes in Texas because you have land and you
14:51get single family homes.
14:52So the townhomes don't grow.
14:54Right.
14:54But in Washington, it's different.
14:56In Seattle area, it's different because there is, you know, less land and things like that.
15:01So this assumption of I buy real estate anywhere and it will grow is where I see a lot of
15:08people, you know, burn their hands.
15:10And they end up realizing that they have to make the right investments at the right time and in the
15:15right locations.
15:16Yeah.
15:17Yeah, absolutely.
15:18So you've closed more than a thousand transactions in more than a hundred communities.
15:23What have that many deals really taught you about what consumers value from an agent?
15:30And, you know, what type of information they're looking for?
15:36So I think the main thing that I know information is available right now everywhere.
15:42You know, if you look at Zillow everywhere, you'll see all kinds of information.
15:47But then I think that's the value that, you know, clients are looking for from an agent is local initiate
15:53neighborhood knowledge.
15:55It's something that it's rarely available and that local knowledge is where, you know, customers are looking for an agent
16:03to help.
16:04The other aspect where I see agents are able to add a lot of value, especially in this market, is
16:12negotiation.
16:13Having that expect negotiation skills goes a long way for all the customers.
16:19And that's an area where a lot of customers are leaning on the agents.
16:24The third aspect is, you know, advising and coaching and mentoring.
16:30So what I meant by that is, you know, a lot of customers may not have any idea where to
16:35start, what to do, you know, how to prioritize their requirements.
16:40They have too many things in their mind and they want everything to be there in the home.
16:45And perfect home doesn't exist.
16:48Right.
16:48So an agent adds a lot of value in that aspect, you know, guiding them through the process and making
16:56sure that the clients are prioritizing their requirements and understanding what to give importance to and what is not so
17:04important in the home buying process.
17:06Right.
17:07So those are the other aspects where agent adds a lot of value and that's where the customers are looking
17:12for that value.
17:13And of course, the most important thing is decision making.
17:17Yeah, guiding the decision making process.
17:20So the technology may have evolved as much as, you know, we have seen right now with AI and everything.
17:27But I think that human touch element and helping them through the decision making process is something that, you know,
17:33systems can't take away.
17:34So definitely that's one aspect where, you know, clients are looking for agents help.
17:39Yeah, absolutely.
17:42So you've scaled a significant production within EXP's model.
17:46What part of your business is scalable and what depends on you heavily personally?
17:54Yeah, absolutely, Tracy.
17:56So the things that are, you know, scalable is documentation.
18:00So the whole documentation piece is completely scalable.
18:06And the non-customer-centric activities, what I meant by is, you know, setting up the key boxes or directionals
18:14and all of those things.
18:15Those are all scalable activities that can be done.
18:19And the other scalability aspect is, you know, touch points with your customers.
18:25Like, how do you keep in touch with them and how do you keep yourself in front of their face
18:30so that when they have a need, they come back to you.
18:33So, of course, we have, you know, CRM systems now.
18:37So you can scale that customer touch point activities very easily with CRM.
18:43The main things that are not scalable is human touch elements, you know, where a human is needed.
18:50For example, we talked about negotiation.
18:53Higher negotiation requires the customer, the agent to be involved.
18:58So that aspect is not scalable.
19:02And the second aspect is decision making, you know, helping the clients through the decision making process.
19:08That's not scalable either because, you know, that human touch element is needed to help them through the decision making
19:16process.
19:16The third aspect is the local niche knowledge.
19:20You know, having that absolute, really good knowledge about the local markets and local communities and neighborhoods and everything.
19:29That's the other aspect that I see that are not scalable.
19:34Okay.
19:35So if you were advising an ambitious agent who was building a business today, what would you tell them to
19:41do differently?
19:43Because real estate, you know, in the next several years will be a lot different.
19:49So if you look at the real estate industry as a whole, Tracy, you see a lot of top producers
19:55from many, many years, they build their business through referrals, word of mouth.
20:02Yeah.
20:03In the last couple of years, if you see the trend is changing and the future is also going to
20:10change very differently.
20:12You don't have to have the absolute best numbers to get more clients.
20:17Right now with AI and technology and everything, you can be in front of your customers, in front of future
20:25customers, without having to have that background and credibility and referrals and word of mouth.
20:32So things have changed, you know, quite drastically.
20:35So any new agents that are thinking about, you know, let's say, you know, up to 2030, technology adoption is
20:43very important.
20:44I think, you know, technology adoption in real estate has been less compared to many other industries.
20:50So that is one aspect where I would say I would highly recommend for agents to think about how you
20:57can adopt technology early and scale your business and, you know, look at referrals.
21:03Right. The second aspect is importance of social media and online presence, you know, AI recommendations, all of those things
21:13are very important.
21:15Previously, you know, a lot of agents had focused, you know, less on it.
21:19Even many top producers that I know don't have a lot of online presence because their business was running through
21:26referrals and all of that.
21:27That's not the case going forward.
21:30So it is important for you to have a good online presence through social media or Google business or, you
21:37know, AI centric, you know, activities so that AI can refer you as an agent.
21:41OK. And my final question is just where would you like to take your business?
21:47What's your your next big goal?
21:50So I have been doing business both in Texas and Washington.
21:54Washington and in in Texas, I have been doing I've been starting to do a lot of commercial business.
22:03So the way I look at my business in the next few years is I want to expand into luxury
22:12space.
22:13I've been doing a lot of different aspects, but I want to focus more on luxury.
22:18And also I want to expand my business in commercial.
22:21Those are two areas that I would like to focus on.
22:25And I'm also looking for, you know, scaling my business, you know, more than where we are right now.
22:31So we are always looking at automating our existing processes and, you know, hiring more people to get that leverage.
22:39To be able to, you know, offload some of those activities that I'm doing and focus more on broadening our
22:46real estate business in luxury and commercial.
22:49That's great.
22:50Well, Chandra, thanks so much for joining the Real Trending podcast.
22:54I wish you the best of luck with your business.
22:57Yeah, thank you so much, Tracy.
22:58It was a pleasure talking to you.
23:00I really enjoyed this conversation and I really appreciate you having me on this podcast.
23:05Absolutely.