All language subtitles for Undercover Boss USA S7E10 United Real Estate Group

Tonight,
on "Undercover Boss"...

Dan Duffy, CEO of
United Real Estate Group

goes undercover
in his own company.

- Oh...
- Yeah, man.

$25 now.

- 30, now 30...
- Will you give me 30?

This former
technology tycoon...

Whoo!

ditches his suit and tie
for tie-dye,

and gets down and dirty
on the front lines.

Chop my leg off.

Along the way,
he finds out

it takes more than
fast talking to close a deal.

You have a beautiful view as
to the highway over here.

I don't think
Simon knows anything

about the real estate business.

What happens
when this wheeler dealer

hits a bump in the road?

I know.
I'm 99 or 100% sure.

Find out next on
"Undercover Boss."

With headquarters
in both Kansas City, Missouri

and Dallas, Texas,
United Real Estate Group

is one of the largest
property brokerage

companies in the country.

Leading this $200 million
a year industry

and its nearly 6,000 employees
is one man.

I'm Dan Duffy.
I'm the CEO

of United Real Estate Group.

United Real Estate Group
is actually

a collection of companies:

United Country Real Estate,

serving the lifestyle markets
from coast to coast

from northern Maine to
Texas ranch properties,

Colorado mountain homes,

Costa Rican waterfront
properties.

If you can have fun with it,
you can see the stars,

or if it's even
an investment property

like agricultural land,

we sell it.

United Real Estate is actually
in the urban market space

for residential real estate.

And then we've also executed on
launching an auction division.

Five! Sold!

It's now the largest auction
network in the United States.

We do a little under $1 billion
worth of auctions a year.

So there's been
a lot going on at United.

We've been busy.

In 1925, a gentleman by
the name of Roscoe Chamberlain,

the Steve Jobs of real estate,

formed a company and
immediately began to innovate.

He ran it beautifully until
the late '60s, early '70s.

Unfortunately,
he made one mistake,

and the one mistake was
"Don't touch anything.

Don't change anything.
The model's perfect."

Well, the world spins.

- Morning.
- Hello.

I was able to get involved
with the company in 2006

with the intent of really
bringing innovative technology,

marketing strategies.

United Real Estate Group,
through its 600 offices

and nearly 6,000 affiliated
brokers, agents and employees

conducted almost
$6 billion worth

of transactions last year,

generating about $200 million
of income

for those agents and brokers.

That's what we wake up
for every day

and we're passionate about,
is helping those folks

make a great living,
and in exchange, you know,

we get an opportunity to grow
one hell of a business.

Is that okay, to say "hell"?

I was born in Satellite Beach,
Florida.

My father was with
the NASA program.

He was an engineer,
and then he took a risk

and bought
an auto parts company,

and it worked out great.

I saw that, and I knew that
this was what I wanted to do.

I wanted to be
a C-level executive

of a Fortune 50 company,

or I wanted to own a business.

I had these, you know,
all written down

on pieces of paper and
I called them "outcome clouds."

That was my way of capturing it
when I was a teenager.

I had basketball scholarships,
and I turned them down

because they weren't great
business schools.

I graduated
from Indiana University

and then I started with
Ernst & Young.

I had the opportunity
to be involved

in a little over 250
acquisitions, mergers,

and I realized
I could actually hit the ball.

So I left and I went with
a dot com

as a CFO and ultimately a COO

and then the president and
the CEO of a technology company.

So it was 2005
and we sold that business,

I took a year...
a little bit over a year off,

and I realized
in very short order

that I don't really enjoy
golf that much.

And I started looking around
for a company to acquire,

because I figured
if I was gonna work,

I want to do something fun.

I love to hunt.
I love to fish.

I love to be outdoors, and
I saw the real estate space

as one where technology
had not been brought forth,

and I thought "Oh, my God,
this opportunity

is absolutely gigantic."

I put together
an investment group

and we purchased a company
in February 2006.

Our intent was to make United
the Amazon.com

of real estate.
Period.

It's pretty cool.
I like being part of it.

I wanted to touch base with you
guys about the Wyoming club.

- Yeah, let's...
- Yes.

I have a confession.

So I'm running one
of the largest

real estate companies
in the United States

without a real estate license.

A lot of people have asked me,
"When are you going to get

your real estate license?"

But I don't want to wake up
in the mornings thinking

that I'm in the real estate
business.

That's not what I do.
That's what the agents do.

From a social
media perspective,

we need to take a really
hard look at that

for phase one, at least.

- Oh!
- Oh, you got one.

To unwind, it's all centered
around the family.

Oh, oh!

Oh!

- Here you go.
- He is the fun dad.

It's sometimes hard
to have him out on the road,

and the kids will have
a countdown, usually,

for the first two nights,
till Dad comes home.

Here we go.

Look at that hair.

When I go undercover,
I'll be Simon,

a river guide
from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

My employees will
think that Simon

is competing in a reality show

to win a large investment
for a new business venture

he came up with.

Oh, that is a look,
right there.

Simon will be different
from Dan in a number of ways.

Simon is not the sharpest
tool in the shed.

That is so amazing!
Yeah.

And I think he spent just
a little too much time

on the water.

Just a lot of bling,
and I'll try to

park my vocabulary
off on the sidelines.

Yeah!

- Oh, my God.
- Yeah, man.

No.

Oh, my God, that's awesome.

I like your hair.

Oh, don't...
don't touch it.

I'm not seeing you with so much
hair in a really long time.

Oh, my gosh.

This is the perfect time
to go undercover.

We've spent tens of millions of
dollars on technology platforms.

- Okay, bye.
- Okay.

And it's time
to go out and make certain

that not only are
they using all the programs

and that the programs
are working as designed...

All right, bye guys.

but I want to talk to
the individuals and say

"How's it working
for you?"

Love you, Dad.

See you in a week.

Today I'm in Katy, Texas,
outside of Houston,

and I'll be working with one of
our agents, showing a house.

We currently have
one office in Houston,

with a little over 200 agents.

This office is one of the top
performing offices

for United Real Estate,

and it's gonna be great to see

how they're doing
it in the field

and how they're
getting it done.

- Kellie?
- Hi, yes, I'm Kellie.

- How are you?
- Good, how are you?

- And your name?
- Uh, Simon.

Nice to meet you, Simon.

When Simon first walks in,

I see this crazy hair.

It was different, you know.
A lot of the realtors

will wear khakis
and a button-down shirt,

but Simon looks like
he's ready to sell

maybe a canoe or a raft.

Today, I'm actually meeting
a buyer client of mine.

I'm going to tour with her,
um, the downstairs

but then I'm gonna
pass it off to you upstairs.

So let's go ahead
and get started.

This is for you.
I checked off

some of the features
about the home

It's four bedrooms,
2 1/2 bath.

I love the furniture.

No, this one's
actually vacant.

- Okay.
- So, it's good.

Some of the things
you don't want to do

when the client comes in

is, you know, you can
explain to them, you know,

maybe some positives
or negatives,

but you don't want to
"Oh..." you know.

Kind of... you don't
want to scare them off.

You want to let them
make their own decision.

Okay, so you're
just showing them,

and letting them... and
answering any questions.

Yeah, but you're also pointing
out the features, too.

Okay.

Oh, she's here,
so let's go ahead

and walk out and greet her.

Get ready.

I am a little nervous,

I do hope that Simon helps me
pull this off in a good way,

because this is
the first house that she's seen,

so we want to make
a good impression on her.

- Hi!
- So good to see you, Nicky!

- Good to see you too.
- Okay, so,

- This is Simon.
- Nicky? Simon.

Nice to meet you.

- He's gonna be shadowing today.
- Okay.

- She's training me.
- Okay.

So let's
go ahead and go in.

You can see there's a lot
of woodwork in these homes.

Behind you is the guest bath.

Is this called
a power bath?

Like, a powder room.

A "powder" room.
Not "power."

Look at the stonework they did.
I didn't see this earlier.

But he was trying, so I'm
impressed that he was trying.

- So look how big this room is.
- Look at the fireplace.

- This is phenomenal.
- How many days a year

can you use a fireplace
in Houston?

Ha, not many.

- No.
- It's just too warm.

Simon is a talker.

And sometimes Simon says things

that we may not need to be
talking about right now.

Beautiful finish
on the stairs.

Yeah.

Do you like that finish,
that color?

Uh, no, but...

The last time I showed a listed
house was, let me think...

Oh, I know, never.

- Do you like it?
- Oh, my gosh.

And I love that
they put chandeliers!

Like, that is awesome.

You know, you're obviously
gonna have to make certain

that they're in the
right spot, so you don't...

Well, my husband is
a lot shorter than you.

Little bit shorter, okay.
All right.

Um, I don't think Simon knows

hardly anything about
the real estate business.

He seemed clueless.

And they've redone
the backsplash.

That's very nice.

It's not a backsplash,
though, is it?

'Cause nothing
splashes up here.

I think his nerves were pushing
him a little bit faster.

Over here, you have
a view in the back

You've got the highway
over here,

and then you've got this
commercial background here.

Yeah, thank you
for pointing that out.

Yeah, I wish I had,
like, a little string

or something, like,
to tug on him,

or just tackle him, you know.

Kick him in the knees
and let him fall down, so...

Having a business
for your backyard view,

some people it bothers
and some people it doesn't,

so, you know, it just
depends on your tastes.

Well, you know, you can add

some shutters or window
treatments.

I think I did
a pretty good job,

given my lack of
training and experience,

but Nicky was looking right
through me to Kellie,

and saying "I want
to work with Kellie."

Kellie, you hit the mark.
Great, great first house.

It's really,
really great.

I'm really glad that
Nicky seemed to be

real receptive to the house.

- Talk to you later.
- Okay, y'all take care.

Have a good day.
It's a great relief.

So what do you think?
How... I mean, how did it...

It's impressive.

And you look
like you're having fun.

I never thought that
I would be selling homes.

What did you do
before you sold homes?

I worked
in corporate America.

It was harder
to raise my kids.

I have a 23-year-old
with special needs.

And a 14-year-old
daughter, too.

And Tory, my oldest daughter,

she's definitely full-time,

and she will be living
at home with us forever, so...

I worry because she's
very dependent on me.

That's probably
the biggest thing is,

what happens when I'm gone,

and I'm trying
to prepare for that.

She's... she's amazing,
and she's taught me a lot, too.

You know, six months out
of the year, pretty much,

she's in Special Olympics,

and so it's very important for
me to be able to have balance.

Right on.

Kellie is exactly
the quality of character

that I like to see recruited
into United Real Estate.

Having five boys,

I understand
exactly how she feels,

because you'll do
anything for your kids.

And, you know, my time spent
with Kellie today

made me realize how
what we do plays into

a lot of other families and
a lot of other situations.

It's beyond just how
many houses you sell.

- Later! Give me a hug.
- Okay.

- Okay, you have a good day.
- Yes.

Family and higher purpose.

I mean, that's... that's
why we do what we do.

Coming up...

There's your machete.

Simon tests
his skills with a blade.

Yeah.

I'm gonna chop my leg off.

And later...

This is a room
that I want you to do.

- Okay.
- You're gonna have one hour.

The boss
is quick to the test.

Don't you make a big hole
in that wall.

You're gonna love it, Brenda.

The guy doesn't have
a design cell in his brain.

Whoa!

Oops.

Today I'm in
Gainesville, Florida.

I'll be working with
a land appraisal specialist.

We gotta clean
this place up.

These guys are critical
to what United Country does

because land appraisal
specialists know

that one tree is worth $20,000,

and that grove of trees
is worth $100,000

Without that expertise,

we don't know what
this property is worth.

However, the brokerage business
is not performing

as well as it could be,
and that's why I'm here today

to find out what's going on.

Travis?

- Hey.
- Hey.

- And your name is...
- Simon.

- Simon. Nice to meet you.
- Yeah.

This place is amazing.

This is...
this is my office.

Right on.

We're gonna go
trekking through the woods,

so we can look at
the trees and evaluate

the timber as well
as the land.

- All right.
- In order to, uh...

- how best to sell it.
- Okay.

- We're going to fly the drone.
- Oh, my God!

- Do I get to fly this?
- You do.

Here's your machete.
You get one of these.

Oh, yeah.

Deep into the woods.

So what we're gonna do is
something called land staging.

- Okay.
- That's like, you know,

buying a house,
where you put a couch here,

you put a lamp here.

Yep.

We do the same thing
with land.

So we'll come out here
and we'll stage the property,

where all this underbrush
will come out

and we'll make
it look pretty.

- Grip it and rip it.
- Okay.

It's more that you're
going for the big stuff.

- Swing from the hip.
- Okay.

Yeah.
It's a workout, man.

Whoo! Oh, man.

I'm gonna love it.

I'm gonna chop
my leg off.

Some of that makes me
a little nervous.

Yeah.
Whoo!

He's definitely
getting excited about

hacking away at some nature.

Yuck.
Oh, ho, ho, man.

Whoo!

Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.

All over.

Pants are falling off.

Well, it looks like you're
getting the swing of things.

Yeah. Okay, I don't want to hit
you with a backswing here.

Oh, you're... trust me.

Simon's backswing is
getting a little close to me.

I already shaved this morning.

I was impressed
with his ability to start

eliminating some
of the underbrush.

- All right.
- What do you say

we do some work
with the drone?

Let's do it.

It's very nice to have someone
else start clearing pathways

instead of myself doing it.

All right.

You ever used
one of these before?

Uh, no.

Obviously
this is the drone.

- All right.
- So you can go

look at the whole property.

We also send video
to the land owner.

How'd you do it
before you had the drone?

You took
pictures and walked.

Turn this on, and
that gets the blades moving.

Then once it's warmed up,
basically you just take it...

- Whoo!
- Go up.

- It's about 90 feet up.
- Yeah.

And 200 feet away from us.

But that way you can say at
this point on the property

- is an oak tree, or a lake.
- A lake or an oak tree.

For the marketing part,
you take this video

and you kind of create
your own movie.

But look at
how clear it is.

This better imagery
drives a better experience

on our website...
what a great experience

for somebody in New York

or someone in Dallas that's
trying to understand

"Do I want to buy
that property?"

Wow.
It's critically important

that we stand apart from any
of our other competitors

on a national basis,

and he is injecting that new
technology into the business.

Loved it.
Loved it.

And then it'll stop.

- Then you're done.
- Then that's it.

Are you sure you want me
flying this thing?

Yeah, it's easy.

Just, uh, hit
the takeoff button, right?

- Uh, no, you gotta push "up."
- Oh.

Look out.

Okay.

And then you push "up"...

Houston, we have ignition.

- Push "up" there.
- It just goes straight up.

Yeah, just go
straight up.

Now let's get this out.
This is a tree.

Whoa.

Push that way
on the left joystick.

I'm pretty
damn good at this.

Look at that.

How do people ever
find, like, this property?

We're in the middle
of nowhere.

Well, that's part
of our real estate side.

Do you have
a lot of listings?

- I mean, do you...
- Oh, we have a few, I mean...

"A few" isn't enough,

in order to have a really
self-sustaining business.

The initial broker
has to have 40

and each agent has to have
another 20 minimum.

How do you get
people to actually

find your website
and stuff?

That's my end of the gig.
I'm the marketing guy.

That's what
I went to college for.

If I'm not doing this,
I'm building up our website.

I'm building up our... I'm making
sure we're still on top,

or trying to be on top.

We use Internet search
engine optimization.

- We use...
- You do all that stuff?

- Well, we try.
- Yeah.

How do you find time to do
anything, like, socially

if you're out here in the
middle of the woods and stuff?

- I mean, are you married?
- No, I'm not married.

Does your girlfriend
like it out here?

Uh, if I had one.

You're spending
too much time working.

Too much time out here, yeah.

I love the fact
that Travis is passionate,

and he's, like, fully head-on.

When he talked about
his search engine marketing

and his search engine
optimization,

it sounds like he's doing
quite a bit of work on his own

because he's probably
very capable.

Oh, you're
showing off, man.

But I think that
we can make his job

even a little bit easier,

to de-burden him so he can
go out and get more listings

and grow his business.

I'm sure there
are some girls

that love being
out here, you know?

Just gotta find 'em.

Today, I'm in Houston.
I'll be working with

a few of our auctioneers.

An auctioneer is trained
to sell anything.

- Sold!
- But, uh, historically,

the real estate market
has kept he auctioneers

at arm's length because
they were competitors.

- 150.
- United is the only

national real estate company
that's embraced

the auction method
of marketing.

It's critical that
I understand exactly

what they're doing out here
so as we roll it

into our urban platform,
United Real Estate,

that we get it right.

Good afternoon.
My name's Logan.

- Hi, I'm Simon.
- Simon, nice to meet you, man.

Nice to meet you.

So I go to meet the auctioneer,
and I see Logan.

Uh, I know this guy.

You ever been to
an auction before?

- I haven't, no.
- Okay, well, good luck.

And I know
his father quite well,

so this was not gonna be easy.

All right, Simon,

There's a bunch of different
types of auctions.

This is what's called
a general consignment sale.

There's everything from cars
down to estate sale stuff.

Anything, really, that sells
sells at auction somewhere too,

so you ready
to be an auctioneer?

I'm ready.
I'm ready.

All right, so to show you

a basic auctioneering chant,

is "$25, now 30, now 30,
will you give me 30?"

- So what that is...
- $25, now...

- "30, now 30."
- "Will you give me 30?"

And then you just go up
by $5 increments,

and we'll see you
auctioneer, okay?

$25, now we got 30,
can you give me 30?

I haven't bid yet.
You gotta keep going.

Oh. I keep going...

Just keep doing the same thing
until somebody bids.

$25 now, give me 30,
give me 30, give me 30,

- 25, 25, 25...
- Yes!

Uh, oh! 30 over here.
30 over here.

- And now you gotta go up.
- All right.

So we got $30 bid,
$30 bid.

Give me 35, 35, 35,
anyone 35...

- Yes!
- That's a beautiful hot tub.

That's it, yeah.

- All right.
- You got 35.

35, all right, okay.
35, 35, can you give me 40?

- Can you give me 40...
- Nope, I'm out. No more.

Going once at 35.
Going once at 35,

to the man over here.

- Sold!
- Sold.

There you go.
You gotta say "sold."

That's it. Now that we're
a bona fide trained auctioneer,

Let's go in and watch my dad

and we can learn a little bit
more about being an auctioneer.

- All right. All right.
- Let's do it.

I'm walking in with Logan,

to watch his dad auction
and I know his dad knows me.

Basically standing
against the wall,

trying to not give him
a straight-on face shot.

Sold, $150.

This is real money
happening in real time.

It didn't sound intelligible...
like, what he was saying...

"We got a $6 bid, yabba dabba
doo, we got a $7 bid, $8 bid,"

I...
It's gonna be interesting.

But actually,
he was managing the room,

and he was in absolute charge
of what was going on.

It was really cool to watch.

Sold, 325.

That's the auction process.

Think you're ready
for the real thing?

Ah, no.

These are the items...
on this table

is what you're gonna be selling.

The auction is about
to end over there.

My dad's on his way
over here.

So Logan's father's
about to come over,

and I'm really nervous

he's gonna look at me
and say "Hey Dan."

Dad, I'd like to introduce
you to someone.

This is Simon.
Simon, this is Mark.

- Hi, Simon.
- Hi.

I understand
you're an auctioneer.

Uh, I think so,
after today's training.

Really?

It doesn't appear
that he's identified me,

so I think I'm good to go,

and I'm ready to do
this auction.

Okay, Simon, we're
gonna sell this oil print.

Let's see what
you can do with this.

Folks, the first thing
we have up today

is a Historic Ventures
Pumping Power from 1900 to 1930.

- This is a rare item.
- Very good.

All right, let's start
the bidding.

Let's start the bidding at $80.

Who'll give me $80?
$80, $80, $80.

- How'd we come up with $80?
- I don't know!

Good night.

$80. I mean, $100 or $50,
but $80?

Let's to to 110.

No, hold on, hold on.
What did he just bid?

What's he bidding?
He's trying to give you money.

Sir, are you in at 110?

- No, no, 110's over...
- 110.

You're in at 120?

Yes!
Simon is doing a lot right,

145, 145...

Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Whoa whoa.

- Oh.
- Why are we cutting?

And a lot wrong.

You're cutting
the bid increment.

- Are we at 150?
- Yeah!

- Ooh.
- His cadence is not there.

His increments are not there.

Wait a minute, we have...
We have 160.

And these are all things
that you just learn with time.

250 going once,
going twice.

Sold to the nice gentleman back
there by the slot machine.

Congratulations.

Now we're gonna sell some
animal with horns on its head.

We have
a shoulder-mounted bush buck.

Bush hound?
What's it called?

- Bush buck.
- Bush buck.

Let's just start out about 650.

Who will give me 650?
Who's got an office

that they want to put that in?
650.

- All right, it's 800.
- He went up!

If you wait,
I'm gonna go up!

I'm not sure Simon
knows what day it is.

Filler words are
not gooble-y goo.

70, 70, 70, 70.

You're supposed to
be saying something.

Yabba dabba dabba doo, $100.

But not...

Sorry.
Had to go there.

If you want to perform,
go to California.

Go wherever it is
to perform.

Am I gonna sell
this or wear it?

Yes, we're
gonna sell this.

A real Stetson.

It doesn't smell like
it's been worn, either.

But it was his personality
coming out.

The crowd responded
to it well.

All right, we got
a new bettor over here.

We got... not "nude."
"New."

We don't want
any nude bettors.

Always good to clarify,
I guess.

We're gonna sell a rug?
Okay.

- Handmade in China.
- Handmade in China,

the tag on it was $1,080,
so somebody paid a lot of...

- No... no pressure, Simon.
- No pressure.

You know what, I'm gonna start
the bidding in here

at $1,000.

Good!
Might as well ask for it.

Here we go.
Let's try that!

Why not?
It's gorgeous.

You could wrap
your mother-in-law in it.

Oh, you got...
I got $1,000 bid, whoo hoo!

- You get $1,000?
- I got 1,000 bucks!

That man right over there.
He's got that blue shirt.

You guys need
to watch the bid!

Dang, man!

Simon had the wherewithal

to ask for 1,000 bucks
and he got it.

- That's...
- That's a good move.

Sold, to that nice
gentleman over there.

All right, Simon.

- Am I done?
- Beginner's luck.

It won't happen again in five
years if he auctions every week.

- Good job, good job.
- Thank you.

I think it was a job.

I knew auctioneering
was complicated,

but, holy Moses, when you have
that microphone in your hand,

it is an entirely
different world.

Thank you.

- Logan, Logan.
- Yes, sir.

Who?

Oh, really?

I'm somewhere between
99 and 100% sure, yeah.

I know it.

That's Duffy.

Oh, really?

Let's go talk some more
about it over here... let's go.

All right, we're gonna get
a chair and sit down here.

Do some business.

All right.

How'd I do?

- Well...
- I don't know.

- Well, it was exciting, right?
- Yeah.

And we thought it was
interesting.

- Mm-hmm.
- Uh, but...

Well, we know.
We understand.

- We understand.
- Oh yeah.

- Right.
- He comes over to me and says

"He's too big and he looks
like him... there's no way!"

- Who am I?
- Dan Duffy.

Dan Duffy.

How long did you know?

You had the sunglasses on,
I had no idea.

Yeah, well, you know,

all kidding aside,
it's actually "Undercover Boss."

I'm undercover,
because I want honest feedback.

And specifically
to get feedback

about how we're doing
in support of your business.

Interesting.

So do you guys
think that, um,

the agents that are
part of United Country

and actually,
United as well,

- know enough about auctions?
- No.

- Okay.
- Dan, we have to...

- To build that bridge.
- Okay.

I'd love to sell
real estate all the time.

That's where
the money is.

But realtors don't like it,
sellers don't like auctions.

- Auctioneers are not the enemy.
- Yep.

You know, I think we've made a
huge amount of progress already,

and I will tell you, when you
look at that gang from now

and you look back at United,

hundreds of thousands
of transactions

will be done by the auction
method of marketing

and our auctioneers are gonna
participate in all that.

And you're the next
generation of auctioneers.

What I'd like to do
for you guys

is I'd like to bring you
up to Kansas City.

I'll pay for
all the expenses

to get you up
to Kansas City for a week.

I'd like to work with you
on your business plan,

and I want to give you
$50,000 in marketing funds

to grow your business.

You can't imagine
how much business is there

if we can communicate
to the realtor.

Yeah, I'll be
honest with you,

I want to leave a legacy

for this business,

and I think if we
do this right,

we will hand the keys...
as stewards,

we'll hand the keys
to the next generation

that will take this company
through the next 90 years.

Thanks for choosing us.
It makes a big difference.

Thank you so much, really.

This has... this has never
happened to me before.

This is very cool.

This injection can
totally be a game-changer.

Interesting angle.
I would've never thought.

The opportunity to communicate
the auction option to realtors

is the key, and that's
what Dan's helping us do.

Very exciting for us.

Come auctioneer
for us sometime.

Okay, all right.

I'm speechless.

This could be one of
the things that we look back

when I'm 60,
70 years old and say,

"That was when it changed."

It's really important
you not tell anybody.

I better delete that tweet.

Today I'm in Austin, Texas

working with one
of our United agents

and I'm gonna
be staging a home.

Whether it's
moving furniture around,

or whether it's bringing in
new furniture,

repainting some walls,

staging a home is critical to
the marketing process

so that when a buyer comes in
to tour the property,

they can see the house as
they would be living in it.

Brenda?

- Hi.
- Hey, how are you?

- I'm fine, how are you?
- I'm well, thank you very much.

- You're Simon?
- I am.

- Very nice to meet you.
- Yes, nice to meet you.

I'm Brenda, and we're
going to do a staging.

- I'm excited.
- Well, so am I.

- I want to see what you got.
- I have no experience with this.

What was your first impression
of this living space?

Uh, obviously, everyone has
their own taste.

- Ugly.
- Yeah, okay, okay.

Do you tell
your clients that?

When your house
goes on the market,

it's really not
your house anymore.

So we're gonna put it
all together for them,

so they just can't
possibly leave this house

and they want
to buy it now.

- Okay. Perfect.
- Okay?

So let's go.

Now, Simon's a dude,
make no mistake.

And he probably doesn't
have a design cell

in his brain.

And here's one of
the three bedrooms.

A little small.

Some people say get rid
of all the personal stuff.

I disagree with that.

Rugs on top of carpet.
No, it looks terrible.

Brenda is
extremely confident.

Clutter over here, gone.

This bathroom needs
to be gutted.

Everything about her
is intense

because she knows
that without proper staging

you can't get great outcomes
for your client.

Holy mackerel!

That is the biggest
collection of shoes

I think I've ever seen.

You haven't seen my closet,
but that's okay.

It's a good start.

I think I'd actually
remove it from the room.

You're right.

I would probably change
this out, too.

Yeah, it's... it's
an ugly fixture.

One of the easiest ways
to update a house

is hardware,
lighting fixtures,

curtains... I mean,
it's all cosmetic.

Boy, I tell you,
if I was a young agent,

I would want to spend
months with you.

I do offer
free consultations.

- I'm happy to do that.
- Yeah.

Because we're supposed
to help each other.

Oh, you and I are gonna
get along really well.

- Give me five!
- Yeah!

- All right.
- Okay.

You have more shoes
than that?

- I do.
- Wow.

- Okay.
- Ooh, this is a neat room.

This is a room
that I want you to do.

Okay.

You can go to any room
in the house

and pull anything
from those rooms

that you want to stage
in this room.

You're gonna have
one hour,

and I'll come in
and critique your work.

- Okay.
- You ready?

- Yeah, I'm ready.
- Take it on.

- I'm ready. Okay.
- Okay.

We'll do it.

I'm excited to see
what's in your head.

Well, that might be
frightening.

I have zero experience
as an interior decorator,

and I think my wife
would tell you

that I'm not
very good at it.

This would be
in the bathroom.

I think that might be
too small for that space too.

It's kind of cute.

This wall is confusing.

Don't you make a big hole
in that wall.

All right.

Okay, those are not
quite right.

Oh, look at that.

You're gonna love it,
Brenda.

- Five minutes, Simon.
- Okay, perfect.

Whoa!

Whoops!

All right.

Simon?

What do you think?
Better?

Well, I'm impressed.

I am impressed.

- You did a great job.
- I'm sweating in here.

You listened.
I like the colors.

Okay, you're bedding
looks good.

I like the two pictures
up there.

They're not quite
straight yet, but...

That's okay.

That picture over there
is too much for this wall.

Yeah, yeah.

That's it, though.
You did a really good job.

- Thank you.
- I'm proud of you, honey.

- Thanks, hon.
- Good job, good job.

That was really fun.

I am a little bit shocked.

You came in not
knowing anything...

Yeah.

but you listened when we
did our walkthrough.

Yes.

And you chose
all the right things.

I mean, that's awesome.
You did a good job.

- You're a good coach.
- I'm very proud of you.

Does your broker...
do they have like a kit

or some sort of
recommendations for staging?

No, no, no.
I have a booklet.

It's like
"Seven Insider Secrets

On How To Stage Your House
For A Successful Sale."

- Okay.
- Right?

So I give that
to my clients, my buyers,

and it helps them.

Our job is
to market property,

and I think we have
an opportunity

to take what she knows,

package it, and get it
into the hands

of every one of our agents
and brokers.

We're gonna shorten these
a little bit.

Okay, so we want it
to be ground level.

Exactly.

We'll use some double-sided
tape to hem this.

So what's
the pink, um, ribbon?

This is Breast Cancer
Awareness.

And my son
gave this to me

because I was diagnosed
with breast cancer

two years ago.

- Oh.
- And... no, no!

You whipped it?

I'm still working
on that, you know,

but we all hear about
the medical means of treatment,

but I did the alternative.

Okay.

And to get
alternative treatment,

You have to go
outside the country.

And it's working.

I know... of course!

- How do you feel?
- Don't I look fabulous?

Yeah, you do!
You look great.

My mother was... was
a devout Catholic

her whole life,
and further on in age,

she got... she got
into alternative religion

and... and
holistic medicine,

and she was very in tune
with the world.

Mm-hmm.

And she said, "I would like
to die one of three ways.

"I would like to die
jogging,

playing tennis, or making
love to your father."

I choose the latter.

But I'll be darned,
she, uh...

she had a heart attack
on the court,

and she died
on the tennis court.

Oh, my God.

Whew.
And I don't wanna cry,

but, you know, it was
just so touching

when he talked
about her.

You could see the love
that he had for her.

So you have one son?

I have one son.

I was a single mom...
a single parent for 14 years.

Okay.

And he's born
and raised in California.

His family's there
and his fiancée's there,

and his work is there,
so... he would never leave.

I would like to go back
to L.A. more frequently...

Uh-huh.

but now that's I've left,

I really can't afford
to go back.

But we see each other
during the year.

- Yeah.
- It's never enough.

You're lucky.
We're very blessed.

Very blessed.

And we're very
good decorators.

Or you are!

- Gonna finish this room?
- Sure, let's do it.

It was great to get
to know Brenda today.

I thought I was gonna
learn about staging,

and it ended up being
much bigger than that.

- I like this color better.
- Yeah, me too.

I see a lot of my mom
in Brenda,

and it was a little tough

because I felt like
I was going back in time.

Perfect.

She's a survivor.

You know, she took an issue

and a problem and she
basically attacked it,

and it's great to see
that we're attracting

those kind
of quality folks.

Wow!

The most important thing
is that we have great people,

because with that,
you can do great things.

Without that,
you can't do anything.

- Bam!
- Yeah, bam!

Coming up,
Dan's employees think

they're participating
in a different reality show.

- He talked a lot.
- Hmm.

How will they react

when the boss reveals
his true identity?

I'm actually CEO
of United Real Estate.

What the hell?

Oh, my gosh!

Good riddance.

The experience
working this week

with all
these fantastic people

just underscores the reason
that we need to be committed

to everyone
in the organization,

not just with systems,
and not just with technology

or training,
but also on a personal level.

- Hey.
- Hey.

- How are you?
- All right, how you doing?

I'm well.

So, um,
how did Simon do?

- He talked a lot.
- Hmm.

Did he look familiar
at all?

- Not to me, no.
- No?

- Am I'm second-guessing myself?
- Not at all?

Was it you dressed up?

I'm actually, uh, Dan Duffy,

CEO of United Real Estate.

Oh, my gosh.

What the hell?

You're on "Undercover Boss."

I watch that show.

And I thought if anyone
ever tried that with me,

I would figure 'em out.

Travis, you did a great job.

I loved the drone.

I love the fact that
you were, you know,

- implementing new technology.
- Mm-hmm.

Basically, you just take it
and...

- Whoo!
- You go up.

Oh.

Makes it a lot more
sellable.

The one area that was
a little bit concerning for me

was while it's great
that you know how to do

a lot of the technology,
um,

I don't want you spending
your time doing that

because we already do it
for you.

And then I looked at
your listings.

That's where I lack,
as you can tell, is getting...

Yeah. I think
that working together,

um, that we can free up
some of your time.

- Okay.
- So what I would like to do

is I'd like to give you
a $30,000 paid internship.

- Really?
- Yeah.

I'd like to take you to the best
Timberland listing office

- in the country.
- Okay.

I want you to see how
he obtains so many listings.

- Okay?
- Really?

- Yep.
- Thank you so much.

That's actually not all
I'd like to give you.

I asked you whether or not,
you know,

you had
a significant other.

So, um, I'd like to give you
a romantic trip for two

to Costa Rica.

No!

And the only chore
that you have

is to find someone
to go with you.

No!

Y'all are doing too much.
This is...

This is awesome.

I've never been
to Costa Rica before.

Gotta find someone
to go with now.

Thank you so much.
Appreciate it, man.

Thank you.

And the fact that they're
offering me this internship.

changes everything.

It will allow us
to grow our business

to what we dreamed
it could be.

Brenda, you know
I've been in and out

of a lot of model homes,

and the way that you took
a relatively modest

set of decorative items
and positioned them

and moved the furniture
to create better flow,

it just amazing.

- I was in my element.
- It showed.

Clutter over here.
Get out all the carpet.

This all has to go.

I know staging is
a critical component...

MM-hmm.

And we have great
paper-based..

Yah.

"Here's the top ten
things you do."

But that's not good enough.

They need to see it
and they need to be

walked through
the process.

Yeah, and the importance
of it.

Yeah, and knowing
all of that,

this is what
I want to do.

I'd like to make
a series of videos

about staging, and I'd like
you to star in them.

- Are you serious?
- Yeah.

And to star
in these videos,

I want to pay you
$10,000.

- Thank you!
- You're welcome.

Oh, my God! I'm so excited,
I can't tell you!

That was so much fun.

Yeah, we're gonna
have a blast.

- Okay. Deal!
- Okay.

All right, um, I'd like
to talk for a minute

about, um, you know,
your son

and the fact that you want
to get to L.A.

to visit him more
and your treatments

that you're doing
in Mexico.

Mm-hmm.

It... it very intensely
brought back

a lot of feelings
about, you know,

what my mother went
through with her heart.

- Yeah, it was...
- I know,

It was very... I know.

The overall picture is
you live it every day

to your best.

And hopefully do
what you enjoy doing.

And that's all
we can ask, right?

Yeah.

Well, what I'd like to do

so that you can go out and
see your son more frequently,

and to help you
cover the cost

of any future
medical cancer treatments,

I'd like to give you
$25,000.

Are you kidding me?

Ohh. Seriously?

Oh, my God!
Can I hug you?

Wait, wait, wait.

Oh, yeah.

Everything that Dan
has done for me today

is life-changing.

It will help make
my trip to Mexico no stress.

Mwah.
You're the best.

To be able to see my son...

Oh, my gosh,
it's huge!

I can't even tell you
how much of a help it is.

It's just amazing.

Kellie, you did
a fantastic job.

Thank you.

I mean, you're clearly
passionate.

- I love it.
- Yeah.

And I care
about my clients.

And my family.

I like to have
that good balance.

I have 23-year-old
with special needs.

She will be living at home
with us forever,

so I worry because what
happens when I'm gone?

You know, you don't
get an opportunity

to take much time
for yourself.

Yeah.

Um, so I'd like to give
you and your husband

a trip to Costa Rica.

Okay.

To get away.

That's gonna be
really exciting.

I've not done anything
like that before.

I'm very excited.
Thank you.

Your commitment to your
daughters is unbelievable.

You're absolutely selfless.

I mean...

I have to live forever to be
able to take care of them.

Well, I'd like to do
something else for you.

So I have a friend of mine
in New York...

- a financial advisor...
- Okay.

for families in situations
that... like you have.

They'll build a plan
to make certain

that there's resources
available for Tory

for the rest of her life.

Oh, my gosh.

And in order to get
the fund started,

the United family would
like to give $100,000.

But we can do more.

And we're gonna start
a crowding sourcing

site for you
and your family,

and we're gonna link it
to our web sites,

and I believe
that we will raise

well in excess
of $500,000.

And we're gonna
keep it working it

until that financial
advisor's plan...

is squared away.

Oh, my gosh, thank you.

I'm totally shocked.

You know, having Dan Duffy
recognize me

and want to do these
great things for my family

is amazing.

All right, well,
thank you.

I'm just so happy

that the girls
are gonna be taken care of.

Oh, my God.

I can't wait to tell 'em.

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