After returning to Raleigh with a corporate relocation in 2002, there is always one constant that has remained the same: There’s no place I would rather call home than the Triangle. Having grown up in a military family, I had the opportunity to experience many different locations and cultures. After leaving home, I attended North Carolina State University, graduating with a business degree. I became an intern for the American Express Company and went on to thoroughly enjoy a twenty year career in card services. But when the opportunity came to join a growing Rachel Kendall Team, there was no way to say no! Since then, I have helped over 400 families with their real estate decisions. As a listing partner, I bring experience to the table, along with the collective experience of our highly skilled team, to foster quality results for you and your family. It’s an honor and pleasure to assist you with the sale of your home.
Get to know Gene:
Reach out to The Rachel Kendall Team:
After returning to Raleigh with a corporate relocation in 2002, there is always one constant that has remained the same: There’s no place I would rather call home than the Triangle. Having grown up in a military family, I had the opportunity to experience many different locations and cultures. After leaving home, I attended North Carolina State University, graduating with a business degree. I became an intern for the American Express Company and went on to thoroughly enjoy a twenty year career in card services. But when the opportunity came to join a growing Rachel Kendall Team, there was no way to say no! Since then, I have helped over 400 families with their real estate decisions. As a listing partner, I bring experience to the table, along with the collective experience of our highly skilled team, to foster quality results for you and your family. It’s an honor and pleasure to assist you with the sale of your home.
Get to know Gene:
Reach out to The Rachel Kendall Team:
Hey Triangle lovers. Welcome to Making Moves hosted by The Rachel Kendall team where we will explore together the top restaurants community hotspots and events in our area. Let's make some moves. Hey, everyone, it's Mahala Landin with Making Moves and we have the infamous listing partner extraordinaire, Gene Pitzer here to join us. Welcome. Hey, Mahala. Good to be with you. Good to be with you. Let's get started. Let's go ahead because I have a feeling we're gonna really get into some some real interesting conversation here. Gene, you have been in the Raleigh area for how long?
Gene Pitzer:I have been back in Raleigh for gosh, you know, just over 20 years now. Okay. Yeah. This is my second visit to Raleigh, actually, because the first one was for college. That was back in the mid and late 80s. Where'd you go? I went to NC State, of course, go pack.
Mahala Landin:Well, you're not like, you're very much like most people where we're coming in with our great education system. You're experiencing everything that Raleigh has to offer, and even then, what Raleigh had to offer, seeing the opportunities that Raleigh provides, and then saying, You know what, I'd come back to live here,
Gene Pitzer:you know, something. And when I moved back to Raleigh, I was still in my former life, my former career. And I have this one memory of those first years back in Raleigh, I would fly every week, I flew out every single week, and I'd fly back in and I'd go to different states and towns. But every time I flew back in, I would look as the plane was descending, and how green are areas? How Lush? how vibrant, just the right sighs and I thought, You know what? There's no other place that I've been today, back then. Whatever town that was, that I would have rather been in at the time. Raleigh always felt like home. Yeah, it still does. Yeah. Yeah.
Mahala Landin:So your former life and one of the things so we talked about all things Triangle here on Making Moves. We talked about passion, and we talk about purpose, we talk about just the evolution of people's careers. And how much that is a part of Raleigh story. You know, I don't think it's overlooked that Raleigh has always been a capital that is growing. And it's because of the evolution of our economy. And the different, you know, opportunities that people have here, that so many people experience so many different opportunities in the Triangle. So you came to Raleigh, and what were you doing? What was your? Well, you came out of school, you came at NC State. Talk a little bit about where you went after that?
Gene Pitzer:You know, and the thing obviously, that brought me to Raleigh back then, is what brings a lot of people to Raleigh, excuse me the Triangle today. And that's the education system. Right? I mean, there's so many options of where to go to college right here. They were all like 12 miles apart, right? The Triangle of universities, not to mention the other college systems around here. And the one thing that just speaking for NC State, the one thing that it did really well back then, and I'm sure it does even better now is remarkably had an internship right there. at NC State when it came out, that led to a 20 year career. It was fantastic. It was great opportunity. And so that's what took me out of Raleigh, right, something that started in North Carolina. I started when I came out of college. And that's what brought me back to transfer right back here. I moved down to Charlotte for a period of years. But I was always working eastern North Carolina for my previous employer. And I sat on different Association boards, but they were all Raleigh based by and large. I mean, there was one in Charlotte. But the state associations were here were the Capitol. And so eventually, they just looked at me and said, You know what? You're up there all the time. We're just going to move you there.
Mahala Landin:Aren't you lucky?
Gene Pitzer:I'm so lucky. Looking back on. I did. I didn't want to leave Charlotte at the time. Because when you stay in one place for a period of time, no matter where it is, it becomes home. Yeah. It's where your friends are. It's just where it's what you know, it's what becomes comfortable. Yeah. So even though I knew Raleigh, I'd become comfortable in Charlotte. But after being back here for a short period of time, it just became like home again. Yeah, you know, and I tell people when they are moving here or talking about the growth here it's still the same feel because I I still don't think of Raleigh is a big city. It's a big town, right? With lots of suburbs and lots of people but it's still got that same big town feel you never feel like it's just a big collection of numbers of people, right? makes sense to
Mahala Landin:do it's kind of this conglomerate. So 20 years, what do you do?
Gene Pitzer:So I worked for American Express credit card company, which is funny, because when I started, I'd walk into places and they'd look at me say, we don't have any packages for you today, because they thought I worked for FedEx. No, not that X. I started as a sales rep, I would walk up and down the streets, a little towns, central and western North Carolina to start, I had a company car with a trunk full of in printers as natural Buster card machines, right? And little kits of slips. And my goal was that by the end of the week, you know, my car was low in the back because the trunk was loaded. But by the end of the week, I wanted it empty. So the car looked normal,
Mahala Landin:of that low rider song.
Gene Pitzer:So that's, that's how I started I mean, I, I would just walk up and down the streets in small towns and talk to people about taking American Express and slap decals on doors. And that's what I do are boots on the ground selling things I was I was feed on the street. Yeah, yeah. What do you
Mahala Landin:learn in that experience that a because you know, in every sales person's journey, at some point in time, somebody said, go knock on doors. And I can't imagine anybody being like, that sounds great.
Gene Pitzer:Well, and also because it are our pitch, let's say back then we were premium price product, we were very expensive compared to Visa or MasterCard or Discover that was coming on the scene. I mean, we were, you know, 40 50% more
Mahala Landin:in terms of merchant fees in terms of
Gene Pitzer:merchant fees, right. So it was, it was, it taught me something that I've never forgotten. And it's something that we teach in this building. We, we we don't sell real estate, right? We sell. We we build relationships. Everything is about relationships. And people say, Well, I'm not a salesperson say, Well, were you out with friends last weekend? Sure. Do you have discussion about a point of view? Sure. Did you want them to believe your point of view? Absolutely. What you were selling them? Right? Same kind of thing. You know, if you just if you stop thinking about it in terms of selling something, right, and just focus on the people part, the rest will come. And that's what I learned, you know, if you spend a lot of time, and I get a lot of grief in this office, because I spend a lot of time talking to people. But at the end of the day, everything is about trust and listening. Yeah, yeah, no,
Mahala Landin:yeah. And that's what I learned and working with small businesses, you did have to understand their story, you had to help them see the value of what you were presenting. And you really had to relate to them what they could have been selling widgets, or groceries, right? It doesn't matter what they were doing, you guys had to find that alignment, which you do have a gift for so from being on the street, as you said, to where did that take you that? That whole, you know, adventure, that corporate life world? Well,
Gene Pitzer:by the time like most careers with companies like that you you grow, you learn more, and you take on different responsibilities. And my last role there was a national account manager, Senior Manager of national accounts was my title. And I had a portfolio of basically everything automotive that was based in the southeast in terms of merchants that accepted the cards. So for instance, I had the auto zones, the world Advance Auto Parts, carquest, I had Walmart gas stations, I had pilot travel centers, everything like that. And it it taught me on a larger scale, never to forget your value. Never to sell short your value in anything that you do. Because we were a premium, even on that level. But we delivered more. And it's it's interesting, even being removed from it for so many years. I still believe that because it it was factual. Yeah. You know, and it's in that's, that's a takeaway, that has stuck with me. In other things I've done.
Mahala Landin:Yeah. And there's a saying for that you get what you pay for. Exactly. And as long as the value in the service is there, you know, you're never going to disappoint anybody. So at what point in time, did you make a decision that it was time to move on? Well, it's easy. It's not always easy. I mean, well, one of the one of the themes that come From this is and I was talking with, you know, Blaine Wallace, who is our home inspector is we can become very comfortable in careers right we can become very rote automatic following the motions, we can be on this trajectory that just takes us somewhere. And then all of a sudden, we wake up one day, and we're like, well, where's the passion? Where's the purpose,
Gene Pitzer:that is exactly why it was time to go, I was extremely comfortable. I carved out this niche for myself, I had the highest non supervisory level job in that company. And that was very comfortable. I had full autonomy, I basically brought in the number every year that they wanted, and I grew the business and everybody was happy. But when that recession hit in 2008, the financials took a serious hit. And American Express laid off just over 40% of the workforce, they had 40%. So I was on a team of eight people with a VP that I reported to, was still a good friend of mine to this day. And then it became six people. And then it became four people. And then they terminated the vice president. So we're just waiting for our phones during the four of us that were laughed, and they did. They said, Congratulations, your jobs are safe. Congrats, removing you into the tower, which is in New York, right? That was the point where you sit back and you say, You know what, I've been here for 20 years. And to the point you just made, I'm awfully comfortable. Yeah, I'm not growing anymore here. And if I go there, I'm never coming out. Right?
Mahala Landin:You know, what, you can be scary in a different
Gene Pitzer:way. It was it? And exactly, because there's this saying, change is hard. Right? Right. But when you really change after that length of time, it really is hard. You know, it really is hard because you it's not that you don't have the skills to do something else or the desire, you just can't see yourself in other roles. Yeah. And I mean, that's really important to get that point. You have to see yourself doing something else, which is the desire to do it, but but actually put yourself in the place of, okay, if I did that, what does that feel like?
Mahala Landin:Because we're programmed so many times to tie our identity, to what we do, and not how we do things. And I think careers can can cannibalize our ability to be something different, right? Because we're so fixated, whatever that is, whether it's a stay at home, mom, to corporate America, to a mechanic, it becomes our identity, and we forget who we really are or what we have the potential to be. And I'm not saying that for everybody. But I think sometimes those moments in our lives where we make that shift and say, but I could be doing something different, is it can really change everything.
Gene Pitzer:That's really it. And you when you've done something for so long, and to give them credit, they they always kept it interesting. They always had good training. I always felt like I was growing. But I was doing the same thing. And I knew how to do it so well, because I've done it for so long.
Mahala Landin:Yeah, right. Like your sister always says you don't have to diminish one thing, exactly. have an opinion about something else. You don't have to tear things down in order to be able to move on to something else.
Gene Pitzer:Exactly. So the timing was just right. I look back on it now. And I'm actually so thankful for that recession. Because if it weren't for that, I probably would have been there for another five or six years or who knows. Yeah. And I think that would have been not a waste of my time. But it wouldn't have allowed me to experience the things I've experienced since I left there.
Mahala Landin:And so what better career to start in a recession than a real estate career.
Gene Pitzer:Well, we all know how that initially got stuck, right? Yeah.
Mahala Landin:But that's not where you started. No, which I think is so cool. And something I don't think enough people know about. Where did you start your real estate career?
Gene Pitzer:So I also started at Keller Williams, and, and actually didn't start right away. I took a little time after I left AmEx, because that whole change thing, you know, and I really hadn't taken ever a few months off. I'd never been out of work. Yeah, I mean, in college, I worked for Sears for six years. I transitioned right at Amex for 20. I'd never not worked, you know, it's just kind of this thing. Wherever that comes from, but that's a whole other story. That's a good one, but it's a long one, chapter two. So I took a little time off and said it okay. Well, Rachel had started in real estate that looked interesting and I had flipped some homes. Right. In that previous period of years. We came back to Raleigh started flipping cup homes and I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed getting in there and seeing something turn or creating something. So I had some familiarity So I jumped in. But two things, first of all go back to that change is hard thing. Right? And secondly, I didn't understand the other sales approach. And what I mean by that is, so the past 20 years, I've worked with corporate clients, basically, right businesses of some fashion. And my whole premise in dealing with those people was, I just have to find who can say yes, in an organization. Everybody can say no. Who can say yes, the decision maker Exactly. What when you're dealing with people? I mean, I learned it's, you know, exactly right. You want them to say yes, but it's a different process, because it's personal. This is a personal business, it's not about real estate, right? It's about emotions, it's about fear. It's about trust, all of those things, you know, I go into a listing appointment. And yes, it's anywhere from two and a half hours to over four, in some cases, hold the record, but it's time well spent. Because by the time I leave there, and this is what I've learned over the past 12, to what Thank you, 12 years, is that, and I keep coming back to this, it's everything in my perception that we do in our building is about building that client trust in that relationship. So when I transitioned, it took me a minute, it really took me that I had to try it my way. And then Rachel pulled me in. And she really helped show me because she had gone through it. Also, she had learned this process. And she really helped to show me how to transition my thinking, right? And make it a little more personal. Because in this realm, you can
Mahala Landin:Yeah, you need to I mean, that empathy that we have to have with our clients is so important. And, you know, luckily, I also got to have that experience with you. And 2014 and 15, when you were transitioning to our full time listing partner for The Rachel Kendall Team, and I was a six month old buyer specialist. And, you know, that is one of the biggest takeaways for me of, of your real estate journey is how important a team member can be in the growth. You know, and I don't know how you experience when you were on your own versus working with a team. But I can imagine when you were doing it on your own, versus after being in the team environment, what what mental shift that even took, well, I
Gene Pitzer:you know, and I come back to something that I needed back then. And it was the structured training. It was what Rachel had just learned herself and established. And I was one of the first couple of people obviously to come through that. But that was the piece when you start into this kind of business, dealing with the general public on a personal level, it is a different approach. It is something that you have to be trained on, you know, if you notice, what's I do we talk to these individual agents, and we sit there go, oh, my, you just don't know what you don't know. Right? You know. But that's, that's perfectly natural, because you can't, unless you have a support system to show you that. And I just just take a random day, like yesterday. And I had the pleasure and opportunity to work with three buyer's agents on deals that they were crafting. And just in those particular examples, I mean, there were some wins in there, and there will be more. But those are the kinds of things where one of them actually said, This is awesome. And it's not about this deal. It's about what I've just learned. It's about next time, I won't be as stressed when I'm doing that,
Mahala Landin:right, because we're helping people learn how to think versus what to do. Exactly. You know, I got to think through these real estate transactions versus just being well this is how I did it last time because it's not always the same. So in your 12 year journey, was Was there ever a time when you said you know what, I might be done with this?
Gene Pitzer:You know, what, and I have always enjoyed this because of the people aspect. It's never about the houses for me. I mean, houses are awesome. But houses are awesome, because I see somebody in their house and they're just thrilled with it. You know, or see them sell it and they're thrilled with
Mahala Landin:how that came the outcome, right?
Gene Pitzer:It's it really always comes down to the people response. And that's always our goal in this building, right? It's always the culture of how we work, and how we always try to constantly improve on the delivery of service to the client. But I've never had a moment where I got tired of that. And I'm still not, I think I'm actually more excited over the past seven, eight months, and I've shared this with you the direction that we're going, because I think that we have a lot of opportunity to really grow our business. We, we have a unified message and logo and all those things now, to where the community can, can really see us and experience our people, which is our real value. And it's exciting now that I think about what the future looks like, for the next few years.
Mahala Landin:Yeah, we're so much more than where we were, you know, when when this was created, we had the vision. And now we're really taking our mission and our vision and our core values, and we're putting it out there and implementing against it. Yeah,
Gene Pitzer:it feels good. And it's really cool to see it too. You can feel it. And it's, it's you walk through the building, and it's all through the building, they're about to hear you just you just feel it like it's, it's there. And it's something really good is going to happen your next few years,
Mahala Landin:which is such a great place to be after going through a pandemic. It's something that I still, I love hearing about people's experiences during the pandemic, because I think we all walked away from that learning something about ourselves and learning something about the impact of our business on the community. And what we've actually kept with us since then, you know, we were obviously working together during that and our zoom calls and just constant trying to stay connected. What did you take away from that? And how has that impacted your business today?
Gene Pitzer:I love being in the office?
Mahala Landin:No, right? Don't take that for granted.
Gene Pitzer:But it's not that I need to be here. But I like being in the office, because it's, you know, what the big learning was personally? Yeah, the energy that we need from other people. Yeah. You know, and it's not that we don't all have friends and family. But even some of that. I mean, my father, we couldn't see him for months on end, you know, but just the energy of other people that you just don't think about, and also what you give to other people. Right, you know. And so that was, I think that was good for a lot of us to go through that. I think a lot of people realize the energy that they need. Yeah, even if they're working at home, more of them. Now, I think that there have been lifestyle adjustments, while sad.
Mahala Landin:It is energy is everything. Coming back into the Raleigh focus, you know, you've seen it grow, you've, you've walked a couple of different paths. And in terms of how you even watch the growth, you saw it from a small business to a large business to an enterprise business perspective. And then you've now seen it as a consumer and a real estate professional. What do you think the biggest change about Raleigh has happened in the 20 years that you've been in this area?
Gene Pitzer:I think it probably goes back to before. I would, before I lived here and the establishment of RTP back in the late 70s, early 80s. And the the anchors that that initially drew to this market. So I think the seeds of what we're seeing now were planted 40 years ago.
Mahala Landin:Absolutely. I think that's that is a missing message. I'm so glad you mentioned that, that I think when people talk about a bubble, or a housing bubble or a demand bubble, that this this change, this growth has been set in place since the 70s. Absolutely. And it's because of our local municipalities, our mayors, our governors, people that have always had the intention of this community growing. So I love that you brought that up,
Gene Pitzer:you know, and it's it's having worked in a number of other cities that are similar, like for American Express, I visited same towns, because I had the same 22 National clients. So in the vision that was put in place back then, the foresight, I think that's really what we're seeing now. And it's why I don't perceive this as Ebola. Right. I think what we're seeing is not only sustainable, but something that will continue to increase. Yeah, you know, I think our challenges in our business are to the real estate market in general is to grow inventory. Yeah. and to view our marketplace as larger than sometimes we tend to view it right geographically, we have to start thinking about ourselves. Like other cities, too, that are one size bigger than us, for instance. Yeah, to go
Mahala Landin:a little bit further out. You got to take us a little bit, you know, wait county is huge, but there are so many other great counties and so many great places to live, that are equally easy to get to. But that are outside of Wake County.
Gene Pitzer:Well, and you grew up here. Yes. Okay. You remember when North Hills just 20 years ago was born who
Mahala Landin:boarded up? Dillards? Right. Give me that a and w here? Yeah. And Contempo casuals? Oh, yes.
Gene Pitzer:Wow. You do remember shopaholic? That was 20 years ago? If not more, look at it. Now. I know. I mean, I remember driving across that bridge when I bought my first house back here in 2002. And that dealers was boarded up. And there was a little hotel across the street. Yep. And look at it Bennigan's and the Bennigan's was there. And now look at it. I know, I know. So if you look at things now 10 years from now, it's what's it going to look like?
Mahala Landin:I know. And that's, that's, that's because of, you know, really great community leaders that are making really planned decisions, which is another reason why we remain an attractive place to live year over year. It's so true, given given all of what you just said, you know, we're going to wrap it up here with a couple of favorites. What's your favorite thing to do around the Triangle?
Gene Pitzer:Oh, boy. Well, I'm really big and I'm bigger now on being outside. Yeah. So I mean, I I like to work out I go to a cat belong to three gyms. I really have to change that needs to be on my to do list. Somebody's got to go somebody hold on. I do like mountain biking it I'm sad. Yeah, that is always great. And it's right here
Mahala Landin:carry cider Raleigh side row because you know there's the carries. Yeah, like
Gene Pitzer:going down on Avenue side. Yeah, that's, that's fantastic. It's easy. And if people don't know there's two sides, the Glenwood entrance and Glenwood entrance. I like to carry cool. So that's really cool. And cash with us. We'll have to do here.
Mahala Landin:Well, what about favorite restaurant? Oh,
Gene Pitzer:so you know what? So a couple of secrets. There's one that's really great, right? I've been going there for okay, I'm not gonna reveal my, but I've been going there for a long, long time. It's right around the corner from NC State. I'll go ahead and give it a plug. It's a PR love going there. Yeah, say
Mahala Landin:say the full name so people know players retreat everybody. Chicken Salad is legit.
Gene Pitzer:It Oh, the chef there is amazing. Yeah. Right. And it's cool. Everybody to know your name after you've been in there three times. Yep. Yeah. And they just did some nice renovation. It's a really cool place. And it has literally been there since I think 58. Yeah,
Mahala Landin:it's a it's a, it's an institutional institution.
Gene Pitzer:And I like Margot's at Brennan station. Right. Steve Horowitz his restaurant. Steve has had that place since Gosh, midnight, probably mid 90s.
Mahala Landin:Right on the IBM boom because that's when really that side of town blew up with Greystone and Stonehenge and, you know, just the there's just so many communities there. I mean, I remember that from growing up. That was kind of my era was this big. Everybody from Rochester and Boca Raton moving here. That's all good.
Gene Pitzer:And here we are. So that's a really cool place. And then downtown, which no one ever used to go downtown. And remember, 20 years ago, nobody went downtown.
Mahala Landin:Oh, I went south had just been built when I was in and who would go there
Gene Pitzer:we go there. Now there's tons of options and fun things to do. So we have a real downtown. And I think when they open up people street that really helped that as well. Yeah, some time ago.
Mahala Landin:Last question, takeaways. You know, when you think about how you want, like, something that you've read, something that you live by words that just really resonate, you know, because that's something that if you've never met Gene Pitzer, he definitely has, you know, a perspective on things. What, what would you like people to know?
Gene Pitzer:There's a saying that I live by, and it always proves to be true. Everything has a way of working out. Don't need to worry about it. You may not like how it works out. But everything has a way of working out. And if you just watch your life watch situations. By and large. Everything keeps moving forward. Everything works out positively. You just got to let go. Yeah. Like, those are my words.
Mahala Landin:I love it. Thank you, Gene Pitzer.
Unknown:Thanks for having me.
Mahala Landin:Thank you for joining us on this episode of Making Moves. We want to deliver the highlights of the Triangle that you want to hear. Let us know your feedback, comment on our social media like and of course subscribe to connect And you and discover why we love where we live until next time with Making Moves hosted by The Rachel Kendall Team.