The Skills Gap in Real Estate: Jeff Quintin on What Today's Agents Are Missing

Jeff Quintin remembers exactly what sparked his interest in real estate: watching successful agents visit his bank window in the early 1990s. “I would look at my check from working 40 hours a week, and then I would look at their commission checks I’m cashing and depositing for our customers,” Quintin recalls. “There were a couple young cats at the time driving Porsches and Benzes with their surfboards up top, and they’re passing big checks. I was thinking, man, I need to get into real estate.”

That observation led Quintin to pursue his real estate license while still working as a teller. By 1992, at 18 years old, he began his career as a solo agent. The transition marked the beginning of what would become a substantial three-decade presence in South Jersey real estate.

Quintin’s approach to growth was methodical. He operated independently until 2000 when he hired his first personal assistant. From there, he steadily built out his team, developing a reputation that would attract high-profile clients including professional athletes and executives.

This success, Quintin explains, stems from a focus on relationship-building and market expertise. “It’s about being the knowledge broker and getting deep with your relationships and database where they can trust you, rely on you, be the resource,” he says. “The high-end luxury clients come from repeat referral business. You’re not going to have a high-end luxury person just call in through Zillow.”

Now, after 30+ years in the business and over 5,000 homes sold, Quintin is expanding his impact through coaching and mentoring. His approach emphasizes what he calls “old school” fundamentals – the core sales and communication skills he sees lacking in much of today’s real estate training.

“What’s not being taught is the old school. Old school is still new school,” Quintin emphasizes. “It’s the skills of understanding communication, language, presentations, understanding just basic sales skills of actually going out and speaking to people, being able to know what to say, how to say it, convert, go on presentations, know what to bring.”

Drawing from his experience both as a student and practitioner of the business, Quintin identifies three key traits for success in real estate: coachability, desire for structure, and drive. “The agents that succeed with us typically have to have a few different traits or characteristics. Number one, they’ve got to be very coachable. Number two is, they need to seek structure. And third, they’ve got to have that drive – that look in their eye, that eye of the tiger.”

This focus on fundamentals comes from Quintin’s own experience with coaching. Since 2000, he has maintained relationships with personal coaches across various aspects of his business and life. “I’ve had several coaches… anything I ever get involved in, I’m seeking professionalism to help guide me, and I’m willing to pay for that knowledge,” he explains. “It just accelerates the learning curve.”

Recently joining eXp Realty, Quintin is launching an expanded coaching and training platform through JeffQuintin.com. The platform will offer various educational opportunities, from one-on-one coaching to broader training programs and mastermind groups.

“It gets to a point where I enjoy the business itself, working with buyers and sellers, but what inspires me is being in the personal development world and helping agents develop themselves,” Quintin says. As he looks toward the future this year, his focus remains on growth – both for his team and for the broader community of agents he serves through his expanding educational platform.

For Quintin, this next chapter represents an opportunity to address what he sees as a crucial gap in real estate education: the fundamentals of sales and relationship building that have underpinned his own success for three decades. In an industry where about 80-90% of new agents do not make it to their third year, Quintin’s emphasis on proven, practical skills might be exactly what emerging agents need.