The TikTok strategy that helped one agent build an $89 million business in four years

Can you build a thriving real estate business on TikTok? Kina Desantis did. She went from a brand new agent in 2020 to running her wildly successful boutique brokerage with Side in less than four years. No cold calling, no door knocking — just (patiently) educating new and move-up buyers with quick-hit educational TikTok videos.

When we caught Kina on a recent episode of the Real Estate Rockstars podcast, we had questions – lots of them. Can you really gentle parent your way to real estate success on TikTok? How much rizz does one need to do that, generally speaking? We were skeptical.

To find out how she did it, we interviewed Kina over Zoom. She was so busy she could only talk to us from her car, en route to a closing. Luckily, she had the time to (patiently) walk us through the exact strategies she used to build a Zoomer real estate brand on TikTok and gave us her advice for new agents.

Kina Desantis: By the numbers

Market: Irvine, California 

Niche: First-time buyers, move-up buyers

Year one individual sales volume: $11 million 

Year two individual sales volume: $36 million 

Year three brokerage sales volume: $40 million

Year four brokerage sales volume:  $89 million 

Primary lead generation strategy: Educational TikTok & Instagram videos

Highest ROI software: Follow Up Boss

Real estate coaches: Anthony Marguleus and Zaid Hannah

Get 1% better every day

You’ll never really know what will work for you on social media until you start posting. Kina found her audience and posting strategy early, but her success came from slowly iterating on what worked. Tiny incremental improvements in your script, delivery, graphics or choice of topics can lead to big results. Why do small improvements pay such large dividends over time? Most agents don’t bother. You only need to be a little bit better than them to stand out. Here’s Kina:

“I feel like real estate is so simple. Our business model since the beginning was just do the absolute best you can and then make it a little bit better, and you’ll stand out. That’s how you get offers accepted, that’s how you get clients and referrals.”

TikTok riches are in the niches

TikTok’s algorithm is designed to give users exactly what they want when they want it. This is why niching down is the key to getting your content in front of prospects who might work with you. Sound familiar? It should. The most successful agents on the Real Trends Verified lists focus on specific (and highly lucrative) niches. TikTok is no different.

“We’re just promoting who we are, and then those who value real estate agents and advice and education are our obvious clients. Not everybody needs that — like my dad. He’s accumulated a lot of real estate knowledge over the years. I’m not his ideal agent, and he’s not my target market, even though I handle his transactions. But people who actually want the help on TikTok — that’s who we’re there for.”

Kina also stressed that appealing to a hyper-local audience is key. “A lot of people go on social media and they try to be famous. The key is to be locally famous.” Getting a million views on a post might give you a dopamine boost, but it won’t help build your book of business.

Start building your team early

Growing your social media following isn’t easy. Developing post ideas, writing, shooting and editing can quickly overwhelm your schedule. To scale fast enough to generate revenue, most creators hire freelancers to lighten the load. Don’t wait until you’re swamped to hire someone. Burnout can lead to bad decision-making, and poor decision-making can sink your business. Get help before you think you need it.

“I was never on a team. It’s literally always been me. I just started hiring right away. I hired my cousin to help me edit, and I brought on an assistant to help me schedule tours. I just started getting people to help me handle more clients. And then my first assistant, Patrick, became an agent. Because he was my assistant, he knew how to do everything, and he knew my systems, my processes, the way I like to work and [my] ethics.”

Rise, grind and repeat

Over a decade of working in real estate and interviewing top-producing agents, I have yet to meet one who worked less than 60 hours a week. Kina is no exception. Sure, she built a well-oiled (and free) lead generation machine on TikTok, but real estate is not about collecting leads — it’s about buying and selling homes. If you’re not willing to grind, you’re not going to make it — period.

“There were days when I would drive an hour to a showing, two hours to the next one, another hour and a half to the third one, and then 30 minutes home. That was how my weekends were.

For almost all of 2020, 2021, and 2022, I literally worked every moment that I wasn’t asleep. I didn’t do anything else. Like, literally anything. I remember the day I got engaged. I was working on my way to our engagement party. That’s what it takes. If you’re not fully committed, heart and soul, to getting someone’s offer accepted, it’s not going to happen.”

Vetted pro tip: 10x your social media KPIs with Coffee & Contracts

Want a shortcut to social media stardom? Coffee & Contracts has hundreds of gorgeous agent-designed templates and scripts for social media. You’ll get pre-written carousel posts, stories and captions to educate your audience and drive engagement like Kina did on TikTok.

They even give you fresh new content to post every day to help you boost key performance indicators (KPIs) like engagement, likes, and comments on Instagram. It’s like hiring a hotshot social media marketing agency for less than you probably spend on coffee every morning.

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How to find post ideas

The most common excuse we hear from agents struggling with social media is that they don’t know what to post. Don’t overcomplicate it. Just start posting. Done is better than perfect. Kina’s advice? Answer questions that pique curiosity. Even new agents probably answer 20 questions a day. Start making videos to answer them.

“When people ask me a question, I’m like, Oh, this is good information. Let me make a video. Like, why is there a telephone pole in my backyard? People didn’t know about that. Let me make a video about it. And now, when I meet clients, they say, “I saw your video about telephone poles!”

Kina also stressed that being genuinely helpful is better than posting just to capture leads. Your answer might not get you a client, but it might help someone. Authenticity sells. It is a well-worn cliche, to be sure, but it’s a cliche for a good reason: it works.

Need more social media post ideas and strategies? We compiled 30 of the most effective post ideas and marketing strategies in these articles:

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