178 | How to Buy a Home (Without Getting Screwed) with David Sidoni

📝 Episode Summary

In this episode of Million Dollar Flip Flops, Rodric sits down with David Sidoni, founder of How to Buy a Home, to blow the lid off how the real estate industry treats first-time home buyers—and what to do instead.

David has been in real estate for over 25 years and realized something brutal:

First-time buyers make up about 1/3 of all transactions every year… and they’re usually handed off to the worst, newest, least-trained agents in the business.

So he built How to Buy a Home—now over 2.1M podcast downloads—to give renters real education, connect them with vetted, experienced “unicorn” agents around the country, and help them go from renter to homeowner without getting chewed up by “big real estate.”

They get into:

1. How the industry is actually set up to make money off agents, not consumers
2. Why 87% of realtors quit within five years—and what that means for you
3. How David personally vets “unicorn agents” in 300+ markets
4. Why first-time buyers absolutely can still achieve the American dream
5. What he’d tell his 18-year-old self about careers, learning, and failure

If you’re a first-time buyer (or love someone who is), this episode is a cheat code.

🔑 In This Episode, You’ll Learn

1. Why first-time buyers get the short end of the stick
2. How the structure of the real estate industry pushes rookies onto first-time buyers while brokers collect 50% of the commission and move on.
3. The brutal stats behind the scenes
4. 87% of realtors quit within 5 years
5. In 2025, ~71.9% of agents sold zero homes
6. What that means for anyone just trying to buy their first place.
7. How “big real estate” really makes money
8. It’s not off buyers and sellers—it’s off realtors paying for leads, programs, and “endorsements.”
9. Dave Ramsey ELPs, Zillow, referral networks—it’s all pay-to-play.
10. What makes a “unicorn agent”
11. David’s term for the rare agents who are:
12. Experienced
13. Skilled
14. Compassionate
15. And still care deeply about first-time buyers
16. How How to Buy a Home actually...