Why We are Back.
Why pay 6% to sell your home? Former market investor and mortgage broker Todd Craig shares his journey back to real estate and the rise of the 1% model.
Todd Craig
9/11/20263 min read
Why I Got In, Why I Left, and Why I’m Back: The Story Behind the 1% Listing
If you had told me five years ago that I’d be running an independent real estate brokerage in Florida, I would have told you that chapter of my life was closed.
My path through real estate hasn't been a straight line. I’ve seen the highs, lived through historic crashes, stepped away entirely, and finally decided to come back on my own terms.
To understand why I run Todd Craig Realty the way I do today—and why I refuse to charge traditional 6% commissions—you have to understand the road that brought me here.
Phase 1: The Finance Foundation
My career started on the numbers side of the table. Long before I was showing homes or putting up yard signs, I was in real estate finance with Wells Fargo, Centex Home Equity, and eventually co-founding Uptown Mortgage in Memphis, Tennessee.
At Uptown, our primary clients were real estate investors who needed creative, specialized lending products. I loved the energy of that world. More than that, I loved meeting new people, learning their goals, and helping them solve the financing puzzle to get the properties they wanted.
Then came 2008.
The Great Financial Crisis flattened the mortgage and housing industry. It left neighborhoods in shambles and home prices at absolute rock bottom. My wife and I took a hard look at where things stood and decided it was time for a major pivot. We packed up and moved full-time to our vacation spot in Santa Rosa Beach, along Florida’s Scenic Highway 30-A.
From 2010 to 2020, we rolled up our sleeves. We started buying, renovating, and selling properties for ourselves, our family, and close friends. We were boots-on-the-ground operators. We knew the dirt, we knew the construction, and we knew the local market inside and out. For a decade, the business flourished.
Phase 2: Stepping Away Behind the Screens
Then, another once-in-a-century crisis hit: March of 2020.
When COVID-19 arrived, nobody on earth knew how the housing market would respond. Uncertainty was everywhere. Looking for a new challenge, I stepped away from the day-to-day real estate grind and threw myself into a five-year run as a full-time trader.
I dove headfirst into stocks, bonds, futures, and complex derivatives. It was one of the most intellectually thrilling times of my life. The market is an unforgiving teacher, and navigating it every single day sharpens your risk management like nothing else.
But staring at charts, crunching fundamentals, and tracking market feeds day and night takes a quiet toll. Over time, I realized I was spending my days locked in a room, isolated behind glowing monitors, disconnected from family, friends, and the community.
I missed being around people. I missed helping someone navigate a real-world decision instead of watching tickers bounce on a screen.
Phase 3: The Turning Point
In late 2024, the historic National Association of Realtors (NAR) commission settlement hit the headlines.
I started reading public reactions online, and the sentiment was hard to ignore. People across the country were openly cheering against real estate agents. The comment sections were full of homeowners saying realtors were overpaid, that anyone could stick a sign in a yard, and that the traditional commission structure was a ripoff.
Shortly after, I saw a public poll ranking the favorability and trustworthiness of different professions. Realtors ranked third from the bottom—right behind members of Congress and lawyers.
That hit me hard. Real estate is supposed to be about guiding families through the biggest financial transaction of their lives. Yet the public viewed the entire profession as an overpriced middleman taking an unjustified cut of their hard-earned equity.
I knew right then that if I came back, I wasn't going to hang my license at a big-box franchise and play the old games. I wasn't going to justify inflated commissions with expensive corporate fluff that doesn’t actually sell a house.
I wanted to prove that you can offer high-caliber, veteran advice—backed by two decades of lending, investing, and market experience—with absolute honesty, fairness, and transparency.
That was the exact day I built the 1% Listing.
What It Means for You Today
At Todd Craig Realty, the mission is simple: cut the corporate bloat and keep your equity where it belongs.
Because I’ve traded macro markets and spent years in mortgage lending, I look at your home through the lens of genuine risk mitigation. We evaluate structural red flags, vet buyer financing down to the penny, and negotiate contracts with the precision of someone who has managed multi-million-dollar balance sheets.
You don’t get passed off to a call center or an inexperienced assistant. You get personal broker guidance from day one through closing—without handing over 3% of your sale price just for listing representation.
I got back into this business to look my clients in the eye, earn their trust, and do right by them. That’s why we do what we do.
If you are thinking about making a move in Tampa or Miami and want an honest conversation about what your home is worth and what it takes to sell it, reach out anytime. No pressure, no corporate sales pitches—just straight talk.