Our Family Invests Podcast

Our Family Invests Podcast

He Sold $1 Billion in Real Estate, Then Co-Founded GoBundance - Pat Hiban | Our Family Invests

Aug 4, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min · 21 segments

Pat Hiban was the #1 real estate agent in the world in 2004, then did it again in 2006 at a different brokerage. He sold over $1 billion in homes before walking away from active selling at 46, with no…

Pat Hiban was the #1 real estate agent in the world in 2004, then did it again in 2006 at a different brokerage. He sold over $1 billion in homes before walking away from active selling at 46, with no buyer for the team he built and no big payout waiting on the other side. In this episode, Pat tells Mike and Caroline what it actually looked like to dismantle the machine he spent 25 years building: laying off 22 people in a single year, shrinking an 8,000 square foot office down to almost nothing, and eventually just closing the business because he couldn't find anyone to sell it to. He also opens up about losing $1.2 million in nine months during the 1999 stock crash, the same year he first thought he'd made it as a millionaire, and why he says today's market feels eerily familiar. - Why Pat walked away from real estate at 46 with no buyer and no big payout - The "barrel of monkeys" framework for knowing if a mastermind is worth staying in - How he lost $1.2 million in nine months during the 1999 stock crash - What happened when he got fired from the leadership role he left his own brokerage for - The investing edge that made his Section 8 and college rental properties work - How GoBundance grew from a free hiking trip into a 1,500-member mastermind Pat also talks about 33 years of marriage, why his wife's trust made his riskiest bets possible, and the line from his mentor that's stuck with him for decades: fear of loss is a greater motivator than the opportunity to gain. It's a rare, unpolished look at what walking away from the top actually costs, and what it builds in its place. Subscribe to The Weekly Compass, our free weekly newsletter with short practical tips for building wealth, aligning your family, and living intentionally: https://OurFamilyInvests.com

Pat Hiban was the #1 real estate agent in the world in 2004, then did it again in 2006 at a different brokerage. He sold over $1 billion in homes before walking away from active selling at 46, with no…

Cold-Open and Show Kick-off0:00 – 1:45

0:00

I wanted to scratch the record.

0:01

I wanted to be like, you fix this, fix that, fix this.

0:04

My opinion was show.

0:05

So seven months goes by, I get fired.

0:07

They fired me.

0:08

People will work harder to right a wrong than they will to manifest something new of equal value.

0:14

So that's why people stay in jobs.

0:16

My account in 1999 went from like 300 grand to a million and two.

0:22

And I remember telling my wife, we're millionaires, we're millionaires.

0:25

And then the stock market crashed.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:29

Hey, before we get into the show, I wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:33

Caroline and I have been working so hard to make these shows as impactful as possible.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:37

And if you find value in what we're doing, the best thing you can do is to hit follow.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:42

It tells the algorithm to show this podcast to more people, which in turn helps us to attract more awesome guests.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:48

Thank you so much.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:49

Now let's jump into the show.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:53

So he told him he wasn't cut out for sales, learning disabled, turned down by corporate jobs he applied for out of college.

Mike NeubauerHost

0:59

So he tried real estate almost by default.

Mike NeubauerHost

1:02

25 years later, he had sold over a billion dollars worth of homes, been the number one agent at two of the largest brokerages on the planet, and then walked away from all of it on purpose at 46.

Mike NeubauerHost

1:13

Pat Hyben didn't find freedom, he engineered it, one passive income stream at a time, until the machine ran without him.

Mike NeubauerHost

1:20

Today, he lives on Folly Beach and works about 90 minutes a day.

Mike NeubauerHost

1:24

Pat, welcome to the show.

1:26

Yeah, I love that.

1:27

Thank you.

1:27

Thank you for that.

1:29

I think we all... need to hear an introduction like that every day as we start our day.

1:36

It's good for not only our ego, but our soul.

1:38

So thank you for that.

1:39

Yeah.

Mike NeubauerHost

1:40

I love that.

Mike NeubauerHost

1:41

So Pat, what did I miss from that intro? Um, and what do you do in those 90 minutes?