We were lucky to catch up with Dave Cunningham recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dave, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?

Louise Hay is one of my most influential teachers and is definitely my She-ro! I was raised in a conservative Evangelical Christian household and was very sheltered/repressed/traumatized as a result. When I moved out of my childhood home to go to college I went on a spiritual journey to find myself and find out what I really believed. One of the teachers I found to be most helpful in my journey was Louise Hay who founded Hay House Publishing. Her book, “You Can Heal Your Life” became my “bible” as I found that its teachings resonated so deeply for me. In a nutshell, Louise Hay teaches that we are responsible for everything in our lives, the good, the bad and the ugly, and when we blame others for our problems we give away our power. The only way to get back our power is to take complete and total responsibility for everything. Another valuable lesson I learned during this time was living my life and conducting my business by the “Golden Rule” based on the bible passage, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In other words I never do anything to someone else either in my personal life or in business that I wouldn’t want done to me. I found that when you follow this rule in life, everything runs smoother. More recently I have had another spiritual awakening and have released long held resentments and traumas from drama that has gone on in my family. I am hoping to use all the lessons I have learned so far in life to help others going forward.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I found my way into residential real estate almost by accident after working in accounting and retail marketing. I majored in Finance, Real Estate and Law and graduated from college in 1989 during the great recession during the Reagan presidency. There were almost no finance jobs available, so I took an accounting job and once I did that, every time I applied for a job in finance they would say, “We don’t have anything in finance but we do have accounting positions available.” I found myself pigeon holed into accounting and didn’t like the job at all. I had minored in Business Law so I thought maybe I would like to become an attorney. I talked to some attorney friends and they all said, “Don’t do it!” But a couple of them said if I did think I wanted to go that route that I should try becoming a paralegal first. I researched U.S. Law Schools and found that UT Austin had the best ranked Law School for the best price. I moved to Austin sight unseen to do a one year Legal Assistant Program at UT Austin. I enjoyed my classes and graduated top of my class but decided that not only did I not want to become a lawyer but I couldn’t wait to get out of Texas and move back to California. I moved back to San Francisco in 1993 and got a job in Sales and Retail Marketing for the Dockers Brand at Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco. I was there for 5 years and during one of their many restructuring phases they eliminated my department. The marketing department wanted me but I was able to get laid off and thereby get a severance package. During my final year I hired a temp to help me and she was a Realtor. She said, “You would be a great Realtor, you should try it!” I had never considered real estate as a career but I had taken real estate college level classes as part of my undergrad so all I had to do to get my license was sit for the exam. That was in 1999 and my first job in Real Estate was at Zephyr Real Estate.

I think what really sets me apart from the average Realtor is my investment in coaching and training classes to hone my sales and negotiation skills. I did several years in a program called Lorna Hines which helped me shape my view of the business in a completely different way than most agents are taught. She started every class with the Law of Abundance and the Law of Accountability. These 2 philosophies have allowed me to negotiate on my clients behalf without fear of loss because there is always another house, another buyer, another seller. I consistently get my Buyers the best possible price and my sellers the highest possible price using these techniques.

I am proud to have helped clients through some of the most difficult times in their lives (death, divorce, job loss, etc.) with compassion and helping them maximize their profits and minimize any losses.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helped me build my reputation in the business was going to Tuesday Broker’s Tours when I was a new agent and introducing myself to all the heavy hitter/top agents. I also always strive to be honest, upfront and direct with everyone I encounter and this reputation has opened doors for me and my clients. On several occasions when I was representing a Buyer in a multiple offer situation, the listing agent representing the sellers called me and said if my clients came up $X amount that they would accept my offer because they preferred to work with me versus the other agent who they didn’t know or who had a reputation for being difficult to work with.

With clients, I let them know about the Law of Abundance so as a sellers we can walk away from any offer they aren’t willing to accept because there is always another buyer and I can go get them another offer because that’s my job! As a buyer we can walk away from any negotiation they aren’t willing to move forward in because there is always another house and I will help them find another house because that’s my job! Reputation in business is everything.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was related to reputation. I thought that my reputation with other real estate agents was so important that I put that before my clients interests. I learned that the client always comes first, even if that means upsetting another agent who’s opinion you care about. Reputation in the industry is very important but the clients interest is first and foremost, always!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://davecunninghamsf.com/
• Instagram: davecunninghamsf
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaveCunninghamSF
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davecunninghamsf/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dave-cunningham-compass-real-estate-san-francisco

Image Credits

Thomas Koh Photography