Mark Pattison has only been doing real estate since 2015, but found success quickly, completing $126 million in sales on 246 transactions in 2019 with his San Diego PorchLight team.
After working for a few different Southern California brokerages, Pattison said he joined eXp in February 2020 because of the level of agents that were joining and the accolades it was receiving, including being named the Brokerage of the Year in 2019 by the San Diego Association of Realtors.
“That gave it justification,” said Pattison, who also cited eXp San Diego agents Kyle Whissel and Dan Beer as professionals he wanted to align with and aspire to.
How the Seattle native arrived in Southern California and started his own top-producing team is a unique story. After graduating from Seattle University, Pattison began honing his skills with world-class brands, including Nordstrom and commercial real estate giant CBRE, where he worked on Microsoft’s Xbox account in helping with logistics planning.
While working for Microsoft, Pattison met rock star Elton John, who immediately liked Pattison’s energy and can-do attitude. John hired Pattison on the spot, making him part of his touring team where he handled all kinds of planning such as getting John’s piano shipped from Uruguay to Buenos Aires between concerts.
After 10 years, Pattison visited 72 countries, climbed Kilimanjaro and met plenty of celebrities, but was not making a lot of money. At age 30, he felt it was time to take his skills and experience and go from making $35K a year to something more financially secure and stable.
“I was considering all different routes — doctor, teacher. But I was always good with sales and all walks of life.”
Pattison moved to San Diego in 2015 and became a real estate agent, deliberately avoiding Los Angeles and the entertainment industry. He attributes his hard work ethic to his family history and especially his dad, Mike, who was a Navy man and then became an Olympic short-track speedskating coach in the Seattle area, coaching medalists Apolo Ohno and J. R. Celski.
“My grandparents started roller rinks back in the 1920s and had theme parks. We are an entrepreneurial family and are constantly working. It’s just what we did and what we were expected to do.”
Pattison is happy to have his 16-agent team at eXp where the support and collaboration are a nice surprise.
“I didn’t realize how much broker support I was missing from my previous brokers,” said Pattison. “I am pretty self-sufficient. I don’t need to contact my broker much but the multiple ways to contact eXp support are truly amazing. My team and I love it.”
Read why other agents have chosen to join eXp Realty.
