The Norris Group Real Estate Podcast

Market Shifts and Local Opportunities with Brent Lee | Part 1 #933

• The Norris Group, Craig Evans

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In this first episode, we sit down with Brent Lee, broker and owner of Tower Agency, to discuss his journey in real estate, the rebranding of his firm, and its impact on Riverside’s market. Brent shares how mentorship shaped his perspective on community and leadership, the culture he’s building at Tower, and the lessons he’s learned about navigating uncertainty in today’s market. He also highlights growth opportunities in Riverside and the Inland Empire while emphasizing the importance of giving back through community involvement and public education. 


Brent Lee is a Southern California–based real estate broker, entrepreneur, and community leader. As owner and broker of Tower Real Estate Agency, he has built one of Riverside’s most respected independent brokerages, known for its agent-focused culture, high-performing team, and data-driven results for buyers, sellers, and investors. Beyond real estate, Brent serves as President of the Riverside Unified School District Board of Education, where he has championed initiatives to improve academic outcomes, expand career and technical education, and build stronger school–community partnerships. He is also co-founder of The Pick Group of Young Professionals, a leadership network fostering civic engagement and collaboration among Riverside’s emerging leaders. Through his work in real estate, education, and community development, Brent is dedicated to building a stronger, more connected Riverside for future generations.



In this episode:

  • Joey Romero introduces Brent Lee, Southern California-based real estate broker, entrepreneur, and owner of Tower Agency.
  • Rebranding to Tower Agency: Why the new name matters and what it means for Riverside’s real estate market.
  • Mentorship under Bob Stockton, who reshaped Brent’s perspective on community, family, and self.
  • Culture at Tower Agency: Building an agent-focused brokerage centered on service, growth, and collaboration.
  • Market Insights: How uncertainty influences buyer behavior and why some hesitate to make big decisions.
  • Riverside & Inland Empire Opportunities: Brent highlights areas with strong potential for growth and development.
  • Community Engagement: Lessons learned from leaders like Aaron on prioritizing impact and giving back through public education and service.




The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669.  For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.


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Narrator:

Welcome to The Norris Group real estate podcast, a show committed to bringing you insights from thought leaders shaping the real estate industry. In each episode, we'll dive into conversations with industry experts and local insiders, all aimed at helping you thrive in an ever-changing real estate market. continuing the legacy that Bruce Norris created, sharing valuable knowledge, and empowering you on your real estate journey. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a newcomer, this is your go-to source for insider tips, market trends and success strategies. Here's your host, Craig Evans.

Joey Romero:

The Norris Group is proud to present our 18th annual gala. I Survived Real Estate at The Nixon Presidential Library on Friday, September 12. Since 2008, our event has raised well over a million dollars. This year, we'll be raising funds again from Make-A-Wish OC and IE. Individual Tickets are available now. To get your tickets, go to isurviverealestate.com click the link here in the card. We would like to thank the following platinum sponsors, uDirectIRA Services, The San Diego Creative Investors Association, DouglasBrooke Homes, MVT Productions, Realty411, and DBL Capital. Hello everyone, and welcome to the show. Today, we got a special guest who's deeply embedded in Riverside's real estate landscape, Brent Lee, managing broker and owner of tower agency, formerly Windermere Tower Properties. Brent isn't just an agent. He's a longtime community leader with decades rooted in Riverside, a solid academic background and a passion for empowering both real estate agents and homeowners. Today, we'll explore why Brent and his team rebranded to Tower Agency, and what it means for Riverside right now. ]With rising rates, shifting buyer behavior and a need for trusted guidance, Brent offers an on the ground perspective of market trends, community building and the future of real estate here. Whether you're looking to buy, sell, invest or just stay informed, today's conversation offers real insight from someone shaping the industry and the neighborhoods they serve. All right, so let's get to it, Brent, thank you. First of all, thank you for being on with us.

Brent Lee:

Thanks for having me.

Joey Romero:

Awesome. So now you're lifelong you know, were you born in Riverside, or just grew up in Riverside?

Brent Lee:

Officially, I was born in Whittier, but my family moved here when I was three.

Joey Romero:

Okay, so.

Brent Lee:

So, you know, if you ask if I'm a riverside native,

Joey Romero:

So you're not born and raised. You just raised. no, I'm not a native.

Brent Lee:

Just raised.

Joey Romero:

All right, well, what were you gonna be when you when you were growing up early on, like, what was like, I know, I know I was just going to play baseball for the Dodgers, but like, what were you going to do?

Brent Lee:

Well, what they realized? Like, well, you got a lot closer than I do, but you know, Maddie Johnson was my hero growing up. I always wanted to play for the Lakers, but I realized my skill set and my height when my athleticism did not align with that goal. So after that, was crushed. I wanted to be a dentist like my dad.

Joey Romero:

Okay.

Brent Lee:

But once I started taking some of those higher level science classes, probably also wasn't my career path, but so I really didn't know, you know, I graduated from college, I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do.

Joey Romero:

That was gonna lead to my next question, so who was your biggest influence growing up? You know, because you have a brother, sister, mom and dad, you know, who was your big you would just say your biggest influences. I think you kind of gave us a hint there.

Brent Lee:

Yeah. I mean, I think, yeah, I was close with my family growing up, still them. So I think probably my first mentor that I can think of growing up with my grandpa on my dad's side. He was an educator, hard worker, nice guy, really big on relationships. He always cared about what I was doing, what I was into. Want to learn more about that. So I always wanted to be like my grandpa growing up, but then too my parents were set a good example. They were big in supporting the community and hard work and giving back. So I was lucky to have lots of family mentors growing up that wanted to make the community better. So it was easy to follow in that lead for me.

Joey Romero:

Where did where did you actually go to college? And what did you well, how did that change? Like, what were you going to be coming out of college?

Brent Lee:

So well in college, and once I realized I wasn't going to go into any medical or science related thing, I thought I actually wanted to go into the military, maybe work in the Defense Department, intelligence, something like that. So I majored in economics. Also majored in international relations. 911 happened in my junior year in college. So that was kind of a really reflection quite for me on who I was and what I wanted to do. But then after, after I graduated, I met with the Navy. I quickly learned that my life would belong to the government and that I didn't have a lot of say in the direction in which I wanted to go. I remember sitting down with a naval the creator for offer of candidate school. And I called, I wanted to go and do intelligence, but he looked at my bio and kind of looked at my skill set and like, 'Yeah, I think you'd be really good at supply chain'. And I thought,'Supply chain?' Like, 'No, no, I want to or do intelligence'. He's like, 'Yeah, I think supply chain would be really good opportunity for you'. I was like, 'No, I really want to do intelligence. Like, then he kind of, like, stopped, like, 'Son, when you joined the Navy'. I'm kind of paraphrasing, like, 'we pretty much tell you what you've got to do'. So that was a good reminder for me, that maybe also the Navy wasn't a good career path for me. So opportunity opened up. My mom owned a real estate company. I had my real estate license. That was kind of part of being the lead growing up. Once you turn the team, you have to take your real estate test whether you wanted to be in real estate or not. So I had that. My mom had a opening in her property management division. She needed some help. Really didn't want to do it, but needed a job, and it's like, oh, only a year. I can do anything for a year. So yeah, 20 years later, 22 years later, still here, yes.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, that's how I was going to say. How did you get back into it? But now as you started to work, and you had that background of giving back and being a leader, and as you became more of a leader in the community and business, can you tell the audience who Bob Stockton was and what his mentorship meant to you?

Brent Lee:

Yeah, so I mean, Bob was like a community giant. He looked smaller in stature. I think he made a weight all of 120 pounds. But man, he was just bigger than life. He was an engineer by trade, but that's just what he did. That's not who he was. He really cared about fitness, like taking care of yourself. He cared about other people taking care of themselves, and then also making sure that you get back to the community. So he really invested in his health, and he really invested in Riverside. People looked up to him across the city to get his opinion on things but a future in Riverside and one forest look like, and how we were going to get there. So not only did he have the vision, which, you know, I think, is a rare trait, but he also had the know how to make that vision a reality. So I really connected with him back in 2012 I would say, you know, I was entering my early 30s. I just had my first kid. I was struggling kind of with my own health. And, you know, always, I was really blessed on good metabolism. I was kind of always a skinny, fit guy. But once I turned 30, that wasn't always the case, and so Bob really encouraged me to like, make make it fun. Make health fun. Losing sticks with me that I remember, once you have fitness, you got to keep it up, because it's really hard once you get out of shape to get back into shape. So just having that consistency with everything you did, whether it was your health, your business, your plan, into the community, I kind of carried forth that practice like he did. So really blessed to know him for the time I did, and he really just kind of changed how I thought about my community. I thought about my family, and I'm thought about myself.

Joey Romero:

I kind of saw him as somebody who was super connected in places that we all wanted to be when we were, you know, kind of coming up through the ranks, right? And he wasn't afraid to connect people like yourself with, you know, all of his network, right?

Brent Lee:

Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, he was one like, as you recall, when we were starting pit group. You know that group started because we wanted to sit at the table and we felt like there wasn't room at the table for us at the time, but he was someone that would always make room for you at his table, and if he had access to a table that we didn't have access to, he would make room for you too. So he was one of the big supporters of us starting that the big group of young professionals and making sure that the younger professionals in Tower were welcomed at whether it was boards, commission, Chamber of Commerce, he wanted to make sure that young people have a voice and that we had, they had their perspective at the table as well.

Joey Romero:

So a of lot of stuff we're going to talk about is culture in you know what makes you who you are? So how would you describe the culture at Tower Agency?

Brent Lee:

You know, It's hard to kind of summarize in a short, short way, but I'll do my best. I think it's really about collaboration, right? We're in a competitive industry, we're sales people, we're commission based income, but I think there's still room to be that and also be collaborative. I come from a mindset of abundancy rather than scarcity, especially in a town like Riverside, where there's 300,000 people just in the city of Riverside, or 3 million people in the in an empire, there's plenty of real estate transactions for anybody that wants that. So I think in our office, we try to keep that abundance mindset at the forefront, and try to work collaboratively. So my success, my agent success, my agent success, is only success. So if we keep that in mind and worry about competing against other brokerages, other than ourselves, I think that kind of sets the standard for that culture, and then also realizing that real estate is more about just transactions, right? It's about relationships. And I think people want to work with others who are like them, so we really encourage agents to try to be places where they're going to meet people and interact with people that they want to hang out with and they want to do business with. And I think if you do that, you'll be able to build great relationships and lifelong clients. We all know that the cost of acquiring a client is very expensive. Keeping a client is a bigger value. So I think that collaborative mindset, building on relationships and then realizing we're really lucky to be able to do what we do. And for those of us that are successful, we should be giving back and that doesn't just necessarily mean money, but it can, but it means giving back your turn, right? So my agents that are involved with their go to church are involved in church. I say, hey, that could be a place to start. You know, get involved with your church. Get involved with your church community.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, and I'll talk a little bit more about that too. As we go through here now, you started by working with your mom, but you've been running the show there for a while now. Why was this the right time? Because you just did a rebrand. So why was this the right time to rebrand from Windermere Tower, and what does that shift mean for the city of Riverside and

Brent Lee:

Yeah, so I think we always joke at our office. I area? mean, my mom started this company in 1989 her and I partnered together in 2012 and we always thought of ourselves as small business, we are a small business, but we're a 30 year old startup, right? We've been around for 30 years. We have that history. We have been on this, we've been in the same location, but we try to stay with all the small business, to try to keep up with the trends that kind of stay ahead of where the budget is going. So that's beginning of this year. Well, kind of a little last year before that, we kind of saw the market shifting, and the need to create more of an agent centric model, what we were a franchise model before. So we wanted our agents to be the brand. Of course, we wanted to come alongside them, because we think we could add value that way. But we thought just the way the market was headed and to be competitive into soft and recruit the best agents in our industry, we had to change the way we did business. So we wanted to keep with who we were, what we've always been with Tower, but rebrand ourselves, get away from the franchise, save some costs there, and really let the agents be at the forefront of what they do and who they do business with. So we did that in January, and it have been a big success. We didn't lose any agents. In fact, we've grown by about 20 agents in the last 12 months. We're really we're really glad for the agents that we have, and they bought into this kind of direction we were headed. So we're really lucky, I think, to do what we do and really do it ways.

Joey Romero:

I was kind of joking to myself that I'm going to need to I'm at the charge you some marketing fees for you know, I walk twice a day, two and a half miles, and I like my hat's starting to look like Kershaw's hat. With all the sweat stains on on the Tower. But anyways, so growing up in Riverside, you just talked about how, you know, your grandfather was a huge influence, and he was an educator. Your wife's family is heavy into education. So you yourself, you serve on the Riverside Unified School Board now, and you've done that for a while. How does those, how do those roots come into play on how you actually deal with your agents and how you run your business?

Brent Lee:

I mean, I hope it sets an example for them that you know, even the busiest people can still give back in the way that fills their cup. So I think the fact that I'm able to, you know, help clients buy and sell real estate, I'm able to help feed my agents at my office so that they can serve their clients, so I can manage those two hats and still be able to serve my community, I'm passionate about public education, so I think that kind of starts at the top. If you don't, you can talk about giving back, but if you don't do it, it's hard to kind of expect that from others that you work with. So I hope that it kind of just sets the standard for what we are about in at power that, yeah, we're obviously want to be the best of what we do, helping people in there with their real estate needs, but we can do other things too, kind of like what we talked about with Bob right, real estate's what we do, but it's not exactly who we are. So it's important to do both.

Joey Romero:

So I'm going to talk about the market a little bit now, you've had some, some really so your agents in your office has had some great success. I see some of the numbers that you guys put out on social media now. How are you seeing buyers right now, and how are they acting differently than they did a year ago?

Brent Lee:

Well, I mean, I think the, there's just been a lot of uncertainty in the market. The stock market, real estate market, typically doesn't like uncertainty, and I think when there's that uncertainty, people are hesitant to make big decisions. And for most consumers, when they buy a house or sell a house, a big decision likely the biggest, at least economic decision they're going to make in their life. So over the last year, because of that uncertainty, we haven't had really predictable results in the market. We've been lucky down here in Southern California that for the most part, the market has remained, you know, fairly stable. We haven't seen prices really go down. There's pockets. I'm sure you can find that half, overall the market has really kind of remained stable into freight have made.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, how are they affecting especially, you know, people who are trying to get into the market, you know, the barrier to entry in California as a whole is high, and now, with the interest rates being what they are. You know, how does that affect them?

Brent Lee:

Yeah, I mean, it's an affordability issue, right? The cost of homes has not kept pace that the income people are warming so while California wealth, they have always been high. It's never been higher. And over the last two years, for interest rates that continue to come, not to historic highs, but, you know, bubbled or tripled what they were back in, 2020, 2021, so while some families could justify kind of spending their budget a little bit because money was so cheap, almost three now, that is not the case with interest rates over 6% down. The average house be mobile 600,000 I mean, you're talking about entry level buyers. It's not a lot of down payment. Looking at a four or$5,000 will help.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, I just saw...

Brent Lee:

It's just not, not realistic for a lot of people in...

Joey Romero:

Well, I just saw that. I think it was realtor.com put out, you know, what you need to afford a house in every state, and I think California was $197,000.

Brent Lee:

Yeah, that's banana,

Joey Romero:

Yeah. So are there any parts of the IE, is there any parts of Riverside, in areas that you work with that are hotter than others? And is there any like, hidden gems that, like, you know, what? Like, he's her, like, not a lot of people are talking about these places, but it's great for families. It's, you know, great for values. And, you know, is there? What are you seeing out there?

Brent Lee:

Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of places like that in the Inland Empire that maybe don't get the light that they should. You know, I think Riverside still has a high ceiling in terms of growth. There's a lot of great things happening in the city, especially on the north end, on the north side of the city, lot of change.

Joey Romero:

Yeah. How's that going to impact values out

Brent Lee:

out there, including, like, an adventure park, which there? is going to have professional gradient looking through that, yeah, special soccer stadium. So, I mean, that could really change the trajectory of that community, you know, that has been always an underpriced, more affordable, part of the city, kind of rule. But those two projects alone could really change what's going on, kind of like what you've seen in the Spring Mountain Ranch and East side of Riverside, kind of by Grand Terrace, where that whole mountain has become a huge community now. Well, there's also another any kind of a city gem.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, that was all warehouses back there before, right?

Brent Lee:

Yeah. I mean, you got, you got nice views, you close to the freeway, get the mountains right there. I think that's still a great place that we could see the market continue to go up and downtown. I think downtown, I mean, there's some great, great neighborhoods in the downtown, Riverside area during walkable to be able to get to all the downtown life has to offer, trying to see more density come there. But apartments, luxury apartments, I think it's only a matter of time. Well, hopefully we'll see some condos that people can actually purchase and live in downtown. I think with our aging community, that's a good option for people who are wanting to have a more walkable life, get out of their big house or their big yard and have something that they can still own, can call their own, but not have all the responsibility of...

Joey Romero:

There was a huge push for things to do there, right for a long time, and it seems like, you know, with restaurants and things like that, but now it's almost like they're really leaning into the arts and culture, right? That's like, we're, where do you see that that going in the next few years?

Brent Lee:

Yeah, I mean, I hope, I hope the city keeps going in that direction. I'm excited with all the growth and development and restaurants and bars and stuff that are happening recite my life, but I felt like we've been pretty heavy on that, and we're missing out on opportunities for families. Definitely, after hours, find out a place won't take your family in Downtown Riverside because they got a lot to do. But I think if we lean in more to the origin culture scene to attract in families to come downtown. I think we'll get a more balanced community. Obviously, the Teach actually changed how downtown operates. Get a lot of people from out of town coming to check out the center file art I teach, that's a big piece. The city has finally funded the Riverside Museum, which we can make it for 10 years. So hopefully that will be an opportunity for families to come downtown and learn about Riverside history, culture, the upper Harada House that they're making an investment in, which I think, I mean, it is a historic landmark, but it's not one that typically go inside at this time, but I can put the investment there, worrying about our culture and our history. Yeah, Riverside families that changed the way that the United States operate, doing more of that going across younger families, which is, I think it's good for the community.

Joey Romero:

Now, there's a difference between knowing what's coming up and actually being involved in a lot of it, right? So would you say that that's where maybe some of you and your agents have an advantage. They're not just like, oh, like, I'm kind of on the know what's coming up. They're actually involved. Like, for example, you, you're part of the Aaron Norris Creative Fund. We're like, we're actually contributing to the arts in Riverside.

Brent Lee:

Right. So the part of that arts and culture movement in Downtown Riverside was kind of a beautification movement. And so there's a mural project that's been started throughout the city, but really with an emphasis downtown. So there's dozens of beautiful murals created by local artists downtown, and as you, as we shared Aaron Norris Creative Fund stepped up and wanted to honor the legacy of Aaron and what he did for the community and be part of that movement while honoring your legacy. So this week, we'll be able to share that mural at Arts walk and contribute to the arts and culture movement downtown, at the same time honoring our friend here.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, Aaron was a dear friend, a brother of ours. And what's your, I'm gonna put you on the spot. What's your favorite Aaron Norris Story?

Brent Lee:

I think I have two. One short and kind of funny, and then the other one, I mean, more meaningful. But the funny one is, I like wine. Wine's kind of my thing. Aaron Norris was not a wine guy. Wasn't really an alcohol guy at all, actually. But one day was, he knew I was into wine, so he said, 'Oh, I got a wine story for you'. I used to work at Coco, the Marie calendar. Think it was Coco and customers that he was waiting on in that customer, he asked him,'Well, what type of wine do you have?' And Aaron being the guy, nothing about wine red, pink or white. That was, that was Suzanne that always given me, because I can picture in my brain the interaction happening at the table and Aaron laughing at it afterwards. I think the other story that really sticks out in my mind was I got reconnected with Aaron through the pit group, and so we got to We did. He was a little bit older than me, so we do a lot of cool things together. didn't really know each other super well at Poly, but through the pit group, we wanted to reconnect, and he was obviously doing a lot. He was working for everyone, like for a family. We both were working on a paper, we're both doing things for the community. And I was getting spread pretty thin. I felt like I wasn't being super effective in anything that I was doing. I was just on a board, not really pulling up my streets, getting work done. And I was talking to Aaron about that, and he was telling, Aaron was a doer, as you know, Aaron not only a doer. He kind of whatever board Commissioner, the leader, getting things done, and that was really important to him. And if you were on a board with him and weren't getting things done, he would let you know. So anyways, we're having this conversation one day, and he's like, 'Brent, you do too much because you do too much. You don't do enough. He's like, You need to learn how to say no'. Hard hard to say no, right? These are, like, my friends, these are people I look up to, mentors, community leaders. When they ask me, I feel like I gotta say yes. He's like, Why do you have to say yes? If you're not going to do anything, you're taking the the place of someone else who might do something. So Aaron really was the first person to teach me that lesson it kind of gave me permission, that it was okay to say no. Doesn't mean you're going to be involved, but just really be effective on whatever you can see say yes to and that you were going to make a difference. So that always stuck with me, so I've always followed that advice. And when given the opportunity to talk to other young people, or people that are just getting more involved in the community, kind of sharing that advice.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, there's too many stories for me to pick one out.

Brent Lee:

I bet.

Joey Romero:

Yeah, it was the blessing of my career to be able to work with him, you know, side by side, and do all the things that we did. Thanks everyone that's going to do it for this week's show. Be sure to tune in next week Part two. Don't forget to visit isurvivedrealestate.com for tickets to the event on Friday, September 12. The Norris Group would like to thank the following Gold sponsors, Keystone CPA, The Inland Valleys Association of Realtors, Pasadena FIBI, The North San Diego Real Estate Investors Association, LA south REIA, NorCal REIA, The Wizard of the Wobbly Box, Andy Teasley, Shepherd's Finance, The Thompson Group, PropertyRadar and White House Catering. The dinner wine is provided with a generous contribution by Rick and Leanne Rossiter. Hope see you all there.

Narrator:

For more information on hard money loans, trust deed investing, and upcoming events with The Norris group. Check out thenorrisgroup.com. For more information on passive investing through the DBL Capital Real Estate Investment Fund, please visit dblapital.com.

Joey Romero:

The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE license 01219911. Florida mortgage lender license 1577 and NMLS license 1623669. For more information on hard money lending go to thenorrisgroup.com and click the hard money tab.