A Surterre Properties Program

Where luxury
agents rise.

A path into established business in Orange County's luxury market. Built for agents joining Surterre Properties. Taught and mentored by the brokers and experienced producers who have shaped this market for decades.

Scroll
The Path

A clear journey, from application to your first close.

01

Apply & Interview

Submit your application. Elizabeth, our Academy Director, will meet with you to understand your goals and confirm fit.

02

Hang Your License

Complete the license transfer to Surterre. Our broker of record John guides you through compliance and onboarding.

03

Begin Classes

Two to three live classes per week across four offices, hybrid in person and remote. Self-paced modules in the member portal.

04

Earn From Day One

Take jobs from SurTaskRabbit, our private board where experienced agents post real work. Open houses, listing prep, social, CRM. Get taught and get paid.

Earn While You Learn

Introducing Sur|Task|Rabbit.

A private job board for the Surterre family. Experienced agents post the real work of their business. Rise agents take it on, get taught how it's done, and get paid directly for it. The work is how you learn the craft, build relationships with producers, and earn while you find your footing.

Think of it this way. When you join any luxury brokerage, your first months are spent learning the market, watching open houses, helping with listing prep, and showing up wherever an experienced agent will let you. At most firms, that's unpaid time, and that financial pressure is exactly what pushes most new agents out of the industry before they can build a pipeline. SurTaskRabbit changes that. The work you'd be doing anyway now comes with real project pay, set by the agent who posts it, paid directly to you.

i.
Agents post

Experienced Surterre agents post jobs they need done, each with a flat fee they're offering for the work. Open houses, listing prep, showings, content, and more.

ii.
You take the job

Browse the board, take on the jobs that fit your schedule and goals. The agent who posted it walks you through how it's done. This is the apprenticeship.

iii.
You get paid

Do the work well, mark it complete, and the posting agent pays you directly at the agreed fee. No middleman, no waiting on the firm.

What Gets Posted
Open House Host
Host an experienced agent's open house. Capture leads in their CRM. Follow up using the provided script.
Open House Sign Placement
Place A-frames and directional signs the morning of an open house. Pick up after.
Closing Package Delivery
Hand-deliver the closing gift, the keys, and the closing folder to the new owner.
Broker Preview Prep
Set up the property for caravan or broker preview. Light staging, refreshments, sign-in, brochure setup.
Staging & Photography Prep
Walk the property before the photographer arrives. Move personals, clear counters, coordinate with the stager.
Agent Filming
Help an agent capture social and listing video. Run the camera, set up lighting, frame the shot.
Appointment Setting
Call past clients, sphere contacts, or warm leads on behalf of an agent. Set appointments, follow scripts.
Listing Prep Coordination
Coordinate photographer, stager, sign install, lockbox, and MLS prep across the listing launch.
Showings Assistance
Cover a buyer showing when the listing agent isn't available. Requires an active license.
Social Content
Use Surterre Studio tools to produce templated posts, reels, and stories for a listing or agent.
CRM Build & Cleanup
Help a producer build out their database. Add tags, anniversaries, source codes, follow-up flags.
Event Support
Help staff Surterre events, broker opens, and client appreciation evenings.

A curated selection. The board grows as the program does. Each job is posted with a flat fee set by the agent.

How the Board Stays Fair

Suggested fee ranges

Every job type comes with a suggested fee range, so postings stay fair to both sides without anyone having to negotiate from scratch. The posting agent sets the final number.

A record of every job

The board logs each job and its completion, confirmed by both agents. Payment is arranged privately between you and the posting agent. The log simply confirms the work was done.

The Director has your back

Postings go live freely so you can move fast. If anything is ever unclear or unfair, the Academy Director is the backstop and steps in to resolve it.

How it works in practice.

SurTaskRabbit is an open board. You decide which jobs to take and when, around your classes and your own growing business. There's no schedule to keep and no quota to hit. You take what fits.

Every job is more than a paycheck. The agent who posts it teaches you how it's done, so each one builds your skills and your standing inside the firm. The experienced agents you work alongside become the network that refers you business for years to come.

Fees are set by the posting agent and paid directly to you. Surterre runs the board, not the payments.

The SurTaskRabbit Difference
Real work, real pay

Not busywork. The actual tasks that move a luxury transaction forward.

Taught, not just assigned

The posting agent walks you through the why, not just the what.

Your schedule, your pace

Take the jobs that fit. No quotas, no obligations, no pressure.

Relationships that last

The agents you help today refer you business for years to come.

Luxury Newport Beach contemporary home
The Market We Serve

Newport Coast. Laguna. Dana Point. Palm Desert.

Surterre agents represent some of the most coveted properties in Orange County. Rise prepares the next generation to take a place in this market with confidence, craft, and the support of the firm behind them.

Inheriting the Foundation

More than training. A place in OC luxury, alongside the people who built it.

i.

Real proximity to real producers

You are not learning in a classroom while the firm's business happens somewhere else. You are paired with an experienced Surterre agent and working alongside them. Their listings, their clients, their broker previews, their day. You co-list on real transactions, your name appears alongside theirs, and your first deals are built on the credibility of someone who has done this for decades.

ii.

The Surterre network, opened to you

The lenders, escrow officers, photographers, designers, attorneys, and partner relationships that took experienced agents years to cultivate are introduced to you in your first months. You inherit access to a network rather than building one from cold outreach.

Every luxury brokerage in OC has experienced agents with decades of business. Surterre is the one with the structure for the next generation to learn alongside them, contribute meaningfully, and earn a real place in the market.

iii.

Market knowledge, transferred

Which streets in Newport Coast hold value through downturns. Which Laguna pockets are appreciating. How Palm Desert seasonality shapes a listing timeline. This is the kind of knowledge that doesn't live in books or classes. It lives in the heads of people who have practiced here for thirty years. Rise gets you in the room with them.

iv.

A career, not a tryout

Most new agents wash out within two years because they're trying to build everything from zero. Rise is built differently. The foundation is already here. When you are introduced to a client as working alongside a respected Surterre name, the room treats you differently. That credibility is borrowed at first, earned over time, and becomes the foundation of a career that lasts.

Why Surterre

An independent luxury brokerage. Built differently.

The franchises spend their resources on logos and licensing fees. Surterre invests in agents and infrastructure. Four advantages other Orange County brokerages cannot match.

i.

Boutique & Independent

One of OC's last truly independent luxury brokerages. Decisions made locally. No franchise overhead. Founded in 2006.

ii.

The Surterre Studio

An in-house marketing production studio. Print, social, video, and digital, all designed and produced for you by a dedicated team.

iii.

Two Decades of OC Luxury

Nearly twenty years of established presence in Newport, Laguna, Dana Point, and the Desert. A reputation built one transaction at a time.

iv.

Four OC Offices

Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and Palm Desert. From the coast to the desert, where OC luxury lives.

The Faculty

Real producers. Real expertise. Teaching what they actually do.

The people teaching Rise are the people who built their careers in this market. Not outside trainers reading scripts. The brokers, experienced producers, and partner experts whose names move rooms in Newport, Laguna, Dana Point, and the Desert.

Kristine Smith
Kristine Smith
Founder & President

The Surterre Way. Working with HNW clients. The Surterre Network. Mindset for the first 12 months.

Elizabeth Pahlavan
Elizabeth Pahlavan
VP Operations & Academy Director

Onboarding, operations, program flow, and the day-to-day experience of a Surterre agent.

John Baldikoski
John Baldikoski
Broker of Record

Compliance, agency, fair housing, supervision, risk management, the NAR settlement landscape.

Alicia Mendez
Alicia Mendez
Marketing & Rechat

Marketing operations, the Rechat platform, brand standards, the Surterre listing launch playbook.

Michelle Miranda
Michelle Miranda
MLS & Transaction Flow

MLS systems, transaction documentation flow, listing launch coordination from contract to close.

Catie Staley
Catie Staley
Studio Design

The Surterre Studio production process. Listing graphics, brochures, and custom design at the level our market expects.

Kamerly Tyler
Kamerly Tyler
CRM & Database

Email lists, Cloud CMAs, CRM management. How to build a database that actually produces business.

Allycyn Bennett
Allycyn Bennett
Sandstone Financial · Affiliate

Jumbo and luxury financing for OC buyers. The lender's view of a clean transaction. What to send your buyers and when.

Julie Martin
Julie Martin
Blue Water Escrow · Affiliate

Opening escrow, the timeline, common holds, and how to keep a luxury transaction moving from contract to close.

Four Locations

Live classes across the coast and into the desert.

Rise classes rotate between Surterre's four office locations. One office hosts in person each week, the others join live via Teams. Every session is recorded and added to your member portal.

01
Newport Beach
450 Newport Center Dr, Ste 250
Newport Beach, CA 92660
949.717.7100
02
Laguna Beach
1088 N Coast Hwy
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
949.464.3200
03
Dana Point
34183 Pacific Coast Hwy
Dana Point, CA 92629
949.545.2000
04
Palm Desert
73280 El Paseo, Ste 2
Palm Desert, CA 92260
760.919.8488
A Word from the Founder

"Rise is the program I wish existed when I started. A structured way to learn the craft, the market, and what it actually means to work in luxury real estate, taught by the people who do it every day at the highest level."

Kristine Smith · President, Surterre Properties
Questions, Answered

Everything you'd want to know before you apply.

No. Rise welcomes applicants who are currently in real estate school, newly licensed within the last twelve months, or considering getting licensed. If you are not yet licensed, we will walk you through the path with our broker of record John Baldikoski and help you understand the timeline. The Foundations Track is built to take a brand new agent from license to first close.
A $100 commitment fee at enrollment, refunded in full when you graduate. That is the only cost. The program itself, the classes, the materials, the mentor relationships, and the platform are all provided by Surterre. The fee exists to confirm your commitment and is returned the day you graduate.
Rise welcomes experienced agents joining Surterre from other firms through the Immersion Track, a shorter focused onboarding designed to introduce you to the Surterre Way, the Studio, the partner network, and the OC luxury market. You will not be asked to repeat training you already have. The Immersion Track is approximately thirty days and runs alongside your active book of business.
SurTaskRabbit is the program's private job board, not employment. Experienced Surterre agents post real jobs they need done, each with a flat fee they set. From your first weeks you can take on the jobs that fit your schedule, and the agent who posted it teaches you how the work is done and pays you directly at the agreed fee. The work is how you learn the craft, build relationships with producers, and become part of the firm. Surterre runs the board but stays out of the payments. You are still an independent contractor building your own business, and SurTaskRabbit makes that easier, not unnecessary.
Character first. Rise is designed for agents who want to build a real career in OC luxury, not pick up a license and see what happens. Our experienced agents are investing real time in mentees, and Surterre is investing real infrastructure in the program. We're looking for people who will earn that investment with professionalism, discretion, work ethic, and a genuine commitment to the craft. Sales experience is welcome but not required. Hunger, character, and a willingness to learn from people who have done it well at the highest level matter more than your previous title.
Graduation is recognized in front of the full firm and marks your transition from Rise participant to independent Surterre agent. Foundations Track graduates have completed the required classes, attended shadowing sessions, completed paid support work hours, submitted a personal business plan, and closed or contracted their first transaction. From there you continue your career at Surterre with full agent access to the network, the studio, and the firm's resources.
You are not bound by contract to remain at Surterre, though we believe the relationships you build during Rise will be the strongest reason to stay. Surterre invests in you because we believe in long-term partnerships. Most Rise graduates remain with the firm because the support, the network, the studio, and the culture continue to serve them at every stage of their career.
Live classes rotate between Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and Palm Desert. One office hosts in person each week, and the other three offices join live via Microsoft Teams. Every session is recorded and added to your member portal so you can attend live, join remotely, or watch later. The format is designed for flexibility while still preserving the value of in person learning.
Apply

Rise where the best work.

If you're newly licensed, ready to begin a career in Orange County luxury real estate, Rise is your starting point.

If you're an experienced agent considering a move to Surterre, the Immersion Track welcomes you with a structured introduction to the Surterre Way.

Format
Hybrid. In person at four offices, or live via Teams.
Length
Rolling enrollment. Foundations: ~6 months. Immersion: ~30 days.
Cost
$100 commitment fee. Refunded in full at graduation.
Next Step
Submit your application. Elizabeth will respond within 48 hours.