What do you get when you cross a pastor with a bike and beer salesman? In the case of John Kohlhepp, you get a great REALTOR®.

 

Kohlhepp grew up in the Dayton area and graduated from Centerville High School before heading off to Mt. Vernon Nazarene University where he earned a degree in ministry. He served as a youth pastor at Life Vineyard Church in Columbus, and while he still has a heart for helping people, he quickly realized it wasn’t necessarily meant to be his lifelong vocation.

 

While working as a youth pastor, he worked part-time at a bike shop that produced its own brand. Thanks to their rapid growth, he was able to turn his part-time work into full-time work as a global sales representative. When he began dating his now-wife, Claire, he started looking at jobs that kept him closer to home on a more regular basis. That’s when he landed with North High Brewing as a territory manager.

 

He purchased his first home in 2018 and really enjoyed the process, so decided to get his real estate license with the intent to sell part-time. After all, he’d “sold” Bibles, bikes, and beer; why not add buildings to the list!?

 

As most agents find, it’s hard to do real estate part-time, so when he was laid off from his job as the result of COVID-19 in March 2020 (two days after purchasing an engagement ring), he was thankful he had real estate to fall back on.

 

“Losing my job kicked me out of the nest so to speak,” he said. “I had to succeed.”

 

Succeed, he has. He started his real estate career with Sam Cooper of HER, REALTORS®, and said he wouldn’t be where he is today without Cooper taking a chance on him. Kohlhepp said, “He allowed me to shadow other agents on listing and buyer appointments and connected me with many of my first clients.”

 

He’s also been blessed with the support of friends, although he admits it has been a challenge for him when those he knows choose to work with a different REALTOR®. He’s turned this pain point into a positive however by striving to be a more trustworthy, expert source.

 

He’s also an all-around endurance athlete. He said anyone can bike or run, but competing at the level he does is all about mindset. He’s found that the same is true for real estate.

 

“When you show up and put the work in, results will come,” he said.

 

His ambition and goal-setting practices are other qualities that have spurred his path in real estate. He is proud of the fact that he exceeded his goal of selling 10 houses in 2020 (he sold 35) and met his goal of completing 60 transactions in 2021.

 

Another goal he had? Having a quarter of his sales come from referrals. He told himself that once he reached this goal, he would go out on his own, so in Q3 of 2021, he began selling with Keller Williams Capital Partners.

 

For Kohlhepp, the most rewarding part of real estate is helping people through one of the biggest decisions or moments of their life. Whether he’s working with newlyweds purchasing their first home or ensuring the children or grandchildren of someone who has passed get to benefit from their loved one’s legacy, he enjoys using his pastoral skills to counsel clients through whatever stage of life they are in.

 

He and his wife purchased a home in 2021, so he has first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to be a buyer in today’s market. He said this has helped him be more compassionate toward his clients. One of his more memorable transactions was helping a close friend whose mom unexpectedly passed away. Losing a mother changes your life forever, but he is thankful to have played a small but key part in helping the family grieve. Through the selling of her home, his friend was able to purchase a larger home for her and her family, and her sibling was able to get out of debt.   

 

Outside of real estate, Kohlhepp names marrying his best friend his biggest accomplishment, and jokes that he’s not sure what she was thinking because he definitely married up! They have two dogs – Sapphire, a Staffordshire Terrier, and Pepper, a rescue they got in 2019.

 

Many of his friends remain in the craft beer industry, so they enjoy supporting them at local bars and events. In both his personal and professional life, Kohlhepp is extremely goal-oriented. He recently started completing ultra-marathons and by the end of 2023 wants to finish a 100-mile race in under 24 hours. He also loves mountain biking and hiking, saying there is nothing better than packing a tent and heading off to somewhere where there is no cell service, despite this getting harder and harder to do the more his business grows.