The Redheaded Realtor

What he did have was a simple question that kept pulling at him.

“Why spend time and money going to college if I don’t know what I want to do yet?”

That question led him to start looking at careers where his success would depend largely on him. He wanted something entrepreneurial. Something where he could be his own boss. Something where effort mattered. Something where the ceiling was not set by someone else.

Eventually, he shadowed a few Realtors in Valley City, where he grew up. He liked the pace. He liked that every day looked different. He liked houses. He liked people. And, maybe most importantly, he liked the idea that he could jump in, work hard, and see what happened.

So he did.

“I kind of just jumped into it and was like, screw it. Let’s just see what happens,” Sykora said. “Put the time in, and it’s working out.”

He got his real estate license before he even graduated high school.

Finding Opportunity in Fargo

Today, at just 20 years old, Sykora is building a residential real estate career in Fargo with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier Properties.

He moved to Fargo after graduation because he saw more opportunity there than in Valley City. More people. More homes. More momentum. And a market large enough to build a business while still feeling connected to the community around him.

“Fargo is like the good happy medium between big but not too big, but also not too small,” he said.

For Sykora, that move was not just about geography. It was a decision to take himself seriously before most people his age are expected to have things figured out.

And he is the first to admit that the beginning was not glamorous.

It took him seven months to close his first deal.

For someone entering a commission-based career at 18 or 19, that could have been enough to shake his confidence. Instead, Sykora saw the situation as part of the grind. He did not have a spouse, kids, or the financial obligations that often make risk harder later in life. If there was ever a time to bet on himself, it was then.

From that first closing to where he is now, he has seen the work start to compound.

“It’s exponential,” he said. “It goes up, but also it’s kind of a grind right away to get the first one.”

That willingness to grind has become one of the defining pieces of Sykora’s young career.

Building Trust Through Open Houses

Every Sunday, Sykora is usually hosting two open houses.

That face-to-face time has become one of the biggest drivers of his business. It gets him in front of people. It helps him practice conversations. It gives buyers and sellers a chance to meet him before they ever officially become clients.

But Sykora has also leaned into something many agents are still trying to figure out: online visibility.

He runs a YouTube channel where he posts real estate content, building recognition before people ever walk through the front door at an open house.

“People walk through my open houses and they’ll be like, ‘Oh, I’ve seen your videos on YouTube,’” he said. “It kind of builds that rapport ahead of time.”

For Sykora, YouTube is not just about trying to generate leads. It is about familiarity. It is about letting people see his face, hear his voice, and begin to feel like they know him.

Leaning Into a Personal Brand

It also helps that he is easy to remember.

With bright red hair and a natural sense of humor about it, Sykora has leaned into the personal brand. His tagline is, “Your redheaded real estate agent.”

“I am very recognizable with my hair, and a lot of people know that,” he said. “So I try to play into that as much as possible.”

Still, being recognizable only gets someone so far. Real estate is a business of follow-through, patience, problem-solving, and emotional steadiness. Sykora has learned that quickly.

Early on, one of his biggest mistakes was trying to make everything perfect. If one part of a transaction went sideways, he would overthink it. He would stress. He would carry the weight of every bump in the road.

Over time, he has come to understand that no transaction is perfectly smooth.

Something is almost always going to come up. A home inspection may reveal an issue. An appraisal may create tension. A buyer may get nervous. A seller may have to adjust expectations. Financing, timelines, repairs, negotiations—there are plenty of places where things can get complicated.

The job, Sykora has learned, is not to pretend those complications will not happen. The job is to help people move through them.

“There’s always something that’s going to go wrong in every transaction or some little bump,” he said. “It’s more of how can I look at it and problem solve and figure it out instead of stressing about it.”

Being Honest With Clients From the Start

That mindset has changed how he works with clients. Now, he tries to be upfront from the start.

“Hey, there’s going to be something that’s going to go wrong in this transaction,” he said. “It might not be your fault. It might not be the other side’s fault. It might just be something that happens. How can we problem solve and overcome that?”

That honesty is a theme that comes up often when Sykora talks about the business.

He wants clients to feel confident buying or selling a home, but he also wants them to know he will tell them the truth, even if the truth is not what they expected.

Sometimes, that means telling someone the house is not right. Sometimes, it means telling a would-be seller that staying put might actually be the smarter move.

“You are in a perfect living situation right now,” he said as an example. “Even though you might want to sell a house, you don’t need to.”

That perspective is part of what he values about the people-first culture at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Premier Properties.

Sykora said mentorship and training played a major role in helping him get started, especially the guidance of Justin Kolling, a Realtor in his office who served as one of his early mentors.

Learning the People Side of Real Estate

The support helped him learn not just how to complete transactions, but how to build a career with the right priorities.

To Sykora, that means focusing less on chasing numbers and more on building long-term relationships.

“How do we make sure our clients are comfortable? How do we make sure they’re excited?” he said. “How can we make sure we keep them for clients every time they buy and sell a house?”

The harder part is understanding people.

Through real estate, he has learned how to read different personalities. Some people need direct bullet points. Some need more explanation. Some are analytical. Some need reassurance. Some need space to process. Some need an agent who can slow things down and help them breathe.

That education, he said, has been valuable far beyond home sales.

“The real-world experiences, as far as business-wise, not even considering home sales—the people I know, the connections I’ve made, how to talk to people. That helps me in business, whether it’s real estate, whether it’s any business you can think of.”

Why Young People Should Learn Sales

It is also why he encourages other young people to jump into something where they have to talk to people, sell, listen, and learn.

It does not have to be real estate. It could be cars, boats, houses, or anything else. The product changes. The core skill does not.

“It’s all people,” he said.

Of course, being young in real estate comes with challenges. Sykora knows that some people look at him differently when they meet him at an open house.

His answer is not to dodge the subject. Depending on the situation, he addresses it honestly.

“I’m young,” he said. “There’s pros and cons whether I’m young or whether I’m old.”

At this point, he is comfortable with that reality. If someone decides they do not want to work with him because of his age, he does not take it personally.

“I’ve come to a point where I’m confident where I’m at,” he said. “If someone doesn’t want to work with me because of my age, then I don’t want to work with them either.”

Life Outside Real Estate

Outside of work, Sykora likes to stay active.

He golfs during the summer, plays pickleball, and curls in the winter. He is also involved at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in North Fargo, where he teaches youth group each week.

He does not pretend to know exactly what his business will look like 30 years from now.

He wants to grow his residential real estate career. He wants to eventually get into real estate investing personally. He wants to help as many people as he can buy and sell homes.

Connect With Zach Sykora

Zach Sykora
Website: zachsykora.com
Phone: 701.840.8625
Email: zachsyko9@gmail.com
Instagram: @zachsykorarealtor
YouTube: @zachsykorarealtor