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About seven years into my real estate career, I got the itch. No, not to leave my wife, but to start my own real estate brokerage! Always the optimist, I decided to throw caution to the wind and partnered with another agent to open my first brokerage. To our dismay, despite our success as top-producing agents, we struggled to grow the real estate brokerage beyond just a few agents.
[Read more…] about 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Real Estate Brokerage
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One of the biggest mistakes new broker owners make is trying to be all things to all agents.
Afraid of competing with big franchises, they end up recruiting too many kinds of agents, only to find that they have no hope of actually supporting all of them. This usually ends in disaster.
[Read more…] about How to Attract the Agents Who Will Help Your Brokerage Grow in 2021
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There are few things more important to your sellers than your listing marketing plan. After all, your marketing skills are probably one of the only reasons they are even thinking about hiring you in the first place.
[Read more…] about Sean’s 47-Point Ultimate Real Estate Listing Marketing Plan (PDF Checklist)
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Today’s sophisticated agents want more from their real estate brokerage than just the basic file review, agent supervision, and commission disbursement. Successful brokerages today are providing more and more services to attract and retain productive agents. So if you don’t want your brokerage to get left in the dust in 2021, you will need to step up the services you provide.
[Read more…] about 9 Services Smart Brokerages Are Offering to Attract More Agents in 2021
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In my 26-year career in real estate, I have had the unique opportunity to not only run one of the most successful brokerages in the nation, but to build a brokerage from scratch and franchise it. One of the biggest problems we faced was deciding which splits and fees to offer to attract the types of agents we wanted while still remaining profitable.
Over the years, I learned an important lesson about agent compensation: How you pay your agents can be more important than how much you pay your agents. Why? Because it doesn’t matter what your splits and fees are if you have no agents.
[Read more…] about The Best Splits & Fees to Charge Your Agents in 2021
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When it comes to real estate brokerage software, the choices are endless and confusing. This is because many of the software providers are trying to bridge the gap between one category (like CRMs) and another (brokerage financial management). Even worse, the real estate tech space moves insanely fast these days.
[Read more…] about Real Estate Brokerage Software: 27 Essential Tools in 2021
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Having been in real estate for 27 years, I have opened or relaunched nine real estate brokerages. Some were small independent brokerages and others were large brokerages with a national franchise. So I have had a lot of experience with hiring (and firing) employees at the brokerage level.
In this article, I will share which employees you need to hire to successfully grow your real estate brokerage from a small brokerage with just one employee to a large brokerage with a full staff. [Read more…] about The 5 Employees You Need to Hire to Grow Your Brokerage in 2021
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When planning for your new real estate brokerage, you will need to select the ideal office to nurture a budding business. Why? The office space you select can make or break your brokerage. This is because the office has a lot more impact on the success of your brokerage than you may think.
[Read more…] about How to Select the Right Office for Your Real Estate Brokerage
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Reflecting back on my 26-year career in real estate, I have seen a lot of changes to real estate brokerages. Most of the changes have been in the use of technology to serve more agents, but the pandemic of 2020 may have forever changed the way real estate brokerages use brick-and-mortar office space.
[Read more…] about Are Brick & Mortar Real Estate Offices a Waste of Money in 2021?
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If you are setting out to start your own real estate team or brokerage, the first step is to create your Mission, Vision, and Values Statement (MVV). The reason you need to take the time to develop your MVV is because, quite literally, every decision you make going forward will be made from the perspective of your Mission (why you are doing it), Vision (what it looks like when you achieve it), and Values (what ideals, standards, and rules will you follow to achieve it).
Furthermore, your MVV will provide direction for your employees and help your customers differentiate you from your competition. [Read more…] about How to Create an Inspiring Mission, Vision & Values for Your Brokerage