All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

@Jordan Decuir - I think the most important thing in your first year is access to training and mentorship. If you don't have a mentor in mind, then shoot for the most training and an agency with high producers to learn from. If you have a mentor, it doesn't matter the agency because they will give you guidance, leads and help you develop.

In your first year in real estate, the least important thing to worry about is commission split in my opinion.

Remember that working with buyers doesn't apply to the agency you work for in my opinion. I don't think it matters to buyers much as long as you are responsive and productive for them and that the technology of your office helps them get their offers in quickly and efficiently.

Focus on Facebook, nothing else. Build them a business page if they don't have one, start running targeted ads of their listings that lead to a landing page to capture their information. Try to start getting the agent to use Facebook live for Open Houses. Take a listen to the Marketing Genius podcast with Seth Price and then listen to old Watercooler podcasts by Chris Smith and Jimmy Mackin of Curaytor. These will have next level type marketing tips, especially for that market where tech is king.

I think 6-12 months is too long to wait. I have found that 3 months is the sweet spot because if they were on the market, they want to or have to sell. The first day they get bombarded with phone calls and therefore hate real estate agents for a minimum of one month. The second month is them licking their wounds after the calls stop and blaming the agent. The third month is them being stubborn and looking for ways to stay or to start investigating new agents stealthily. At 90 days they are usually not as mad and realize they are desperate to sell again.

I would call at 90 days and then follow up with a handwritten card. Your next letter and best marketing piece for expired listings is a one sheet with before and after on what you did for another expired listing. If you took an expired in the past and then sold it for more with proper staging, it makes for a great blog and a marketing sheet. This will catch their eye more than reviews or choose me type of mailings. If you have the testimonial from the client and it includes how their home was expired and you took and sold it in a week, you are golden.

@Bryan Pham he seems enthusiastic because he knows he will have the leverage (2 to 1) and likely you would be putting in half the money. You would just have to draw up the agreement, if it's a 50-50 split, that they each have one vote and you have two on decision making. This will, unfortunately, make everything possibly take longer if there is not one person running the show. Maybe find a 4th partner who you know better to cut it 4 ways so it feels more equal.

@Jordan Decuir - definitely, without question. When you are going after a $1m listing and one agent is from Sotheby's or Keller Williams, a luxury seller will lean that way when a small brokerage can't say they have international reach and/or marketing. It's a guarantee.

That's not to say that small brokerages in some areas don't do well with luxury, but the brand building for that, and for a new agent there, is an uphill climb for luxury on the listing side.

If you are a member of NAR you have access to RPR (www.narrpr.com), which is a great source for evaluating block values and getting a solid first value for a property. You can enlarge the whole block and see the values of every home. Granted the values are not perfect, but I use RPR for quick searches for investors to give them a top value on the block for flipping and since RPR uses a range, it helps by not being forced to be exact, like a stupid Zestimate. It is tied to your MLS in most areas, but you can supplement your initial value on RPR with comp research on the MLS.

@Bryan Pham - my initial reaction is that you are outnumbered in the deal. Apart from the financial complications, even if you are 50-50 financial partners, they really would have two convincing votes to your one on the flip aspect. Would you both be living there while you fix & flip? For partnerships, especially with financing and renovation, you have to consider the worst-case scenario. If it hits the fan, it will always be 2 against 1.

@Jordan Decuir - it all depends on your goals. If you want training and mentorship, a larger brokerage will provide MUCH more training and opportunities for mentorship. There will be plenty of busy agents who need help with leads at a larger brokerage and who have Open House opportunities on the weekend. If you are looking to learn, this is a better option.

If you are looking to source deals for yourself and aren't worried about training or having a real estate agent mentor, then find the smallest brokerage with the best split and the lowest fees. The big name brokerage plays a very important role when you get to the point where you are competing for luxury listings, but in the beginning and when working with buyers, the brand is much less an issue.

@Daniel F. when you get a traffic ticket, you get solicited because the records are publicly available. Same thing here and as @Steve B. said - why would you care? If your first reaction to a real estate brokerage reaching out to you after you passed your test is...where it the law that says they can't do this, I'm not sure this is the best start to your career.

A brokerage that reaches out to you like this is just trying to set an appointment to see if you could be the right fit, many will not. This is just brokerage lead gen and something to get used to because you will soon be calling expired listings and they will be a lot more mad than you are and you will still try to convert them.

@Robert Whitelaw - depending on what you are looking to spend there are companies like Curaytor and Commissions, Inc. which incorporate web sites, back end functionality and assistance with lead gen through regular means and Facebook. Systems like these can generate better and more leads than you can imagine, but it can be a lot more than agents expect. Once you turn the faucet on, it's hard to keep up if you aren't set up to do it.

Of all the known lead gen sources I still find Zillow to be the best ROI if you are able to follow up ASAP with every lead. I hate Zillow, but I have always done well with them. There are some other companies with lower rates, but not as good a track record yet like Homes.com. I hope this helps.