All Forum Posts by: Charlie MacPherson

I'm about a week away from opening a new brokerage in Norwell, MA.  Investor-friendly, and looking for new agents.

Super-low friction environment with strong agent splits, broker-provided leads along with sales training and support.

Are you newly licensed in Massachusetts?  Looking for something better?

Let's chat!

A two-part response.

1. I think you'll find that home inspection is more customer service oriented than you think.  You'll be dealing with retail buyers for the most part, and they're making one of the biggest decisions of their life.  They'll need a certain amount of hand holding and will rely on your professional guidance.
You'll also want to build relationships with them, which as physicians have recently found out, results in fewer lawsuits.

As to training, that's a state-by-state issue.  In Massachusetts where I practice, the requirements include a lot of classroom, plus an apprenticeship.  Your state will have it's own requirements.

2. The past felony conviction should be an easy thing to research.  Call the state board of realtors and ask.  Then ask whether there are any exceptions for someone who has turned his life around - which you hopefully have.  See if you can get a sense as to whether an exception - if one exists - is arbitrary or rigid.

If it's the former, you may think twice.  If it's the latter, you might be good to go.

Best of luck in whatever you decide!

I agree with Robbie.  It's a CRAZY sellers market due to low inventory.

My personal opinion is that the source of the shortage is the general public's lack of faith in the supposed economic recovery.  I don't see that changing until the next administration takes over the White House - but I reserve the right to be wrong.

I cover Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth counties and can tell you that any home priced properly is sold in days.  

If you want help finding one in Norfolk County, let me know.

Most will likely tell you everything you want to hear.  My advice is to drill down and get specific details.  

- What is the curriculum for training?

- What kind of mentorship is offered?  

- What does that look like?  One-on-one coaching?  How often?

I'd also get specifics on whether you're required to do mandatory desk time.  The last franchise I worked for required 8 four hour time slots per month in order to get leads from the company.  (Between franchise and leadgen fees, I netted a pitiful 28.5% on those leads)

It's really hard to pound out your own phone calls when you answer a never ending stream of telemarketing calls and those who just want to leave a message for the broker.

Walk-ins and call ins as new leads (the supposed big payoff for desk time) were virtually non-existant.  20 years ago, sure.  Not today - new leads are almost 100% web origin.

We also had a mandatory 1 hour meeting on Friday morning (endless lectures about cleaning up the sink) and mandatory broker's tours every Friday lasting 3-4 hours.

Yes, stay in touch with the market, but a broker's tour every 8 weeks is sufficient for that.

The total non-productive time?  32 desk hours + 4 meeting hours + 12 broker tour hours or 48 hours per month.

That's a full week  of work wasted on non-dollar-productive activities every month, or 2 1/2 months per year.

Want to make money as a real estate agent?  

- Get to work early. 
- Stay late.  
- Pound the phone like a crazy person.
- Do everything you say you're going to do, when you say you're going to do it.
- Represent every client like they were your mother.

Best of luck!

As a first-time investor, you might focus on a simpler project.  I suspect you'll gain a lot of valuable experience from that.

A ground-up build or demo and build is a pretty big undertaking for a novice.

You might see if you can find an experienced investor to split the deal with.  Gain experience, lower the risk.

If you want me to represent you as a buyer's broker, I can do the comps and marketing for you.

Exactly what kind of help do you need?  What is your plan for the properties?  Hold or resale?

I've not gone through this personally, but I've consistently heard that a "professional tenant" can easily tie you up for 9 months.  That's one of the big drawbacks to buy & holds in Mass, and why I'll be focusing more on fix & flips when I start to move into the investing field.

I think a good group for "south of Boston" would be Plymouth, Bristol and Norfolk counties.  

The Cape (Barnstable County) is its own world - in fact, it has its own MLS (Cape and Islands MLS), which the rest of the state has no direct access to.

Boston and Cambridge should definitely be grouped as one.

PS - I can just imagine some reader from Texas wondering how Plymouth and Cape Cod are different market areas when they're only divided by a bridge!

I and my agents use Daylite.  Sadly for PC / linux users, it's Mac only.  But there are good reasons for my choice.

1. Financial.  Daylite (www.MarketCircle.com) is a one-time fee of $300 per license.  The others that I looked at run $25 to $40 per month.  The 12 month-ish break-even was attractive.  

2. Robust accessibility.  The database lives on one of my computers (which is multiply backed up by Time Machine, Backblaze and a mirrored drive).  That means that unlike web-based systems (Top Producer, Salesforce, Maximizer, etc), I have complete access to my data whether or not I have wi-fi / cellular data access.  It also keeps my cell bill lower by not using data.

3. Speed.  Not being web based means it is ultra fast - especially compared to using a web-based system over cellular data.

4. Ease of use / filtering of contacts.  I'm a visual.  That means if I don't see it, it doesn't exit - and you can imagine the challenge that presents.  Daylite gives me multiple ways to view contacts, pipelines and tasks.

5. Syncs across multiple devices.  iMac, MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPad.  Seamlessly.

6. Free real estate module reconfigures the database for you.  There are other modules for different industries.

7. Integrates mail, calendar, opportunity tracking, project management, mail merge and a lot more.

8. You can create and manage multiple databases with one license.  You might elect to set up a separate database for wholesale, another for buy & holds and a third for fix & flip.

I've used several CRMs and for al the reasons stated above, strongly recommend a look at Daylite.

I think it all depends on your local market conditions.

The biggest part to consider is whether you're artificially limiting yourself to the point that you're damaging your income and growth.

I just checked MLS in Plymouth County, MA - not too far from you. At the moment there are 2206 Single Family homes and 132 multi-family homes on the market. That's almost 17 times as many.

I get the concept of diving deep into a niche and trying to own it, but unless your market is radically different than mine, that may not be the best way to go.

YMMV.