Launching change in a brokerage Standing on the ocean’s edge just after dark in New Smyrna Beach, Florida earlier this year, I witnessed an amazing event as SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center 40-miles to the south. The three engines, with thrust equaling eighteen 747 aircraft, propelled the huge Read more…
The surprising reason why brokers sell good companies Warren Buffet famously said, “The real thing to do with a great business is just hang on for dear life.” However, many real estate brokers do sell their brokerages and the primary motivation behind the decision to sell is not always financially Read more…
The Top 5 Brokerage Challenges One of the biggest challenges as a real estate broker is always having to be “the smartest person in the room.” Literally, everyone looks to you for answers and guidance which can be a challenge in a rapidly changing environment. A favorite quote of mine Read more…
Why determining brokerage value is so hard “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” said famed Major League Baseball outfielder and manager, Frank Robinson. While his famous phrase coined in 1973 graphically makes the point that being close to achieving something doesn’t actually provide real benefit (other than in Read more…
Three basic areas for brokerage growth Mark Twain could have been a real estate broker when he said, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” While there are fundamental differences, many pundits like to compare today’s real estate market to the days preceding the pre-2008 housing crisis. Certainly, the industry is Read more…
The real estate pendulum swings again Galileo was inside the Pisa cathedral in Tuscany, Italy in the early 17th century when he observed the regular back and forth movement of a lamp hanging from the ceiling. Watching the swinging, he noticed the movement was constant and predictable, ultimately leading to his law Read more…
But We Have Free Coffee I was sitting in a boutique broker’s beautiful office listening to the owners vent about their frustration with recruiting. Attracting strong agents was a challenge for them, but equally frustrating was that after onboarding recruits, they often lost them to other brokers once they began Read more…
There’s a dirty little secret in the world of real estate brokerages that few people talk about. It’s a disturbing trend that we’re seeing more frequently in small and mid-sized firms: Many brokerages today are just not very profitable. In 35+ years, I’ve looked at 1,000’s of financial statements. What Read more…
It’s a long-held industry tenant that real estate agents primarily switch brokerages during the bad times—yet over the past year the industry has seen tremendous numbers of agents jumping ship to competing firms. At a recent national industry event, several interesting insights were shared regarding how market share has recently Read more…