What’s the real driver of value in a brokerage? “Why would I sell if I was making that kind of money,” he asked dismissively. The broker wanted to discuss selling his brokerage and cashing out. He had just voiced his thoughts on its value, and he had a really big number in 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…
I live on a coastal island where sailing is a favorite past time. Here, “doldrums” is a nautical term for poor wind conditions requiring sailors to motor through under power. Are the winds changing in real estate and will brokers have to alter their course? Let’s be clear: the market 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…
Getting a bigger slice of the pie It’s no secret; the big ARE getting bigger. Brokerage consolidation is rapidly moving throughout the industry fueled by the recognition that with size comes economies of scale. Many feel larger brokerages are often able to provide more, reduce costs and be more competitive Read more…
J. P. Morgan, the famous Wall Street banker and financier, was a driving force behind the wave of business growth in the U.S. in the early 20th century. However, he could have easily been describing the real estate market of 100+ years later when he said, “the first step towards Read more…
Babe Ruth, the greatest baseball player of all time, knew there was no coasting. Each day was a unique challenge with a new game, changing pitchers, different ballparks and specific strategies to win. He recognized that what worked in the last game doesn’t count today, or as the “Sultan of Read more…
Here is an amazing fact: Almost ½ of the entire U.S. residential industry is conducted by approximately 1% of the brokerages. In June, The Real Estate Almanac published by leading research and advisory firm T3 Sixty, noted that 48.9% of all the existing home sales were conducted by the top 1,000 firms. Amazingly, this number has Read more…
Setting the New Norm “Never let a crisis go to waste.”Various renditions of the quote have been attributed to many throughout the years including Winston Churchill and Rahm Emanuel. For real estate brokers, it means not just getting through the current crisis, but taking steps to come out stronger on Read more…