OK, so earlier I posted asking for comments on why owner's would pick one franchise over the other. In fact, I'd love to hear comments about why one broker prefers their franchise over others. However, I've done a lot of thining about it over the past two weeks, and I've come to my conclusion. I may be a little biased, but I am trying to write this from a clear perspective.
After a lot of thinking, I think that RE/MAX not only offers agents the best deal on the planet, but is really worth well more than we receive from the system. In addition, review of what we get vs. what we pay (in other words - a cost benefit analysis) has brought some interesting thoughts to light.
First, RE/MAX Brokers and Agents benefit from several million dollars being spent each year, just in New York, on branding. From what I can tell, all other brands combined don't add up to a distant second.
Second, LeadStreet from REMAX.net has provided my offices with a ridiculous number of leads. At first, it was a trickle, but it has picked up nicely. Yes, we pay $30 per head per month for them, but there is nothing better than receiving a daily phone call from someone on the Internet asking to have you show them a house that is listed with another office. One lead like that a week is more than worth the cost.
Third, we are able to gain benefit from the RE/MAX Satellite Network, with the amazing coaching and other benefits. Beyond that, the coaching and instruction available on our corporate intranet at RE/MAX Mainstreet, really has has no parallel.
Fourth, and this is a big one, we are able to refer to other agents anywhere in the world. With over 100,000 agents in over 70 countries all at our fingertips on the corporate intranet, it does save a heck of a lot of time. [Active Rain seems to be working towards a referral network, the only problem I see is that the quality of the leads seems very weak. Further, when referring, it's hard to really know anything about the person to whom the lead is being referred.] On REMAX.NET, the agent or broker receiving the referral has their entire bio posted including years in the business, etc. You know what you are going to get. In addition, you are guaranteed your referral fee once it happens.
It's getting late, though I had a few more benefits about which to write. Am I in love with paying frachise fees? No! But, I'm glad, as a broker, to be paying 1% to RE/MAX of NY rather than 6. 8, 10% or whatever the other major franchisers charge. That's ridiculous. What does Wiechart charge these days?
Finally, there are other high commission concepts around, we all know who they are. However, have you ever seen an ad from any one of them? As an agent or broker, you may get absolutely bombarded by hundreds of e-mails asking you to come on board and telling you how great they are. However, have you ever seen a TV ad for any one of them. Customers must ask themselves, "Who the heck are these people?" when someone comes to visit from one of these brokers offices.
I'll leave the Blog-reading-world with this. It seems that ownership of any franchise comes down to what the owner puts into it. However, working with RE/MAX allows brokers to never have to re-invent the wheel, so to speak, since everything we need has been done for us in some shape or form.
What do you think?
David
PS - Additional thoughts on the subject: It should be relatively easy for a RE/MAX office to recruit entire offices with the downtick in the economy. Rather than trying to recruit one or two agents, it is my thought going forward, that the right thing to do will be to work towards acquiring entire offices. Presently, and office with overhead of $10,000 per month (assuming rent of $3K, Heat, HW & Elec. of $1K, Secretary @ $3K, MLS & Phone & Tech help of another $1K, plus a minimum of $2K in other expenses) should be able to join a RE/MAX office and have expenses of 1/2 what they were paying. They get the #1 brand in real estate and to halve their expenses. A real estate company named, say, Entropy Real Estate, could then become the Entropy Team at RE/MAX Village Properties. They keep their original branding and add the best brand in the world.
All in all, if you owned a Dunkin Donuts franchise and sat on your butt hoping that someone else would make the donuts and handle the customes, you'd have a failing franchise. If you own a RE/MAX and expect someone else to recruit and someone else to run your office, you'll get the same result. Thus, in retrospect, it's those who follow the corporate model that appear to prosper.
Finally, one very, ver important note is important for all RE/MAX and other franchisees. I was warned at one point by someone in the system to be careful with letting a certaing group of agents into my office. I didn't heed the warnings and went ahead and brought them in. I'm still paying for it year later. Don't ever allow the bad apple in, it will destroy the office and take years to rebuild from the nightmare.
Recently, I made a very public promise not to visit and "throw fuel on the fire" of the Blogs of people with whom I vehemently disagree. I was good for a few days, but then I couldn't resist. First, I read the person's blog. I thought, "Boy, this guy will probably go on with this baloney forever - I'm glad I quit."
Then, I read it again a few days later and say something I found so wrong and so full of mis- and dis-information, that my hands started flying around on the keyboard as fast and furiously as they could. All of a sudden, I was typing 70 words per minute, clipping quotes and links from Wikipedia (because we can do that - it's free to use and share), and generally foaming at the mouth.
Now, I realize, I haven't changed anything. The prople reading this person's quote will still feel exactly the same way they did before I tried to cut it apartment with valid reasoning, logic, references, etc.
Not only with they feel the same way, they'll think I'm even dumber for saying things like "I think most people would agree Jimmy Carter wasn't the best president, but has turned into something close to a living saint since he's been out of politics." That's was paraphrasing, but, either way, it got feedback and personal attack that you wouldn't believe. It was as if I had summoned satan and told people the guy was a pretty good person.
All in all, I can't hold back! While I didn't use a single personal attack, I didn't use and bad language, and I kept it almost 100% referred to a Wiki that people would typically consider credible, I finally realize I'm having problems stopping. Yes, I relapsed.
Well, all someone can do who relapsed is get help and start the next day off fresh trying to continue on in their mission. In my case, it will be not reading the blogs I know will infuriate me. For others, it's trying to stay away from liquor, casinos, smoking, etc. I guess I could have it worse.
So, any help would be appreciated. Any ideas will be posted, not deleted :->
OK, so I recently joined ActiveRain. Then, I had a look around and was impressed. I kicked the tires and looked under the hlood. I found an amazing real estate group. Then, I looked a little deeper and found a huge group of Bloggers with whom I disagree. I focused on them and almost let them ruin my experience. I posted nasty Blogs about people with whom I disagreed. I made up groups to combat the people I felt were ruinng AR.
TODAY, I finally took a chill. I realized that it was me who had the problem. If people want to post right-wing crazy stuf - who cares? If people want to post left wing garbage? What's it to me?
From now on, I will utilize my time appreciating the best that AR has to offer and ignorig the people with whom I disagree. I always tell everyone who knows me that I wish the US was more of a live-and-let-live society. Well, it turns out I got what I wished for at AR. From now on, I'm here to read about and learn new things about real estate.
If you think AR is a good forum for political or religious discussions, I feel bad for you.
I'll be busy using all the great real estate tools AR has to offfer.
I am writing about a subject I touched on briefly in my prior blog, the chance that RE/MAX International, a 100% privately held company, will go public. My own feeling on this is that they intended to do so before the market crash of the past 2 years.
Let's look at the facts:
A company going public likes to a) get its financial affairs in order, and b) acquire as many valuable assets as possible before going public.
RE/MAX International has recently had a rash of purchases of territories that had previously sold to franchisors. There are only a few reasons I can think of for this. One, these Franchisors might have reached and age and a position in life where they simply didn't have the interest in continuing management. They probably made such a fortune that they no longer needed to work. However, few people would have the wealth to acquire these franchisors other than the master franchisor. In addition, these regional franchise groups, by way of their agreements with International, cannot go public themselves. So, they're stuck and, if they want to cash out, International would be their only way to do so. To me this is a highly likely scenario.
A second possibility is that the franchisors were in financial trouble and needed to be bailed-out. I would consider this possible, but not likely.
Finally, a very logical reason for the buy-outs would be to have greater assets to bring public. If Liniger & Co. were able to acquire thes franchises at a relatively low multiple, with the assumption of bringing the company public at a substantially higher multiple, it's a no-brainer. Further, the overall percentage of franchises directly owned by International, as compared to being in the hands of a variety of smaller players, would be seen as a strong positive in the marketplace. Further, with ridiculously low costs of funds over the past half decade, these purchases were more than likely highly accretive to earnings.
If you weren't aware of RE/MAX International's numerous acquisitions of regional franchisors, here are some links with articles from different news sources:
Article Excerpt DENVER, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- An agreement has been reached for RE/MAX International to purchase the independently owned regions of RE/MAX of Florida and RE/MAX Carolina. Together, the two regions will represent an addition of 420 offices and over 10,000 agents to the RE/MAX company owned region operations. Combined with the February acquisition of RE/MAX of California & Hawaii, 2007 will mark the single greatest year of growth for...
Publication: San Diego Business Journal Publication Date: 12-MAR-07 Delivery: Immediate Online Access Author: Bengtson, Stacey Company: RE/MAX of Hawaii; RE/MAX of California; RE/MAX International Inc. Full Article: Parent Acquires Regional Re/Max Offices: Re/Max of California and Hawaii was acquired by the franchise headquarters of Denver-based Re/Max International. The purchasing agreement for an undisclosed sum was for the 448 independently owned and operated offices and more than 10,000 affiliated agents in California and Hawaii.
RIGHT OFF THE BAT, AMONG FLORIDA, THE CAROLINAS, CALIFORNIA, HAWAII (AND SEATTLE - THOUGH I HAVEN'T INCLUDED AN ARTICLE FOR IT YET) - INTERNATIONAL HAS PROBABLY SECURED 20,000 MORE AGENTS OF ITS 100,000 TOTAL AGENTS WORLDWIDE. REMEMBER, THEY ALREADY OWNED MANY OF THESE REGIONS OUTRIGHT BEFORE THEY STARTED THE BUYING BINGE
Finally, with respect to getting their financial house in order, "RE/MAX is also becoming compliant with the federal government's Sarbanes-Oxley financial-disclosure law, which is required for publicly-held companies. The company is hiring compliance officers, an outside auditor committee, and is drafting mock Securities and Exchange Commission reports, according to the Denver Post report. " This is from http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20050105_remaxrumors.htm -
So, what do you think? While the market is down, RE/MAX International has been acquiring franchisors left-and-right. Mr. Liniger and his co-founders are also getting up there in years (though they still are probably the most amazing management team in the US today and could teach any group in the world how to run a streamlined company). What happens if something happens to Dave? Look at Wendy's (sorry - sick joke).
It is very important to brokers and owners. For some franchisees, its one reason to renew their franchise when it comes due each five years. For new franchisees, it is something that should be considered.
Finally, if International does decide to go, who will get what? While Mr. Liniger has made a fortune off his company, he has created a system that has, by far, helped more Realtors achieve wealth and a good lifestyle than anyone else before him or since.
Few people recall that, for the most part, women were not agents in the industry before RE/MAX. People forget that individuals were rarely permitted to promote themselves over the company before RE/MAX. Other changes spurred on by RE/MAX go far beyond the scope of this already too lengthy Blog, but RE/MAX has been an innovator for decades. When will they hold their last private party? What would you do if you knew they were going public?
This is a request that members of AR get together in an effort to add new categories to the AR Blog categories that already exist.
In the future, I'd like to see a categories like this:
RELIGION
POLITICS
RANDOM THOUGHS
PERSONAL ADVERTISING WITH JUNK ATTACHED TO MAKE IT LOOK WORTHWHILE
ONE OF MY RANDOM LISTINGS WORTH 200 POINTS TO ME ONCE I HIT SUBMIT
STUFF I'VE CUT AND PASTED FROM ELSEWHERE FOR 200 POINTS
REAL ESTATE - HELPFUL STUFF YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY BE LOOKING FOR ON A REAL ESTATE NETWORK
Under the final category for real estate, maybe we could actually have a bunch of choices based upon what the blog is for, like:
Help for Real Estate Agents
Help for Real Estate Brokers
Help for Home Inspectors
Foreclosures
Personal Advertising with meaningles
I don't know, but to see people's listings scrolling down the blog board that haven nothing to do with real estate bugs me. I'd rather see that board move at 1/10th the speed, but have it filled with helpful articles.
I don't say this to censor. However, people can publish a religious blog 100% free in thousands of places. It doesn't mean that AR has to support and promote them. Somehow, I personally think it would be awesome if real estate blogs made it to the blog page while others made it to a "religion" or "politics" page.
I feel like I'm in a minority of one with this opinion. But, I feel like writing a religious post here is like asking your local priest to add all your listings to the parish bulletin. It's just not approriate.
If your priest said he wouldn't put your article on real estate in the parish bulletin, would that be censorship?
You ever meet people who try to push their politics or religion down your throat?
Or, have to make sure that everyone on the room knows they are the most religious or most patriotic in the room.
You ever meet anyone who had a huge American flag on their front lawn as well as on their truck.
You ever meet anyone who had to tell everyone about their religion all the time?
When you met them, did you really feel they were the most religious or most patriotic people you had ever met? Or, instead, did you really feel they were doing it for attention?
Sometimes, I get the feeling that the most patriotic and most religious people aren't the ones posting the pictures and stories on AR, but were instead dishing out soup at a soup kitchen before they went to church. Or, they were the ones quietly lying the flowers at the grave of a fallen soldier while nobody knew they were there.
I wish more people would be patriotic and religious in that kind of way. Boy, I'm sure it must feel really, really good to blast out a nice political or religious essay on a REAL ESTATE NETWORK CALLED ACTIVE RAIN, but maybe doing something to benefit society would be more useful.
Next time, maybe save the political and religiious rhetoric for your church and/or local K of C hall. Tell us a story about a real estate deal or teach us something we didn't know about real estate.
CONTACT MANAGEMENT IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF OUR BUSINESS AS IT KEEPS US RECEVING REPEAT BUSINESS. As everyone knows, the best customer is a repeat customer!
So, I don't want to mention what system I use now, as it might skew the responses. My question is, could everyone who reads this blog respond with three things
a) Their favorite contact system
b) Why it is your favorite
c) Other systems you've tried
FYI - I've used Outlook Business Contact Manager, simple Excel Spreadheets, ACT 6.0, TopProducer, and others. These are just some of the dozens of datasbses out thee.
If you subscribe to my blog, I will post the results and reasoning behind the responses. If you don't subscribe, check back to see the results.
Let's hope we get some good suggestions that will profit us all. RESULTS WILL BE POSTED WHEN RESPONSES SLOW DOWN TO NOTHING.
NOTE: I am trying to conduct an informal poll/survey as I am frustrated with what i use. I will post the results as soon as there are 20 or so responses. The problem is that my last blog (about 10 minutes ago, has only got 2 responses so far)
That's the question. I have been in the real estate industry since 1989 and a true computer nerd since 1977. In the intervening years, I have probably tried every single contact management system there is and had varied results. However, sooner or later I get sick of certain shortcomings and abandon each one. Even now, I'm not too pleased with what I'm using.
CONTACT MANAGEMENT IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF OUR BUSINESS AS IT KEEPS US RECEVING MORE BUSINESS!
So, I don't want to mention what system I use now, as it might skew the responses. My question is, could everyone who reads this blog respond with two things
a) Their favorite contact system
b) Why it is your favorite
c) Other systems you've tried
FYI - I've used Outlook Business Contact Manager, simple Excel Spreadheets, ACT 6.0, TopProducer, and others. These are just some of the dozens of datasbses out thee.
If you subscribe to my blog, I will post the results and reasoning behind the responses. If you don't subscribe, check back to see the results.
Let's hope we get some good suggestions that will profit us all. RESULTS WILL BE POSTED WHEN RESPONSES SLOW DOWN TO NOTHING.
The Active Rain REAL ESTATE Network is a wonderful asset to the real estate community. However, many people seem to think it is actually a religious or political network. There are thousands of forums available for people who want to post religious or political thoughts.
If you are interested in keeping Active Rain a REAL ESTATE NETWORK, please join my group and/or my blog.
In addition, one of the worst offenders of this forum can be found here: REMOVED - I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT MENTIONING SOMEONE ELSE'S BLOG WAS FROWNED UPON.
He has repeatedly posting inaccurate political posts, refused to withdraw posts with stolen images and with statements he even admitted were false.
Please, if enough people join, we can convince the ownership here to ban political/religious blogging, with the obvious exception of when the blogs relate to religious or political impact on real estate.
In the future, unacceptable posts would be: "Member of [Enter Whatever Religion Here] are Evil"
Acceptable posts would include "How to help [Enter Whatever Religion Here] people find housing that suits their needs."
Another acceptable post would be "[Enter party or name of politicians here] intend to vote against NAR Bill."
Think about it. Do you want to be bombared with religios fanaticism on this site? Or, do you want it to remain a REAL ESTATE NETWORK?
While 99.9% of brokers sell real estate in the US only, some of us have expanded our lives to sell in areas we love. If you are a real estate agent with the skills you need to sell real estate in your area, you probably could sell real estate in another country (or state for that matter.)
I choose to work in the Dominican Republic a few months each year. I am the broker and owner of RE/MAX Village Properties in Mineola, New York, and a partner in 2 other Long Island RE/MAX Offices. But, even though I was born and raised in New York, it's cold and nasty here in the middle of winter!! A few years ago I was fortunate to meet a colleague at RE/MAX who is the broker and owner of 4 offices in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. My wife and kids love it there and we now spend about 1/4 of each year there. You probably think it is an impossible dream, but it isn't. If you spend your days in the US promoting traffic to your foreign office, you'll have plenty of work every time you are on foreign soil. It is a dream. Here's a photo of my office in the Dominican Republic.
If you want any help in your jump from the US to a foreign brokerage, just ask. I'll give you all the advice I can.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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