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LOOKING AT REAL ESTATE TEAMS AND TEAM SPECIALISTS.

LOOKING AT REAL ESTATE TEAMS AND TEAM SPECIALISTS.

DO REAL ESTATE "TEAMS" EXHIBIT EXPERTISE. The concept of "teams" in real estate practices is popular and often compared to medical "groups". I see little to no resemblance and, in fact, assigning a title of specialty such as "Buyers Agent" to a member of a team is often misleading to the consumer.

Inspired by Miriam Bernstein writing about real estate teams and the NYTimes article on the same subject.

Has that "Buyers Agent" received any advanced training to represent home buyers?
Has that "Buyers Agent" managed a significant number of contracts representing buyers to have any claim to experience?

Not that it isn't possible. It is, but rarely do the team members meet the test of expertise and experience found with medical specialties. Most "teams" I've seen are groups of licensees who work closely with other members of the team and spread the advertising and marketing costs and work load. Some teams may have members who specialize in listing or selling. So, they have a team title. However, do they have any expertise beyond the basic training for licensing?

REAL ESTATE TEAMS are often a small group within a brokerage or real estate company. In some cases new members will be "mentored" by a more experienced team member for a percentage of their fee for any business they bring to the team/brokerage. Fact is, we are all individually licensed and usually expected to develop buyer or seller business either for our own account or for "the team".

From the MD Real Estate Commission: "There is no provision in Maryland real estate licensing law for teams or groups operating within a brokerage. The only license categories are broker, associate broker, and salesperson. The only recognized entity is a brokerage. Those licensees who choose to operate within a team or group must follow all applicable licensing provision."

THE MATTER OF FEE SPLITS FOR TEAMS will be different from team to team and broker to broker.

THE OPPORTUNISTIC TEAM SPECIALTY. Unlike medical group specialties whereby the physician has committed an additional year or two to training, study and clinical practice to achieve a specialty designation or title, real estate licensees often advertise themselves as "experts" in topical areas such as "short sale experts" or "Buyer's Broker". That short sale "expert" may have completed one transaction representing a buyer or seller, OR NONE. There are courses offered for short sale training but no special license and the claim can be made with or without any actual experience or training.

Buyer Agency Specialist
Short Sale Specialist
Foreclosure Specialist
Luxury Home Specialist
Waterfront Home Specialist
Investment Real Estate Buyer Specialist
Rehabilitation Real Estate Specialist
New Home Specialist

EXPERT BY DESIGNATION OR EXPERIENCE. Many of us, myself included, have advertised some of these "specialties". NAR designations are evidence of training in a specialty and many require certain experience in that specialty. However, there is no special or advanced licensing required or available.

I work with an informal "network" of experienced brokers and agents, but it's largely geographically based. Each broker in my network is licensed but all have the same license and no further training is required for real estate brokers other than the general broker license. I market our services and connect home buyers to brokers and agents serving buyers in a particular geographical area. All of the brokers and agents in my network haveexperience representing home buyers. Many had their license with my company for year and received training to represent home buyers on an ongoing basis in group meetings and individual consultation. Focusing on home buyer needs is a specialty. The real estate industry is about 95% focused on the listing side of real estate brokerage.

EXAMPLE: I recently attended a 3 hour CE class offering training in property valuation. NOT.

The class was 98% "how to get the listing" and about 2% property valuation. Why?? Because the focus of most real estate training is listing oriented. The assumption is that training for property valuation is for listing agents for CMSs and not for buyers agents. IMO, one of the most valuable skills any real estate practitioner can have is that of accurate property valuation. The original listing is no more than an "offer" to prospective home buyers. Buyers agents who can properly value property listings are offering their buyers an important service. As a "buyers agent" member of a team, has that buyers agent received any training to properly value properties offered for sale???

BUYER AGENCY TRAINING? Additional Buyer Agency training is available through the NAR. However, having gone through several "buyer agency" courses, I don't believe they do the job of producing buyer experts, but rather focus on risk reduction for agents selling their own broker's listings. Many will differ with that description, and so be it. Risk reduction is critical, of course, but knowing how to avoid committing fraud through undisclosed dual agency doesn't provide skill in representing home buyers. I realized after committing 4 days to a course specializing in buyer agency that the experience gained by limiting my customers and clients to home buyers, managing many contracts for home buyers, my experience was far more valuable than the course offering.

TEAMS are a good marketing concept. They may share the workload. The question is, does a team member with a "specialty" title offer any more actual expertise for the consumer? Has the broker, the entity with the real responsibility for any team formed by a group of licensees in that brokerage, required that the team members with any speciality where a consumer would be referred actually have expertise in that specialty?

DOES THE BROKER KNOW WHAT THE TEAM IS DOING? Seems to me that the broker must take responsibility to make sure that the consumer is well served and that includes shared responsibility for customer or client service by a team.

Real Estate Buyers

"Honey, did you find an agent to help us today?"

"Yes Dear, I called the listing agent for the house we saw on the Internet and they are going to have the Buyers Agent on their team contact us."

Courtesy, Lenn Harley, Broker, Homefinders.com, 800-711-7988.

Posted by Lenn Harley, Real Estate Broker, Maryland & Virginia on 10/31/2009 06:21 AM

Comments (124)

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124 Comments on LOOKING AT REAL ESTATE TEAMS AND TEAM SPECIALISTS.

OCT

Lenn.....one of the major advantages of having a team is that the team leader can create the team that works best for everyone.....there's flexibility in this creation....my team specializes in new construction.....I'm the team leader and I made the decision that my purpose is to close builders and market the new homes....I don't beat the pavement with buyers and I don't want to list resales anymore......been there, done that.....

the builders meet the team members at all meetings prior to the listing being signed......after we have the subdivision in our inventory, I assign a "point person" and that person is the contact person for the builder....they all participate in covering open houses every weekend.....there's a schedule they make up.....we all share in each commission.....the point person has a bigger cut....we have been doing this as a team for over 5 years.....teams work if they are handled properly and fairly.....income is there for all.....equal work, equal pay.....they also have their own following and do their own deals.... remember, they're all seasoned.....the team gets credit within the RE/MAX system for all closings and the individual agents also get their own recognition and don't have to share their own commissions.....everyone's happy.....everyone makes money.....everyone can be a star.....life's good......but "it takes a village" to handle multiple subdivisions, and the team does it for me...sorry if I rambled!!! I'm passionate about this.

Lenn you are the tops. I like your comment from Barbara too. Great way to work.

Lenn you are 100% correct. I should mention that I have a full time partner. This is not because we want to advertise as experts in specific areas (though we are) but because with two and an occasional additional member, we are better able to service our customers.

Featured @ Club Chaos

Barbara. Thanks for reminding me. I just added "New Home Specialist" to the list. No doubt about it, you are a New Home Specialist. I consider myself one too since that has been my focus for many years, but always on the buyer's side, that neglected group who usually fall into a model home without an experienced agent.

Pat. Thanks. Barbara is indeed a new home specialist.

Gabe. Understood. That is a team that shares a workload. Then comes the question of fee sharing.

Teams should also make sure they are following Article 12 of the COE. We see plenty of violations of the use of the word "team" daily.

Lenn, i come up with a great idea for a post and you immediately write about the same thing. I wish you could have participated in my post instead of diverting the traffic or at least waiting a bit. I find it upsetting but you do this often and when you commented that you were inspired by my post I knew I was done. It takes all of the fun out of Active Rain and thinking up new topics.

C. Thanks.

Cindy. Thanks. You are right. I started to get into that, but I don't believe that the COE is specific enough to actually bar the use of the term team.

Maryland has issued a special advisory about "teams" pursuant, no doubt, to the perliferation of such entities.

From the MD Real Estate Commission: There is no provision in Maryland real estate licensing law for teams or groups operating within a brokerage. The only license categories are broker, associate broker, and salesperson. The only recognized entity is a brokerage. Those licensees who choose to operate within a team or group must follow all applicable licensing provision.

Miriam. Of course I was inspired by your post. I said that in my post. Good grief, I linked to your post.

I actually started to reblog your post but that's not possible.

Is there some rule written or unwritten that once a subject is written about that no one else can touch the subject. I am often inspired to expand on a subject if I have specific experience. I always say so and give credit.

Your post is FEATURED. The likelihood of mine being featured is remote since I had a feature a couple of days ago. I'll get some traffic from my wonderful subscribers and that will be that.

My post is relative to practice in MD and VA. Not NY.

Lenn....your job is more difficult than mine.....representing a buyer is a "one man show" operation....I have it easy.....I have a team!!! also, there is a designation for certified new home specialist.....can be done online.

Miriam.....take it as a compliment when Lenn is inspired by something written.....My comments were made to both postings and my thanks to both of you....for what that's worth!!!!!!

Barbara. Ha! As soon as I get caught up, now projected to be sometime in 2025, I'll look into it.

#7 kinda made my mouth drop open. Do you really feel that way about other writers writing on the same topic? I say this in a tone of surprise because people tend to inspire other people... People can also share any idea they'd like. The press will cover the same story or topic so why pretend bloggers should not? Linking back to other writers actually drives traffic towards blogs rather than away. Lenn has a huge following. You don't want her readers discovering you? I stopped by your post because I read Lenn... Thank you for the mention is what I normally say when people mention me... Hmm...

Lenn, you are very welcome. This is going to be a great conversation. I am sooooo parking here (LOL). :-)

C....ditto.....on all points made.

C. Thanks. I was surprised too. On many occassions I've been requested by members to write about something they've already written. Unless they have a huge following, they won't get much synergy. I get requests for reblogs. I try to get "eyes" on posts about subjects I think are overlooked. In fact, that post was "inspired" by an article in the NYTimes.

No matter. It's done and over. Needless to say, it won't happen again.

You are so correct - the term "team" is so loosely used in the real estate industry. I know of some "teams" that just continue to add breathing licensees and others who actually try to add value with each member.

Tina in Virginia

I missed this earlier and definately have opinions about "TEAMS". I have to run this morning but will return with more! Thanks for posting this!

Barbara, thank you.

Lenn, tis' a shame some people don't get the power of AR.

Russell, will be looking for that. I find it didn't work for me when I tried it. Leaders didn't do what they promised to do and I was spending an awful lot of time on other people's projects. Now that I am flying solo as an indie I am swamped with work and trying to talk the hubby into getting his license so I can off load on him (LOL).

Dear Lenn,

What a great post explaining teams and Realtor specialties. This will help buyers and sellers understand why they need a specialist. Have a great Halloween!

;)=

Vampire smile? LOL @ Betina

Being inspired is one thing. Copying, which is not the case here, is quite another. I rather like that different people weigh in on the same topic since folks tend to have varying viewpoints, experiences and being from different states (if that's the case) perhaps different laws, regulations and practices to deal with which affect their viewpoints.

Lenn, here is my response on Miriams post. Not up to writing it word for word again.

Miriam,

Dave Linger and Brian Buffini did a thorough study on teams the year before I left Re/MAX. What they found was there is different levels and types of teams. Starting with husband and wife teams, down to well oiled machines.

I started building a team my 2nd year in the business...when I hired my first assistant. Which according to the Millionaire Real Estate Agent, (MREA) is the first position to hire...never read it at the time.

I did this for one reason....I was too busy to handle all of it myself. Standing at the copy machine, getting feedback, doing a newsletter were some of the activities taking me away from the money making activities....being with buyers and sellers.

Then I added buyer agents, one at a time....when I could no longer take care of the lead inquiries.

Having a team affords me the opportunity to have a family life and not be RE 24/7.

NO ONE is ever handed off!

We will cover for each other if the need arises...each buyer agent forms their own relationship with the buyer agent.

My assistant manages the transactions for me and my daughter with Wise Agent. Some of the buyer agents "like" to handle them. So they can.

There are many teams here in Ann Arbor...and NOT ONE OF THEM....is to get the production of everyone. Not sure where you heard that.

One team in Ann Arbor does run their team, like a medical practise, each one has a certain speciality. Not my cup of tea but it works for them and they are very well respected and one of top agents in Ann Arbor.

Heck I'll should have just written a counter post. Maybe I will in the days ahead.

But, bottom line....you have a team when the business is there and it becomes a necessity.

Yes in my opinion they can be very beneficial to the consumer.

It is all how they are run, it is basically up to the agent if they can handle all the business.

If as a solo agents you can't serve your clients and give them the kind of customer service they need, then you can do 2 things.

1) cut back on your volumn
2) hire help.

My buyer agents do not have any relationship with my sellers. They know nothing about them, the price they will take, the motivation..NOTHING.

All they know is which listings I am marketing.

Missy.....I read your comments.....all good points.....thought I'd just add one more comment.....teams are great when there's alot of busines, but teams are still great when business is down,i.e.,NOW.....we still have alot of new construction inventory and it continues to need servicing.....our numbers are down, but we are continuing to put deals together at "today's pace".....I've survived this type of market many times(we'll rebound, as you well know)....and, for me, a team works wonderfully because when you're in your 60's, beating the pavement may not be a favorite task!!! rambled again!!!

Lenn,

A great post and expansion on Miriam's post. A simple thank you on her part would have been in order.

Lenn

Because I prefer to work alone (and to keep my level of business so I can handle it myself) I have never considered forming a team. However, knowing that some sellers might think there is an advantage to a team, I have partnered with another agent in my office - but only as a back up.

When I go on a listing presentation, I discuss my bio page with the seller, but I also includer her bio page and make it very clear that if for any reason I was not available, she would be. She does the same for me and I think it works great for us.

I used to get T.O.'d when someone would veer off with something I had written.

Now, I like it, only if I can get a little thank you, a head nod. When I don't get the head nod, I still get T.O.'d I know one Active Rain blogger that commented on one of my posts earlier this summer. Said it was a good localism idea, and then I suggested he do the same thing in his neck of the woods, and from his blogs I gather he has done just that. Not a mention of a "thank you" Carla for that idea. And to quote Linda Ellerbee . . . and so it goes.

I think you did give the appropriate head nod to Miriam. I just wrote a blog last night when I read something in a Russel Ray post that "inspired me." Head nods are so . . . wait a minute . . . I'm feeling inspired.

And as far as your blog, I think it's a nice after-thought, and adds a lot of value to Miriam's. and as you point out, this blog was based on an article . . . which was . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . Mariam's catalyst. And whose to say that later today someone else might be reading the same article and post about it too?

Which makes me a true believer that there is no "I" in team.

LOL . . . sorry.

Goodness, Lenn, this couldn't be more different from the other feastured post about teams if it were on a different topic altogether!

My daughter-in-law recently joined me and now we are going to truly promote the concept of "Team Woda", complete with its own logo. At some point, she will take over as lead agent and I will be in a support role. :) For now, she's learning the business from the back-end, providing administrative support.

The best buyer specialist have experience working with a lot of buyers. Typically on a team you start that way but probably dont have a ton of experience. However I recall receiving extra training and mentoring which has helped me become one of the top Buyer Side sales person in Minnesota.

Great post. One of the only designations I used to respect was CRS. To get the designation years ago you had to be a producer. (In hte 1990's if I remember right...It may have been somewhere in the range of 40-70 closed deals) You also had to complete GRI. So there was a good level that if I were dealing with someone that was competent, had experience and knew what they were talking about for the most part. If I referred business out my first choice was always a CRS.

Fast forward to today. Designations for buyer agents, listing agents, foreclosures, short sales, relocations, seniors yada yada...IHO is totally non-sense andbogus. Now we have consultants that have never sold, and so called experts that never accomplished anything advising others. No wonder real esate is in big trouble. They put the 'FUN' in the word "DysFUNctional!'

Now lets move one step futher...let's compound it by teams. Teams in my opinion, do not know what they are doing at all. I will not give referrals to them. The ball is dropped constantly, and trying to negotiate with teams over the years is a total nightmare. Other than a husband and wife team, I avoid doing business with them based upon repeated bad experiences.

Experiencde is really not collected but hammered out on the anvil of experience. I would rather do a deal with someone that has been a round for a few years. They have experience. The rest are just wanna-bees!

i see avertisements for listings with pictures of the team accross the top or around the ad. some teams have 10-15 members.

the question that comes to mind is can the team leader really know or control what is going on within the team.

if not, what's the benefit?

Well oh my goodness about comment #7.

Now to the subject. My office does not utilize the term "team", but do I have an excellent team ... you bet I do. Can each of my team members play another position due to great cross training? You bet they can.. No handing off, but sometimes covering for one another. If an agent working with a buyer in my office were to have a client wanting to buy one of the local foreclosures listed with another firm of course the run to my foreclosure agent for her input. Not to mention the fact that I'm a very hands on broker and my influence is in the mix as well. I really have no use for the "team" concept. But if any of the agents in my office don't want to be a "team" player they will be ejected from the park. And I do have agents with niches. The advertise those niches and it works well for them. But we really all do have individual licenses after all don't we?

Jay....thought I'd comment.....bigger is not necessarily better....ask someone at Jennie Craig!! I have 3 team members,....we get the job done....I know everything I need to know about what, where, how and why it's happening when it comes to our subdivisions.....they each take care of their own resale business.

Lenn,

I love the blog. Yes I have run into many different training classes where the actual subject aka the title of the training class was only briefly covered by the trainer. I am getting started on my GRI though

Lenn, I agree that the terms "specialist" and "expert" are thrown around much too casually and can be (and on occasion are intentionally) misleading. Grouping a bunch of so-called experts together doesn't necessarily offer more value to the consumer. It is completely dependent upon the actual level of expertise each team member brings to the team.

Regarding the "sub-topic" which has evolved in the comments: If the NYT article is the "fruit basket" then Miriam's post is an apple and Lenn's is an orange. On the other hand, a featured post is a featured post is a featured post.

One of my favorite things about AR is the layered dialogue (ie: subsequent posts) that can evolve from one person's thoughts or observations. I, for one, would be flattered if Lenn (or anyone else, for that matter,) was inspired by one of my posts. And I'd be bored silly if there were never any tangent posts to expand upon a particular topic of interest.

I enjoy having a variety of fruits to choose from, although I make it a point to avoid the sour grapes.

Lenn...

I have always embraced the team concept. In our state, it works exceptionally well because we have designated agency, and it allows a buyer's agent to represent a buyer on a team listing without entering into dual agency.

It's about efficiency and assignment delegation, and it can be a win-win for everyone involved!

Lenn: I appreciate your perspective. In my area ... many "teams" are marketing terms to give the perception of "more to the client." It may or may not actually play out that way. In many cases, it is "more for the agents." As for the comment that seems to now BE the topic of this post, I suspect this is a case of simply not knowing, or understanding how this blog thing works (lol) The same comment may have been best delivered 1:1 rather than a public comment. This is what a "delete" key is for - right? I have learned a lot here in the Rain for which I am grateful. Speaking of gratitude ... I'd kiss the ground Lenn Harley walks on for a gracious mention and link back to one of my posts!

In order for a counterfeit to exist, there must be a real. Just as not every broker should have their own real estate company, not every team leader is up to the task of building a business worth owning. Teams are no different than agents - the uninvolved will judge us based often on "the weakest link". If Keller's or Brinton's models are followed, teams can be a WELL TRAINED productive member of the real estate community ! As a real estate trainner for 29 years(more than half of my life) I can assure you that people on teams are in class more than stand alone agents lacking both vision and $$$$(for the course).

My husband is going to be my buyer's agent and he is working on his ABR, Accredited Buyer's Representative. Meanwhile he is flying solo.

Jim....just read your comment......a referral should be to an agent not to a "team"......and there are certainly teams made up of seasoned agents.....I'm a team member and have 9 designations(most from the 80's when you needed to document production to be granted the designation).....all teams are not created equally.....just as real estate agents are not created equally....learn how to refer!!!

BOTH posts are very timely as we plan to add a buyers agent next month. Courses offered aren't going to provide the nuances that we expect from this person, and it's been interesting to consider just how to handle "in house" listings (bank owned) since we don't "dual." I guess we view a third party as part of our team, but an independent part- different.

Also interesting is that both posts were provided by two people (in my world in NY, and my world on AR) that are at the tip top of my respect list for their knowledge, willingness to provide HONEST input, and integrity. That Miriam provided an honest feeling of being bitten, whether agreed to by others or not, and Lenn responded with her typical class, reflects the honesty of both. Thank you, Lenn and Miriam!

Lenn, I lead a team. I have been an investment specialist for over 16 years of my career. I have someone who has specialized in short sales and foreclosures, and a couple who are dear friend and have 24 years of experience who love listings. We also have a new agent who likes to take out our buyers. We use virtual assistants for much processing and marketing work. We also have the ability to share expenses of marketing that might be beyond a single agent, and have rules in place about how clients are distributed. We also have accountability in place, so that we can monitor our year in progress. We also have the freedom to do our own things, so the type of team we are is a bit different. The most important factoris we are happy with the arrangement, and communicate any issues which inevitably arise.

I knew this was going to be a very interesting conversation when I parked here (LOL). :-)

My broker and I team up on quite a number of deals. Since we each have expertise in some area or another, it just works better for us. However, I would not encourage new agents to jump in too quickly or they may be pigeonholed and not have the opportunity to "SPREAD THEIR WINGS."

Great post and many great comments. Don't really have much to add, except to reinforce the obvious.

Functional teams are an asset. Dysfunctional ones are not. Those who can put together and maintain a functional team will be successful.

Lenn- I too was disappoint in comment #7. I personally would consider it a complaint if anyone was inspired by one of my post.

I actually thought that was the goal of blogging in the RAIN????

I think that the concept of teams is more on the lines of marketing than any indication of the expertise of the members. The level of expertise of team members is not incumbant on the fact that they are members of a team but who formed the team and the screening of the members. In large agencies with hundreds of agents, a team is a way to brand your group. From a financial standpoint this could be a smart business move since resources can be pooled from a smaller number of people and the results of the marketing will also benefit a smaller number of people.

To Team or Not to Team... That is the question.

Charlotte Homes For Sale

Lenn, I went back and read Comment 7 after looking at Mark's comment. Feel free to write a blog about anything I say. I would be honored. She should have felt that way too, but it is a free country.

I know a lot of really super-busy realtors have and use teams; however, one of the main complaints I get about them is that once the "big name" realtor signs you on, you seldom or never work with them but get pawned off to a subordinate.

Lenn, Our team includes the photographer we use, the transaction coordinator, buyer's agent, etc. We don't bill anyone as "specialist." What we do sell in our presentations is that it takes a team of professionals to market your home to be the best it can be. A home stager is also a team member. The buyer's agents for us handle just buyers. If they have a listing, it goes to the team and there is a referral fee. As the team leader, I carry the financials for advertising and marketing. It's really nice to have team members to fall back on when needed, or bounce ideas off when stuck or share successes with at the end of the day.

Lenn My team is expert - my husband and I have been working as a team of brokers for 33 years, but your point is well made Karen

I think your point is very valid about not misleading people. I also think, however, that the term "specialist" does not inherently make a claim of some sort of designation or training.

This applies to all industries not just real estate. An Attorney who specializes in Real Estate or Tax Law, could handle a criminal case or a divorce without getting a different license.

When I was a service rep for Ma Bell back in the late 70s, our office of 200 reps was divided in to "billing reps" and "equipment reps". We all had exactly the same training. The billing reps were simply designated to handle calls that involved billing and the equipment reps took the calls from customers who wanted to order, move or change their equipment. It was done in the interest of efficiency and to provide clear tracking of who is working on what.

In our office we have about 75 Realtors. The largest team in our office is about 5 or 6 people (not exactly sure - it's hard to keep track) On that team the person for whom the team is named handles listings along with one other team member. The rest of the Realtors handle the buyers - a good percentage of those buyers are the listing clients. All of the Realtors on the team have the same Realtor's license. There is no suggestion or implication, as far as I know, of specialty in terms of training - only that it provides a higher level of efficiency for the client as well as the team.

Most of the teams that I know of (I am not on a team) started out of a need to have a back-up so that the all clients have their needs met and someone is always available.

Lenn, You just motivated my newest post. I have been trying to build a team for about a year now and frankly it's driving me crazy!!! The lack of desire in people is very frustrating.

Leen,

When we first relocated to Texas we joined a team with the thought that it would help us get established in a new location. We had tags hung on us with no referance to our experience. We lasted there for about 4 months befor striking out on our own.

A lot of accumption of incompetence and generalization in this post.... I really feel like a team concept when done correctly can be more beneficial than a solo practioner just because of allocation of resources if nothing more...and in team specilization is certainly easier than a soloist being an expert at everything..

Are specilizations claimed that aren't earned...probably...Do soloist do the same thing...probably...

Unless licensing law identifies limits as to who can claim a title, then that will always be true...

Lenn and AR folks......thanks for sharing all of your comments(the good, the bad and the ugly !!!! and there were a few ugly.....have scars on my tongue to prove it).....happy halloween.....congratulations to both lenn and miriam for the featured posts.

I got a lot out of both posts and commented on both as well. I could easily write a post right now that could launch off of both, but will save my topic for another day when I am in the mood to write about my team experiences! :o))) As for simulcast blog topics...well if I had a dollar for everytime I wrote a great post and someone else wrote about the same thing and then got the feature, I wouldn't have to sell real estate to make a living! LOL!!! It doesn't matter about multiple posts on a single topic because each brings a unique perspective to the table and sometimes one writers style may speak to a person more effectively than another. There's enough pie for everyone out there! :o)))

The likelihood of mine being featured is remote since I had a feature a couple of days ago. I'll get some traffic from my wonderful subscribers and that will be that.

LOL, don't you hate it when that happens.

Lenn, I see three (I keep changing this number) subjects here.

The team: I team up with different agents in my office for different reasons, on listings and when working with buyers. It definitely benefits my clients/customers and it also benefits me. I don't have an official "team." I'm not crazy about a team with a name, but that's just me. I have no problem with others that like them.

Specialities: I have several specialities. They all come from experience. Only one also comes from additional classes.

Buyer's Agents: Hot topic in some circles. I don't represent buyers. In my state I can work as a transaction broker for buyers, which I choose to do. I do an excellent job with buyers. I am a fabulous transaction broker. I work mainly from referrals. I get contracts all the time from agents that are working as buyer's agents who (I'm trying to think of a polite way to say this) do not write contracts how I would think a "buyer's agent" should (how was that?). The buyer's agents may or may not have had additional training. I'm really big on additional training for everyone, so I won't say anymore about that here.

I have so much to say on these subjects I may write my on post. I hope you do not take offense! I personally would be honored any time I inspired a post!

It's always challenging when things grow and becomes harder to monitor. Team as sold by various real estate practitioner sometimes define the different roles they play in the team, which is different from the "specialty" or designations they wear.

I do plan to grow my "team" someday but it will be one of quality and plays specific role rather than looking at adding agents as bodies to the brokerage.

Hi Lenn. It's great that you gave more exposure to Miriam's blog. My husband and I are a team.

Though I do not utilize labels that differentiate types of specialist my team works which is really the only thing that matters. Does it work? Sometimes it does not. The parts do not work cohesively as one. For me it does.

I have heard of horror stories where some team members drop the ball. ~ Lana

TEAMS are a good marketing concept. They may share the workload.

Hi Lenn,

Over the years I've noticed that some teams work great while other teams fall apart. I believe in teams, because that's what Gary Keller teaches, but I'm not sure why some succeed and some fail. Do you have any insight on why that happens? I would love it if you would write a post on that specific topic.

Tina. I suspect that most teams are to share the workload to make sure the clients are serviced.

Russell. Later. I was on my way out this a.m. too.

Betina. Thanks. It may often to explain team members to the consumer. Once a buyer or seller has been "engaged" by an agent, they often don't want to work with anyone else. I've experienced that myself.

Jeff. Thanks for the comment. No one owns a subject on ActiveRain.

Missy. Thanks. I know you embrase the team concept and it works for you. It has worked for me for many years. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I was in a team with two other agents and we shared buyer leads and contract management. I brought in the business because I did that best and qualified the buyers because I could. The other agents toured the buyers and when it came time to write a contract, I was back up. We took turns with inspections, etc. It worked very well because the two gentlemen I teamed with were wonderful and easily pulled their weight.

As it is now, I have a "team" of sorts but refer to it as a "network" because the agents and brokers are with other brokerages. I still often team with them for specific buyer clients. It works.

Dorie. Not necessary.

Margaret. Sounds good. I've worked with agents like that over the years from time to time.

Carla. I have absolutely no problem giving a nod when someone has inspired me. I have been mentioned in many member's blogs as inspiration for their article. I take it as a compliment. No I in team is good.

Margaret. My post was about my own experience. The subject was the only similarity.

Good luck with your hubby working with you. One of the best and most successful referral brokers I work with in my network teams with her husband. It works.

Chuck. If working with a team got you extra training then it was a worthwhile experience.

Jim. I got the one 5th of the GRI but never finished. The quality of the instruction was excellent.

Jay. Good question. I believe that teams are best lead by a very experienced agent/broker.

Tammy. You make a good point. Many agent relationships work as a team. I often believe that groups of agents form "teams" for advertising to show that they are more than "just one agent".

Barbara. Someone has to coodinate. Since they also sell resales that sounds like a good system.

Larry. Good for you. That happened to me Wednesday. The class titled "perperty valuation" wasn't.

Kim. I agree. Lumping a few agents is, from what I see, largely for advertising.

Also, I believe that the more voices about a subject, the more we learn.

Richard. IMO, anything it takes to avoid Dual Agency is a good thing.

Lenn...

It's about efficiency and assignment delegation, and it can be a win-

Kathleen. Your observations about teams is the same I see here quite often.

For the comment, I love it when I can inspire anyone to write a post, write a comment, post to their blog or anything else to expand the conversation.

Michael. Some of what I have observed about teams is from reading posts of former or present team members complaining about the others in their team not carrying their load. Mmmmmm.

Vickie. Good for him. You'll have fun.

Laurie. Train them well. The "nuances" of buyers agency are seldom understood. Good luck.

Joe. That sounds like a very smooth team. Good for you.

C. Right you were.

Suzanne. As a broker I have teamed with agents on many occassions.

Mark. We have often read complaints by members that their team members were AWOL or not earning their split. Sad to see.

Charlotte. Agreed. Team marketing is what I've usually seen around here.

Joe. I just might do that. I can't keep up with the blogs these days. I must be out a bit too much. I think I'll stick around next week and catch up.

Lenn--I think the important thing to remember is that not all teams are created equal. Some teams will hire a beginning agent as their buyer's agent because they don't want to "waste" time and gas running around buyers. Others really have experienced agents that prefer working with buyers and know how to negotiate on the buyer's behalf. I have experienced both types of teams. As for sharing the workload, for some teams I wish it mean that there was someone who would answer the phone! In many cases it does but some times it can be more difficult to get answers from a particular agent on a team as they seem to let unlicensed people answer and return calls.

Consumers need to realize that a team could be a good choice but an individual can be as good or a better choice. Interview both types of agents prior to making your decision and signing a contract is the best course of action for any consumer!

As a new Team Leader I am highly offended by this blog. I am going to spread wide discontent, rumors and gather my buddies to come over here and cause problems. Then i'm going to repeatedly psycho flag this for "complaint." I'm off to do a "spin" blog attempting to counter what you're saying.

Okay, I'm kidding.

I don't carry that card. Great points as usual.

Steve. I've seen that happen too. The team leader should be helping to train a lesser experienced agent.

Susan. WOW! You really have a team. Goodness, you have a complete marketing organization. My compliments.

Karen. It can work. I know several very successful husband and wife teams.

Rick. I would assume that if I saw a claim of specialists I would expect some expertise. Otherwise, why use it?

Having team members to "cover" the accessibility matter is a big reason for teams.

Bryant. I had assumed that you had your team up and running. I thought you had some buyer's agents. Keep trying.

france and Mark. I'm sure others have experienced the same. It's hard to get started in a new area.

Scott. That was one of my points. We are licensed alike. BTW, many of us do specialize and do not try to practice outside our specialities.

Barbara. Thanks.

Jeani. Agreed. Unless someone wants to write a book, awe shucks. Even when I read a book, I could often add content.

David. I was out all morning and afternoon. I noticed when I got in at 4:00 that this was featured. The comments are worth featuring

Julie. Good points. I believe that most "specialities" come from experience. IMO, that's the best training for specialities.

Buyers agency?? HA! That is often opportunistic. No listings? Listing not selling? Become a buyer's agent.

Loreena. Thank you for understanding that buyers agents aren't just bodies in a brokerage.

Lana. The team where some drop the ball is read about on AR from time to time.

Bruce. Perhaps I will. I could write another 100,000 words or so.

Lenn,

Fine post but the same could be said for individuals in real estate. There isn't additional required training for anyone with a license outside of the required hours of continuing education.

It's completely up to the indvidual how far they want to advance their training whether on a team or not. Guess what? Team or no team the majority of agents don't have enough training to put together the contracts that they do.

The perception of experience varies by individual. Where some agents believe a number of years in the business is equivalent to experience I tend to base it off the number of transactions.

Same with being a broker, it doesn't make them more qualified than your average sale person if they haven't had the same amount of experience in putting together certain types of contracts.

Teri. You make a good point. I only accept a very few buyers at a time. Usually only one at a time. Everyone else I refer to my "team" or "network".

Greg. Thanks for the chuckle. That is always welcomed.

Brian. You are entitled to your opinion. However, I go with experience and with a broker for starters. It's certainly a better starting point than one with little experience. That's my experience.

Designations mean little... when one can sit in a 6 hour class and become a "Short Sale Specialist" without having ever completed one... obviously the designation by itself doesn't mean much.

I love the post and the comments were even more enlightening. There are some here in Chicago that classify themselves as a "team" or "group" but they are running solo. No assistance. I believe they are trying to impress or to get the business.

I have backup with another agent and I for her when she needs the help. We run our own course of business but for now ... it is working. However, when paperwork gets heavy, a virtual assistance for a couple days does come in handy. I learned that here, on Active Rain.

Steve Heydel's comment resonates with me. The downside of a team is when the big name farms out people to a subordinate and then disappears. If someone commits to my company on the strength of my reputation, I have to be accessible and involved.

thank you there is a lot of valuable info here. sometimes it is not a team at al. But one super star and a bunch of admin people. - Lis. however

I belong a Team of six but we are more family than a team often finishing each others sentences. Four of us have been together 10 years or more. The others have been in the business a minium of five years that is what is required by the leader. I may be bias but we really are the best and each buyers agent specializes in a different area.

Lenn:

I'm not very fond of the team concept in my small corner of the world. I often find that the "team member" sent to meet the appraiser (me) is usually the most junior or inexperienced team member who is frequently under-prepared or over-prepared (a lot of data without a lot of analysis or relevance).

@ Meriam - IMO, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and you were given the credit that you were due. You should find something more important to get upset about.

Lenn: What a great, thought-provoking post! I agree that in many cases, the terms "expert" and "specialist" are used much too freely. When I first started in Real Estate, my broker told me "if you say you're an expert, then you are an expert". Yikes...I was nowhere near being an expert! I am part of a husband/wife team, so the fee splits works for me! :)

I don't think the consumers really care actually. They just want to see the house that's listed no matter who opens the door.

Your assessment seems very fair. I would love to sit with you face to face and pick your brain on your model! Too bad we live a country away!

Lenn - In general, I agree with you the expert and specialist titles are used freely without much concern. My husband and I are the only members of our team. He focuses just on commercial real estate, which I'm sure you'll agree has little in common with residential real estate. I do mostly residential, but since I work with investors, I end up in some commercial transactions. I do feel I'm an expert in my geographic area of 1.3 square miles. However, when my area became "hot" for a brief point in time at the peak of the market, there were more "Black Rock specialists" than you could shake a stick at. I felt embarassed to call myself that for a while.

I know that others consider me an expert now because I get called in to price homes even if a seller plans to list with another agent. It doesn't bother me, because I consider it an honor that both agents and sellers want to know how I would price a property before they put it on the market and every now and then, someone who planned to list with another agent decides to list with me. Calling yourself an expert or specialist doesn't make it so. Others have to bestow that label upon you.

I am so glad I am subscribed to your blog, Lenn......

ALL teams should have designated specialists that

ARE TRAINED........ just saying you are a specialist
in a certain area does NOT prove what you are saying as such...

What classes have you taken and did you have to pass a test to
get the designation?

If not..... YOU ARE NOT.......

(And "real life" is sometimes different than class situations you
learn from....... go figure....hehehehe)

;-)

Great insight Lenn. As you know, those titles are for the public.

Thank you for this fun and informative post! Excellent work. I appreciate it.

Lenn, while I know Missy's team is great, I have experienced some very dysfuctional 'teams.' For one thing, they tend to be in brokerages where there is little training, and many senior team members turn over the communication to fairly new agents with limited experience, or you have to go through their assistant every time you want to reach them.

RE : "Honey, did you find an agent to help us today?"

"Yes Dear, I called the listing agent for the house we saw on the Internet and they are going to have the Buyers Agent on their team contact us."

Consumers are misled and confused every day by real estate licensees, on purpose I might add. Any person licensed as a salesperson or sales associate is NOT an agent. To be an agent is to have an agency relationship with a principal.

Furthermore the team concept is just another way for salesperson licensees to confuse and mislead consumers about whom represents who in real estate transactions.

Many times teams just have newbies that they pass off the lower paying clients to.

I agree with Russ above, I see a lot of new agents become the 'buyers agent' for a team.

Cheers Lenn !

Sheldon

Lenn,

I think that's very short sighted to bias toward a broker for the sake of them being a broker. I know brokers who have very little experience working in this market. Being a broker and having experience are two totally different things.

In some cases it only means they took the time to sit an extra 90 hours of class. It's like the guy who touts 10 years experience and has only ever sold 10 houses. If you go by the number of years in business it look significant, but it you look at the number of transactions, I know people in their first year who could run circles around them.

Lenn... Having or being on a team can have it's advantages if everyone works together. I used to have a team and was responsible for providing leads for my team members. Now they were to also seek business on their own as well.

There are questions on how teams work or should work all the time. Personally I think a well formed team is great !

NOV

Teams here are unusual - our little town is pretty small. I am not sure that I would be welcome on a team - I work hard for a lot of different folks, but some people - I just won't work for them. Might be a little too picky to work on a team.

And I am not kidding when I tell people "don't call me in August". It is about 117 degrees and I get really grumpy and lazy.

It seems lately that I have a case of deja vous.....I keep reading the same posts over and over again.

Teams, well there are many sides to the equation as evidenced by the comments? I especially like the team of 10 that puts out their numbers as the team leader selling more homes than anyone else in the city (whatever that is)...and it's 10 people putting their numbers into the pot...against the lone agent who probably outproduces most of them individually. YES sometimes we in the industry are responsible for the confusion consumers feel about us.

Yes Lenn, but you have more knowledge than any company combined in real estate.

Great topic. I addressed this subject from a different angle in one of my earlier posts. Teams are formed to create advantage for its members. I see no harm with that objective. What I find objectionable is this, when an agent forms a team and hires sub-agents who cede control of all their prospects and potetential client, then the team leader is given credit for the outstanding production. To say, "I am America's Top Producing Realtor for 20 years in a row, with a yearly closing of $500M," for example is misleading and an outright lie. This statement should always be qualified by the number of team members that facilitated this kind of production.

I think one of the best example of a team is Bob Wolff out of Southern California. I think he has three assistants, one each for both sides of transaction and an computer expert. I think his yearly production is over $100M

Lane. Good point. To receive a designation, one should at least have completed a transaction or two in that specialty. Sadly, the designations are really purchased, not necessarily earned. That said, the class I sat for Investment RE for the CRS was conducted by an informed and informative gentleman. I learned a lot. That said, I don't work with investment buyers or sellers so. . . . .

Barb V. Many teams are no more than two agents. But, if it offers better service for the consumer, no reason why all cannot benefit.

J. Philip. Indeed. We have some team leaders here who are "leaders" in name only. However, it's a marketing strategy in that case and it works.

Janet. Right you are. Team to me means more than one agent either with different specialties or who share the management of contracts.

Joyce. I have something like that. One of the specialities of the brokers and agents in my network is geographical. However, our customer and client base are all home buyers. So, geography is the big difference.

Jesse. You hit a hot button there. IMO, one of the most neglected skills of many agents and brokers is property valuation. Appraisers, I'm sure, deal with that on a daily basis. Sadly, the brokers fall down in making sure that their agents can provide good valuation and then meet and work with the appraiser to get the job done.

Barbara. Agreed. There are few real experts in real estate practice since agents will too often take on anything that their personal promotion brings along.

Tamara. That is the most accurate thing I've read here. Folks keep telling me how they market themselves, design their web pages, etc. I keep telling them that all the consumer wants is to look at homes for sale.

Renee. It's a world away isn't it?? My brokerage model is unique but it didn't spawn overnight. It took years to build. Years.

Gail. I personally would be reluctant to provide valuation estimates for consumers or agents without a relationship to reduce the risk. But, I'm sure that your networking in this manner is productive.

You're right. Depending on the "catastrophe of the month" in the real estate industry, experts spring up overnight. It's comical how so many became "short sale experts" so suddenly.

Alexander. I'm glad you subscribed to my blog too. You're right, claiming expertise doesn't make it so. I consider this a broker failure across the board in our business. Brokers should be monitoring their agents' advertising. They are not.

Kyle. Thank you for stopping by.

Frank and Sharon. That is a failure of many busy agents. I've experienced (cursed it) many times.

Larry. Are you sure? Any sales person licensee is first and foremost an "agent" of their broker. Where I draw the line is the difference between customer and client. Far too many abuse the term "client". I hear it regularly, "My client, my client" when, in fact, they've never met the person and have no relationship beyond making an appointment to show a perperty for sale.

Sheldon. Agreed. For me, the term "buyers agent" means something when you are working with a buyer or managing a contract for a buyer. We do have "presumed buyer agency" in my area, but the title doesn't take effect until there is a buyer involved.

That said, when disclosure of agency relationships became law in MD, the BOR stores offered little stickers "Buyers Agent" to apply to one's card. Sellers had to be put on notice that you were a buyers agent. I do have "Buyers Agent" on my card because that's all I do.

Roland. Indeed, it can work. I too was always the person "bringing in the business" and selecting agents to work with the buyers or sellers.

Virginia. I must confess that I too would have a hard time working on a team, UNLESS I were the team leader. Of course, as soon as someone can bring more expertise and business, they can take over and I'll go fishing.

Damon. I haven't.

Terrylynn. I see a lot of that too. One agent or broker gets the MLS credit for the SOLDs of all their team members and collects the credits in the yearly association rankings.

Jim. Not really. Sometimes I believe that I have just scratched the service. I learn every day.

C Lloyd. We have examples of that here too. The "Top Producers" are seldom representing clients, but bringing in business and taking the credit for the sales. However, they earn that privilege by hard work and ingenuity. It's not accidental that other licensees are part of their team. They want to be there for the percentage of the commission they keep when they make a sale.

Brian Brumpton wrote:

Brian. This is a recurring theme of your comments to my posts.

Clearly you're still miffed because I prefer to refer business to brokers. There are many reasons. Yes, I'm looking for experience and seeking a broker is the only way of knowing that an out of town licensee has any time in business which usually means experience in contract management. Local folks I can research. Out of town folks I cannot. The one thing that recommends licensees for referrals is a broker's license. If the broker doesn't sell, they will know good agents to recommend. Credentials mean something.

Brokers' licenses are not a gift, they are earned through many hours of study, classroom instruction and experience. Your constant bashing of brokers ignores the fact that it is the brokers who make the investment in creating the "brokerages" giving new licensees a vehicle through which to start their real estate business.

By your analalogy, a new licensee should be able to take a course of instruction, pass a test and then begin to offer their services with no broker responsibility or supervision. Does it happen? Sure, but rarely and that is not the intent of "broker supervision" as required by the laws of our state real estate commissions.

Sure an agent can take a 90 hour course and pass a test and become a "broker". Fact is, that former agent DID take the 90 hour course and DID pass the test to become a broker. The million or so sales persons who did NOT take the 90 hour course and did NOT pass the test are not in a position to judge the relative merits or value of supervising brokers and individuals who stake their reputation and capital on the actions of the agents whose licenses they hold.

So you know folks in their first year who can "run circles around them". So what??? First of all, I doubt that many first year agents can even qualify a buyer or value a property, let alone exceed the knowledge, experience and brokerage foundation of the average broker.

For decades I worked as an agent of various brokers. As a "working in the trenches" agent and now broker, I have a tremendous respect for agents. However, the risk takers, the brokers deserve some respect too.

The states, each in their own way, through their legislature, have determined that a broker's license has to be earned. It cannot be purchased. Sales Persons who have not made the committment in time and money to earn the ability to call themselves BROKER and who have not taken the risks of supervising and offering a position in their brokerages to agents, have no quarter to constantly harp about the lack of value of the title BROKER.

Christi and I work as a team, we have an LLC duly recorded, and have had from the get go. We work well together, but neither of us claims to be an expert in any of the XYZ categories. We simply decided when we began to pursue this excellent profession to work together and share the load. We did so well together teamed as teachers, we though that we would bring that cohesiveness to our real estate practice.

After having taken and passing the GRI, I realized that the best way to look at those designations, is to take what I can use, and ditch the rest. After all, so many of those classes don't really teach what they profess to teach. But they are great for getting the continuing education requirements, and there are some insightful nuggets to keep from those classes.

But you are talking about those other teams. Some work well, some don't. I've encountered a few, and as some of your commenters have already pointed out, it appears that new agents tend to be recruited to some these teams and foisted upon the unknowing consumers as "experts."

Lenn....thought I'd check back on yesterday's posting.....it keeps on growing!!! my two cents worth:

in the past 30 years, I've had many opportunities to hang my own shingle(I have a broker's license, not a salesman's....was granted that upfront in the 70's in Ma.)....I opted to manage offices and open offices for owners instead.....never had the constitution for the financial liability involved.....all broker/owners deserve stripes up and down their arms....the one statement that NEVER leaves MY mind is "the negligent acts of the agent are binding on the master, when done on the masters business and within the scope of the agents authority"......that's enough to scare the b'jesus out of my becoming a broker/owner!!!!

Dedra. Good insight. New agents, whether working alone or as a team, need a lot of help. A team can be good for that.

Barbara. As many know, I divested myself of all agent licenses on Jan. 1 2007. The risk was interfering with business generation. Brokers are not to be demeaned just because some agent are more skilled that some brokers.

amen!!!! # 36. No more need to be said. Lenn your great and i love your posts. Thanks again for sharing Barbara

Hi Lenn -- Great elucidation of a team. Every buyer and seller should know this to de-mystify and remove the hype from an agent's perspective. While I know teams can work, more often than not, in my personal experience, they do not. Communication becomes much harder when it sometimes has to travel up the chain to someone who can actually make the decision or has the information.

I hoped NAR would provide guidelines and better yet "requirements" for claiming a specialty or certification but currently they don't. I am so tired of people taking a 3 hour class that doesn't even qualify for CE credit and now the are the self proclaimed "Certified Expert".

Some of the large teams are also tempting the edges of real estate brokerage laws since they hire "buyers agents" and pay them out of the transactions completed and yet in Idaho all commissions are supposed to be paid by the Brokerage. Their team names can not be found anywhere except in their own marketing (no filings with the Secretary of State, no business listings in the phone books, etc.)

To #7: I have not read ALL these responses but yours made me stop reading to respond. I seriously DOUBT there are any/many "new" topics ever here on AR. With 160,000 members and thousands and thousands of posts... come on. This took the fun out of AR for you????? Many times I riff off someone else's. I just wrote a post after reading Debe Maxwell's featured post. She didn't whine about it. Geez.

You know the old saying...'The proof is in the pudding.' If a team and their agents are portraying themselves as specialists in a particular aspect of real estate and they don't really deliver on the goods, they seem to fizzle pretty fast.

Lenn,

First and foremost I'm not "broker bashing" in any way shape or form. Achieving your broker's license requires some work. The point is designations and licenses don't make up for a lack of experience.

Usually yes, it means they've have a certain level of experience, but not in every case. I always take on a personal responsibility to the people I refer and feel I owe it to them to investigate the person I'm referring to.

For instance in a short sale situaion. I don't want to know if you're a broker, I want to know how many short sales you've successfully closed and your methodology.

Brian and Miriam, I completely agree. Lynn has been doing this for several years now. Commenting on another agents blog, bashing the team approach (which has been around for years). If it is an agent in her market area...look out. Everyone is still waiting on something positive from her instead of always negative.

Lynn, lets try something new for once.

Lenn, Comments were at 55 when I last commented. This has really been a great thread you have going here. It always amazes me how passionate some people get if you don't see eye to eye with them, but it has been real interesting to read!

Concerning broker experience (#86 & 94 among others): I agree that there are some brokers without a lot of experience. There are even some that do not practice real estate much. But, as a general rule of thumb I think that practicing brokers, especially those that have a CRB designation, have been committed enough to put in additional time and education and are more likely to do a better job than the average agent.

As always great post!

Hi Lenn - I have read [most] of the comments posted here. Here is what I think: I like the team concept. It gives older and wiser agents a chance to earn more money. It gives younger agents a chance to learn valuable experience under a "mentor".

As far as looking at this from the client's standpoint, I would most likely want to find out more from the team leader. I would make sure that they are overseeing the process in a very hands-on sort of way. I would want to be certain that if any problems were to arise, I could be in contact and have the direct guidance of the team leader.

I like the whole mentor-mentee process and think it provides a good service all the way around.

Oh and please feel free to reblog me anytime! : )

I"m not sure about the agent who has new construction subdivisions who picks up buyers driving through the neighborhood and assignes them to a buyers agent on their team!!

Is that buyers agent really working for the buyer, will they recommend a home inspection that may cost the builder a bunch of grief and dollars?

Will they go head to head with the listing agent (who feeds them the leads) to get the best possible price for that buyer?

I think not.

Other than that I have no problem with teams....full disclosure.

NOV

I have a loose confederation of agents/brokers, nothing that could be named a team.

However, I have been thinking about gathering a "team," and this gives me a lot to think about.

"TAKING a cue from successful medical practices"

That's interesting... Does that suggest it's the same concept of going to see a Dr., hanging out at the practice for two hours, seeing a Dr. for an actual 15 minutes and getting hit with a $3,000 bill? LOL!

I think "Taking a cue from big law firms" would have been a better analogy.

Whatever works best for the actual client. Real estate teams in Las Vegas are old news and have been around as far as I can remember...

Some are great... some are nothing but new agents headed by a savvy one. The only issue I have with teams is when the "I" is used in advertising insane sales numbers that no individual agent could possibly do.

I've had to explain the concept to more then one client when they see the "I sold 300+ homes last year" (and did not see a fraction of them)or a Gazilion in real estate...

Unfortunately... the NYT article fails to mention anything about this...

Lenn, after further thinking (as mentioned, adding a buyers agent) if this person is advertised as a "buyers agent", the disclosure really has to go beyond a "here's the agency disclosure- sign" as is common in this area. Nope- no team advertising- just a buyers agent who will very carefully explain to buyers the reality of buying an in house listing absent their own representation. If a "sub group" of a large brokerage advertises a "buyers agent", they'd better be limited to exactly that, and be disallowed from showing listings held in house altogether, at the risk of false advertising. If I have a dislike of the team approach, it's that: the "buyers agent" of the group had better be very, very careful about explaining beyond the normal disclosure, because it creates a very real likelihood that a buyer will assume that they're represented, when they are most definitely NOT on an in house deal (ANY listing- not just "team" listings). I have yet to see a website generated by large volume listing companies provide that disclosure to a public that's viewing properties- to the contrary, it's, "Call one of our agents" with no forewarning- bad plan for NY buyers. I may have swerved off course, but thank you for provoking the thought! While we don't have the # listings by a long shot that these "teams" often do, it only takes one listing to provoke a lawsuit- backed by advertising for a "buyers agent" isn't good, absent up front disclosure. Maybe I'm overly paranoid.

Hi Lenn what a wonderful educational post. I have read through almost 3/4 of the comments and certainly will finish reading them. This is an interesting read for me. I am from a small market area and an even smaller team area ...( three teams ), although they are slowly catching on. It seems around here " team " is used for marketing...two for the price of one.".

In some situations...both agents are part time agents with other full time jobs and most often neither one can be reached..for feedback or appointments....just.another marketing tool used to obtain listings. Just MHO

Your blog is so factual and important for consumers and agents to read....Thank you

Wow...got here late...

I loved the comment thread...and even though it went off topic.... about writing about the same topic...it was still worthwhile reading about different opinions.

Regardless if there's a team ..there has to be experience involved. I know of a team here....who gets all the newbies on their team and it certainly is for one purpose only. Yuk.

On the other hand I know of teams, duos and such that bring a lot to our industry here.

Each individual is just that...an individual...titles do not make a good agent....

Barbara. Thanks. The comments are great.

Chris. Indeed. Most teams of which I'm aware have a team leader. One team that I refer listing in Loudoun County to is a three agents team with one as the team leader because she's a broker. Works for them.

Jim. P. There are very clear rules in MD and VA about these matter too but rarely considered by the team members.

Erica. Just more information and great conversation. Food for thought throughout these posts.

Tarris. My observation is that the teams fall apart because some don't bring in enough to pay their way. Or, they don't carry their weight with showings, inspections, etc.

Julie. Unless someone has their own blog and covers every facet of a subject, there are always going to be other ideas.

Joyce & Terry. Thanks.

Emily. The mentor system can be very helpful for new agents. However, I believe that I prefer that a broker train their agents. That's where the responsibility lies and the risk.

Emily. Will do. I like the reblog and I always write a lengthly introduction - agreeing or not.

David O. Full disclosure is the key to all agency matters.

Christine. Glad to inspire you. I have a "network" of agents and brokers to whom I refer business.

Paul F. I have explained that to consumers many times. One broker and 20 agents and all the listings are in the broker's name. Mmmmmmm.

Laurie. Anytime a buyer contacts a listing agent, the risk goes up exponentially.

June. I know some "teams" that are two and some that are 10 or more. In my experience, it's either a few agents pooling their resources of money and time, OR, a broker with a number of agents that work on his team.

Sally That can never be forgotten. Each licensee is responsible for his or her own practices.

I have a "team" in that I am the broker. I have an assistant, and several Buyer Agents.

I find that TEAM is highly dependent on the quality of the LEADER and his/her systems.

Poor leader, poor team. In my office we do try to segregate work loads, but we also cover for each other. Nobody is ever HANDED OFF,

I like this comment, "Has that "Buyers Agent" managed a significant number of contracts representing buyers to have any claim to experience?"

In my experience, buyer's agents are in-experienced, and work as a buyer's agent because they don't get enough business and need to "feed off of" someone that has "Extra" business, someone that likes to focus on listings. Otherwise I think a two or three person would likely be FAR more effective than a listing agent with 5-7 "Feeders"

NOV

Erica. That's generally the model.

Steve. You make a very good point. However, there are many agents/brokers who specialize in marketing brokerage services and have a "team" or "network" of agents/brokers to work directly with the consumer. That's my model (this year).

However, the general model in the past 10 years has been list, list, list and then if a buyer (not co-op represented) enters the picture through sign call, IDX, etc., "hand them off" to a Buyer's Agent.

Those of us who specialize in buyer representation know the difference.

Lenn, you asked if I am sure. I'm never really totally sure of anything. However as I look at the Maryland legislation it contains the words "affiliate" and "affiliated" for salesperson licensing. The legislation definitely states that the client relationship is with the brokerage. That is the basis of the principal - agent relationship in law.

"Affiliate" means, unless the context requires otherwise, to establish between an individual and a real estate broker an employment or other contractual relationship under which the individual is authorized to provide real estate brokerage services on behalf of the real estate broker.

If the applicant is applying for a real estate salesperson or associate real estate broker license, the applicant shall submit to the Commission adequate evidence that the applicant has obtained, from a licensed real estate broker, a commitment providing that the applicant shall become affiliated with the licensed real estate broker as a real estate salesperson or an associate real estate broker on the granting of a real estate salesperson license or an associate real estate broker license to the applicant.

While an associate real estate broker or real estate salesperson license is in effect, it authorizes the licensee to provide real estate brokerage services on behalf of a licensed real estate broker: (i) who is named in the license certificate of the associate real estate broker or real estate salesperson; and (ii) with whom the associate real estate broker or real estate salesperson is affiliated. (2) An associate real estate broker or real estate salesperson license does not authorize the licensee to provide real estate brokerage services on the licensee's own behalf or on behalf of any person other than a licensed real estate broker named in the license certificate of the associate real estate broker or real estate salesperson.

(a) (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a licensed real estate broker may utilize as an independent contractor, employ, or otherwise contract with a licensed real estate salesperson or a licensed associate real estate broker to provide real estate brokerage services on behalf of the licensed real estate broker. (2) A real estate broker may not provide real estate brokerage services through any other individual unless the individual is licensed as an associate real estate broker or real estate salesperson to provide real estate brokerage services on behalf of the real estate broker. (b) Any individual, including a licensed associate real estate broker, who provides real estate brokerage services on behalf of a real estate broker shall be considered a real estate salesperson with respect to the provision of those services. (c) (1) A real estate broker shall exercise reasonable and adequate supervision over the provision of real estate brokerage services by any other individual, including an independent contractor, on behalf of the broker. (2) The requirement of paragraph (1) of this subsection applies regardless of the manner in which the individual who provides the services is affiliated with the real estate broker on whose behalf the services are provided.

Larry. I didn't mean that the "Real Estate Salesperson" which is what the license says in Maryland is the "agent" of the broker in a literal sense. All Salespersons must affiliate with a broker.

In our area, the word "affiliate" is used to identify title companies, lenders, etc. that are affiliated with brokers making the RESPA notice required.

When a Salesperson is hired by a consumer, the Salesperson or Associate Broker becomes the agent of the broker to perform real estate brokerage services for the consumer.

Of course, you're correct, in the litteral sense, the Salesperson is the affiliate of the broker.

HA. Call us what you will, the consumer will always call us "my agent", whether we are or not.

NOV

Lenn, many years ago when California licensing was less stringent and only one class was required for licensing there were several training companies and a couple of real estate companies that promised their three day real estate class would allow a passed test. One of the real estate companies was advertising their expertise at the same time they were running ads for their three day classes. We joked about 24 hour real estate experts.

But real estate was MUCH less complicated back then.

Today, if I was a real estate agent I would build a group of really qualified specialists including an excellent attorney, title person and of course a super qualified lender, a mini me :o). They would be the best of the best without regard to company affiliation.

NOV

Bill L. While this post is specific to real estate agent teams in a brokerage, your comment is important.

I do have such a team for my brokerage. I retain two attorneys, one for general business matters and copyright enforcement and another for MD contract and license law matters. I also have a title attorney I can call on when needed. My home inspector is a jewel and answers specfic questions for me even when not on a home inspection. I have a selection of lender specialists depending on the type of loan our buyers need, FHA, Conventional, VA, USDA, 203(k), etc.

It is important for real estate practioners to know the limits of their practice.

Mmmmm. I'm inspired by your comment. I might write something about that one of these days.

Lenn, People who take the time to shed their ego and idenitify experts then rely on their advice are the stars of our industry. Thanks, any time I am able to inspire, even a little, it is a good day. I will look forward to your article.

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