Many of the successful real estate teams in our area are the husband/wife team.  Some of the other teams have family members involved.  I remember going to a CRS class in New York City in 2005 and all of the agents that had high functioning teams were Husband/Wife; Parent/Child; Sister/Sister; you get the picture. 

What if you don't have any family in the area you work in?  You can choose friends...but many a good friend has been lost going into business with a long time friend.  The trick is to get people like you, same morals, same values, same customer service edict - but different skill sets!

We all know that you have to wear many different hats as an agent.  So find people who look better in some of those hats than you do!  Flexibility is one of the most important characteristics in developing a team - and when you are seeking to build a team with a bunch of control freaks - it is challenging to find that flexibility gene too.

I am envious that people have relatives to share their real estate practice - but perhaps should just be grateful that I can get away from it and have piece of mind while my partner is on watch!