THIS IS MY FIRST OF MANY BLOGS ON ACTIVE RAIN AND THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY. I WILL BEGIN WITH MY STORY, SO YOU KNOW WHERE IM COMING FROM WHEN I WRITE IN THE FUTURE!
So as I begin to write about my journey, my experiences in Lending and Residential Brokerage, my research, my knowledge, and some day to day occurrences at ReLogic, I thought back to one defining moment: Business Plan 2004!!!!!
January 2004: Downtown Denver, 17th and Market. Kirk Lautensleger (COO, ReLogic) and Daniel Diaz (me, now CSO ReLogic) are running Maxim Financial Lending, a Branch of one of the state's largest Correspondent Mortgage Banks. Every year a smart business owner (or young and unbridled) writes or updates their business plan. Little did I know I would stumble upon an idea that was to be a benchmark how real estate was to be bought and sold in years to come. May I present to you "The Rebate"!!!!!!
Rebate, Refund......sharing my commission, whatever you want to call it. So I was running the business as an active Loan Officer and Manager of Loan Officers, I also held my Real Estate License dating back to my Commercial Real Estate days at Prudential in Denver, CO. As I had my expertise in both Brokerage and Mortgage Banking, My business plan called for a one stop shop. After I identified who my target audience was (I ran mostly a referral Network Plan and some Internet lead buy), it was clear to me that if I was to run a one stop shop, one of my value ads to my clients was to beat the competition on Price. What????? What???? Beat people on price as Realtor. Yeah, that concept was fine in Lending. Hell I lost money on deals to get clients in the door. I paid to get loans done. But NOBODY BUDGES ON PRICE WHEN YOUR ACTING AS A REALTOR! NOBODY??? RIGHT???? WRONG!!!!!
Well I do, and did. I Called the commission, read the commission's stance on discounting services for my buying clients, and I COULD REBATE A PORTION OF MY COMMISSION BACK TO MY BUYER'S. DONE. If my clients chose the Ol' Daniel Diaz Maxim Financial One Stop Shop Platform, they paid a half point to close their loan with me and I rebated half my commission to them from the Real Estate Brokerage!!!!!!!!! Eat your heart out Redfin, Buyside Realty, and Zip Realty! I have been rebating for years!!!! Call me, lets do lunch. HA
And to the traditional agents out there, well I figured out a way to perform more than full service for half the price, all the while making a healthy margin. I showed up to closing with a check for their mortgage (Yep, we funded our own loans from our warehouse line) and a rebate check for around $5,000. Now thats tough to compete with!
So in Denver Real Estate and in my little niche and my little world, the REBATE was born. Was here to stay. And was going to be fundamental in my life going forward!
My clients loved it and I kept giving it to them. Until I just couldn't take it anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stay tuned......NEXT, I fast forward to April 2005. I'll tell you how how dreams are made. Literally!
From Daniel Diaz, CSO, ReLogic
P.S. Kudos to you full service agents that work more than 40 hours a week, that return phone calls, that put the client's needs before yours. Thanks for keeping up your end of the bargain!!!!
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