We did not start out with RE/MAX.  We made our rounds like most agents do when they first get licensed.  It is more than choosing a Brokerage, the owners have to be cut from a substance that is similar in nature to what you are made of.

Having said that, RE/MAX of Santa Clarita and RE/MAX of Valencia are one in the same.  John and Alice O'Hare are the owners.  I must start by saying that I appreciate and believe in the RE/MAX business model.  Their (RE/MAX's) book "Everybody Wins"is a must read.  But from what I can tell not all Offices and owners are the same.  That pertains to the Real Estate Industry in General.  The Brokerage can control the specific office to a point.  But there is a lot that is not within the site of the Corporate CEO's and the top-hat management.

These are some of the reasons for you to do your investigations of the owners of companies.  You can run them through the state and inquire about their license status as brokers.  You can also go further with your due diligence and see about how they performed when they were just regular Realtors (in the re-sale market).

However, you might be applying for a company that is owned by someone that has not done their time in the trenches.  What a valuable resource and a much more advantageous experience is it to be working for someone that remembers what it was to door knock, get those doors slammed in their face, someone that understands rejection and the other agents in the industry from a more or less equal point of view. 

With LAPD and Motors I can draw a parallel with the Tried and True Motor Cops.  Everyone that Makes Motor Assignment has a difficult rope to tow.  They have to first pass an oral where their citation recap, arrest history, complaint history and ability to work unsupervised is viewed under a microscope.  Where one might think Volume of Citations is what is preferred, what actually is looked at in regard to Citations is the quality.  What different sections have been written.  Were the citations "Crap" or were they good citations that had the violators doing wild and crazy things that would endanger the others that were either driving or walking? 

Here is the Parallel, with owners of Real Estate companies that have not served their time in the trenches and Motor Supervisors that have not rode in field enforcement.  Sometimes, not too often, we have supervisors that make motors without having ever rode a motorcycle as a Motorcycle Officer. So, in the 115 degree heat of the San Fernando Valley, when you are trying to write quality citations, having a 35lb hefty bag strapped to your chest (Kevlar) and 26 lb motor boots, and double thick 100% wool breeches and Shirt, when your collar, at the end of the shift is caked with Salt from sweat, chasing many violators in and out of traffic, getting on and off a hot Motorcycle, having your kick stand sink into the asphalt, it is quite an experience.  You have a man or woman that has not had a chance to experience everything that goes with being a regular enforcement Motor cop.  The ins and outs, the insults, the jokes, the ridicule, the attempting to work with others that have chosen a very dangerous assignment. 

I must say in closing that at RE/MAX of Santa Clarita I am part of a great company under fantastic ownership which I have seen with my very eyes this has been tested and the owners have stood firm.  This is in relation to agents, no matter where there earning level with the company, they were told to leave when they continually caused problems and broke rules that embarrassed their clients, the company, its agents, or the brand of being a Realtor. 

*****DISCLAIMER  Finally, I worked with a couple of motor Sergeants that were fantastic in their position.  They also were ones that did not or had not worked in a field enforcement assignment on Motors prior to being assigned to Motors as supervisors.  Not the Rule of Thumb, but an example of an exception.  I am sure that exists to some degree at some of the other real estate companies out there.  Where the owners were brokers from the beginning and bought into the company and have performed fantastically!

How is your Real Estate Company - What do they do for you???