The Roller Coaster of Movin' On

Believe it or not, this is not a post about my clients moving from one place to another.

Nah.   This is about a move I made.  Just yesterday, in fact.  I've been thinking about it for a long time and "doing the deed" really involved me getting out of my comfort zone. 

I changed Brokers.

I'm still a RE/MAXer.  I like the RE/MAX system, the brand identification and all that. I was just getting tired of the franchise I was with.   The Broker, like most Brokers, I suppose, was feeling the pinch of the downturn in the market.  Agents were leaving either to quit the business or to go to one of the discount desk fee places that are looking to lure in bodies with low costs.

I'm sure his income was down but when he started to cut expenses - and he was never one to spend a lot of money in the first place - he really cut to the bone.  Gone were all the support staff except one person who had been with him for years and years. The decor, what there was of it, made some of my clients 1960s style furnishings look positively contemporary.

I've always been pretty independent.  I left an office in the office behind a long time ago and have been working from home for years only to use the office for meeting clients and occasionally to use the high speed copier for the 40+ page contracts we need to distribute to everybody and their brother.  But still....

So when a lot of my Realtor buddies started telling me about this great RE/MAX franchise with offices scattered around a couple of counties I thought I'd take a closer look.  Of course, it helped that our office manager "defected" to the other franchise months ago and kept asking me to "get together for a cup of coffee".

So I took the tour and got flattered and cajoled.  It worked.  I decided to make the move.

I was nervous, though.  It's expensive to go from one place to another.  All the marketing stuff like signs and cards and stationery.  The transfer fees for my license, County Realtor Association membership and the rest.   Plus, I had to tell my existing Broker I was l leaving and ask him to transfer my listings to the new one.

It all worked out, though.  The old Broker was "disappointed", asked me to stay and then signed the transfer forms and shook hands.

I went from being excited to nervous to not being able to sleep to second guessing my decision to wondering if the old Broker was going to hold my listings to, finally, relief that everything is done except telling all my clients and friends.  That's next on the list.