A recent comment by Endre Barath, Jr. on this posting, Remember This Sales Axiom, had me ponder even more about an article I had read that provided 24 reasons why belonging to a mega real estate team was beneficial to real estate agents. One of the most interesting statistics was that over three out of four team members had a positive experience working in a team environment.
I wonder how many property sellers or buyers would share that same feeling not to mention other real estate agents who have worked with mega real estate team?
From my experience and other local real estate agents I consider colleagues as well as clients, many of the 24 points are not present here in NW AZ, Mohave County as well as other states.
First, the training of team members is poor to mediocre from compliance to legal documents. Dirt Road Real Estate has expanded recently with three new team members from other brokerages with “teams” and learned more in one month about real estate than their previous tenures. The suggestion that a newly licensed real estate agent would benefit from a team has not been my experience.
Another point was mega teams offer visibility. Dirt Road Real Estate is visible here in Mohave County first because of its name and more importantly how this boutique real estate brokerage came to be. The founders actually traveled the dirt roads because local agents did not want to get their vehicles dirty, didn’t want to travel 40 plus miles to locate property, on less than traveled dirt roads (which I call cow trails) etc.
I truly “loved” point four as to acquiring leads. Most of my leads come from signs along the dirt roads or from referrals from past clients, friends and colleagues. Yes, I have bought some leads and discontinued that when I realize the quality of the leads were poor and many were just “tire kickers.” Also, I do very, very little social media postings.
Reason Six was camaraderie. This reason speaks to the culture of the organization. Here at Dirt Road Real Estate, we consider ourselves a work family. We support each other and look to what is best for our clients first and foremost. Additionally, our agents are active in the local real estate association as well as other organizations. Some of my best friends are real estate agents from other brokerages.
Another point was about focus and suggesting by having a team you can focus more on one aspect of your business. However, as Nina Hollander, Broker (another Active Rain member) stated, “real estate is belly to belly,” your buyer or seller belly to your belly. Yes, real estate transactions can be mountains of paperwork and as the contracted real estate agent that responsibility is yours and not some team member.
Systems were also mentioned. What this article failed to mention is no two real estate transactions are the same. I am continually updating my own process and supporting systems to be as efficient and effective as possible. Dirt Road Real Estate as a brokerage has its own systems including a CRM which are continually reviewed as well.
One of my biggest observations about teams is the lack of service. Communication is often tripled if not more. Call the real estate agent on the other side of the real estate transaction who tells you to call this or that team member who tells you they will call the seller or buyer or the agent. Teams slow down communication and often create miscommunication.
My sense is this article was written for large, city centered brokerage firms mostly located east of the Mississippi or on the West Coast.
With more citizens realizing the benefits of small businesses and that includes local independent real estate brokerages, teams may work in the big cities or far more populated areas. I do believe there is a competitive advantage for independent agents who may work for under a national brokerage, but not as a member of a team as well as those boutique real estate brokerages such as Dirt Road Real Estate, Mohave County, Kingman, AZ.
Feature Photo Courtesy of Pixabay.com
Any reproduction of Leanne M Smith’s blog for use by any AI or GAI, distribution or reproduction including but not limited to electronic newsletters e.g. PDF’s Internet sites or physical products e.g. newspapers, CDs without prior written permission and consent by me, Leanne M. Smith (Leanne Hoagland-Smith) is strictly prohibited.
Comments(4)