You barely finished the class and passed the test to get your real estate license and now you have to make a big choice: who should be your broker? This choice is only complicated by the fact that most offices are going to want YOU! Being in the driver’s seat for an interview is a weird dynamic that only exists in the real estate industry. We are here to help you decide what you need in a broker and give you the questions you might want to ask in that very important interview. What size office is ideal? What should you look for if you are relocating to a new market? What is most important to consider? Splits, fees, coaching, admin, tech, advertising and LEADS! We are covering all of the variables that come up in choosing a broker. Yes, you can always change brokers later, but that is uncomfortable, time consuming and can be expensive and stressful, so let’s get it right the first time!
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00:00 Start
03:48 Switching brokers
11:53 How did you prepare for your broker interviews?
18:19 Splits and fees
31:13 # of agents in the office?
35:27 How involved are they?
42:20 Things to consider when you’re brand new.
44:24 Relocating interviews
46:41 Toast
The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.
0:01
Oh maybe it’s a huge problem. I feel like I want to say this to people sometimes. You can switch companies all you want but you can’t get rid of yours you’re still running
0:11
a business of one.
0:14
I cannot imagine life without
0:17
like they know you. Your spear the people you know probably don’t even realize where you are.
0:24
Guess what I am now with ABC Realty. Let me tell you why. No matter like my best friend, right? I’m here. Hi, y’all. Welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.
0:42
We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hi, Alisa. Hey, Katie. Welcome. It’s episode 194. And today we’re going to be choosing a broker. Wonderful, what an exciting time.
1:03
We got a late start to recording today because we were sifting through some questions that have been coming common questions, and we were trying to organize our thoughts into
1:15
admittedly my thoughts were not very organized into what episodes
1:19
should go where, right. So you’re in for a special treat the next four weeks because you’re gonna give them a little preview? I am. Okay. So we decided based on your questions that we would start today with how to choose a broker. Okay, maybe you are looking to switch we do have an episode on how to switch brokerage. That
1:41
is episode 56. Okay, great. 56. How should you change brokers?
1:45
Yes, so you can also listen to that one, but this one could also be helpful. Okay. And then the second next week will be? How did we word it?
1:56
If we had to do it all over again, if we had to do it all over again, if we restarted our business, what would we do different from zero? Yes. What would you do? Or maybe the same? Just what would you do? Sure. Okay. And then
2:10
the next episode will be about why we are so low. It’s our low
2:15
journey, our journey. Just a story about our journey.
2:20
Yes. Why we’re solo. How we came to be. Yeah, thanks. We have explored that maybe didn’t work out. Correct. And then we will end with part time versus full time side hustle. Yep. Like, what if you’re working as a realtor, but you need money now? Yeah.
2:40
What are some real estate specific side? hustles?
2:43
Right. Stay tuned that you won’t lose sight of the fact that you are a realtor. Correct? And you will, we have thoughts and you will have to wait
2:53
until thoughts and examples. Just stay tuned. Yes. Okay. So now everyone knows what’s coming. You coming soon? Again, Episode 56 Is the should you change brokers? And I do think that episode was very much rooted in mindset and talking about what is making you want to change brokers. And then here are the questions to ask yourself, and what do you need to do to decide if that’s really the answer to to improving your business? Right. Okay. The other one that you might want to go back to is Episode 26, which is everything we wished we knew before starting.
3:30
We do touch on interviewing brokerages and that episode, as well, if you need some more insight.
3:37
Yeah. And you’ve told us the story a couple of times now about realizing that you do the interviewing. Correct. So we’re gonna get there. Okay, so Well, let’s so where should we start? Oh, I’d like to start with some Okay, good. Okay, great. A number one you interviewed two brokers right three Okay, three brokers and chose one and have always been there for your whole 11 years right career. Yeah. Okay. So your frame of reference on this is good, it’s fine, but you didn’t move around a lot. I never know. Right? I interviewed two brokers in the beginning I selected one I quickly learned within three months that that was not a fit for me. Okay, I went to another small like boutique tiny tiny brokerage like five agents after that. Because I was about to quit so it was like I gotta make a change. Do I quit I haven’t sold anything is this the career for me three months in I don’t know I switched brokers. That was a great decision. And then that brokerage actually closed or I guess we’ll say merged or was acquired. Okay, ish. Buy a REMAX locally that was already open. So then I ended up at REMAX but I did not interview you know, it was more like I was staying with my current broker. Oh, almost in a sudo team vibe, because she was my broker and I was going with her, but I didn’t work under her as a team member. Okay, then 2020 I moved for the last time. So that’s correct for brokers in 17 years. Okay. And that move was maybe we’ll get into it a bit later was facilitated by just making some changes in how I wanted to run my business. Like what I wanted to affiliate with how I wanted to change my business expenses. Yeah. Because, you know, working at a big franchise can be costly. Sure. Okay. Now you can start. Oh, no, no, go.
5:39
Okay, okay. Um, yeah, I feel like whenever I started, I do want to tell the story again, I think you should, okay. When I first started real estate, I interviewed three brokerages. I was just getting out of grad school. And so I was coming from more of a corporate mindset. So job interviews were very present in my life at
6:01
that time, you were prepared to be interviewed? Yes, yeah. And my dad,
6:05
who was a real estate appraiser told me that they all want to hire you, you’re not really going to be interviewed as much as you are going to interview them, right? And I thought, Okay, that’s good to know, I really had to shift my mindset. So he said, you know, with with real estate, there is no salary, you’re like, Oh, you do not get paid. Now, you have to make it happen for yourself. If you sell something, whoever you work under gets a piece of the pie, right? So the more that they can have under them, the better they are. And if you sell nothing, it hurts them not. They don’t care. They don’t care, because they’re not paying you. Right. So that really helped me understand going into this, right. So I had set up three interviews. And the first one that I went to, was actually the opposite of what he had told me. It was a REMAX. And they were very kind, but they they helped me by saying, you know, we don’t really in this office do new agent, right? Because the people here have there, they’ve been in the business. They’re not here for training and support, because they have their own systems in place. Yeah. They just want to hang their hat on the name,
7:25
but you know, and the underlying issue of that is because it is it is super lucrative and REMAX is set up to accommodate like a a producing agent, a veteran type agent, which I like that but it is also expensive to be at a REMAX if you are not a producing agent. That is why they do not recruit the structure is not really ideal for a brand new agent.
7:49
And what’s interesting is that that is similar to how my company is now not in the fat. So my company is very new agent friendly. Yeah, but they don’t do a lot of recruiting. They don’t want to hire everyone, right? They aren’t looking for quantity over quality. They really like if you know, at the end of each year, if you haven’t sold a house at all, they might be having a chat with you about is this the best place for you. It’s obviously not working for you, right you to be successful, maybe somewhere else would be a better fit. Yeah. So I appreciated that I was given the truth. And I actually find them very similar to what how we are also on the experience agent side. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Then I went to Company Number two, and it was just very different, very exciting. Big numbers were discussed about what your potential income could be the sky’s the limit. Just all you know, so exciting. Yeah, sign here, sign here. And I really was like, like, it’s gonna be so fun. Yeah, this is going to be great. But I still had one more interview, which was with my broker that I’m with now. And when I sat down with her with Connie, who we have interviewed before, she immediately jumped in. I mean, I’m sitting in her chair as a single 22 year old, right? So she’s immediately jumping into Do you have savings? Can you support yourself financially? What is your plan, right? And she to this day is very adamant about having a business plan, treating it like a business. And I thought, yes, that this is clicking with me, right. I need to think of it this way. I’m not here to have fun. I mean, it is you know, but I’m here as a figuring out what I’m going to do with my life as a career, right? So I need to think about it as a business. What, how much money do I need to make? How many houses does it take to do that? And how do I get those clients right? So she was really the most was realistic, encouraging, but also like, this is what it’s going to take. Right? I think that that is what helped me be successful early. Yeah. Because anytime I had a disappointment happen, or a friend that didn’t use me or a family member that thought I was too young and didn’t use me, I remembered being like, she said this would happen and it is. Like it. I was prepared for it. I mean, it’s still sting sting. Yeah, but, um, I just felt like she set me up for what I needed to know. So that when the hard times came, yeah, I was. I knew that they were coming. I wasn’t blindsided, right, how hard those first three years were.
10:45
Do you think that you were a harder worker? Because she told you it took work? I do. I truly think that is the case. Like, yeah, she didn’t say, come here, rah, rah, and it’s gonna be great. You’re gonna make all this money. Easy peasy. She was like, this is hard. It’s going to be work in you. It’s not going to be immediate.
11:06
Sure. Okay. So I was like, Okay, well, that’s good to know. I was, you know, at that time, still bartending waiting tables and figuring out at what point I needed to let that go. And she was the one who was like, You need to figure out a number. And when you hit that number, when you cut it off, like she, I liked that our company doesn’t necessarily want you to be part time, right? Like, if you want to be part time, there’s plenty of other companies out there, that would be fine with that. Right? Right. Right. So she was like, It’s fine if we need to do this, but you need to have an exit plan. Yeah. Like, we’re not going to do this forever. If you want to be a realtor and actually make real money, then you’re gonna have to jump in at some point. And I was like, okay, okay. Okay. Right. And then we kind of had to get together with a plan on what that looks like.
11:58
Okay. How did you prepare for that interview? I know, it’s been kind of a minute. Did you have a list of questions?
12:04
I didn’t have a list of questions.
12:07
Because they’ve done it over and over again. So they will guide the interviewer and tell you what they want you to know.
12:13
Yes, but But that is why I think it’s important to know what you I didn’t I don’t think I really knew what I needed to add right at that time.
12:23
Okay. So good news, we’re going to share with the listeners what to ask. Okay, great, shall we? Should we jump into that? Or let’s go there. Okay, let’s do that. I also want to tell you that as we were preparing, and I was picturing myself as a new agent, if I was starting again, like, what would I look for in a company? I mean, honestly, I think the size is important. Being a small fish in a giant pond is not a good fit for me. Because when you’re low incompetence, and you don’t feel like you know what you’re doing, you’re not just gonna roll into an office of 200 people and be like, Yeah, I’m here, I’m happy to help. I’ll do your termite inspections for you, or I’ll run and do with some stagings, or I’m, I’m no, I’m going to be like shrinking in a corner. Feeling like so small, because you have to remember to some offices you show up into, or not welcoming you with open arms, you’re the competition, just because you just because you work in the same office doesn’t mean like they they want you to succeed. They’re like, Oh, another new agent, you know, like just another person who could possibly cross over my sphere or get an online lead that I was trying to, you know,
13:37
I actually, would you believe I never thought about that. I love that
13:41
your office is that type of place. But I think that the majority of agents would say that you encounter some feelings of resentment or within the competitiveness, yes. Wow. 100%. So when you show up to the office to be interviewed, don’t just pay attention to how the broker treats you, but maybe get a vibe off of the you know, who’s answering the phone? Are there some other agents in there? Are they like, thrilled to see you? Or are they kind of like, in their own space? Or do they look a little standoffish? I mean, like, this is going to be important, too, if you can assimilate yourself into the group, right. Sure. and be successful. So personally,
14:23
just like anything, though, especially, like, for example, the company I’m with is a large company, but it’s broken up locally. Yeah. And then we do we do big company events together. But the big thing for me was that at the time, when I started, we had the Monday morning meeting, yeah. And at the time, it was like six of us, right? Small room. It’s very with our broker every morning every Monday morning and went through everything and now that group is about 20. Okay, but out of the office of 100 rids right now. So it’s almost again, you get out of it, what you put into it. Oh, for sure. And you know, our broker is very big on that, too. She’ll help you no matter what. But did you attend the class that they offered? Are you making the most out of what they’re offering you? And are you attending the meetings and anything that is at the office or trainings that they have? Are you attending? Right? And that also goes back into the episode when we talk about should you switch brokerages? Yeah, we talked about that. Yeah. Talk about before you switch, just make sure that you’re utilizing everything that is being offered to you. Yeah. So that you don’t go where you think the grass is greener, only to not use those resources either. Right?
15:49
Maybe it’s a huge problem. Right? Right. Okay. Are you gonna give me some questions? Maybe
15:53
it’s a you problem. Gosh, I feel like I want to say this to people sometimes. Like, the company to me, I’m gonna go small tangent, please. The company to me is a 30% factor of importance. Okay. I agree. The rest the 70% is you a few years ago, when our office. So it was a little confusing, but we change names. There was no transfer of ownership. They were just trying to make us all uniform across the state. And so that’s when we change names. And they gathered the top 30 agents to kind of have that conversation with us before making the change. And like anything at first, you’re kind of like, oh, I don’t know chain jawed All right, change out a bit like take
16:52
this brown,
16:52
I will take it take take it. But at the end of the day, it was a very quick discussion. It was like five minutes of like grumblings and confusion and change I’m resisting. And then it quickly went to, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. I have a client who I have sold nine houses to. And to prove a point, I texted them and said, Hey, what company do I work for? They did not know, right? Because they knew me, right? I knew that they wanted to work with me. And they like how I treat my clients. And they like my systems and my processes. And that comes from me. Yeah. Choosing a brokerage will determine how you be especially if you’re brand new, I think it’s more important. Yeah, it’s more important to start off on the right foot for sure. But if you have been in this, and you think switching companies is going to fix everything, it is just not true. Right? The company that you work for, is secondary to how you conduct yourself. Right? It goes back to that question. If you hired you to run your business, would you fire you? Right? You can switch companies all you want, but you can’t get get rid of yours. You’re still running
18:09
a business of one. Yeah, you know, you’re still the business.
18:13
And so I do think there is a lot of self reflection that comes during this time. Okay. So when you’re interviewing brokers, understanding how you get paid is important. Yes, it is a business decision. Yeah, you need to understand. Right. Okay. So some of the questions that you could ask on the financial end, what are your commission splits 6040 7030 8020. You know, their splits, but then there’s also fees, right. So outside of your 8020 split? Is there a transaction fee? Is there a desk fee? Is there a franchise fee? Right? Is there an admin fee? Is there a coaching fee? Is there a tech fee?
19:03
Which ones are required? Right?
19:05
Do I have to buy your CRM that your office uses? Right, right? Do I pay for my own signs and lock boxes? Like there are so many things outside of the split that are important to understand, right, what
19:21
is being provided is the probably the primary. So it’s not always apples to apples, right? I think a lot of people are like, Oh, this office is the same as when clients are like, well, the interest rate here is lower at this lender than this one you’re like, but the fees are way more right. So you know, tomahto, right. Like maybe the split is one way but the fees are another you can’t just say oh well x company was this split and X company was the split and obviously one is better than the other. Sure. Some companies have a cap some which means you only pay so much in in your split and then the rest of the year you get 100% of your commission. Even some companies don’t have a cap, some maybe had like a flat fee for the whole year, maybe they have, you know, a 6040 split, and you’re getting just tons of things that you don’t have to pay for, but that you would not maybe they pay for your listing photos, maybe they pay for your signs and your lockboxes. Maybe they pay for you to have, you know, mailers to your database once a month. I don’t know. Like, you have to get all of the details of the financial part to be able to compare two companies? Sure. There’s no way you could just hear the split. And know like, is there a transaction fee? So if I’m a higher producer, do I have to then provide that fee more often? You know, if I’m only selling one house a year and the transaction fee is $200 a transaction? That’s $200. If I’m selling 10 houses, it’s $2,000.
20:49
So with the you’ve been at a few Yep. Have they been significantly different? Yeah, huge, huge difference. hugely
20:57
different. Okay. In fact, and you cannot just also say, oh, ReMax is this night. Because REMAX is a franchise, just like a Keller Williams is a franchise and a Coldwell Banker. There that’s why everyone says independently owned and operated. Every single office can have a different structure. Are there probably some parameters set in place by that ultimate company? Like the biggest? Bert? Yeah, maybe. So maybe you can’t give a split better than 70 to 130? Maybe you can’t give a split better than 8020? I don’t know. But every single REMAX office is different. Sure. So even if their split was the same, their fees could be totally different. Maybe that office is in a nicer part of town, maybe it’s a bigger office, maybe they provide three admins, maybe they do all the transaction coordinating. It’s almost the same as interviewing at a bunch of different independent brokers, because their offices are all run differently. Sure. So it was at my office, when I was at REMAX there was a split for agents who didn’t want to pay the large office fee. Yeah. Okay. So I had to give more of my money back, or there was the very high like split to me, where my desk fee or my office fee was bigger. But as a producing agent, it was a no brainer that I would pay the bigger monthly fee. Because I knew that when I got those Commission’s I was getting the large majority of my money. Sure. And I knew that I was going to be producing. So why wouldn’t I and I had to pick a time to switch I didn’t start off that way.
22:34
And I think that’s a great point that you made is that you were at a point where your business was established, yeah, knew your production, you knew kind of your average each year. And you knew when income to use. I really admire this one agent that I have met recently in our marketplace, she just switched companies. But she really like kind of the second time around, she knew now she’s a brand new agent the first time yeah, now she kind of knows what she what she needs for her business, what she needs for herself. So she really, I was so proud of her did her due diligence. And it was between these two companies. And I will tell you, she chose one that had a higher or a lower split. So she was actually not choosing the one that put the most cash in her pocket. But she really liked their education calendar, and the training that they did, and that they had stuff in the office like she knew for herself to be successful, right? She needs an office where people are in the office, and she needs to attend things in person. Right? And that she knew she would make more there because of what they offered. Right? And I thought, gosh, it was so refreshing to hear someone make a decision not just based on your ad 20. But I
23:57
will say I think that it goes the exact opposite way sometimes to yes, they’re like, Oh, well, I was promised all these fun things in the office and all of these classes and all of this community and all of these whatever’s and I’m willing to give 50% of my commission up to the office because look at what they’re providing. And then you get there and you don’t use those things you have to then you’re just giving away 50% of your commission for something that you’re not utilizing. So that is a problem.
24:25
And something else that I had made a note on for this is don’t feel like you have to rush this decision right after you interview. You do not have to make a decision. Ask if you can attend a sales meeting. Yeah. See how many people attend the sales meeting? Is the information valuable? Yeah. Do you feel like you would get something? I mean, you can’t use all their resources and attend meetings for a month. But one meeting at the company will really introduce you to the culture to their teaching style. Asked to tour the office, you know, are their agents working In the office,
25:00
how does agents react to you when you take the tour?
25:03
Yeah. Are they kind? Are they helpful? Meet the staff that works in the office, ask them what they do. Ask them how long they’ve been with the company. Yeah, these are all questions that I think are very important. Now that I have been in it longer. I realize, like my secretaries in my office are the same ones that have been there since I started. I mean, that’s crazy. I cannot imagine life without, like, they know you. Yes. And they’ve seen me through all sorts of things. Yeah, you know. But yeah, it’s okay to ask those questions. Ask if you can have phone numbers of three to five agents who work in the office. I’ve had many agents call me and say, Hey, I interviewed with Connie. And she said, I could give you a call to just ask a few questions. Yeah, sure. I would love to answer your questions, you know. Um, so I think you can tell a lot just from attending a meeting, meet it out. It’s not just about the interview. Right? The Interview, everyone is on their best behavior. Yeah, you really need to see what you’re getting into. This is a big decision.
26:11
I know. It’s also an a decision that can be undone. So I found that a lot of times we get into one, and we’re like, oh, no, this is not a fit. And this comes up in the in Episode 56. And then we’re like, Oh, I’ve already said I had to stay here. I’m going to be too embarrassed if I leave. What if I have to make a new post that says I met so and so broker? Well, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to post it. And like we said before, your spear the people, you know, probably don’t even realize where you are.
26:40
Well, so I always thought too. And I don’t know, because I’ve never done it. So it may change. But I would be on the fence about if if something happened and I changed companies. I don’t know that I would necessarily have a big announcement. I don’t think I would. I don’t think I would be like, Guess what I am now with ABC Realty. Let me tell you, right, like, nobody cares.
27:06
They don’t care. No, my clients don’t care. No, it’s not doing anything for them.
27:10
No, it’s about if they want to work with me, right?
27:15
Hey, Alisa. Hey, Katie, what do we mention almost every episode, email template? You’re right, we sure do. And after every time, we mentioned an email template, do you know what we get
27:26
emails asking if they can have copies of the email template, send me a copy of that template? I would like that, that sounds great. And you know what the good news is, you can get all of our email templates from our course, email templates, one on one, tell the people about it, our course has all of the email templates you would need to send to your buyers and your sellers and your clients that are buying and selling at the same time. Exactly. To get through every step of the transaction and giving them information that they need for where they are in the transaction. It’s great, because you never forget to tell them something. Yeah. So we’ve already done all the work for you. Yeah, we wrote them and you can personalize them. Yes. And just feel organized, knowing that you have all the information where it needs to be. And if you purchase email templates, 101, you do get lifetime access. So occasionally, we like to go in and make updates based on the market or if we find a new best practice. So we put that right into the template and you get that updated straightaway. It just goes straight to your core. Yes.
28:27
It’s already there. It’s just already on there. You don’t have to worry about it. We’ll email it will say updated. That’s great.
28:32
Where can they find these email templates?
28:35
You can find the email templates at email templates with an S one Oh one.com
28:40
email templates. One Oh one.com Yes. Head over for reviews and all of the specifics. Wonderful.
28:46
Okay, enjoy. I think that another question I would be real. So we did what is the split? What are the fees? Right? This this is a question list.
28:59
And then a cap. Okay, what is the cap? What is the cap? Do you have a cap? Does it stop at some point? And then RS two what I what I found that so even though I’ve been with one company, there has been two or three times where they tweaked things. Okay. always for the better structure. Yeah. And sometimes it was like tomato tomahto to me like you’re like alright, whatever, whatever kind of came out the same. But they switched to where you start your split based on how you did last year. Okay. So the more you sold last year, if you sold really well. Maybe you started at 515 Okay, and then you jump up whatever you
29:39
have a bad year, then that year does the split go? Like down again? Yes.
29:44
You all every year it starts. Yeah, but I mean, mine doesn’t because you’re consistent. I’m consistent. Right. And I think that is the culture that my office is trying to invite with right system they want producing agents. that are consistent and treat this as a business.
30:01
I think that’s the same thing with all REMAX is right there, you’re attracting a consistent agent, because the way the pay is structured, it only makes sense for agents who are consistent. Correct.
30:11
Okay. And so I thought that was interesting. And I only share that example to say, there are so many creative things, there are so many plans, commission plans out there, yeah, that we would never be able to cover all the different scenarios.
30:28
And new companies are coming up all the time, like these big different interesting, you know, they give you other things, right, they’re gonna give you a stock option, or, you know, some sort of revenue share or some other stream of income. I mean, you have to take it all into account. And ultimately, though, it’s the money plus the other things, what is the culture? What, like, what are the, it’s not one thing, right? Like, we can’t just pick one piece of a broker and be like, Oh, well, I have to go here.
31:00
When you talk to a broker, just make sure that are they getting paid? If the intention,
31:05
what is heart in the right place? Is your heart in the right place? It’s fine. My next question would be for your broker that you’re interviewing, how many agents are in the office? Yeah, how many are there? And then I would ask, how many come to the meetings? Like, how many are participating on a regular basis? Because there may be 100 agents in the office with a core 20 that show up for everything? Right? Right. So it almost feels like you’re an office of 20. And if you’re looking for a mid size office, I think 20 is a great number. If you’re worried that 100 agents are showing up to everything, and you’re not the most confident and you don’t want to like stand up in the room full of 100 people and say, This is what my buyers looking for whatever the process is, then you need a smaller office. But what if there’s only 20? People who are coming? Sure, so I think that I would want to know that someone is showing up, but that maybe if there’s 100, maybe I don’t want to be somewhere where 100 people are showing up. Personally, me, but you want to ask how many agents are here? And how many are going to come to, you know, events? Sure. Okay, what’s your next question on your list?
32:10
Um, if I have questions outside of business hours, is there like someone I could call if I need help with a contract on the weekend? What kind of support do I have as a new agent when I’m trying to figure something out? Right, maybe they have a mentor program? Yeah. Or you follow someone in the office? What types of classes do they have? And how often? Are they online? Are they in person? So really figuring out like the education and the support aspect of it? Are there any meetings that are mandatory to attend? Sometimes I think that’s kind of gone away. But yeah, like, for example, we used to do office tour. Okay, where after sales meeting on Wednesdays, we would tour some of the new listings. But to have your house on tour, you had to be a talker on other weeks? Yeah. So it was kind of like, you know, we help each other out. Okay. Um,
33:11
I would like to say something about education. Okay. While we’re on that. I think it is also common in real estate, that franchise small offices, whoever feel like providing education is one of the biggest items of value they can give in order to attract agents and retain agents. And it does get to a point where there can be too much education, there can be too many options, it can get too overwhelming once you’re there, if there’s a class, every Tuesday and Thursday, and an online program and a whole university of information like this is a bit overwhelming as a new agent, when you’re trying to sort out what do I need to know? Okay, so if you’re new, new, like you’re brand new, you need to also find a broker that’s going to be like, this is the Success Path. These are the things you’ll want to do. Like these are the classes you’ll want to take. Yeah, sure. Occasionally, we have something on an off topic that isn’t like a primary focus of how you do your job. But here’s the XYZ though. ABC whatever have you getting started. If your new broker can’t tell you what the path is for you as a brand new agent to go through this, you know, these steps? It’s going to be very hard for you Yeah, you can’t just jump into the middle where people are learning about tactics for for sale by owners or how to call expired listings or here’s my very specific marketing plan for a listing like these are super in the weeds. What if you don’t even know how to meet a buyer at an appointment and show them a house? Sure. What like what have you don’t even know what you have to share with the seller as far as disclosures are when you go to list a property, like you have to know the basics and it’s all the stuff that they missed. In real estate school? Yeah. But they sometimes also miss when you just jump in with everyone who may be further down the path at your new office. There’s a there’s a break there. Yeah. Where it’s like, I need to know the basics of how to perform all of these tasks. So just make sure that you don’t go somewhere that has all the education, do they have the right education for where you’re at in your career? Okay, that’s my side note on education thing. It’s
35:26
good. Okay. Um, as far as who is in charge, the office manager, the broker, the go to person at your office? How present? Are they? Like I had, I’ve been taken to arbitration before, in which your broker is supposed to attend with you and basically act as your attorney. Yeah, words in real estate court. Um, I had never been so happy to be where I was in that time. Yeah. But I also know that I had, I’ve had issues before, like, we had an issue with a contract, and me and the other agent were working together on how to fix it. And I said, Well, what is your broker? Think? And they were like, Oh, um, I can’t call my broker about this,
36:07
like, wow, I need to be able to call my broker or some managing person about contract issues. And I also
36:13
feel like that is something you don’t think about until you’re in it.
36:17
Yeah. And then you’re like, Wait, who do I ask about where this? What blank this goes on? Or where what I need to do for this? Or how do I handle a specific situation, random
36:25
emails from Connie being like, hey, I don’t like how you word this, when you write it in your contracts? Can you be sure to write it this way? And I’m like, you look at my contract. I’m sorry. Like, she’s reviewing thing that’s good on top of it, or how involved are they? Right, making sure that you’re protected? Um, I thought to something I found interesting from someone that was also just looking at a new switching switching companies was how many new agents do they have right now? Because that kind of shows like, how are there? How many people have been there longer than 10 years? Yeah. What is the turnover? Like, hey, how I think knowing how long people have been at that company? And what their track record Hillsdale? Yeah, that was a big decision in mind. Yeah. You know, is that a lot of the people that have been there? There’s not a lot of turnover here. Right. And they have been there for decades.
37:23
Right? They’re happy there. Yeah.
37:25
You know, it’s just good. Something to look at. Let’s see what else?
37:31
Okay, well, let’s go back to meetings, education, community opportunities, I would ask, how often are things offered? What kind of things? Are they? Is it a, you know, group yoga class? Is it another class about, you know, flood insurance that I don’t want to go to? Like, what, what are the things that you’re doing? What are the events? How is community being built there? Because you 100% need the community. And when we go into our solo agent episode, we’re gonna touch on this more, but you cannot go to an office with five people who never meet, if you need some assistance. There’s no one that you know, like, who’s going to do who’s going to run into a showing for you? If you are sick? Right? I don’t know, like, so I think you need to ask, what is what are the events? How often do can I see people? And is there a brick and mortar office? Can I work here? Is there a co working space? Do I have to pay for an office space, like how many people are in here on a daily basis, because in the beginning, showing up to a building where there are other humans performing these tasks is invaluable. Being able to just listen in on other people’s phone calls and see how they handle things. It is huge. It being at home in your little home office, straight away from brand new is really tough to like, get all of that learning by like absorb like osmosis, right? Like they’re nearby me doing real estate. And I can be like, Hey, I heard you talking about staging on that call, like, how did you know blah, blah, blah, like, it’s easier to get a quick answer to a question if the people in your office are used to seeing you in the office and, and you’re there and you can see them and quickly pass by me like, or they can tell you something. They’re like, hey, you know, you need to know this or whatever.
39:20
What is that saying about like?
39:24
You’re the average of the five people you spend time with? Yes, time? I don’t know. Like what like the universe gives you? Oh, yeah. What you focus on grows, what you
39:33
focus on grows, like if you’re just even when you have nothing going on. If you weren’t in the office. Yeah. You will find something. Do you have phone duty, right. I mean, I am still a huge advocate for it at least gets you to the office, maybe the phone rings, maybe it doesn’t right. You are bringing something to do while you’re there handwriting letters working on your database, just simply
39:56
sitting in a real estate mindset for eight hours or Four hours of a day multiple times a week is a game changer. Yeah, just being there.
40:06
What the other one is, the harder I work, the luckier I get. Yeah, like, I just happened to be in the office. And my broker needed to assign a lead and was like, oh, let’s do this here,
40:14
right? Here you go, I can promise you we did not have. I don’t know maybe when I first got there, there was some floor duty or like someone could be on the phones. But over time, it kind of went away at my REMAX office. But for sure, 1,000% just being present on a regular basis did get a errant like, Hey, someone wandered into the office. Hey, somebody just called a needs to get an answer this question right now like, yes. Did I get leads from just being present? Yes, I for sure. For sure. In in my brokerage before that, the little boutique, one where there was only five agents and I mirrored I mean, I shadowed my broker who who was working, who was selling everywhere she went, showing I showed up every morning at 9am. And I was dressed and ready for work. And I sat there all day long. And if she had appointments, I got in the car with her and I went,
41:09
I still attend our Monday morning meeting, which used to be the new agent meeting and that but you know, 12 years later, here I am. And now there’s a lot of like seasoned agents that attend to, but I get texts two or three times a month from other seasoned agents in my office saying, Hey, I don’t really know a lot of the new agents do you know which one would be a good one for me to refer something to right? I get it all the time. And I immediately like this one, she’s always there or this one is really working and hustling like you. But if people never see you, and they don’t see that you’re putting in the effort,
41:46
they don’t think you want to work, right. That’s the problem with being in a career that is so many people doing it part time. And then there’s the section of people doing it full time, that a lot of agents who maybe are busy and need that help. Don’t assume that every person with a license at their office wants to work, right, you have to do behaviors that make other agents see you and say that person wants to work. They’re in the office, they are here. They’re at the meetings, they’re asking questions, they’re just present, they want to they real estate is a focus for them. Okay. And I think
42:21
that one of the last notes I had about things to consider, especially if you’re brand new, I didn’t have numbers for myself, right? So I couldn’t say, Oh, well, let me show you what I have done. But we had broker reports that we could make that showed how we perform in certain zip codes as a company. And so my first few years, I was really trained to say, my company does X, Y, and Z, the marketing plan of my company is this every Wednesday, my company has sales meetings where we talk about upcoming listings, like these are our numbers from last year. So I was really able to get good at speaking confidently on behalf of the company. Yeah. And then as I got my own numbers, I kind of like had a hybrid. And now I can just do you know, share whatever numbers I need to share. But it was very helpful. When nobody knew who Alyssa Jenkins was, at least they knew who my company was right. And you Elissa Jenkins had no numbers, no numbers, so she needed something for a little bit. So I think looking at the reputation of the company you choose as a brand new agent is more important. Sure, because you don’t have a lot backing you personally. So you need a strong name, right? And that
43:41
doesn’t mean you need a giant franchise name. It just means you need a company who’s working and actually has some sales stats. That’s a good
43:49
point. Because, you know, if you’re especially if you’re not licensed yet, you don’t have access to MLS yet. No. Maybe you could ask the broker or an agent in the office to show you where that brokerage stands in MLS, right? You can actually look at production numbers of how an office is doing, you can check those things
44:12
right. You could just in your broker interview, ask for some stats on the broker. Right? Yeah, I think that’s probably a good idea, especially no matter what size broker you’re interviewing. Right, right. Okay. I also made a note that if I was maybe like relocating or going to a new market, and I had five or more years of experience, this interview would go down differently, right? You already kind of know what you need or what you expect or what you didn’t like at your last broker. But I think I would also maybe pick a broker more focused on working in the manner that I like to work. So if it’s a high social media focus, then great if it’s a, you know, like my current broker is design and staging focus. Well, that speaks to me as a person and how I want to serve my clients. Well. I wouldn’t go Do a broker that’s number one strategy was door knocking,
45:03
right? Not your thing. Like, I
45:04
don’t want to do that. So I’m not going to be interested in what you’re teaching me like, I want to go somewhere that feels good and matches with how I want to
45:12
work. I love that kind of like your personal brand of how you conduct your past. does it align? Yes, for sure. And if you’re new and figuring that out, just you know, look,
45:23
you can always change. It is uncomfortable. It is not fun. So I would make the decision thoughtfully the first time, but you can change it’s okay. And you might need to change further in your career. Even if you loved your broker for however long like I love my broker, I don’t have any complaints about when I was with REMAX. I was there for 14 years. am I unhappy that I changed? No, I like where I’m at now. Like I can like them both.
45:47
You’re in a totally different different of like, different totally different place.
45:51
Okay, any other questions from the list?
45:54
I thought that was pretty good about covering everything.
45:57
I mean, really, it’s not overall, a super long or arduous interview? No, it’s pretty simple. What do you offer? What does it cost? Who’s here? How often are we together? Yeah. What are you going to teach me? And
46:13
then outside of that interview, just making sure that you are maybe meeting a few people in the office and taking a tour of the office? I mean, it’d
46:20
be nice to have a friend there. But yeah, even the first office I went to I didn’t know anyone I knew not anyone. I didn’t know anyone at either the ones I interviewed with, you know, so. Right. You’ll look you’ll make a friend. Yeah. If you’re there now. They’re
46:37
like my best friends.
46:39
Right? You’re like, I’m so glad I’m here. Okay. Are you ready for a toast? Yeah. Any other parting words on choosing a broker? I know you love your so much ado, what will happen when Connie retires? She’s not
46:52
she’s just gonna stay forever, as you’ve told her she has to stay. And she’s told me she’s staying forever.
46:58
Oh, great. Do you think you could potentially retire before Connie? Maybe? I don’t know. Okay, and moving on. Alright, so our toast today comes from Leah. So hello, Leah Sloane to Mandy street. Oh Shafi. Mandy. Alisha had a last name like street I know you know like locally we have an agent whose last name is house. How convenient cannot handle it and her tagline is house knows homes. She does. Okay, so Mandy, I would love to know what your street tagline is. Right? Anyway,
47:33
we’re moving help you find your street. Your Yeah, street find your street.
47:38
That needs work, right? Yeah. All right. So Leah would like to say to Mandy that she has been a mentor not only in real estate, but in life. She is a rock star. So appreciate her knowledge and wisdom. thankful that she introduced me to the hustle humbly community. Thank you, Mandy, and cheers to you. And thank you to Leah, thank you for submitting a toast. You guys remember, you can always submit a toast to us via the website hustle humbly podcast.com And there is like a little contact form. Great. Great. Okay, y’all have a nice day. Goodbye.
48:13
Goodbye. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. If you enjoyed this
48:18
episode, please go to rate this podcast.com/hustle humbly and leave us a review or drop a comment if you’re listening on Spotify. If you
48:25
have an episode topic or someone you’d like to toast on the show, please email us at team at hustle humbly podcast.com
48:32
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