TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE QUESTION
How does a company go from being a no-name upstart company, to becoming the Number One Real Estate Company in the country? We have seen it happen in the past. Is the past about to repeat itself?
I remember when I first got my Real Estate license back in the early 1970’s in Northern Michigan. There was this little company that claimed they were going to become the number one company in the country. At the time I thought those ugly baby-poop-colored jackets were horrible. Well, not too many years later, I was working for that company and my Broker begged and pleaded with me to wear one of those baby-poop-yellow jackets, which I just never could. However, that little company did go on to be one of the greatest Real Estate companies ever.
Then towards the end of the 1970’s as I was working in the Real Estate industry in Colorado, I heard of this little upstart company with an outrageous business plan. They wanted the Realtor to pay them to work for them. On top of that, they had this silly balloon as their logo. At the time, I thought to myself, this is the craziest idea yet. But, once again not too many years later, I found myself working for that crazy company with the balloon as their logo, and in fact I was actually proud to wear that balloon pin.
The craziest idea may well become the future of the industry.
Now, let’s look at what seems to be the next craziest idea in the Real Estate industry. A little startup company believes that the days of the Brick and Mortar offices are over and that it’s now realistic to believe you can build a national company by allowing the Realtors to work out of their homes. This crazy little startup company has their logo as well. It’s a crest with two Lions. Seems silly, doesn’t it?
The premise of this new company is this: by giving up the Brick and Mortar offices, they can give the Realtor what the Realtor really wants. More commission. This little startup company has come up with a solution that is the closest thing yet to a true 100% commission that the Realtor keeps. This little startup company has bet the ranch that they can duplicate a Brick and Mortar office via the Internet, complete with video conferencing and teleconferencing.
So, are we going to see the company with the CREST with TWO LIONS logo become the next greatest Real Estate Company in the future? My bet is yes. They have the audacity to move forward with a whole new concept, and its being well received by the Realtors of this country. However, it’s a long road from creating a new idea to fully implementing that idea, and then growing that idea into the Number One Real Estate Company in the country.
Watch this little company over the next few years with the silly CREST and TWO LIONS logo and we’ll all see if they become the next biggest and greatest company in the Real Estate industry.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
CEO Message - Feb. 4th, 2008
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST MONTH IN THE NEW CORPORATE OFFICE
It’s been only four months since we opened in our first state, California, on October 1, 2007. We are now opened in eight more states - Arizona, Oregon, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee. Several more openings in additional states are right around the corner.
We formally opened the corporate offices on January 2, 2008. It’s been a very busy and productive month recruiting Realtor Associates. First we concentrated on hiring 12 Telemarketers for each of two shifts. The first shift is 9:00 am to 1:00 pm EST. This shift starts calling states on the EST zone and works west as the morning progresses. The second shift starts at 1:00 pm and works until 5:00 pm, focusing on the CST and PST zones.
We are generating on average 1800 calls a day from the call center. Of those 1800 calls, we generate an average of 230 Realtor leads who are interested enough to want more information. We are currently working closely with the Telemarketers to turn these 230 leads into working leads, with the intent of closing 10% a day.
We have several new members of our team. Tammy Archibald has been promoted to Manager of all Telemarketing Closers. Karen Shipman has been promoted to Manager of all recruiting activities. She supervises Tammy Archibald and oversees the Call Center and the Closers.
Chris Fraser has been hired as the IT Department Supervisor, and is working diligently to develop all the systems that an operation of this size requires. We are currently investigating which programs are best for Video Conferencing and Phone conferencing. We hope to have these systems in place shortly.
Another item of interest is our new ability to use electronic signatures. This will streamline our operation in many ways, including giving us the ability to close a Realtor on joining us while we’re Video conferencing with them.
We have also established both Sign Standards and Business Card Standards in the last month. Our CFO, Mr. G. David Powell, will have the systems in place shortly that will handle the tracking and electronic storage of all documents for as many as 20,000 Realtors. We’ve been able to achieve the goals we set, to be ready to handle the growth of ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES.
Our Closers tell us that several of our Broker Affiliates have been excellent at working with them to bring on-board new Realtor Associates. Our goal for this month is to recruit ten Realtor Associates in each of our states. We need all our Broker Affiliates to help in achieving this month’s goal. Don’t hesitate to give Tammy Archibald the contact information of any Realtor in your area who you think would have an interest in joining ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES.
It’s been only four months since we opened in our first state, California, on October 1, 2007. We are now opened in eight more states - Arizona, Oregon, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee. Several more openings in additional states are right around the corner.
We formally opened the corporate offices on January 2, 2008. It’s been a very busy and productive month recruiting Realtor Associates. First we concentrated on hiring 12 Telemarketers for each of two shifts. The first shift is 9:00 am to 1:00 pm EST. This shift starts calling states on the EST zone and works west as the morning progresses. The second shift starts at 1:00 pm and works until 5:00 pm, focusing on the CST and PST zones.
We are generating on average 1800 calls a day from the call center. Of those 1800 calls, we generate an average of 230 Realtor leads who are interested enough to want more information. We are currently working closely with the Telemarketers to turn these 230 leads into working leads, with the intent of closing 10% a day.
We have several new members of our team. Tammy Archibald has been promoted to Manager of all Telemarketing Closers. Karen Shipman has been promoted to Manager of all recruiting activities. She supervises Tammy Archibald and oversees the Call Center and the Closers.
Chris Fraser has been hired as the IT Department Supervisor, and is working diligently to develop all the systems that an operation of this size requires. We are currently investigating which programs are best for Video Conferencing and Phone conferencing. We hope to have these systems in place shortly.
Another item of interest is our new ability to use electronic signatures. This will streamline our operation in many ways, including giving us the ability to close a Realtor on joining us while we’re Video conferencing with them.
We have also established both Sign Standards and Business Card Standards in the last month. Our CFO, Mr. G. David Powell, will have the systems in place shortly that will handle the tracking and electronic storage of all documents for as many as 20,000 Realtors. We’ve been able to achieve the goals we set, to be ready to handle the growth of ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES.
Our Closers tell us that several of our Broker Affiliates have been excellent at working with them to bring on-board new Realtor Associates. Our goal for this month is to recruit ten Realtor Associates in each of our states. We need all our Broker Affiliates to help in achieving this month’s goal. Don’t hesitate to give Tammy Archibald the contact information of any Realtor in your area who you think would have an interest in joining ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Are U Cyber Ready?
IS THE END IN SIGHT FOR THE BRICK & MORTAR COMPANIES?
A year and a half ago at the very height of the real estate boom I sold my six office, 200 Realtor, 2,000 closings per year, $300 million gross sales revenue per year, Real Estate Company. Then, at only 54 years of age, I tried to retire. However, I got extremely bored. And then, when I found myself mopping my garage floor twice a week, I really knew I was in trouble. (I will say, though, it was the cleanest garage you have probably ever seen.)
So, when total boredom set in, I decided I needed to start a business again. And, since Real Estate is the only business I’ve known since I was 19, I decided to open a Real Estate company again. My first obstacle was I had a “non-compete clause” in the entire southern half of Florida as part of the agreement when I sold my Real Estate Company. So how was I going to open an office and not violate my non- compete clause?
I started thinking long and hard about the business and realized that to start another Real Estate company using the old formula was really crazy, since it’s becoming almost impossible for an Owner/Broker to make a profit anymore, let alone in this current slow market of 2007. I spent a lot of time analyzing how the industry had changed from when I got into it 35+ years ago, and we all know there has been meteoric change.
Remember when it was a 50/50 split between the Realtor and the Broker, and the Realtor would spend the entire year trying to sell enough to get up to a 75% split (which he or she would usually reach in December and then on January 1st , it would roll back to a 50/50 split)? Then the industry started changing and the Realtors wanted more, so it became the mantra for Brokers that they needed to retain 35% in order to make a profit. Now even those days are long gone.
When I owned my Brick and Mortar office, I was always upset with the Realtors because they wanted more and more and never even cared if I made a profit. I guess that’s just human nature. However, when I really started to look at the situation from the outside, I realized that it wasn’t just the greed of the Realtor that had brought on these changes. There were several factors involved in this evolution. The Internet is obviously the big one. Realtors no longer count on their Broker to drive the business to them. You can “google” any area in the country, and several Realtor’s websites will come up before the Brokerage website. So the Internet has given the individual Realtors the marketing power they use to rely on their brokerage to provide for them.
IRS changes regarding home offices have also been evolving. I remember back in the early 1980’s, when I tried to take a deduction for a home office, it caused me to get audited by the IRS. The IRS now recognizes the fact that more and more Americans are working out of their homes. This will continue to be the case in the future.
There are several other expenses that the Realtor, not the Broker, now shoulders. Brokers now require Realtors to buy their own signs, postage, cards, and do their own advertising , where in the past, these were the responsibilities of the broker. The Brokers have had to do this in order to make a profit in today’s market.
So where does this leave the old model of Brick & Mortar offices? In my opinion, this model is DOA and hasn’t even realized it yet. For years all my peers have been saying the industry has to change. So the question is this: how is it going to change?
This is how I see it changing. Most Realtors now spend more of their time working out of their homes than going into the office. The old concept of floor time just doesn’t work anymore. Since almost all Realtors have their name and phone number on their signs, calls from buyers no longer go to the office. This issue was always unfair to the listing Realtor anyway. If they worked to get the listing then they should get the calls. So agents currently work out of their homes, they pay for their web sites, they pay for their advertising, they pay for their cards and a host of other expenses. So why should they pay 15% to 40% to their Broker? It’s a heck of a good question that my Broker peers really don’t want to think about.
Since you can now conduct office meetings online, scan and review contracts with a click of a button and, quite honestly, allow the Broker to supervise as well or better than trying to run down Realtors in the hallway of a Brick and Mortar office, why do they need a Brick & Mortar office? I see in the future Realtors paying a small fee to a Broker for placing their license under a Broker’s license and then making their home a “branch office” where municipalities allow it. Where it isn’t allowed, most cities now have “virtual office buildings” where a Realtor can rent space very inexpensively for when they need to meet a client.
There are a percentage of Realtors that need the interaction of an office, but more and more, the productive Realtors avoid the office environment of gossip and donuts. I believe in the very near future we will see a “National Franchise Real Estate Company” based on the concept that I have provided here today.
A year and a half ago at the very height of the real estate boom I sold my six office, 200 Realtor, 2,000 closings per year, $300 million gross sales revenue per year, Real Estate Company. Then, at only 54 years of age, I tried to retire. However, I got extremely bored. And then, when I found myself mopping my garage floor twice a week, I really knew I was in trouble. (I will say, though, it was the cleanest garage you have probably ever seen.)
So, when total boredom set in, I decided I needed to start a business again. And, since Real Estate is the only business I’ve known since I was 19, I decided to open a Real Estate company again. My first obstacle was I had a “non-compete clause” in the entire southern half of Florida as part of the agreement when I sold my Real Estate Company. So how was I going to open an office and not violate my non- compete clause?
I started thinking long and hard about the business and realized that to start another Real Estate company using the old formula was really crazy, since it’s becoming almost impossible for an Owner/Broker to make a profit anymore, let alone in this current slow market of 2007. I spent a lot of time analyzing how the industry had changed from when I got into it 35+ years ago, and we all know there has been meteoric change.
Remember when it was a 50/50 split between the Realtor and the Broker, and the Realtor would spend the entire year trying to sell enough to get up to a 75% split (which he or she would usually reach in December and then on January 1st , it would roll back to a 50/50 split)? Then the industry started changing and the Realtors wanted more, so it became the mantra for Brokers that they needed to retain 35% in order to make a profit. Now even those days are long gone.
When I owned my Brick and Mortar office, I was always upset with the Realtors because they wanted more and more and never even cared if I made a profit. I guess that’s just human nature. However, when I really started to look at the situation from the outside, I realized that it wasn’t just the greed of the Realtor that had brought on these changes. There were several factors involved in this evolution. The Internet is obviously the big one. Realtors no longer count on their Broker to drive the business to them. You can “google” any area in the country, and several Realtor’s websites will come up before the Brokerage website. So the Internet has given the individual Realtors the marketing power they use to rely on their brokerage to provide for them.
IRS changes regarding home offices have also been evolving. I remember back in the early 1980’s, when I tried to take a deduction for a home office, it caused me to get audited by the IRS. The IRS now recognizes the fact that more and more Americans are working out of their homes. This will continue to be the case in the future.
There are several other expenses that the Realtor, not the Broker, now shoulders. Brokers now require Realtors to buy their own signs, postage, cards, and do their own advertising , where in the past, these were the responsibilities of the broker. The Brokers have had to do this in order to make a profit in today’s market.
So where does this leave the old model of Brick & Mortar offices? In my opinion, this model is DOA and hasn’t even realized it yet. For years all my peers have been saying the industry has to change. So the question is this: how is it going to change?
This is how I see it changing. Most Realtors now spend more of their time working out of their homes than going into the office. The old concept of floor time just doesn’t work anymore. Since almost all Realtors have their name and phone number on their signs, calls from buyers no longer go to the office. This issue was always unfair to the listing Realtor anyway. If they worked to get the listing then they should get the calls. So agents currently work out of their homes, they pay for their web sites, they pay for their advertising, they pay for their cards and a host of other expenses. So why should they pay 15% to 40% to their Broker? It’s a heck of a good question that my Broker peers really don’t want to think about.
Since you can now conduct office meetings online, scan and review contracts with a click of a button and, quite honestly, allow the Broker to supervise as well or better than trying to run down Realtors in the hallway of a Brick and Mortar office, why do they need a Brick & Mortar office? I see in the future Realtors paying a small fee to a Broker for placing their license under a Broker’s license and then making their home a “branch office” where municipalities allow it. Where it isn’t allowed, most cities now have “virtual office buildings” where a Realtor can rent space very inexpensively for when they need to meet a client.
There are a percentage of Realtors that need the interaction of an office, but more and more, the productive Realtors avoid the office environment of gossip and donuts. I believe in the very near future we will see a “National Franchise Real Estate Company” based on the concept that I have provided here today.
Monday, January 21, 2008
CEO Message: Monday Janauary 21st, 2008
ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES
MUSIC CAMP
Some of you have inquired about the Music Camp link on our website. This idea of underwriting music education in our nation’s public school system through fundraising events is very near and dear to my heart. My wife, Ginger and I both come from families where music was highly appreciated and valued. Music has also been a cornerstone of our friendship with Scott Chamberlin (President of AJI) and his wife, Liz. Since part of the mission of our company is to give back to the community, it’s only natural that we would want to nurture and strengthen our nation’s love of music. This is the year I’d like to inaugurate our first national Allison James Estates and Homes Music Camp Fundraiser.
This fundraiser will take place annually, during the third weekend of September. Since we know that “timing is everything”, we wanted to capitalize on the optimistic and upbeat spirit in schools, when students are just back from summer vacation, and looking forward to the new year, incorporating interested students, teachers and administrators in the local high schools along with community leaders into our fundraiser efforts.
We encourage our Broker Affiliates and all our Realtor Associates to join us and initiate a fund raiser program in your local area. If we all work together, we can make a huge difference in our local high school music programs, where students can be part of a high quality, reliably funded program.
Our first fundraiser in the State of Florida for the ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES Music Camp will take place in the Port Charlotte area of West Florida. We are working with two of the local Yacht Clubs to find a suitable location.
Our intent is to have an ART AUCTION at one of the local Yacht Clubs. We would then invite the A LIST in the area, i.e. patrons of the arts, local political leaders, community leaders, etc. Our goal is to invite 250 local leaders to a $100-a-plate dinner.
Then after dinner we would open the Art Auction. We believe that we can raise as much as $25,000 dollars after expenses on our very first fundraiser for the ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES MUSIC CAMP.
There are virtually hundred different ideas out there that can generate fantastic fund raisers. We ask all of you to submit your ideas to the corporate office, so that we can send out press releases to help in our multiple efforts. Let’s make this program a real success so we can benefit all our local High School music programs.
MUSIC CAMP
Some of you have inquired about the Music Camp link on our website. This idea of underwriting music education in our nation’s public school system through fundraising events is very near and dear to my heart. My wife, Ginger and I both come from families where music was highly appreciated and valued. Music has also been a cornerstone of our friendship with Scott Chamberlin (President of AJI) and his wife, Liz. Since part of the mission of our company is to give back to the community, it’s only natural that we would want to nurture and strengthen our nation’s love of music. This is the year I’d like to inaugurate our first national Allison James Estates and Homes Music Camp Fundraiser.
This fundraiser will take place annually, during the third weekend of September. Since we know that “timing is everything”, we wanted to capitalize on the optimistic and upbeat spirit in schools, when students are just back from summer vacation, and looking forward to the new year, incorporating interested students, teachers and administrators in the local high schools along with community leaders into our fundraiser efforts.
We encourage our Broker Affiliates and all our Realtor Associates to join us and initiate a fund raiser program in your local area. If we all work together, we can make a huge difference in our local high school music programs, where students can be part of a high quality, reliably funded program.
Our first fundraiser in the State of Florida for the ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES Music Camp will take place in the Port Charlotte area of West Florida. We are working with two of the local Yacht Clubs to find a suitable location.
Our intent is to have an ART AUCTION at one of the local Yacht Clubs. We would then invite the A LIST in the area, i.e. patrons of the arts, local political leaders, community leaders, etc. Our goal is to invite 250 local leaders to a $100-a-plate dinner.
Then after dinner we would open the Art Auction. We believe that we can raise as much as $25,000 dollars after expenses on our very first fundraiser for the ALLISON JAMES ESTATES & HOMES MUSIC CAMP.
There are virtually hundred different ideas out there that can generate fantastic fund raisers. We ask all of you to submit your ideas to the corporate office, so that we can send out press releases to help in our multiple efforts. Let’s make this program a real success so we can benefit all our local High School music programs.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
THE PERFECT STORM
The Perfect Storm! What could I possibly mean when I say that the Real Estate industry is about to enter the perfect storm?
After 35 + years in the Real Estate industry, I’ve watched good markets come and go and bad markets come and go. There are always mitigating factors that cause these markets, both good and bad, to make an abrupt change. Those that have spent a couple of decades in the Real Estate industry will tell you this: when a market changes from bad to good or good to bad it almost always happens very quickly, particularly when a market goes from good to bad. I think everyone reading this article will agree - that is what happened this time as well, when the Real Estate market went south on us.
So what do I mean when I say that the Real Estate industry is about to enter the perfect storm? Let’s look at several factors. The first factor is that a new national election is about to take place with a change of leadership. Markets tend to pause when we are in this faze, waiting to sense what the change will mean. Next, with the possibility of a recession facing the United States, with several states already experiencing a recession, the stock market is going to continue to retreat. When the stock market starts to retreat as it is now, investors almost always start to look at Real Estate, because it’s a tangible item – it’s concrete, something they can fully grasp.
Then, you have to take a look at where the Real Estate industry is at this moment. With the exception of Texas, we have in most states a severe Real Estate issue facing this country. We have declining prices in most areas as well as a huge over-supply of inventory. Yet, we also have some of the most attractive mortgage interest rates available in quite a while, and contrary to popular belief, there is still plenty of mortgage money available for the qualified borrower.
Let’s now take all these issues’s and throw them into a paper bag, give that paper bag a good shaking and then dump it out. What do you have?
It is The Perfect Storm for the Real Estate market. Real Estate prices are at a very attractive level. In fact in some areas, due to an over-correction, the properties are undervalued. Mortgage interest rates are very low and very attractive and we have a huge over-supply of resale inventory. You add all of this together, and for the real estate investor and the natural real estate buyers, the ones who what to move up or move down or move to a new area or whatever the reason is, you have one of the very best times in years to buy property.The year of 2008 is going to go down in the history books as the year that the current Real Estate market makes a U-Turn and starts to stabilize and appreciate again. Everyone keeps saying now is the time to buy. Let me tell you, it’s not only the time to buy, it’s one the very best times to buy we will see for years to come.
After 35 + years in the Real Estate industry, I’ve watched good markets come and go and bad markets come and go. There are always mitigating factors that cause these markets, both good and bad, to make an abrupt change. Those that have spent a couple of decades in the Real Estate industry will tell you this: when a market changes from bad to good or good to bad it almost always happens very quickly, particularly when a market goes from good to bad. I think everyone reading this article will agree - that is what happened this time as well, when the Real Estate market went south on us.
So what do I mean when I say that the Real Estate industry is about to enter the perfect storm? Let’s look at several factors. The first factor is that a new national election is about to take place with a change of leadership. Markets tend to pause when we are in this faze, waiting to sense what the change will mean. Next, with the possibility of a recession facing the United States, with several states already experiencing a recession, the stock market is going to continue to retreat. When the stock market starts to retreat as it is now, investors almost always start to look at Real Estate, because it’s a tangible item – it’s concrete, something they can fully grasp.
Then, you have to take a look at where the Real Estate industry is at this moment. With the exception of Texas, we have in most states a severe Real Estate issue facing this country. We have declining prices in most areas as well as a huge over-supply of inventory. Yet, we also have some of the most attractive mortgage interest rates available in quite a while, and contrary to popular belief, there is still plenty of mortgage money available for the qualified borrower.
Let’s now take all these issues’s and throw them into a paper bag, give that paper bag a good shaking and then dump it out. What do you have?
It is The Perfect Storm for the Real Estate market. Real Estate prices are at a very attractive level. In fact in some areas, due to an over-correction, the properties are undervalued. Mortgage interest rates are very low and very attractive and we have a huge over-supply of resale inventory. You add all of this together, and for the real estate investor and the natural real estate buyers, the ones who what to move up or move down or move to a new area or whatever the reason is, you have one of the very best times in years to buy property.The year of 2008 is going to go down in the history books as the year that the current Real Estate market makes a U-Turn and starts to stabilize and appreciate again. Everyone keeps saying now is the time to buy. Let me tell you, it’s not only the time to buy, it’s one the very best times to buy we will see for years to come.
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