What’s new

By Susanne Dwyer

For brokerages large and small, enhancing the bottom line is the name of the game when it comes to running a profitable real estate business. But as the industry continues to change and evolve, so too does the way in which brokers think about—and approach—profitability.

“I’m looking forward to the next five years,” said Sherry Chris—president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate—who offered her perspective on broker profitability from a 10,000-foot level during the 2017 REALTORS® Conference & Expo.

“The industry is changing significantly, as is the brokerage business,” added Chris, who explained that in the future, brokerage companies with diverse revenue streams will be most profitable.

Whether it’s ancillary services such as mortgage and title or even lead generation and relocation, Greg Carlson, founder and owner of Five Star Real Estate, shared Chris’ view into the brokerage of the future.

“If you’re currently sitting with one stream of revenue, you’re very susceptible,” explained Carlson. “With less profitability, not only are there going to be less agents/brokers, but also brokers are going to have to become strong business people. They will need to know their numbers and have metrics, tracking, measuring and benchmarking in place.”

Drilling down even further, panelists shared their thoughts regarding the way in which brokers can take advantage of new opportunities as traditional brick and mortar models continue to face stiff competition.

“It’s certainly easier to start from scratch,” said Chris, who built the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate brand from the ground up, “but it’s not impossible to change an existing company.”

It’s also important for brokers to establish their culture early on. By showcasing what you stand for, how you’re giving back to the world and who you are as a brokerage company/brand, you will successfully establish your benchmark, which will allow you to bring the right people in.

“As more agents are working offsite, it’s getting harder to draw them inside brick and mortar buildings because they don’t think they need it,” said Leigh Brown, broker/owner of RE/MAX Executive Realty in Charlotte, N.C. “As brokers, it’s our job to provide meaningful education,” she continued. “This is the No. 1 thing our agents need, so it’s critical that we give them what they can’t get in other places.”

For Carlson, mitigating risk and enhancing his firm’s bottom line begins with supervising agents through a variety of means, including dotloop (which allows him to see into transactions), turnkey clauses and even a ‘pre-flight’ checklist.

Chris’ No. 1 piece of advice? “Look for the gaping hole in your marketplace and fill it.”

Stay tuned to RISMedia for more from this year’s REALTORS® Conference & Expo.

For more information, please visit www.nar.realtor.

Paige Tepping is RISMedia’s managing editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at paige@rismedia.com.

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

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From:: Real Estate News

By Susanne Dwyer

The energy, investment and innovation around real estate technology are bigger than it’s ever been before. Everywhere you look there’s a company trying to change, improve or add value to the real estate transaction.

At CoreLogic®, our focus has always been real estate data, and how it can best be used to serve real estate professionals in their daily business. Most applications being built today are completely reliant on data to be valuable. With so many offerings, it can be hard to weed through all the noise and find the products that work best for your business model.

In August 2017, CoreLogic acquired Clareity®, with the goal of helping brokers and MLS organizations deliver the technology applications they want—powered with the necessary data, and delivered on a secure platform.

As we continue to listen to our client base, specifically our broker partners, a better platform is at the top of their wish list. We’re helping find answers to their common questions, such as:

• How do we increase adoption (8 percent national average, according to internal Clareity statistics) on tools we provide our agents? Better yet, how do we know we’re offering the right tools?

• How do we communicate better with our agents?

• How do we remain flexible for agents and teams who want to use their own tools, but still connect to our platform?

• How do we broach items such as workflow automation and predictive analytics?

• How do we eliminate duplicate data entry into various tools?

• How do we continue to delight today’s data-driven, information-centric consumer?

Frankly, achieving a useful or scalable solution isn’t possible without the participation and cooperation of the excellent (yet partitioned) tools that our industry already relies on.

Starting with the secure identity management platform that Clareity has continuously evolved since 2005, CoreLogic can begin to layer in meaningful data and enhance its existing integrations with a choice of high-quality vendors. These partnerships will allow our broker customers to identify the right tools for them.

With a focus on creating meaningful and flexible connection points within the tools and processes brokers and agents rely on daily, we’re aiming to deliver valuable answers to the challenges that exist in fragmented systems today. As we roll out with pilot vendors and customers, there’s been a lot of exciting feedback thus far.

We look forward to moving the industry forward, in unison with our partners.

Chris Bennett is executive leader of CoreLogic.

For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

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From:: Real Estate News

By Susanne Dwyer

Arthur Darmanin is very selective when it comes to bringing new companies into the Sellstate fold. And for good reason. Given the interconnected dynamic that runs throughout the system—from the newest agent all the way up to Darmanin himself—joining Sellstate is for those who are willing to aim high and work together to get there. “We have to make sure we’re all rowing the same way,” says Darmanin, who gives us a look inside the firm he founded with partner Neil Cresswell in Fort Myers, Fla., in 2002, in this exclusive interview.

Maria Patterson: Please describe Sellstate’s distinction in the marketplace.
Arthur Darmanin: We have three main points of distinction: We pay high commission to our agents; we provide breakthrough technology; and we offer revenue sharing.

MP: Why is high commission a priority?
AD: We pay high commissions because to get good, productive agents, you have to pay them well. That’s the reality of the industry. Another reality is, good agents will not join you unless they’re going to do better by closing more deals. That doesn’t mean you do it at the expense of having a profitable business. We believe in paying high commissions, but at the same time, having a business model that makes sense for the franchisee. We use a 95/5 platform. But what’s more than simply offering high commission is showing agents that you can support them. Our philosophy is not only paying well, but making sure we’re helping agents with their business. As a broker, if I can’t demonstrate to you how I can help you make more money, then clearly I have to be the cheapest game in town. But then there will always be someone cheaper than you. It’s a race to the bottom.

MP: So if price isn’t the only factor, how are you demonstrating value to agents?
AD: That’s where our breakthrough technology comes in. In today’s environment, for an agent to compete, they need good technology. Our definition of good technology is lead generation. It’s technology that works and helps you get more listings and more buyers—technology that is user-friendly, has a lot of automation and components that integrate well with each other. You also have to have exposure for your listings on the big sites, like enhanced listings on Homes.com. Our social media is also very robust; we offer a very comprehensive package, and we keep adding to it. To the best of my knowledge, we are the only franchisor where the agent doesn’t have to pay for a robust and complete technology package such as ours. As part of our value proposition, when an agent joins Sellstate, he/she automatically gets the entire package at no cost to them.

MP: What’s one of the newest tech features you’ve added?
AD: We recently added a feature to our Sellstate Power Suite that automatically creates a listing-specific website, flyer, Facebook posts, postcards, etc., for every single listing. All our agents have to do is input the listing into the MLS as they normally would, and all of this magic …read more

From:: Real Estate News