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Karen Goodman – Your Friend in Real Estate

by Karen Goodman on November 27, 2007

I thought I would jump start this blog with a little information about me for those of you that don’t already know me.

It is funny how kids are supposed to figure out what they want to do ‘when they grow up’ at an age when they know nothing about life. Maybe you were one of the few that picked a college major at 18 and are still doing your life’s work. I sure wasn’t one of them. I was totally set on growing up to be a child psychologist…because I liked my 10th grade psychology class! I stuck to that path through school, graduating with a bachelors degree in Psychology and then getting accepted into a Clinical Psychology PhD program in Texas. But, after one year there, I started having second thoughts…and the beginning of my true career search began.

I returned to St. Louis, my hometown, and got a job working in an old house in St. Charles that housed both a battered woman’s shelter and a chemical dependency program for women. I was the children’s counselor and it was my job to give the kids the resources to survive their environment in 30 days or less…and try to teach their parents some very basic parenting skills.

Five years and 3 agencies later, I realized that the non-profit world just wasn’t going to provide me with the job stability that I wanted….let alone basic benefits like retirement planning and health insurance. So, I started looking around for my next step and discovered a fabulous opportunity to work for one of St. Louis’ most respected companies, Harbour Group. This company owns and operates manufacturing companies around the world, and provides a remarkable return for their private investors. Working for Jeff Fox, then President & COO (now CEO & Interim Chairman of the Board), was an amazing experience. My job was really to do anything that was necessary to make things go smoothly. I prepared presentations for the annual investors meetings, planned special events, and even managed the flight arrangements for the company’s two private planes. Learning to do whatever was needed and predicting what needed to be done before any issues came up was invaluable training for the world of real estate where every transaction involves dozens of details that can derail a closing.

After 6 happy years with Harbour Group, I made a huge leap from a job with wonderful security, great benefits and coworkers that I still consider friends, to the 100% commission world of real estate. I started my real estate career with Wm French Buyer’s Real Estate Services, an exclusive buyer’s agency that specializes in corporate relocation. Wm French was great training for a real estate career. After working with hundreds of clients moving to St. Louis from all over the world, I really do understand what buyers think as they walk through a home.

As the years went on, so many of my clients were ready to move and calling me for help. Unfortunately, “exclusive buyer’s agency” means absolutely no listings. I couldn’t even list my own house when I was there. The most I could do for my clients when they were ready to sell was to give them some advice on what to ask when interviewing agents and to suggest some great agents that they might want to contact.

There were so many reasons that I decided to leave Wm French and join The Kelsey Group, REALTORS. The major reason for leaving was so that I could do more for my clients. I wanted to be able to help my clients when they were ready to move, and I wanted to reach out beyond solely the relocation market.

But why did I choose The Kelsey Group over all the other big brand franchises?

The Kelsey Group offered me three major things that the other companies did not.

I have the flexibility to set my own business practices. That means that I can build my business the way that makes the most sense for me rather than being required to do things like phone duty so that the company doesn’t have to hire a receptionist. I’m also able to set my own commission level…I didn’t want to go to a company that said I couldn’t reduce my commission if I thought it made sense for a particular listing.
Kelsey Group offers customized pricing software, Precise Pricing, that is not available at any other company. Using Precise Pricing and Kelsey Group’s appreciation tables, I’m able to evaluate the historical appreciation rate of a subdivision or city quadrant. I am also able to see the tax record sales history for all of the active competition and recent comps. By using this data, combined with capital improvements and unique features of the subject home, I am able to formulate a pricing strategy that will get a home sold quickly without leaving money on the table. Using this strategy, The Kelsey Group, REALTORS has the highest rate of homes sold in less than 30 days over almost every other real estate brand in town! Over the last three years, over 42% of Kelsey Group listings have sold in 30 days or less. Even in today’s buyers’ market, over 62% of our 2007 listings have sold in 60 days or less!
Kelsey Group offers an outstanding commission structure. For those of you not in real estate, let me explain how we get paid. The seller pays a commission to the listing broker. The listing broker then offers a percentage of that commission to the broker that brings them the buyer that closes the deal (usually around half of the total commission). Both brokers split their portion of the commission with the agents actually doing the deal. At many companies, the broker keeps 50% of the commission. As an agent becomes a huge producer, they get to keep a higher percentage of the split. Kelsey Group has the best compensation program I’ve seen for agents that are working their way up and for agents that are high producers, while still offering full service and training to their agents for free.

(UPDATE 7/25/09): Earlier this year there was an ownership change at The Kelsey Group, and I decided that the new company culture wasn’t a good fit for me. I joined Keller Williams in May 2009 and found everything I wanted. Keller Williams treats each of their agents as small business owners, and works with them to build the systems and install practices that will result in a thriving business that provides top level services for home buyers and sellers.)

I’ll just finish up my rambling biography with a note on my philosophy of how to treat clients.

I really believe in the concept of ‘what goes around comes around’. If you treat every client as if you were helping your best friend, and not simply as a potential commission check, they’ll come back to you when they need something again. And they’ll tell all their friends about you when they hear of someone who is thinking of moving.

Treating each client as if they were your best friend sometimes means telling them to RUN from a deal that has red flags all over it. Sometimes it means reminding them that everyone eventually has to sell…and asking if they are sure that they want to buy the house with the electric tower behind it. Sometimes it means telling the buyer that has already seen 50 houses that we should just keep looking…that there is a better house out there for them. Sometimes it means gently telling a client when they are being unrealistic about what their house is worth, or what their money can buy them.

The next time you buy or sell a home, make sure that you do it with an agent that is watching out for your interests as if you were their best friend.