Laura and David Hunt video review of Karen Goodman’s real estate services in the sale of their St. Charles condo.
Video is becoming more and more a part of my business, so it makes sense to use it to introduce you to some of my clients and have them share with you their experiences in working with me and the Arch City Homes team.
Laura was a first time buyer when she purchased her condo. Just a few years and a marriage later, Laura and David were ready to move on to the next stage of their life.
As first time sellers, they had a lot of questions. We talked through all of the issues and put together a great marketing plan. But there were a number of condos on the market in their community and the overall condo market was severely depressed.
No matter what you do, it’s hard to sell a property when their simply aren’t buyers. Determined to capture the next qualified buyer, we knew we had to be proactive.
We weren’t getting the number of showings that I hoped for in the first few weeks, so we made the decision to do a small price reduction and to offer a buyer’s agent bonus.
Seven days later we had an accepted contract.
In the end, it took us 42 days to get an accepted contract. We were the first condo out of the 6 available in the community to sell.
Now that Laura and David have sold the condo, I’m looking forward to working with them when they are ready to buy a house.
The video above gives a good overview of the business systems which are taught at Keller Williams Realty. The videos at the bottom of this article go into more detail on how to start building a team. If you are an agent in the St. Louis area and are considering changing brokerages, contact me to discuss how I can get you a free copy of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent book.
When I joined Keller Williams, I was positive that I would never want to hire an assistant or build a team. At the same time, I recognized that there have been times in the past when I was equally as positive about something, and then later changed my mind.
A perfect example is my insistence that I never wanted to represent sellers.
I was working at an exclusive buyer’s brokerage which served people who were relocating to St. Louis for a job. I was sure that I would feel very uncomfortable trying to win the business of a seller…competing with agents and having to pitch my services. I was sure that I would have less control over the transaction since I knew how to help my clients find the best home to meet their needs and budget, but with a listing I simply would have to wait for a buyer to discover the house (how wrong I was!).
After 5 years of exhausting work and 24/7 work weeks, I finally decided that I had to make a change or I was going to have to get out of real estate. I simply couldn’t continue working myself to death.
So I took a deep breath, got some great advice from a trusted colleague, and moved my license. I left a company which only allowed me to work with buyers but provided me with all of the clients I could handle, to a full service brokerage where I had more control over my business and could start representing sellers, but I would also have to find my own clients (yes..I was going to have to pitch my services to people!).
My point is that we don’t always know where our path will lead.
A year later I realized it was time to change brokerages again. My independent brokerage was changing ownership and it simply wasn’t a good fit for me. This time, I wanted to move to a brokerage that met my current needs but also had the resources to help me if I decided I wanted to grow in an unanticipated direction.
I realized that all of my real estate training at my 1st two brokerages focused on teaching me how to work with buyers and sellers, how to price homes and negotiate deals. I was taught how to avoid getting sued and how to get a deal closed.
But no one had ever taught me anything about running a business. My brokerages didn’t talk about reigning in your expenses or how to hire an assistant. They didn’t help me develop a business plan, calculate how many leads I needed in order to hit my income goals or how to implement a solid accounting system.
I still haven’t gotten around to doing all of these things, and some of them I may never do. But I like knowing that I’m with a company that can guide me through Small Business 101 when I am ready to take those steps.
Take a look at the videos below to get a taste of how Keller Williams can help agents who want to treat their business like a business.
Millionaire Real Estate Moment: The Assistant Executive
Millionaire Real Estate Moment: The Three Key Hires
These videos just give you a snapshot of the types of things that Keller Williams can help you with as you learn to treat your real estate business as a small business.
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Every real estate agent that isn’t living under a rock has heard that they should be using social media to build their business and promote their property listings. But most agents and most brokerages simply don’t know how to get started or how to use the tools effectively. Free Social Media Classes for St. Louis [...]
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