10 Best Real Estate Recruiting Tips for Brokers

10 Best Real Estate Recruiting Tips for Brokers

Best real estate recruiting tips for brokers and teams on a minimal budget!  Get some new ideas and grow your business.

Expanding your office with a hands-on marketing and tracking approach can be extremely cost effective and efficient.  If you have some support behind you make it a team effort and delegate some of the ideas below.  Before you start on the 10 best real estate recruiting tips get a handle on your strategy:

  • Strategize on what type of agents will fit your culture the best; i.e.: new or established agents. Do you want self-starters or needy agents that ask you a lot of “How about this”, “What if this happens” questions?
  • Have a full media profile for yourself and your company. Actively use the account by posting about yourself, your brand, agents, properties, trends and other news.  Outsource this function to an admin/marketing person if needed.
  • The best real estate recruiting starts with…tracking every recruiting activity such as interested calls, phone interviews, in-person interview and offers made in an excel spreadsheet every week so you can see your activity and what your spending money on.
  • Go beyond compensation, make agents want to work for you and in your office. The highest commission split, biggest marketing budgets and lowest E&O insurance premiums are not all that matter. Make an exciting and welcoming environment for your new and existing agents.  Introduce them to your preferred title, escrow, and insurance reps.  Discuss tools and training that have worked in the past and open opportunities.
  • How much is this recruiting going to cost you in marketing, on-boarding, training and materials? If your escrows do get delayed consider a commission advance to help with expenses from Express Cash Flow at ExpressCashFlow.com.  They will provide up to 75% of your net commissions within 4 hours.

10 Best Real Estate Recruiting:

1.       Friends, Family and Associates

Post on social media that your looking to expand and grow your office.  Tell everyone! What are the benefits to working with you and in your office?

2.       Hold an office contest

Encourage your agents to setup appointments for you with potential prospects and reward them with $250 on each new hire.  Or maybe the prize is dinner with you or just recognition in front of the entire office.

3.       Targeted Mailings

Targeted mailings could increase your brand awareness but the list needs to be very focused so that the conversion rate is higher to offset the costs.

4.       Local Charities

Get involved in local charities and attempt to serve on a few non-related real estate boards in your community. Learn to tell success stories about past clients and how you worked in different situations.  Everyone wants to hear good stories so rehearse them for when you have a few minutes before a meeting starts, dinner conversation or just telling friends.

5.       Become Friends

Get to know agents from competitors in your area.  Comment on their posts.  Are they active producers? Work ethic?  Values?

6.       Open Houses

Open houses are a great way to meet other agents in a comfortable setting.  Introduce yourself, hand out business cards and tell them what’s unique about your company, marketing, and culture.   Always follow-up, it might take 2 months or 2 years but plant your seed!

7.       Recruiting Landing Page on Your Website

Have a landing page for prospective agents to learn more about your business and fill-out a small questionnaire.

8.       Ask your past Clients

Ask your past clients (buyers or sellers) if they know anyone looking for a new career?  Email, phone call, text message, etc. Maybe it’s a niece that is just graduating college, someone that is in retirement looking for part-time work, a teacher that has the summers off and looking for a pay raise?  You won’t know if you don’t ask.

9.       Community events – 4th of July, Open House, New Shopping Center, etc

Have a table with some free popcorn, give aways from the 99-cent store or kids toys with your contact information. This is especially important if its in your “farm” neighborhood.

10.   Senior Centers

The best real estate recruiting tip! You may think that once people are in a Senior Center they might not need a real estate agent but it is truly the office administrators that you might want to deal with.  What happens when a couple needs to move into senior center and they have to put up the deposit and sell their house?  The office administrators usually recommends a real estate agent or two in their area that can sell their house quickly for top dollar…THAT NEEDS TO BE YOU OR YOUR AGENTS!  Obviously, you might have to pay a referral fee but you should come out on top!

Hashtags: #RealEstate #Broker, #realtor #realtorlife #realtors #luxuryrealtor #topproducer #realestateagent #realtormarketing #recruiting

Qualified Opportunity Zones Tax Savings

Qualified Opportunity Zones Tax Savings

Did you know that there is now a better method of deferring capital gains tax on appreciated assets than a 1031 exchange?   Even better than that, did you know that it is possible to sell massively appreciated real estate free of any capital gains tax whatsoever? Answer Qualified Opportunity Zones!

One of the lesser discussed and lesser known aspects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 was the formation of Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ) and Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOF).  It’s on page 130, and doesn’t directly affect you unless you have large quantities of capital gains on which you’d rather not be taxed, so I’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of it until now.

If that situation applies to you though, it is worth looking into.   But how do you know if the situation applies to you, what is a QOF and what is a QOZ?  Glad you asked- that’s what I’m here to answer.

There are two sides to this legislation that can benefit different folks in different ways.  Let’s first start with people who have recently sold an appreciated asset and are going to have a capital gain.  That might already be some of you, and that may be others of you in the future.

In the past, if you’ve sold this appreciated asset (let’s assume it is real estate), your only option to defer capital gains via a 1031 Exchange, in which you must relinquish your appreciated asset and purchase a replacement asset within both a finite period of time and a stringent set of guidelines.  The problem inherent in doing that, though, is that if you are picking a particularly good time to realize your gains (seller’s market!), guess what you’re going to need to do in order to defer your capital gains?  You guessed it, buy into that same market.

Now there are ways around this, you can sell in an “A” market and buy in a “C” market, or you can sell a particular type of property (residential) and buy a different type of property (Industrial?) via which you will be able to achieve a higher yield.  Or you could turn one multi-family property in CA into 85 single family rentals in Ohio, which I’ve helped facilitate and absolutely do not recommend for everyone.

But let’s say you don’t want to do any of that.  Let’s say you just want to not pay your capital gains tax at all.  Do these opportunity zones let you do that?

Well… kind of.

Here is exactly what the IRS has to say about Qualified Opportunity Zones:

Q. How do Qualified Opportunity Zones spur economic development?

A. Opportunity Zones are designed to spur economic development by providing tax benefits to investors. First, investors can defer tax on any prior gains until the earlier of the date on which an investment is sold or exchanged, or December 31, 2026, so long as the gain is reinvested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund. Second, if the investor holds the investment in the Opportunity Fund for at least ten years, the investor would be eligible for an increase in basis equal to the fair market value of the investment on the date that the investment is sold or exchanged.

Ok, so that’s a lot to unpack, and you can read more about what the IRS thinks are the important questions here, but essentially what the benefits actually are:

  • You can defer your gain until 12/31/2026
  • If you hold the reinvested funds via the QOF into QOZ assets for a minimum of 5 years, your basis in the original transaction increases by 10%, and if you hold for 7 years, you get an additional 5%, for a total of a 15% decrease in your initial liability (not bad!)
  • If you hold the investment for a minimum of 10 years, your basis upon sale is equal to your sales price.

I’ll go ahead and comment on those- 1 and 2 are cool if you’re talking about large dollars, but only really moves the needle if you are talking about very large numbers.  3 is a different story- 3 says that if you a buy a property through a QOF, don’t sell it for 10 years (or more), you pay no tax on the appreciation in that period.  This is an astounding bit of legislation, especially for those of us familiar with development and entitlements- things that generally take a while to accomplish, and see substantial amounts of profit (much of which is typically eaten up by capital gains tax).

If you’re like me, it might take a minute to fully appreciate the impact of that.  That means that if you buy a property in a QOZ via the captive capital gain in your QOF and hold it for 10 years, or more, your gain upon sale is entirely tax fee.  No two ways about it.  Just to make sure though- let’s walk through an example.

Let’s say that you sell your appreciated asset and that creates a capital gain of $2 Million.  You then invest that gain in a QOF, and that QOF buys property in a QOZ (also for $2 Million).

You then wait the requisite ten years (and remember, after year 8, the amount you are taxed on decreases to $1.7 M), and your property is now worth $5M.  The additional $3M gain is now not going to have any capital gains at all.  Zero.  $3M of tax-free gain… the holy grail of real estate investment (or any investment).

Ok, so these sound pretty cool?  Where are they?

Well, here.  And while the zones are certainly in places that you might expect them, they are also in a number of places you might not expect.  Huntington Beach?  Costa Mesa?  San Clemente?  These aren’t exactly areas that are screaming for outside capital to renovate a forgotten about and forlorn metropolis.  But, through the miracles of bipartisan legislation, they were included.

If you would like to know more about Qualified Opportunity Zones and how to best take advantage of this new and unique opportunity, feel free to reach out and we can connect on the topic.

Express Cash Flow – www.ExpressCashFlow.com

Recruiting Real Estate Agents pointing at contract

Real Estate Agent Recruiting Tactics

We all know that agent recruiting is the life blood of any successful real estate office, and it should be the goal to recruit the most, best agents.  But how does a real estate brokerage actually go about doing this?  Here are some of the tactics used by the most successful recruiters from around the world.

  • Some of the best agent recruiting is done by your current agents! Ask your agents whom they’ve enjoyed working with on past transactions, and whom they look up to at other offices.  Then provide incentives (trips, meals, a boost in their split) for the agents that provide you with the best referrals.
  • Get involved with charities and your local community. Sometimes the best way to find good real estate talent is in the most unlikely of places, and being involved in communities outside of your industry will help you grow your network immensely.
  • Get involved in communities in your industry, too! Hold a new agent training for your local board, and make sure to follow up with any qualified candidates.  Have your agents support you in this endeavor, and encourage them to follow up as well.
  • Email all of your top recruiting targets with their end of year sales and what they could have made working for you- NOTE: make sure you are confident of their current splits and that this would compare favorably before sending.
  • Organize an outing or mixer for some of your top agents to mingle and socialize with your top recruits, so the recruits can get a feel for what will allow them to continue to grow and succeed.
  • Everyone wants to grow their network, make sure you not only connect with your potential recruits on social media, but ensure that you impact your relationship with them positively.

Once you’ve had a chance to implement all of these tips, agent recruiting will no longer be about hunting whatever agents you are able to convince they should switch to you, but rather farming your various networks for the most, best agents around.

Happy recruiting!

Millennial Realtor having fun together

The Millennial Realtor

Now more than ever, millennial’s have become disillusioned with the rigidity of the most desirable professions of generations past, most notably, law and medicine. Whether this is because of the mountain of student debt required, or the competition, or the lack of quality jobs in these fields, what is certainly the case is that millennial’s are now flocking to professions that allow their time to be more flexible…the Millennial Realtor.

One of those professions is, you guessed, it, real estate. They see big dollars and have an innate familiarity with social media, so it seems like a natural fit.
What’s more, they are probably the right hires for the job. According to Realtor.org, the average homebuyer is 33 years old while the average realtor is 57 years old. This disconnect, combined with the ever increasing usage of technology in the home buying process, means that there will be plenty of successful millennial realtors. So, you might as well recruit them to come work for you. But how do you go about doing that, exactly?

  1. Meet them the old fashioned way. This may sound counter-intuitive, but going the extra mile to meet potential new recruits in person will help you make a great impression, and also give you a better feel for the person that you may eventually ask to come work for you. But how do you go about finding people to meet in person? The best referrals for new agents, just like the best referrals for new clients, often come from within your own warm network. This is a great place to start.
  2. Embrace technology and social media. Millennials are already well adapted and familiar with these, so it is best for your brokerage to “go where the crowds are”. Having a social media platform that millennials can relate to and enjoy interacting with will help you grow your brand more quickly than any other form of getting the word out, and you will be rewarded with energetic and technologically savvy agents. If you want to truly take your web savviness to the next level, you can even build a presence at an online recruiting platform where millennial Realtors can compare and contrast the benefits for different brokerages.
  3. Create a truly great place for them to work. Whether this is by creating a luxurious office aesthetic or providing terrific intra-camaraderie, getting your new agents to enjoy the workplace will be one of the most important and valuable tasks you have as a broker. Their happiness will be clear in the stories they tell their friends, family, and the all-important social media, about how work is going. Ensuring that these stories are always positive ones will not only help you retain these agents, but help you grow your brand as well.
    With all of these tools in your pocket, you’ll be the talk of the town among the next generation of real estate agents!
People bumping fist

Attracting the Best Realtors (and Keep Them from Leaving)

Attracting the best realtors is an interesting thing, in that its very premise requires changing your prospect’s mindset so drastically that they make a major life change, and once successful, ensuring that they never have their mindset changed in a similar fashion in the future.

This presents a challenge, because you are dealing with precisely the population of people whose minds were once changed in the first place.  So how do you go about winning both of these competitions?  It is all about creating the belief that you as a real estate brokerage offer a competitive advantage in the marketplace, and that working anywhere else would leave them at a disadvantage.

That’s wonderful as a strategy to attract the best realtors, but how do you actually go about creating that belief?

  • Attracting the best realtors requires training not only on the mechanics of the business (writing contracts, negotiating offers, etc), but focus also on how to gain more business. While almost all offices will offer floor time and open houses to hungry new agents, these methods are outdated when it comes to optimizing your presence among today’s web-savvy buyers.
  • Having a committed, proven, and effective strategy for agents to boost their business with online marketing will help you differentiate your brand from the competition.
  • Be a leader in technology. In an ever increasing technology based marketplace, not only are buyers and sellers starting their searches online, but agents looking for a place to hang their license are as well.  Taking advantage of premium placement on agent recruitment sites like AgentBranch.com are a great way to stand out as a leader in technology.
  • Give agents the right incentives to stay. This might be the most important of all.  Recruiting new agents is only half the battle, as your new recruits are just as likely to leave you as they were their last employer.  There is no one catch all solution to retaining agents though, it is more about understanding what motivates each individual
  • Will your newly recruited top producer be more motivated if he is given an equity stake in the company if he meets certain thresholds of production, or would he respond better to having a higher split on each transaction?  Will your new licensees perform better if given freedom to market how they see fit on a higher split, or provided with lead generation on a lower split?  Answering these questions correctly for each agent is key.  At the end of the day, successful brokerages will make all of their agents as successful as possible, and in so doing, will help preserve the highest possible retention rate.