Video interview: Vanessa Bergmark, co-owner, Red Oak Realty
We’re going to start publishing video interviews once in a while – short conversations with smart people doing meaningful work in real estate. We’d love your feedback on how to make these interesting, and who you’d like to see interviewed.
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Red Oak Realty is a small brokerage (65 agents, 2 offices) located in Oakland, CA, where I live. The company has been around since the 1970′s, but new owners came into the business three years ago and have done a remarkable job building upon the foundation.
The company is profitable. Owners and agents like each other. The brand means something in the community. The customer experience – from the office to the home page – is managed thoughtfully.
In other words, they seem to be doing a lot right.
Here I talk briefly with Vanessa Bergmark, co-owner of the firm, about how she thinks about her business.
I liked the video interview. You hear inflections and see reactions that you can’t with written interviews. I like the question about “starting your owner brokerage”, and I liked Vanessa’s reply. That’s the road I’m about to go down…
My mind is boggled. Did she just say that an aspiring brokerage owner should first hire a manager (she says “leader”) and staff before recruiting agents? So you have an office, a “leader”, yourself, and staff all requiring income… before you have any income. You’re gonna be in the hole $150k in your first year. No?
Jeff it’s my understanding that she is saying, don’t put the cart before the horse.
Jeff- Actually, that’s pretty much what I said. I think the mistake most often made with the “under 50 agents start up” (something from scratch and not a merger or acquisition) is hiring a handful agents, maybe being a successful agent yourself but having little to no systems, then adding some more agents (experienced ones used to having services and support) or new ones (with little to no training) and then scrambling to find someone to “manage”, deal Dr, train and recruit this brokerage- successfully. If you don’t have $100-to 150 to invest strategically, don’t start now. Wait. Save, make a plan, take your time to hire someone who is respected in the pool you will pull from and give them an equity play to manage if you can’t pay a top salary now. If you hire a phenomenal manager/leader you attract the best agents, and the talented staff to support them. Real estate as a brand is built by its agents. If you want the best brand ~find the best agents. The best agents know their worth, so you will want to make sure you have the back end ready to support them from the day you bring them on board. If not, they’ll be gone by tomorrow.
Totally agree with her about the Zillows and Trulias consulting with us, the paying side of their business model, before making changes to their platform. Point in case, the Zillow premiere agent function. They’ve taken the liberty to automatically check all three agents for requested follow up. Why?? Was it broken?? It has been working quite well for me recently. Now they’ve taken my $$ yet lessened the value I get back. I would not have agreed or recommended that change. It’s one of the reasons I left Trulia.
Cool interview… Oddly enough, I fit your “hypothetical broker description” almost exactly.
I’ve received similar advice on hiring an office manager. Haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Maybe this is a sign!
Thanks for this. Just one tech issue. Sound on left side only, not is stereo.
Would like to see more of these.