Career Decisions to Consider When Choosing a Real Estate Broker

Career Decisions to Consider When Choosing a Real Estate Broker

Whether you are a seasoned real estate professional, recently licensed or thinking about a career in real estate sales; working with a real estate broker who can and will expose your personal brand during all economic cycles with effective tools, training and support is fundamental to our success.

Hi, my name is Frank D’Angelo, President/CEO and Real Estate Coach of 3 real estate franchise offices in Minnesota.  My journey in real estate sales began in 1997 and as many new agents do; I aligned myself with a well known brand at the time.  I chose that brand because it was #1 in sales.  Over the years I discovered that agents are typically in business for themselves and by themselves in most real estate models.  Since 1997, our industry had experienced a boom, a record breaking recession and a recovery back to some semblance of normalcy with every likelihood to repeat itself over and over again.  It is highly recommended to consider all of this before making any decisions.

I want to share my story to better prepare someone before choosing a real estate broker to launch or re-launch a career in real estate.  My best advice up front is to align yourself with a ubiquitous broker.  In other words, a broker who is present for you in person and in mind whenever you need them.  I quickly discovered that bigger isn't always better when it comes to finding that broker.

At a seemingly invincible age of 46 in 2002, I was already in the top 1% as a producer with the largest desk fee company in the nation.  Interestingly enough, my alliance or affiliation had little to do with my production as the vast majority of production was self-generated.  This is common for most sales agents.   As my sales production grew, my perceived armor of invincibility at the time was seriously dented on July 14^th 2002, which also happened to by my wedding anniversary.  I instantly realized the fragile balance a self-employed real estate agent has with many unpredictable external factors such as tragedy, health or the economy.  On that day, Bonnie (my wife) and I spent one of the most glorious days together that two love birds could possibly have.  We started our day early on our chromed-out Harley Davidson motorcycle visiting our brand new custom home that was being built in the suburbs of Minneapolis.  Then visited multiple nearby destinations both in the country and the city along the way.  As we were riding home just minutes before midnight Bonnie kissed the nape of my neck and said; “Frankie, I love you so much.  What a beautiful day we had together”.  I was just beaming and thinking how great life is.   

Then just a few seconds later, a wrap-around belt from her clothing unraveled in the wind and snagged into the rear wheel of our motorcycle.  We were just minutes away from our exit home and the snagged belt literally yanked her away from me face down onto the freeway. I still remember her terrifying scream followed by the splashing sound of her skin hitting the freeway like it was yesterday.  As I brought the bike to a screeching halt in the dark; I sprinted back to her motionless body on the freeway.   The on-coming semi did not see neither of us.  I wasn’t successful in getting her body completely out of the way as the truck ran over her right leg.  In a blink of the eye our seemingly great life we were living changed well beyond what we thought we could handle as a family.  I spent the next 4 months praying at her bedside 24/7 while she was comatose and experienced several surgeries that gave us hope of some semblance of recovery from the significant brain injury she incurred.  Bonnie awakened and had to re-learn everything we take for granted in our daily lives.  Her miraculous recovery took well over a year as our prayer circle accumulated.  Other things accumulated as well such as:  mortgage obligations, creditors and my outstanding desk fees.  The debt had accumulated to a near six figure number while my real estate production was completely idol for over 9 months.  Not only was I experiencing the fragile relationship a self-employed provider has in traditional real estate models; I knew then that I needed to find a better alternative and began researching all options.  

My journey of examining the other real estate models led me to assembling a group of high producing agents from my former brokerage and helped pioneer one of the largest profit-sharing real estate companies in the entire region.  At the time, I thought I found that desired additional income stream that could help fill the gaps and provide more security in the event of something happening to my production via uncontrolled external factors.  I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to really ever cross that line from a self-employed broker to an investor in that multi-level profit sharing organization and continued to seek out other models and options.  I desired something that would first provide more financial independence for my family and also mentor me so that I could more effectively duplicate myself without all the expenses that I was experiencing in the other existing real estate models.  I discovered it in that same year (2004) and immediately joined EXIT Realty as an agent.  Since then EXIT has mentored me to not only earn much more than 100%; but I had finally crossed the line from a self-employed independent agent owning my job to a business owner owning a system that works for you.  This is best described in Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant”.  

The best part for our family was that I was able to cross that line of financial independence as an independent real estate agent at the time, while over 95% of sales agents remain trapped in the 'S' quadrant displayed above.  

 EXIT Realty also provided me the additional leadership skills, training and support to stretch myself and purchase multiple real estate franchises in Minnesota.  Doing so with any of the other Top 10 National Brands would be a monumental to impossible challenge by the way.  My first hand experiences with the previous ‘Big Box’ brands did not even come close to what EXIT Realty provides for their agents, brokers and support personnel.   EXIT’s Executive Leadership team is always present and seemingly everywhere.  They have clearly re-invented real estate and are developing ‘The New Era of Ubiquitous Brokers’.  EXIT’s five (5) pillars of success coupled with their unique revenue sharing model absolutely trumps any self-serving profit sharing or desk fee model in existence in my opinion and experiences.  Moreover, I am blessed to have duplicated myself and mentor several agents who have since become managing partners within our own firm.  They too are becoming ubiquitous brokers.

One would be hard pressed to find a better model with any of the top 25 real estate brands that provides the resources for agents and brokers to:

• duplicate themselves,
• earn much more than 100%
• obtain the best systems, training, tools and support with zero desk fees
• provide the financial independence to cross the line from self-employed to investor and business owner as described in the “Cash Flow Quadrant”
• and provide an un-paralleled retirement option and death benefit option that will pay their associates beyond death

My journey with EXIT Realty has lifted the ceiling off to blue skies whereby each and every member of this nationwide organization has the same capabilities to earn much more than 100 percent without needing to take the risk, the fees and the over-head associated with traditional real estate models.

Regardless if you're a seasoned real estate professional, recently licensed or thinking about a career in real estate sales; I highly recommend you be aligned with that Ubiquitous Broker nearest you.  It would be my pleasure helping you find that person in your area. Simply call me or click here for more information.

Frank D'Angelo - President/CEO/Real Estate Coach

EXIT Realty Nexus - (763) 548-1444