Our Real Estate Industry Must Do Better

One of the best things about working in real estate is that you get to interact with a wide variety of people from many different walks of life. With Buyers and Sellers, that diversity is usually fun, exciting, and sometimes enlightening. But within the realtor community itself, the vast differences in agent knowledge, customer commitment, and work standards often pose a challenge. And, it’s past time for our industry to up our game.

Most brokerages have virtually no production or service standards for their agents. Indeed, their models are financially incentivized to prioritize the number of agents they accept rather than the quality of the work they perform. That’s because, under the traditional brokerage model, the broker takes a large portion of the agent's commission upfront -- no matter the production level of the agent -- in addition to large monthly and junk fees. If an agent sells even one house, that's thousands of dollars for the broker, so it makes sense for them to take virtually anyone with a license and a pulse. Otherwise, the broker would be leaving money on the table.

This model works pretty well for the broker; not so well for the customer or the agent community as a whole. With low or no standards of conduct, we end up with agents/brokers who:

1)     Lack the necessary training and skills to competently lead customers through the process and/or the desire to build those essential skills;

2)     Care primarily about making a quick buck, and push buyers into homes that are bad fits, or find creative schemes to net more money by failing to disclose the typical transaction or area costs; and/or

3)     Do not care about the level of service to their customers or their relationships with other agents, often becoming unresponsive or combative, to the detriment of the transaction.

The result is an industry with far too many agents who are incompetent, unresponsive, and laser-focused on commissions instead of service. When we have real estate agents who should not be empowered to manage customers’ largest financial investments, our transactions are more difficult to complete, and all of us in the profession look bad.  

Our Real Estate Industry Must Do Better

“The result is an industry with far too many agents who are incompetent, unresponsive, and laser-focused on commissions instead of service.”

What can be done? That’s the question we asked ourselves when we started The Brooks Group, and then Momentum Realty – and decided to improve the way real estate is done in North Florida and beyond. Admittedly, it has been a long learning curve, and we have made plenty of mistakes. But we have always strived to make this industry better by raising the standard of performance and service to the public regardless of brokerage affiliation. We don't need more agents in the industry, we need more good agents in the industry.

So, to that end, we built Momentum's model to attract agents who have:

1) Already served 10 or more families in a 12-month period. This helps ensure our agents have already gained the experience and skills needed to help customers at a high level.

2) Passed a two-step interview process before being offered association with Momentum. This helps to ensure our agents fit with Momentum’s culture of passion, purpose, integrity, and growth.

3) Demonstrated that they have had excellent customer feedback. This helps ensure our agents care about the experience of their customers at a very high level.

Our stringent requirements are why, since its inception, Momentum has declined to accept 30% of the agents who have applied to become a part of the tribe. It is also why, for talented but inexperienced agents who fit the Momentum culture but do not yet satisfy production requirements, Momentum offers a formal mentorship program. That way, we can ensure that Momentum’s newer agents are not on their own, fumbling through their first transactions -- because that's not fair to the agent or their customers.

Improving the industry by focusing on quality instead of quantity to ensure that all agents are competent, hard-working, and customer-focused. That’s how Momentum moves forward. We challenge our fellow brokerages to do the same.