Real Estate Expansion Teams

The evolution of real estate expansion teams represents the next frontier in the natural progression of real estate team development. Similar to how many individual agents once began to systematize their operations while training and leading others to increase business income, real estate expansion teams are taking the next logical step by duplicating their models in different geographic areas to further maximize their production and income. Let’s examine some of the core principles that have led to the rising success of a number of real estate expansion teams in recent years.

Evidence Success & Leadership

If an agent is currently unable to generate substantial business or successfully lead a team of professionals in his or her local area, the idea of expanding into a new region is futile. Leadership is certainly not easy, which is why so few agents are able to retain a single administrative assistant or buyer’s agent for a substantial period of time. In order to expand, agents must first learn to hire, train and lead talented individuals on their team. Attracting top talent in a remote location adds further challenges, so agents looking to expand must be able to demonstrate that their administrative and lead generation systems can truly add value to candidates in other regions as well. In the video below, mega agent Brandon Montemayor explains how he has structured & grown his real estate expansion team into various geographic regions in California, Nevada and Arizona.

Centralized Operations

A key component to real estate expansion teams is the administrative center of the team. Often situated in the team’s initial location, this operations center is where the majority of the transaction coordination, marketing, administration, and lead coordination duties are performed. A talented administrative support team is often the key to attracting top talent in other areas to share commission income with the team. Established support creates attractive opportunities for remote agents to focus solely on the activities they enjoy by listing and selling more property without having to worry about the increased administrative and transaction coordination duties associated with increased sales volume. So more sales volume equals more net income for the expansion agent despite reduced commission splits paid back to the team.

Systems that Add Value

A real estate expansion team’s ability to efficiently systematize business generation, conversion and administration activities often determine’s its’ level of success. Lisa Archer of The Geeky Girls fame and an owner of the Live Love Realty has utilized top talent and strong systems to recently take her team that produces over $50 million in annual sales volume into 7 new geographic locations across the United States:

“There are two non-negotiable components to consider before expanding into other markets. The first is having the right people leading each part of your empire. The second is having the right systems: customer relationship management (CRM) system, administrative duties outlined, transaction coordination checklists, and training schedules for employees and associates. Your client database is the most important thing you own, so it’s continued maintenance and development is crucial. We have tested and love the following: Curaytor, DotLoop, Boomtown, Brivity and Pipeline Wizard to name a few. Being able to love on your database is what’s important.” – Lisa Archer

A Network of Talent

Establishing and maintaining relationships with individuals in other geographic areas requires additional resources. Many agents have leveraged their involvement in the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), along with local and state associations, to build relationships with other agents. Attending real estate industry conferences like Inman’s Real Estate Connect, the NAR Conference & Expo, and a variety of other national industry events provide further opportunity to identify talent. Social media has also proven to be a useful medium for both finding and fostering relationships with candidates everywhere. Even the largest real estate company in the United States, Keller Williams Realty (KW), has embraced the real estate expansion team movement with its Mega Agent Expansion initiative which provides operations systems and company-wide support to help agent’s looking to expand throughout all of its existing offices.