The first quarter report is always the most anticipated. The first landmark of the year, it serves as a comprehensive piece with which to forecast how folks are doing against the business production goals they set for themselves when the year was new.
Mario Ferrante of Help-U-Sell Metropolitan in Woodhaven, Michigan, is still the front runner for 2019 with a total of 60 impressive sides. He is beating the competition by more than double and we can’t imagine a stronger beginning.
Kimber Regan of Help-U-Sell Hanford/Lemoore in Hanford, California, locks in second place with 26 total sides. The hard work of her team has made her office a feature of our Top Producers last year.
Then we have our “stair steps”!
Jack Bailey of Help-U-Sell Greensboro comes in third with 24 sides. Patrick Wood of Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties nets 23 sides. Richard Criccio of Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties closes 22 sides.
As mentioned in the March report, Mike Bowling of Help-U-Sell Mike Bowling in Yuma, AZ, is our newcomer making a big splash. He appears here, too, with 16 sides for the first quarter. Way to go!
Office
Buyer
Seller
Total Sides
Help-U-Sell Metropolitan
23
37
60
Help-U-Sell Hanford/ Lemoore
13
13
26
Help-U-Sell Greensboro
6
18
24
Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties
4
19
23
Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties
8
14
22
Help-U-Sell Direct Savings Real Estate
8
9
17
Help-U-Sell Mike Bowling
7
9
16
Help-U-Sell Federal City Realty
4
10
14
Help-U-Sell Full Service Realty
7
7
14
Help-U-Sell Heritage Real Estate
6
8
14
Over on the Gross Sales Volume list, quarter one is still serious business with the top three names matching our March report in the top three spots exactly. How cool is that?
Richard Cricchio from Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties, remains in first place with $16.3 million in sales. The savings of the home sellers in Hawaii must be huge (or “nui” in Hawaiian).
Patrick Woods and Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties comes in second place with $13.9 million.
David Bartels and Help-U-Sell Full Service Realty came in with $9.2 million dollars.
Together, our top 3 grossed $39.5 million in sales in quarter one. Just the top three! From the offices of Sarasota, we at the corporate headquarters congratulate everyone on the top ten list for the quarter.
The old saying goes “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb”. The same applies for our Top Producers list for the month. Some of our Broker/Owners started out the year with modest numbers, and ended up crushing all the goals and making an appearance here.
Mario Ferrante of Help-U-Sell Metropolitan in Woodhaven, Michigan continues his impressive trajectory for 2019 with a total of 25 sides, nearly double of our Eagle in second place.
Richard Cricchio from Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties closes March with 14 total sides, and as always, shows up on both our lists. Richard always rocks.
Recent subject of a Broker/Owner profile, Patrick Wood, and his office, Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties in Chino Hills, California comes in third place with 12 sides.
It’s never a surprise to see Jack Bailey of Help-U-Sell Greensboro on this list either, squeaking in just under Patrick Woods with 11 total sides.
However, the real shock is the emergence of newcomer Mike Bowling, out in Yuma, Arizona. After just a few short months of being up and running, Mike has already made a dent in our top five, and bringing in nine total sides. We suspect we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Mike in these lists going forward.
Office
Buyer
Seller
Total Sides
Help-U-Sell Metropolitan
11
14
25
Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties
6
8
14
Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties
3
9
12
Help-U-Sell Greensboro
3
8
11
Help-U-Sell Mike Bowling
3
6
9
Help-U-Sell Full Service Realty
5
3
8
Help-U-Sell Hanford /Lemoore
3
4
7
Help-U-Sell Direct Savings Real Estate
3
3
6
Help-U-Sell Federal City Realty
2
4
6
Help-U-Sell San Antonio Hill Country
2
4
6
The Gross Sales Volume list has a lot of wow factor for March as well.
As usual, Richard Cricchio from Help-U-Sell Honolulu Properties, is at the top once again with $8.2 million in sales.
Another perfectly consistent name here, Patrick Woods and Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties comes in second place with $6.2 million.
David Bartels is in third place with Help-U-Sell Full Service Realty. Bringing in $5.6 million dollars in sales this month, it’s $2 million more than our last report.
Partners at Help-U-Sell Options Unlimited, located in Terre Haute, Indiana, Bob and Brenda Fischer are next in our series of Broker/Owners who are also husband and wife.
Brenda has now been in real estate for 20 years, after a career in coordinating continuing medical education for physicians. Bob joined her six years ago, after 32 years in the digital audio industry.
There was a
logical attraction for Brenda to sell houses, as she and Bob had developed a
brisk business of flipping houses. “After a short period of time, you realize
that you’re doing all this physical work, and then paying somebody else to make
a profit off your houses. We then transitioned from flipping houses into
managing rental properties, and we both liked that a lot. Selling houses
ourselves was a natural progression,” Brenda said.
After Brenda
got her real estate license, she learned the industry with another flat-fee
brokerage in Terre Haute. She explained, “They closed down after three years,
and I went to a traditional brokerage. What you quickly find out is that you
pay for everything there. You pay for copies, popcorn, the phone, and, of
course, you still had monthly fees. The other realtors were part-time, and
that’s no way to grow and establish a business. The Assist-2-Sell franchise
where I once worked had been tried and failed on three different occasions, all
by different people, so that was not an option.”
When they made
their decision, they chose Help-U-Sell Real Estate. “If you look at how
Help-U-Sell is structured, it really is different. With other companies, you’re
out there on your own. There is no coaching. No one to rely on or ask
questions. A stricter structure meant fighting that much harder for business.
With Help-U-Sell, I started attending the coaching groups and began working on
recruiting with John Powell. If he doesn’t know the answer to a question, he
always finds out. That’s not common,” Brenda added.
Expanding
further on the coaching group, she said, “John Powell’s group is excellent.
It’s not just teaching ‘dos and don’ts’. He won’t let you shy away from the
hard tasks of how to make your business more efficient, like planning an
advertising budget or generating appropriate goals for your office. He wants to
help you stretch, versus just helping you make goals that you know that you
will easily meet.”
When it comes
to making a name for themselves, signage is first. “We had to drill down to
figure out where to put our marketing dollars. Signs are our number one thing.
We get more comments on our signage than anything else,” Bob said. “We
advertise as a company, not as agents. You will see names and telephone
numbers, but anyone in our office is qualified to take a call. Whoever can run
with it, we’re good with it. Right now, we’re working on a new postcard. We
called the home office and gave them the idea of what we wanted. It’s a lot
simpler than doing it yourself.”
The couple
advertises in their local weekly newspaper that has a readership of about 100,000.
“Newspapers here are still incredibly important. People want to see their home
for sale in the Valley Homes paper. We have tracked how business has been
affected by advertising there by cutting down to every other week, as opposed
to weekly. We lost 31 listings as a result and quickly changed back,” Brenda
shared. “We reach out to our Center of Influence contacts four times a year with
a postcard, written notes, or phone
calls. We also put up door hangers, even in awful weather. We communicate
regularly with clients who bought or sold a property. We often share articles
online.”
They also embrace fun methods of gaining exposure. “We always participate in the Labor Day parade and we bring all of our buyers and sellers with us. Everybody’s has matching t-shirts. Anywhere between 20 to 65 people show up, it’s a blast. We also do the ‘Shop with a Cop’ holiday program for children in need every year,” she said.
Bob and Brenda
did well for themselves in 2018, closing 55 transactions. They have established
a goal of 94 transactions for 2019. Bob shared, “It’s going to be tough to pull
off, because we are experiencing a shortage of houses in our area. Right now there
are 441 houses in our MLS, normally it’s around 1,300 in a five-county area.
The median price of homes was $92,000 just a few years ago; Because of the lack
of inventory, they are now over $100,000. During the recession, hundreds of
houses had to be torn down after falling into extreme disrepair. Builders are
now putting up houses that are between $200,000 to $300,000, in a market where
the spending range is $100,000. These more expensive homes aren’t selling, and
we’re desperate for more entry-level homes. Our area realtors and lenders
convened about this issue and have conveyed the need for starter homes to the
builders. We’re not just here as business owners. Real estate is ultimately
about helping families.”
When planning
for the year ahead, they embrace the positive and the negative. Bob explained,
“In real estate you expect and accept that it is always going to be a roller
coaster. We’re busy now, but next month, things will slow down dramatically.
We’ve learned to account for those shifts. It takes a special relationship to
work with your spouse, but we’re a team. I may be out getting a listing, while
Brenda is out showing a home. We’re not sitting here all day long. When we are
here together, we’re usually at opposite ends of the building because there’s
always something to do. Our goal is to always help each other out because this
is an old-fashioned family business, and we depend on each other to create
success.”
Patrick Wood, Broker/Owner of Help-U-Sell Prestige Properties in Chino Hills, California, is invariably one of our top three Top Producers. A friend from Fullerton is credited with bringing Patrick into real estate in 1977.
The friend bought a traditional real estate franchise, and the numbers were enticing. Finding real estate clicked with him, Patrick ran with it, and has been on the go ever since.
Eventually
Patrick opened his own Help-U-Sell Real Estate office. “There was an excellent
reputation built around the brand name and being able to do 40% volume was a
big attraction. In the beginning, I had some seller participation, but I only
wanted to offer full-service. I was also working with my agents on a commission
structure. Now, everybody who works for me is hourly or salary, plus a monthly
bonus. They are paid for everything that they do, which means everyone is
invested. I have found it is better for my clients that my office is as
service-oriented as possible, and with my dedicated team, there is always
someone available to show a house, attend an inspection, meet an appraiser, or
just be here to manage something in the office and pick up the phone,” Patrick
said. Including his indispensable office manager, Val, there are eight realtors
on Patrick’s team.
He continued,
“When I first opened, there was some pushback to overcome from the real estate
community, and objections from consumers. Yet in my first year, we had 110
sides to show for our efforts. Consumers like keeping equity. We’re in a market
where homes are regularly $900,000, and the house across the street sells in
just 10 days. Consumers are looking for reason. When we present the facts, they
gladly list with us.”
Naturally, we
wanted to know about some of the secrets to Patrick’s success.
“We have
streamlined ourselves continually over time. The name recognition of
Help-U-Sell, combined with our branding efforts, gives us great visibility. We
advertise in local media and social media. We keep up with our sign exposure:
our regular signs, as well as open house signs – both do a great job of taking
advantage of free exposure. Our general presence in the community is also
strong because we all live here, work here, and serve our clients here. Our
office is situated in a main thoroughfare of a retail center. After 15 years we
still get walk-ins! We are involved in our community with children’s charities
and sports teams where we get to put our name and number on t-shirts. It’s a
foundation we are always adding to and reinforcing,” he said.
To aid in that
reinforcement, the team is sending out ‘sold and saved’ postcards every time
there is a closing. “In addition, we actively pursue Yelp reviews. Any ad spend
always emphasizes full-service and savings. Every listing includes professional
photos of the property, including aerial drone photos. We’re providing a
seasoned agent to guide clients through this process. One of the bigger
compliments we get is a constant stream of listings from other real estate
industry professionals, like the appraisers who help us. The consistent effort
keeps everything running on track. I see competitors looking at other ways to
do business, but we find the old-fashioned efforts get the best results,”
Patrick said.
In addition to
streamlining efforts, Patrick attributes much of his success to a
highly-motivated team, all of whom share certain qualities. He explained, “My
team members are extremely confident, detail-oriented, efficient, and
personable. Everyone is a rational problem solver. It takes a certain strength
to be in front of people presenting information and handling their objections.
It’s a great position to be in where you can assign people to places where
they’re most needed. We treat people like we’re talking with neighbors rather
than strangers, because we do share this community.”
One hallmark
for success is the ability to adapt during times of instability. Patrick said,
“During the recession years, people had their equity position severely
compromised. I made it a point to develop excellent relationships with the
banks and became good at handling foreclosures. When the foreclosure market
dried up, I evolved into short sales. Most homeowners have equity now, and
since they remember all too well what it was like to not have equity, our
service and fee structure makes sense to them.”
Patrick’s
favorite time-saver is an app called ShowingTime. “It has had a huge impact on
how I do business presently. It is simply an extension of my team, and only
adds about five or six dollars more in overall listing fees. It easily saves me
and my staff 3 to 4 hours every day, because we’re not calling back buyer’s
agents who are trying to show the property,” he shared.
With so many
years dedicated exclusively to one industry and one region, Patrick offers a
lot of insight on the current conditions of his market.
“There are a
lot of Californians leaving, and my fellow Help-U-Sell Broker/Owners in Arizona
and Texas are seeing the influx of business from those leaving this state. I am
seeing a huge inflow of buyers of residential and commercial properties from
mainland China. We tried advertising in the local Chinese daily news but
learned that buyers from abroad were finding us the same way as local buyers
do: online. I’ve seen another trend of international buyers investing in
properties without putting eyes on it. It’s a tight market here. Right now
there are only 215 homes for sale city-wide, and when you consider the
million-dollar or luxury homes, it shuts a lot of people out. It’s a healthy
seller’s market with homes selling in an average of just 26 days. Sellers
recognize our branding and value.”
The
culmination of these efforts speak for themselves when the results come in. In
2018 Patrick and his team closed 119 transactions. For 2019, he has set a goal
of 125 to 150. “Our track record of sales, in combination with the savings we
offer is pretty compelling when we present to potential clients. The best thing
my team does is fast follow up. I often hear from clients that my team members
are as trustworthy as I am. That’s as big of a compliment as is possible to
give. Being on top means you’re always in the grind, but this is a great place
to be.”
