Changing Brokers

It can be a trying time when you change. There are many unknowns. I have recently switched from working with FirstTeam Real Estate to working with Evergreen Realty. There are benefits to both, but the negatives and costs of one far out weighed the benefits. We are in a truly different real estate market. One that takes a great deal of time and money to succeed within.

The idea of a broker expecting you to need them is something that I feel is obsolete. Real estate customers, whether they are buyers or sellers, don't hire the broker. They hire the agent! But the broker expects to make almost as much or even more than the agent!?!

This market is unique and will be around for a while. If you would have asked me 2 years ago when I thought we would get out of this real estate funk, I would have and could have told you that it would be within 6 to 12 months. Now I see even more negatives coming. Sorry to all you believers, who thought that the big government of Obama would fix the economy, but we are heading in the wrong direction. Jobs are going away and not coming back, homes are going into default and not returning to current and home values...they are dropping and dropping and dropping!!!

I have been tracking and watching and working this real estate market. We are in for a battle. This isn't a "recession"...it's a "depression"!!! We all need to work together and save. We need to look for how we can help each other, not how we can steal from each other. I'm guilty of protecting my own...I have a 4 month old daughter! But I need to start remembering my motto..."There is no limit to how much we can accomplish, so long as we don't care who gets the credit!"

Many of the brokers don't believe that agents can survive without their tools that they "give" the agents in return for the "small" percentage the broker takes. I looked around and found that those brokers are the majority. Evergreen is within the small minority, who feels that agents are important. If you are a successful, struggling, beginning or just chugging along experienced agent, a broker like Evergreen is where you belong. Don't let the big brokers sell you short. There is always someone who will help you for a "fee", but the truly rare individual is there to help you because doing so makes a better world.

This hopeless optimist is signing off for the evening. This feels like a good first post for this blog. I can't promise that I will post here everyday, but I will discuss how I feel about the world and real estate when I have the need to release some of the pressure that always builds up in this market.

Please let me know if you have any questions or issues. I would love to discuss them.

Thanks,
Cole