RE/MAX Brokerage Helps More Than 700 Veterans Achieve Homeownership

Exceptional service has always been a top priority for retired combat veteran Anthony Glenn. He enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1996, and over the next 20 years was deployed several times to Afghanistan and Iraq and served as a Marine Corps Drill Instructor.

In 2004, Glenn purchased a property in San Diego, but the process felt more transactional than relational. Glenn says he didn’t fully understand his Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits and was surprised to see his first tax bill was not included in his monthly mortgage payment.

“That made me start to do my own research,” Glenn says. “There’s a lack of knowledge for service members seeking to utilize their VA benefits. I became the go-to guy for people’s questions because I had personal properties [bought] with the VA loan. And that’s what motivated me to get a real estate license – who better to represent veterans than a veteran?”

Becoming known for his work with veterans, Glenn opened an independent brokerage shortly thereafter. But after losing business to big brands like RE/MAX, he decided it was time to do more research and see which brand he should join.

“I did my MBA capstone on which real estate company had the most global recognition,” Glenn says. “At first, I was looking toward Keller Williams, but when I did my research in regard to global brand recognition and being innovative, RE/MAX had the advantage. RE/MAX to me is like the iPhone of the real estate brands. They create change versus reacting to change.”

In 2017, after retiring from the Marines, Glenn opened RE/MAX Liberty in Oceanside, California, with Constance Carlisle, a 2019 Manager of the Year recipient. His first order of business? Hiring agents and office staff who were veterans themselves or spouses of veterans. Up to 90% of his office staff and agents have served in the military or are spouses of service members.

“It’s smart to hire veterans because they know sacrifice and they usually have a servant nature about them,” Glenn says. “Real estate is also not a 9-to-5 job. The flexibility in schedule works better and gives them the opportunity to get back into the workforce while their husband or wife is deployed, and have confidence knowing they can provide for the family.”

Creating a Unique Office Culture Based on Service

RE/MAX Liberty has grown from two agents to 35 agents since its opening, but Glenn says it’s not the number of agents that’s important, it’s the quality of agent.

“We want agents who are more concerned with customer service over commission, so they focus on being a servant Realtor and building that relationship,” Glenn says.

RE/MAX Liberty is one of the fastest growing RE/MAX offices in California, surpassing $150 million in sales volume for the first three quarters of 2020. Glenn credits the brokerage’s success to Carlisle and the team leaders within his office, saying “this would not be possible without them.”

“We never tell a client no,” Glenn says. “In the event they have bad credit issues, we offer them a roadmap for financial counseling and we assist in getting their credit and budget together. A client went from a 500 credit score to a 680 by getting in our program for 11 months. Now, they’re a homeowner.”

Since its inception, RE/MAX Liberty has helped more than 700 veterans with their homebuying and selling needs. Glenn points to the unique office culture and an emphasis on serving the community as being a driving force for the office.

“I think the measure of a person’s success is the impact they make on other people,” Glenn says. “It’s great to have a good income, but it’s better if you open your hands and create avenues for others to build wealth as well.”

The Importance of Giving Back

Glenn, his agents and office staff actively serve their community by participating in the Veteran Homeowners Club, a nonprofit organization Glenn founded in 2016. The Club helps transitioning service members learn more about the benefits of homeownership, improving credit and how to take advantage of the Basic Allowance for Housing.

“Our aim is to encourage homeownership and let service members know it can be done – and it can be done the right way,” Glenn says. “I’m able to educate more people in the process of being a homeowner investor and not just a purchaser.”

The Club has helped more than 2,500 veterans and service members achieve homeownership so far. It’s not just a local program, as Glenn notes they teach classes throughout the U.S.

The club also focuses on outreach by uplifting the community through social activities and events like the annual backpack drive, the Ta’Ziyah T. Smith Scholarship fund, a food drive, turkey giveaway and homelessness outreach – to name a few. So far, the Veteran Homeowners Club has donated over $200,000 to the community and awarded $40,000 in scholarships.

“I didn’t know what my true purpose was until I started to give my stuff away,” Glenn says.

“Real estate is great, and RE/MAX has been really good to me. It’s given me an additional idea to use the nonprofit as a catalyst to get real estate agents out of the transactional mindset and on the servant mindset. Not only are we doing good business through relationships, but we’re also taking it a step further and using the gifts we have to uplift the community.”