RE/MAX Broker Spotlight: Q&A With Ambitious Broker/Owner in Texas

I started flipping houses in Southern California back in 1997 when I purchased my first home. I had a wonderful REALTOR® who represented me for about 20 years while I flipped houses and worked a full-time job at Univision. I flipped a house every two years and I learned a lot from my REALTOR® about home pricing, value and customer service.

I believe in brands and the difference they make in perceived value. When I worked for a television network, the brand identity and logo were everything. When I got my real estate license, I wanted to go with RE/MAX because of the brand recognition it carried and I figured it would make my life much easier to not have to explain what brand I was with.

My REALTOR® back in Southern California tried to recruit me to Keller Williams when I got my license, but their business structure did not make sense to me. I equate RE/MAX to brands like Coca Cola, AT&T Ford, etc. – their top of mind awareness for consumers is priceless, as is the perceived professionalism that that comes with the brand.

I had a different experience than many Broker/Owners because I opened my office in May of 2020, right smack in the middle of the pandemic. People thought I was crazy, but instead it ended up being a godsend when the real estate market in Texas grew exponentially. It entailed Zoom meetings, emails, phone calls, and texts to get me up and running quickly. Everyone was fantastic, helpful, resourceful, and eager to help me launch and succeed. From the moment I signed my franchise agreement to the day I opened, the broker support I got from RE/MAX was amazing.

I was new to Houston and didn’t know many people, but I can say that my sphere from California and New York was excited and has referred so much business my way.

We started the brokerage with just my team, which was a total of six agents. We have since grown very fast regarding agent count and production.

Three things have contributed to the growth of my brokerage. First is our location – we are located in a very sought-after, master-planned community in Northwest Houston with plenty of schools and lots of drive-by traffic. Second, we have established a reputation of hard work and superb customer service as we serve our community. Third is that I believe in investing in my agents – I call it a work family and that’s how we operate. The culture at the office reflects that.

One of my goals was to get every agent in my office producing a higher volume and we have accomplished that in a very short time. The numerous resources that RE/MAX offers and the amount of education available have helped tremendously. Another goal was to open an office in the Rio Grande Valley where our commercial business is expanding. We were able to open a residential and commercial RE/MAX Property Group office in Edinburg, Texas last year, and the support for that has also been incredible.

We use almost everything RE/MAX offers, but most consistently we use RE/MAX Hustle videos, Photofy, and other tech tools. For our commercial professionals, Buildout has been a fantastic resource.

It can be intimidating out there as an agent. I told everyone at our Business Plan Summit last year that 2023 was going to be the year we focus on standing out and marketing to our database of clients. We offer tons of hands-on training with weekly workshops where we actually produce content for each agent’s social media, and where we produce materials to be used in attracting new clients. At RE/MAX Property Group, we focus on helping each of our agents develop a thriving business that can withstand any housing market. I make sure our office provides confidence for each agent so that they can focus on growing their business.