Posted by Johnny Huang on September 30, 2009 at 10:00am
Before I opened my own office, I was with a big named real estate company. I felt that being part of that corporate structure was something I wanted to experience. I've always been part of the small business world and truly never thought going corporate. However, two years ago I took my chance at a corporate office and here's my experience:1. The corporate culture taught me lead generation, contract, escrow classes and such, but when you actually get down to the nitty gritty, contract and deals are within you. Anyone can do a cookie cutter deal, not everyone can look at a deal and make it better, especially if you are looking for the benefits of your clients. Therefore, the work that I did as far as production and lead generation was all MY effort.2. I never saw any of the "brokers" that owned/operated the office. Only the broker-in-charge that was there for review. They may have taught a few classes once in a while, but my interaction with them was pretty much nil. This may be personal to me, but I'd like to see newcomers and greet them because I thought it was respectful, especially if they are going to do the hard work for the company.3. It boiled down to the money I had to depart after close of escrow with splits plus additional fees like printing, tech fees, so on, I felt I was penny pinched. Was it worth plus E&O each year to pay for the support staff and brokers? I was also responsible for my own marketing and Board fee and any expensing involved with listings. I was doing everything on my own and absorbing all the overhead in my own office.Within 3 months of starting at a big office, I started doing BPOs. That lead to my blogging activity on http://activerain.com/blogsview/413473/bpo-learning-curve which lead to REO listings. To the surprise of my collegues in that big office, they were all astounded that a new guy had landed assignments. One thing lead to another, and business was booming until I decided to open my own office.One thought that came across my mind was that I started my BPO and REO work within that corporate culture and will receive REO listings and be recognized as an independent office? I'm convinced it's not the big name but the agent name him/herself that makes the REO's happen.
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