The Top 25 Power Teams to Watch

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RISMedia's first annual report honors the industry's most innovative agent teams

By Stephanie Andre & Kayla O'Brien

RISMEDIA, Jan. 17, 2007- From their impressive sales figures to their innovative marketing and management skills, Real Estate magazine-in conjunction with RISMedia's Power Team Report-has selected 25 Power Teams to watch in the coming year. We congratulate these teams for recognizing the strength that exists in numbers, and for making the leap from independent contractor to leader. Watch for more Power Team profiles throughout the year in RISMedia's Power Team Report (see www.rismedia.com for details).

Taking the concept of selling homes to the next level, today's leading agent teams are a rising force in the real estate industry. Driven by the desire to grow their business through the expanded skill sets afforded by the team, these real estate professionals are able to better service their clientele while adding a much-needed balance to their lives-something most lacked during their flying-solo days as agents.

Mary Jo Avery
The Mary Jo Avery Team
RE/MAX Equity Group
Lake Oswego, Oregon
www.maryjoavery.com

Years in real estate: 27 Secret to success: Demonstrating integrity as the number-one office in the area; motivated, hard working and smart associates. Career-changing event: In 2000, RE/MAX bought Equity Group. "It is such a motivation to work for talented leaders, giving you career satisfaction and contentment, and wanting to work hard for them," says Avery under the leadership of Jim Homolka, president of RE/MAX Equity Group.

Avery believes that a successful team begins with the right hire. "I interview for years and years until I connect with the right person," says Avery. She describes other keys as training and the relationship-training all-new employees from the ground up with a can-do, positive attitude. Serving as the forefront of her office, Avery maintains direct relationships with her clients, while her team backs her up-managing the work that needs to be done to maintain client satisfaction. In addition, the Mary Jo Avery Team sets themselves apart through comprehensive and creative marketing, utilizing advances in technology.

Kent & Cindy Collins
Collins Connection
Prudential Realty
South Central Idaho
http://prudentialidaho-homes.com

Going the distance: To ensure sellers can move on to buy a new home, Collins Connection has been known to purchase homes. Team motivation: As broker/owners, Kent and Cindy lead by example. Community connection: Organizations in which the team members dedicate their time include: Danny Mora Scholarship Fund for the performing arts; their church; chamber of commerce; Business Plus. They were also previous presidents on the Board of Realtors and Idaho Realtor of the year.

Twin Falls, Idaho sits on Snake River Canyon, a picturesque community with an affordable quality of life. While the Collins Connection recognizes the importance of client referrals, hard work and training is required to achieve them. The team is active with Buffini & Company training. A team of four, it is unanimous that coaching has helped identify individual strengths. "We hold team meetings once a week so we're all up to speed and we complete action steps with our business coach, creating three to four steps we need to complete such as goal setting," says Cindy Collins. The team also prides itself on consistency. "We all have weaknesses, so we cover all bases from the beginning," Kent adds. As a part of their customer service regimen, the team has a set marketing plan thanks to tools provided by both Prudential and Buffini & Company.

John DeSantis
John DeSantis and Associates, LLC
Realty One
Cleveland, Ohio
www.Johndesantissold.com

Region served: East side of greater Cleveland, Ohio. No. of agents: 14 Words of value: "Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success," quote by Henry Ford, hanging in each office.

John DeSantis, a retired public school teacher, unintentionally took his career in real estate from a one-man show to a partnership. "When I retired from teaching, I was flying solo and intended to do so-I planned to travel, golf and just be retired. Then, I had an agent ask me to mentor her, and being a teacher, it seemed like the logical thing to do," explains DeSantis. "At the end of six weeks, she sold six houses and said to me, ‘you're going to have to get someone else to help you.'" Years later, the team has gone from selling 70-75 homes to 250 homes in 2006, all ranging between $75,000 and $3 million.

Bryan Felder
The Virginia Realty Group
RE/MAX Gateway
Chantilly, Virginia
www.thevirginiarealtygroup.com

Start in the business: Felder ran his own vending company from the time he was 10 years old until 21. Later, he bought an investment property and then a high school friend asked Felder to sell his home. The rest is history. Best source for advice: Other top-producing agents in his region.

For Bryan Felder, the biggest challenge of having an agent team is being able to step away from sales in order to concentrate on growing the team and the business. "I had to go back in and re-educate my team to let them know I was not going to be out selling the way I used to." Felder and his team also rely heavily on referrals. "I talk about real estate constantly. My wife gets embarrassed but that's how I have done it. My very best referral was from a Burger King drive through! Can you imagine? The other critical thing I do is partner with other businesses. I may partner with a flooring contractor and then I get all of his or her referrals and I refer flooring business back. It has given me a crucial point of differentiation."

Sue Frye
The Sue Frye Team
ERA Landmark Real Estate
Bozeman, Montana
www.suefrye.com

Years in real estate: 23 Career motivation: "I love what I do, and if you're going to do a good job you're going to have to love it. If you don't love it, don't do it." Career-changing success: To get one of her first listings, Frye arranged a 30-day listing deal with a builder/developer that had never listed with anyone previously. After publishing a Hallmark invitation in the newspaper, advertising the open house and having the house furnished, 100 people attended and the house was bought that day. "Sometimes you have to take a chance," says Frye.

The Sue Frye Team is unlike your average agent team, and much of her success is due to those very differences. With only four licensed agents by her side, each agent has a specialty. "We're very hands on," describes Frye, the primary listing agent of the team. Early on, she recognized two key ingredients to successfully sell real estate: "You need to be very careful with pricing and presenting," she admits. She prefers to list and sell the properties herself, while the others on the team efficiently help the rest of the process run smoothly. She keeps herself educated on all markets and prides her photographic memory. In addition, Frye has made her career a family affair. Not only has Frye's sister been by her side for 14 years, her two daughters have also enlisted in her success alongside Cheryl, the not-related, but "adopted" daughter.

Sandy Garner
The Garner Group
Coldwell Banker Real Estate
Bend, Oregon
www.thegarnergroup.com

Years in real estate: 27 Projected sales for 2006: $130 million Pride in the group: "This is a hard-working team and recent recognition by The Wall Street Journal and cooperating media was very gratifying."

Sandy Garner says it's not difficult to motivate her team members because most staffers are "members of our extended family." She says this creates an underlying motivation based on mutual cooperation and recognition of common goals. "It says much for the good nature of the individuals concerned that we celebrate many holidays and special family occasions together. On a more professional level, we conduct weekly team meetings to discuss current problems and achievements, and have recently added a director of sales to the staff." Reflecting his background, a big part of his job falls under the heading of sales training and motivation.

Jace P. Glick
The Jace Glick Sells Team
RE/MAX Alliance
Parker, Colorado
www.jaceglick.com

People on team: 12 Words to live by: "Success is the journey not the destination." Definition of success: Having a clear vision and structure, all the while being happy and enjoying what you do for a living. Real estate is… "the best thing I've ever done in my life."

The Jace Glick Sells Team (not to be confused with "sales" team) is fueled by what "rainmaker" Jace P. Glick feels all successful teams should have: a vision. A vision allows everyone involved in the team to stay focused and maintain clear expectations. A tight-knit group of people, everyone is just as dedicated to the same goal, while bringing their individual strengths to the table. Part of the Sells Team vision is to understand the importance of the team and sharing, ensuring quality of life; "I take my business seriously but I also know there's a lot more things higher up on the priority list besides work," says Glick. In fact, no one on the team works 70-hour weeks and all are encouraged to take vacations and tend to their needs; the rest of the team is there to uphold efficiency due to their training and consultations with Glick, helping them to all achieve their shared goals.

Chris Heller
Heller the Home Seller
Keller Williams Realty
San Diego, California
www.HellerthehomeSeller.com

Road to real estate: Still in college, Heller obtained his real estate license in 1983, selling timeshares on a part-time basis to make money for his education. In December 1988, Heller pursued his full-time career in residential real estate, hiring his first assistant in 1989. No. on team: 10. Success in 2006: 130 closed transactions

Being a part of a team, Heller explains, provides mutual satisfaction and a sense of achievement for a job well done. That's not to say, however, that everyone is team-compatible. "People need to figure out early on whether they want to be the star or if they want to be a part of the team," Heller says. To ensure his team is nothing short of team players, Heller is in tune with the characteristics and backgrounds of stargazers, and makes sure that while interviewing, agent candidates understand team expectations. "I see if they have the behavior profile for being a member of the team or just the star," he adds. Like oil to a car, a team is nothing without undisturbed communication. Under Heller's guidance, everything is dealt with immediately, openly and completely, all the while working together to reach team goals.

Pat Hiban
The Pat Hiban Real Estate Group
Keller Williams Realty
Maryland/Washington, D.C.
www.hiban.com

Years in real estate: 19 Career path: After obtaining a bachelor's degree in sociology, Hiban went on to become a real estate agent at the age of 21. He started with a small, local agency and later moved to open his own company. Hiban joined Keller Williams in July 2006. Years as a team: 11

The Pat Hiban Real Estate Group has witnessed growth over the past year due to a shifting market. The Ellicott City (Maryland) area is unique in that it is ethnically diverse and culturally balanced. The first planned community where developers mixed three social classes together as one cohesive city, affordable housing is intertwined with million-dollar homes. In such a culturally diverse area, houses sell fast and there's only so much one person can juggle. With a team of 43 people, there's plenty of room for leverage while still having the ability to make more money in the area than any solo agent could by themselves. To keep his team motivated, Hiban utilizes unusual motivational gimmicks. Every May, the team sets goals' transactions. One summer, with the cicada invasion-the notoriously noisy insects that arrive every seven years or so-Hiban told them, he would eat a live cicada if the goal was obtained. Needless to say, that summer Hiban literally tasted his team's success!

Phil Immel
The Immel Team
Prudential California Realty
Orange County, California
www.immelteam.com

Rewards team members by: Paying them all a salary and a bonus based on tenure. "What's more, after every closing I pay a bonus based on basis points. We are all in it together all the way down to our receptionist. Absolutely everyone gets a bonus. It keeps everybody working. It keeps everybody pulling in the same direction. No one on my team is a 9-to-5er. They work and do whatever it takes." Develops leadership skills by: Reading books on the subject, attending business and real estate seminars.

Immel markets the benefits of working with an agent team by showing clients that his team is "hands on all the way." "I negotiate all of the listing side, managing all of the listings with support staff. On the buyer's side, I have other agents on my team who are talented and the average tenure is eight to 10 years in the business so they negotiate those deals unless there is a snag and then I step in. We have built an office within an office. It's like a law firm. I am the senior partner and like any good law firm I tell them that's to their advantage because today one agent can't do it all; putting up signs, answering phones, approving ad copy and on and on. Today you need a team with specialized functions to work the most efficiently for buyers and sellers."

Jane Jones
HER Real Living
The Jane Jones Team
Columbus, Ohio
www.herrealtors.com/thejanejonesteam

No. on team: 5 Success stories: Number 1 in listings and homes sold in Arlington, top 1% of all HER Real Living Realtors, Ohio Association of Realtors (OAR) President's Sales Club Pinnacle of Performance Award, HER Real Living's Platinum Award, Columbus Board of Realtors 25 Million Dollar Club, HER Winner's Circle Elite, HER designation of residential location specialists. Team motto: "Buying or selling, your happiness is our success."

Having options is what the Jane Jones team contributes to their success. Between a team ranging in age to a market ranging in price, the agents are able to work with all types of clients beginning with low-end to the million-dollar-plus homes. "We feel that we all give our clients 100 percent of our time whether buying or selling or whatever price range the home is in," says Jane Jones. Variety also allows the team to reach out to the community via charitable organizations in addition to effective advertising. The team's name can be found in local newspapers, listing, sold, and price cards, and not only their individual Web site, but also on the HER site as well. By donating time and money to local organizations, the team's name is spread verbally throughout the community.

Carlos Justo
Carlos Justo
Sol Sotheby's International Realty
Miami, Florida
www.solsothebysrealty.com

Years in real estate: More than 30. Area served: Miami-Dade County Fresh start: "Having to work to help support my family at a very early age, I wasn't able to afford a formal education. Real estate seemed like the career I could learn in the shortest period of time with the potential to make a lot of money in a little time. I did it, and I was right on." Words of inspiration: "If you're going to work hard, why not just shoot for the stars?"

The Carlos Justo Team's clients seek ultra-luxury living and therefore the luxury-buying experience. Out of Miami, Florida, their average home price is $5 million. To maintain this type of clientele, these agents possess market knowledge and also people knowledge. "To accelerate the process with a very sophisticated client, they require somebody who can assist them in making the proper decisions for not only the home itself; you need to meet their needs when it comes to investment options, values, family concerns, schools, etc.," says Justo. After the "basics" are in place, the Justo team brings the home-buying experience to the next level via their secret marketing tool. "We always have themed events within homes for sale. The home gets exposure as they walk through and we feel that when the client is in a party atmosphere, they are more relaxed." Other additions to their niche events include yachts and helicopter rides to get the buyers excited and view the homes from the best angles possible. When the goal of the team is to reach a billion dollars in sales in one year, says Justo, ordinary tactics will not do.

Jay Kinder
Jay Kinder Home Selling Team
Coldwell Banker Crossroads Realtors
Lawton, Oklahoma
www.jaykinder.net

Claim to fame: Sold 22 homes in his first year in the business. Best marketing strategy: Guarantees to sell your home within 90 days or less at a price acceptable to the seller, or he buys it himself. Also has a Hummer with a Jay Kinder top-of-mind wrap. "Everyone in Lawton talks about it."

Having an agent team allows Jay Kinder to leverage his skills by delegating and departmentalizing. "I realized there was only so much business I could do on my own. Alone, either service goes down or sales go down-it's a real peak-and-valley business. So now we have someone in charge of marketing, someone that puts the signs up. For my sellers the bottom line is that with a team I can give them a much higher level of service because each person is doing a different part of the job. There are also very good advantages to my team because they get to be a part of something great. Every person on my team gets bonused-so as the business grows everyone makes more money."

Bob Kinlin
Kinlin Grover
Kinlin Grover GMAC Real Estate
Osterville, Massachusetts
www.kinlingrover.com

Years as a team: 10 Unique setup: Bob Kinlin and Paul Grover sold their brokerage to GMAC Real Estate and now work as a team under the company umbrella, but have individual listings. They take their commissions, put them back into the company and run their expenses through those finances. Career-changing event: Selling the business to GMAC. "It was nice to be compensated for what we built. However, being an entrepreneur, it was a tremendous adjustment getting used to the corporate environment."

According to Bob Kinlin, he positions his team in the marketplace with a tremendous amount of advertising and direct mail. "We are focused on direct mail to the high end of the market. We're involved in about 60 percent of high-end sales on Cape Cod. Over the years, we've positioned ourselves with various collateral materials and networking and referrals. We are perceived around here as high-end brokers."

Jane Lee
RE/MAX Top Performers
Jane Lee Team
Lake Bluff, Illinois
www.remaxtopperformers.com

No. on team: 20 Years as a team: 4 Career pep talk: "It's hard in the beginning, but the longer you're in the business, you'll know what and how to do it, taking the time to do it right."

"Even though I was a very strong agent, I couldn't do it all on my own any more," Jane Lee says about her decision to form a team in 2002. Today, the team finds themselves ranked nationally in the Wall Street Journal as number 32 in the United States, and number 20 for transactions. Since the Illinois market is experiencing change, Lee knew that she and her team would have to change as well. In addition to being 100% upfront with her clients while educating them, Lee feels her success is attributed to her team effort. While Lee describes the most effective marketing technique as a "sold sign" in front of a house, she offers a premium service for her clients to ensure timely selling. The four-step program, consisting of the home warranty, inspection, staging, and estimates, has resulted in selling homes in extremely low periods of time even in a difficult market.

Jeff Lowe
The Lowe Group
Century 21 Sussex & Reilly
Chicago, Illinois
www.lowegroupchicago.com

Years in real estate: 10 Years as a team: 2 Secret to success: "We are very specific on which neighborhoods we deal in. We only work with a handful, and we dominate those."

Jeff Lowe's decision to form a team was borne out of sheer necessity. "The number of people who needed service super-seeded what I could handle." Now, according to Lowe, one person handles appointments, one works in marketing and four others are in sales. "Everyone on my team is licensed," he explains. "They were handpicked people who were already in the business." Lowe's decision to form a team has certainly paid off. "Our clients prefer us because we are very accessible-and that's because we are a team. We have lots of processes in place to keep them updated." Lowe's team contacts its clients before and after showings, and offers instant feedback. "After you go through all the trouble to clean your house and get it ready, it feels good to know immediately how it went."

Ann MacQuoid
The Deer Valley Team
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Park City, Utah
http://thanksann.com

No. on team: 3 Areas served: Park City and Deer Valley, Utah. Most creative way to sell a home: Holding the release of the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Parallel, from St. Helena, Napa Valley, in one of the homes for sale. The launch generated great interest and publicity, giving the home exposure it wouldn't necessarily have had.

A community-oriented team, The Deer Valley Team receives enormous recognition, ensuring that people will distinguish their name and service through marketing online and print advertisements, and most importantly referrals. "Eighty percent of our business comes from referrals, which is gratifying because it means we're doing a good job," says Ann MacQuoid. Working in a resort market like Park City, the clientele is typically sophisticated, wealthy and sometimes even celebrities, all of which are used to and appreciate the very best. That being said, the true advantage to the team persona is "seamless" service. Clients come from all over the world, not necessarily planning when they will be in town, so having other agents to cover client needs at the drop of a dime makes it easy for the clients, knowing that whoever they work with is just as knowledgeable and will provide consistent service.

Mike McCann
The Real Estate Man and his Five-Star Team
Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors (NJ/PA/DE)
Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://mccannteam.com

No. on team: 16 Success in 2006: About $180 million, 580 transactions Words to live by: "The harder you work, the luckier you get."

"The magic to succeeding is a commitment to the business, hard work, being the most knowledgeable in the marketplace with the best reputation," says Mike McCann. Mike McCann the Real Estate Man and his Five-Star Team take pride in their reputation from their customers but also among the real estate community. What sets McCann's team apart from others in the area is their unique branding-"Mike McCann, the Real Estate Man," used since 1994. The team also incorporates marketing materials such as print, signs, and mailings-which is the single biggest thing in investing in new business, according to McCann. Recently, radio advertising has been very effective for the team. This allows McCann to promote different projects and to create a sense of urgency and excitement.

Mark A. McWilliams
The Gold Medal Team
RE/MAX Properties, Inc.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
www.goldmedalteam.com

Years in real estate: 4 No. on team: 15 (12 licensed, 3 administrative) Success tip: Lead generation and lead conversion training. Agents on the team need to be an expert in finding leads and then finding homes and being Realtors. Team motto: "It's not about us." Reason for success: Willingness to lift each other up.

When Mark McWilliams first found himself at the Gold Medal Team, he was looking for change. Four years later, he now leads the team that grew from five to 15 members. Along the course of his transition to real estate, McWilliams discovered the biggest challenge in managing a team is training. "We have brand new agents to agents with 24 years of experience. Transferring knowledge from one to another back and forth in a fast-paced atmosphere is very difficult, especially to bring everyone to the point where we are all proficient in every aspect of being a Realtor," he says. His solution? Mentoring. During this process, a junior Realtor is matched with a senior Realtor setting up the mentoring relationship.

James Meyer
Dial & Meyer
Columbus, Ohio
HER
www.herrealtors.com/james.meyer

No. on team: 6 Recruiting method: Recommendations from other agents, management support team of HER corporate. Team challenges: Remembering it's not who's contributing how much and breaking it down, it's realizing that everyone contributes in different amounts and ways.

James Meyer and Stephen Dial began their team in 2003 while they were working on numerous condo projects in downtown Columbus. When they began to list larger projects, 50 or so per building, the duo thought it would be better to handle them as a team than as individual agents. Personal friends for 15 years, Meyer describes their compatibility: "I tend to be a big-picture person, where the market is going and its trends. Stephen is the micromanager. You have to find someone who has attributes that compliment what you need and support your weaker side."

Ruth Pugh
The Pugh Team
Century 21 Award
San Diego, California
www.ruthpugh.com

Years as a team: 7 Career-changing event: "When I made the decision that I wanted to be number one at whatever I did-because my ‘why?' in life is huge." Secret to success: Always treat real estate as a business. Ask yourself: "Would I be the CEO of IBM with the work ethic I have right now?"

For clients, there are many benefits to working with an agent team, according to Ruth Pugh: more knowledge of the market, larger market share, cross selling, and working with agents that only need to concentrate on the sale and not the back office that is required to close the sale. "Their closing skills are unstoppable. Being able to concentrate only on the sale is critical in this market. There is more hand-holding that is required in today's market than six months ago. Working with a team, there is more than one person to hold everyone's hand. We pride ourselves on great customer service due to that fact we do have a team. Our motto is: T-E-A-M-Together Everyone Achieves More.

Jarad Spackman
Dave, Jarad, and Brandon Spackman
Sotheby's International Realty
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
www.spackmansinjacksonhole.com

No. of team members: 3 Years as a team: 12 Projected sales for '06: $70 million. Agent team goal: To have fun. "If you're enjoying the job and the people you're with, then you succeed more." Demographic of area: Mountain resort community, it's an area that attracts both vacation and recreational visitors, along with those owning their second and third homes.

The Spackmans work as a team under the leadership of their father, Dave, having been in the real estate industry for 35 years. Having grown up in Jackson Hole, real estate allows them to not only work for themselves, but to also be able to sell the lifestyle of the scenic town they grew up in, maintaining close ties with their friends and family. "The obstacle in Jackson Hole, however, is that there's over 400 licensed real estate agents and only 20,000 people in county," says Jarad. To accommodate the competition, the team remains up-to-date and educated on current events around Jackson Hole. "Our motto is ‘we educate people, we don't sell people,' and our customers appreciate that sales attitude, respecting our integrity and experience in the market." Being investors in real estate themselves, the team feels their personal experience within the marketplace helps clients who look to achieve similar goals. For 2007, the team plans to continue growing in both sales by means of marketing.

Toni Turner
Team Reliable
Metro Brokers/GMAC Real Estate
Atlanta, Georgia
http://reliablerealtygroup.com

Teammate: Sandra Watkins Years as a team: 7 Best advice: "Follow up and never over-promise."

Toni Turner says the biggest plus for listing with an agent team is that someone is always able to help you. "When one person is not available, another agent is and can show the property, answer questions or anything else that the client may need. Basically, you have someone available at all times." Besides promoting their value as a team, Turner says Team Reliable also does a lot of newspaper advertising and in local magazines, such as The Real Estate Book.

Marsha Waddelow
The Marsha Waddelow Team
RE/MAX Associates of Arlington and Mansfield
Arlington & Mansfield, Texas
www.marshawaddelowteam.com

Years in real estate: 12 years Biggest benefit of having a team: Having a more balanced life and "No Real Estate" days for all; enjoying a greater presence in the market and more market share; having a diversified real estate practice.

Marsha Waddelow runs her team like a mini brokerage: "My team understands that they are not in competition with me. I train each member of my team to build their business by referral. I educate them on building and maintaining a database as well as how to develop and build lasting relationships with their clients. I am big on goal-setting and work closely with each team member on both their business and personal goals. We have budgets and production goals. We also write team goals, which are very empowering and essential to our growth and success."

David Young
The David Young Team
Coldwell Banker United, Realtors
Houston, Texas
www.davidyoungteam.com

Years as a team: 2 Projected sales for 2006: $114 million We're number one: Coldwell Banker United, Realtors is the number-one Coldwell Banker franchise in the U.S.

According to David Young, success in a team environment is dependent on a mutual respect for each other, a very positive attitude and the confidence to know that by working together everyone can be more successful as a valuable member of the team. He stresses that as the team's leader, it's important that he set the example, emphasize knowledge and integrity, give each agent the freedom to excel based upon their individual strengths and promote the team's accomplishments in the industry.

Source: RISMedia's Real Estate magazine, Jan. 2007

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