Working outside your direct market can up your real estate game. As the new years dawns, Eli Tene of CENTURY 21 Peak/CENTURY 21 Peak Commercial offers insight on leveraging the international market.
Eli Tene
Managing Director
CENTURY 21 Peak/CENTURY 21 Peak Commercial
Woodland Hills, Calif.
Region served: Southern California
Years in real estate: 27
Number of offices: 3
Number of agents: 150
Best time management tip: Focus on the most important matters first.
Most effective way to motivate agents: Lead with humility, humor, and an attitude that demonstrates that as a leader you’ll partner with your affiliated sales associates to help them reach their goals.
Best recruiting technique: Clearly articulate a value proposition that not only brings results, but is something you can stand behind.
As a result of a recent merger, you now refer to your company as the “newest and oldest CENTURY 21 System in Los Angeles.” Please explain.
On September 15, 2015, we officially joined the CENTURY 21® System with the opening of two franchises: CENTURY 21 Peak and CENTURY 21 Peak Commercial. Within seven days we finalized the acquisition of the oldest established C21® franchise: Granada Hills-based CENTURY 21 All Moves.
In what ways will the divergence of your company’s residential and commercial brokerages change the landscape of the real estate business in Los Angeles?
We believe the value we offer through training and coaching will translate to superior service for buyers and sellers in the residential and commercial sectors. To that end, we’ll be leveraging our recently acquired real estate school to train new and seasoned commercial real estate practitioners in foreclosures, cold calling, mortgage notes, mortgage financing and 1031 Exchanges. Our goal is to provide sales associates with a strong, diverse foundation in real estate, which ultimately means more money in their pockets as a result of being a one-stop, comprehensive resource that can meet virtually every client’s needs.
How do you plan to leverage international familiarity with the C21 brand to expand PEAK Corporate Network’s presence to a global marketplace?
Recent data indicates that in Southern California, more than 20 percent of residential and commercial transactions involve foreign clients. Who better to connect international clients than the CENTURY 21 brand, a brand that represents the largest real estate network worldwide with 850 offices in China, 900 in Japan, 450 in Canada and 130 in Mexico? No other real estate brand has this type of reach and exposure, and no other real estate brand is as dedicated as the CENTURY 21 brand when it comes to leveraging the international market. Not only is their leadership team working to find new ways to connect buyers and sellers, but we’re also in the process of developing our own international platform that will benefit us, our network and real estate buyers from around the world.
What must agents understand when it comes to dealing with a local versus international client?
Don’t expect the international client to operate by our culture and language. The team we have in place is collectively fluent in over 15 different languages and understands the value of recognizing the importance of cultural diversity.
For more information, visit www.century21.com.