"Focusing on Customers and Agents"
Lily Vu
Orlando, Florida
Broker/Owner, Franchise Developer
L & V Realty, Inc., dba Advance Realty Advantage
Orlando, Florida
Years in real estate: 3
Median home price: $242,500
Inspiring words: "‘You cannot teach what you do not know-you cannot lead where you will not go.' I believe there's some grain of truth in it." Weekend plans: "For the last two years, I've volunteered with a youth group at my church-a Big Sister/Big Brother concept with teenagers ages 15-21. We have group meetings and we mentor them. I feel I can be a good support to them because a lot of times teens feel they can't talk to their parents, and are more willing to open up to someone new about school, relationships, pressures, potential challenges, etc. Any little impact I can have is very rewarding."
Describe the demographics of your market.
Our company is based in Orlando, Florida, nicknamed "the City Beautiful," the sixth-largest city in Florida. The city is best known for tourist attractions, particularly Walt Disney Resort and Theme Parks, Seaworld and Universal Studios. We cater to a variety of customers, including the first-time home buyer, vacation home buyers and seasoned investors.
What are the advantages to being a discount broker with Advance Realty in Orlando?
The discount brokerage is the wave of the future. The Advance Realty concept and business model is most aligned with my philosophy; focusing on both the customer and the agent. Customers are very savvy and demand great value at a reasonable price. This is why Advance Realty's discounted fee structure is right on track. We provide full service without the sacrifice, not the "a la carte" style of service, where every single item is an add-on cost to the customer. With our concept, the consumer gets the full range of service and also saves money. Real estate is a major purchase and most people are intimidated by it, knowing that some things are better off left to a professional to handle. In fact, ORRA (the Orlando Regional Realtor Association) has been running a great campaign to build consumer awareness on this concept-"DON'T It Yourself"-encouraging potential home buyers and sellers to use professional help and not to go it alone.
How do you plan to recruit future agents?
I would like to attract "like-minded" individuals who also enjoy serving customers while continually honing their business skills. Agents should share the philosophy and goals that I have and also be rewarded when they help to build a great team. Advance Realty Solutions is building what they term "The Advance Advantages" program, which is dedicated to providing agents with a variety of value-added benefits, including revenue sharing programs, corporate partner programs, technologies, etc. For example, the Agent Alliance Rewards program offers agents the ability to earn commissions (in addition to their personal splits) and retirement monies whenever they introduce a new agent into our system.
-Kayla O'Brien
