In real estate, it’s not just enough to meet the needs of your clients. You also need to meet the needs of your team. In the following interview, Alexandru D. Mihai, General Counsel with RealtyONEGroup in Irvine, Calif., offers insight on helping agents solve today’s challenges.
Region served: California, Arizona and Nevada
Years in real estate: Since 2013. I’ve been an attorney since 2007.
Number of offices: 68
Number of agents: Approximately 8,000
Favorite thing about working in the industry: The people I work with.
Can’t-live-without technology tool: My mouse. How else would I navigate through all the electronic papers I look at?
What are the current market conditions in your area?
Real estate is doing great in both the high-end and mid-range market, and conditions continue to be good throughout the states in which we operate—especially if you’re a seller. Not only are we seeing an increase in home prices, but we’re also expecting significant growth this year in terms of our total transaction count and the number of new agents joining the firm. The future looks wonderful!
What are some of the most difficult challenges real estate agents face today?
New business is a constant factor in an agent’s overall success, and generating new business can be challenging. RealtyONEGroup offers mentorship, training and classes that are designed to provide agents with everything they need to be successful. From a legal standpoint, RealtyONEGroup continues to train its agents with regard to the terms of real estate purchase agreements so that they’re well-equipped to answer their clients’ questions. In fact, the legal team has gone out to various offices to give presentations on subjects such as disclosure and material facts.
How does your company work to solve these challenges?
In terms of new business, our marketing and IT departments are working day in and day out to enrich the lives of our agents, while helping them with their business. Our “coolture” sets us apart from others, and it’s a big reason agents have joined us—everyone has a voice here. We start by offering a 100-percent commission structure that allows agents to keep as much commission as possible so that they can spend more on advertising and other items related to growing their business. Agents also have easy access to office managers who typically hold a broker’s license and have expertise in real estate dealings, so their questions never go unanswered. Last but not least, we formed an in-house legal department last year, providing our brokers and agents another resource and layer of help.
For more information, visit www.realtyonegroup.com.