SAN FRANCISCO — Who doesn’t want to pull millions in real estate revenue each year? You may be starting off or a seasoned pro, but listening to the top producers is never a bad idea.
Three agents at Inman Connect San Francisco attest to working with million-dollar listings while keeping a good head on your shoulders.
Todd Montgomery is one of these unicorn agents, currently working at Climb Real Estate at San Francisco. Right now, Climb is on track to revenue $80 million in 2016.
Montgomery predominately works with condos and lofts in the south part of the city, with an average price is $1.6 million.Montgomery’s team includes himself, his business partner, assistant, marketing assistant and transaction coordinator.
Neal Ward of McGuire Real Estate in San Francisco has worked with his brokerage for 28 years. His average sales price this last year (which he describes was ‘like winning the lottery’) was $10.6 million, ranking him 39th in the nation.
This year’s goals? “I’m probably in the $128-million-dollar range. It’s a rough year,” Ward joked.
Carrie McAlister is an agent at The Grubb Company in San Francisco, servicing Oakland, Berkeley and Piedmont. Carrie’s average sales price is $1.1 or $1.2 million.
McAlister has one assistant, and manages to balance being a top agent and a single mom simultaneously. “It would be great if I hit about $48 million,” she said.
How do top producers start the day?
Montgomery wakes up early, tries to fit in a work out and come to the office with a fresh mind. His morning must-do? “Getting in early and trying to be organized because after 9:30 a.m., all bets are off,” he said.
Ward says his days are dynamic. Each day, there are challenges to face. His team has a weekly schedule they adhere to keep things as steady as possible.
Carrie is a single mom with two kids. Her day starts with a big cup of coffee, then she gets the kids lunch and off to school. She runs the real estate treadmill until it’s time to pick up her kids.
Advice to brand new agents on success
Ward says it’s all of the normal things that agents do on a daily basis in terms of market knowledge, servicing the client and hard work. Ward grew up in rural Indiana and was able to learn responsibility at a young age.
When he joined his brokerage, he watched Florian McGuire Moore, who helped mold his successful routine today. At every showing, Ward brings a little something he learned from Florian.
“It was always about the client, it was always about the property,” Ward said.
Montgomery says he doesn’t know if there’s a secret, necessarily, but he does know the crucial aspects of starting out on the right foot.
“Have a plan, understand the market, know what it means to be a real estate agent,” he explained.
Much of your success may be inherent in your personality. “If you don’t have that passion and that fire, find something else to do,” Montgomery said.
“Focus on the signal not the noise,” is something Montgomery learned from his mentor. “Old school still works.”
McAlister takes a personal approach in order to be among the top producers. “The number one piece of advice I would give to someone starting out is to take care of people,” McAlister said.
McAlister’s early hunger for insight and knowledge made her understand what the business is truly about before she even became one of the top producers.
Her primary goal? “Taking care of the people’s concerns that you work with,” she closed.
