In the year since JP and Associates Realtors began franchising its tech-supported, 100-percent commission model, the company has reached a new milestone: expanding to its 10th state, Alabama, with a 100-agent team.
JP Piccinini | Photo credit: JP & Associates Realtors
Founder JP Piccinini, however, has greater ambitions: a franchise in all 50 states by 2023.
There’s even a little betting pool going on with the other franchise owners, where the franchise owners try to guess how many states JPAR will be in, by certain dates.
“Our goal, everybody pretty much agrees, is that by 2023 we want to be in all 50 states,” Piccinini said.
Piccinini believes the company’s 100-percent commission model gives it an edge. He says JP and Associates Realtors is that new, 100-percent commission model, but is also more traditional than its competitors in the 100-percent commission space. In Texas, for example, agents pay a $475 minimum transaction fee and keep 100 percent commission on a transaction. Agents are required to make a minimum of six transactions per year.
“The potential franchisees, entrepreneurs, are really tired of the old dated brands, the traditional split,” Piccinini said. “When they look at what’s attracting agents in every market, the first thing they look at is that the 100 percent [commission] companies are the ones that are growing and attracting agents.”
Also a growing own-side brokerage, the company began licensing franchises in September 2018 and has since opened 19 franchises and sold another 50. Piccinini believes the success of the own-side brokerage helps sell the story that the franchises can be successful as well.
Piccinini also pointed to the support the company offers as a big reason for its growth. Like many of its franchisor competitors, JPAR offers a proprietary technology platform – B.O.S.S.S., or Broker One Stop Shopping System – and has leaned into some industry trends like launching its own iBuyer instant offer program. That program nabbed the brokerage an Inman Innovator Award finalist nomination earlier this year.
JP and Associates Realtors also offers its agents access to associate healthcare and retirement plans.
The brokerage also runs much of the back-office tasks of each franchisee, like the tech support or training. Piccinini said the franchises are more like “brokerages in a box” than their own separate businesses.
“In the past, the franchise model has just been, here’s a brand, go fly the balloon, or go pin your Coldwell Banker pin to your lapel on your blazer and congratulations, you’re with us,” Piccinini said. “Really, we essentially offer everything in a box that franchisees would want.”
In an environment where there are more disruptors than ever before, it’s becoming more difficult for independent brokerages to compete, Piccinini said. The future is with a large brand, whether on the franchise or brokerage side.
“We can all agree and I’ll go on record, the future belongs to the large brands,” Piccinini said. “It’s going to be difficult for the small boutiques and fledging independents to offer the things that agents are wanting.”
