Michael Conrad

All right, everyone, welcome back to the Business of Homes podcast. I’m your host, Michael Conrad, and I am rejoined by my friend Chris Grimes, who is an excellent real estate agent and has someone who has seen a few things in his time here in Middle Tennessee. Thanks for joining me again today.

 

00:00:37:00 – 00:00:38:06

Chris Grimes

Oh, it’s an honor.

 

00:00:38:07 – 00:01:00:17

Michael Conrad

I can’t help but see you as someone that has great stories to tell because of the places you’ve been. And I’m not even talking about all the probably the parts of the world you saw before real estate. But just the the years you’ve been in real estate here in middle Tennessee. You’ve been at a number of brokerages you’ve been on.

 

00:01:00:23 – 00:01:29:20

Michael Conrad

You know, you’ve. Your business has looked a number of different ways. And I don’t know if that’s because you like to jump ship or if opportunity kept calling your name, but I feel like it’s given you probably a really great vantage point because let’s face it, there’s a lot of change going on today and if you are unaccustomed to change in real estate, everything that’s going on to us here, middle Tennessee real estate is going to feel real, unnerve RVing.

 

00:01:29:22 – 00:01:42:17

Michael Conrad

There’s a lot going on. So help me understand a little bit of kind of where you started and then kind of how you got here, because things are changing for you even within the last couple of months.

 

00:01:42:19 – 00:02:09:17

Chris Grimes

So I went to real estate school back in Georgia in 2003. I had worked at BellSouth and an asset base lender company as well and didn’t really care for the environments and stuff. And I met a broker owner of a Sotheby’s franchise down in Savannah, Georgia, and she was just so generous to my partner and I at the time and just super sweet, just super sweet woman.

 

00:02:09:17 – 00:02:25:20

Chris Grimes

And she was just an inspiration to me. So I asked her, you know, if I were to go to school and to get my real estate license, could I maybe learn under you? And she’s very Southern. And she said, Darling, you would never make it in real estate.

 

00:02:25:22 – 00:02:28:16

Michael Conrad

So I was because of why?

 

00:02:28:22 – 00:02:55:23

Chris Grimes

Well, I mean, and looking back, she was right at that time where I was in life, I was super timid. I didn’t know myself very well. But anyway, so, you know, I took that as a challenge. And so I went to real estate school. And when I finished, I went to Barney Fletcher, which is I don’t know if it’s still called Barney Fletcher, but the best real estate school in Atlanta at the time, probably the equivalent of Sealy here in Nashville.

 

00:02:56:01 – 00:03:25:13

Chris Grimes

Anyway, and my mom happened to be going at the same time. I didn’t even know it. We didn’t know that we both had enrolled. So I ended up just assisting my mom. And my dad was a general contractor. So you can put the pieces together and see how that worked. I wound up going to I was also playing keys and singing in church every Sunday and Wednesday, and an artist came in and liked what she heard and saw and asked me if I would consider playing for her.

 

00:03:25:15 – 00:03:48:21

Chris Grimes

And so I did for a bit. And next thing I know, I turn in my three months notice to my job and sold most of stuff. I had bought a MacBook Pro thinking I was going to, you know, do some recording stuff or whatever because I was writing as well and moved up here in 2012. May 27th, 2012, I we went on a major tour.

 

00:03:48:21 – 00:04:13:13

Chris Grimes

We were open up, opening up for Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean on their My Kind of Party tour. And then that just little big town Florida, Georgia Line, Hunter Hayes and all these all these other great people and everything but being gay I was not. I was kind of lonely on the road and, you know, had a couple little rough experiences and stuff.

 

00:04:13:13 – 00:04:33:00

Chris Grimes

And I just felt like, okay, this is not what I, I don’t think this is where I’m going to land. And I met John in 2013, my husband now. And that’s when I decided I want to I want to plant roots, you know. So I came off the road and I ended up taking about a year and stuff to figure some stuff out.

 

00:04:33:00 – 00:04:40:16

Chris Grimes

I got my license in 2014 here, and that was the beginning of my embarking as my own agent here in Tennessee.

 

00:04:40:18 – 00:05:00:02

Michael Conrad

And did you join the Sotheby’s franchise here in Nashville, too? I did. What is it about that Sotheby’s franchise? It has such an appeal to it. You know, it I think it definitely bills itself as sort of having this luxury feel. Of course. But like, it definitely feels almost a brand set apart from some of the other brands.

 

00:05:00:03 – 00:05:01:20

Michael Conrad

What was it for you?

 

00:05:01:22 – 00:05:18:09

Chris Grimes

For me, it was really the associating that brand with the person that inspired me. Back in Georgia. I honestly was intimidated by the brand, and a lot of my a lot of my friends I learned later on were kind of intimidated, intimidated by it as well.

 

00:05:18:11 – 00:05:22:20

Michael Conrad

We’re all collectively intimidated by the place that employs us. I love it. I know it.

 

00:05:22:22 – 00:05:26:11

Chris Grimes

Doesn’t make sense to me now, but at the time, this is where I was in life, you know?

 

00:05:26:11 – 00:05:56:10

Michael Conrad

So it definitely evokes like in the most simple to an understanding of real estate, like real estate, the lifestyles of the rich and the famous or whatever, you know, like Sotheby’s. And so, yeah, that that flavor of real estate, even back then, you know, 2014 ish, like that was a brand set apart from a lot of the very sort of personality heavy local Southern roots brands that were very popular.

 

00:05:56:15 – 00:06:25:00

Michael Conrad

I would say I would have described it that some of your big national brands, they had market share here, but if you really knew the names in Nashville, they were the ones that were started by like old Nashville folk. Right. And Sotheby’s was not that obviously, that’s like an international brand. And so, yeah, it’s it’s interesting how these different things attract different people, these different flavors of brokerages.

 

00:06:25:02 – 00:06:34:10

Michael Conrad

A lot has changed since then, you know, in ten years and the rise and the fall of these different brokerages. Did you stay with Sotheby’s for a while?

 

00:06:34:12 – 00:07:00:03

Chris Grimes

And so talking about a lot of the shifting and changing, I got word that Littman and Sotheby’s were parting ways and and that Littman and Remax would be, you know, coming together. And I had a bit of a self-identity crisis at the time because the my mom was with a Remax office down in Georgia. And I my experience, my perception of Remax was not a healthy one.

 

00:07:00:05 – 00:07:32:06

Chris Grimes

So that that was that was one of the two reasons that I ended up leaving that Sotheby’s office and went over to another company, which is now being bought by another company. And I was there for for about six months and made a lot of good friends and stuff. It a lot of great things about the company. But for me, I ended up missing I kind of had my Dorothy Wizard of Oz moment and I realized relationship is for me, relationship is even more important than brand.

 

00:07:32:08 – 00:07:53:21

Chris Grimes

And I missed my relationship with Larry Littman. And so I went back and I just, you know, had a heart to heart with him. And I realized that, you know, and I’ll find another way to digest the my or reprocess what Remax really could mean to me. And so that’s why I went back.

 

00:07:54:00 – 00:08:17:00

Michael Conrad

The Prodigal Son exam. And obviously any listeners here who know Larry and know that he is both a gentle, helpful person, but a giant in the industry too. I was talking to somebody else recently about 10000 hours and how sometimes actually in real estate, 10000 hours is really hard to achieve. Like true expertise in a various area of real estate is hard.

 

00:08:17:02 – 00:08:36:16

Michael Conrad

It’s a low volume business, so you just don’t get a large cumulative number of hours doing any one task until you’ve been in the business a long time. You can look at Larry and easily say, Oh man, this guy is an expert in many categories. He’s at 10000 hours across the board. But yes, the whole Remax thing, what a funny change.

 

00:08:36:16 – 00:08:55:03

Michael Conrad

Just I mean, if we just kind of stand back and look at it, you know, under the microscope, a high luxury brand associated with someone who’d been in the industry locally for a long time, almost to the point where I didn’t even understand that there was overlap in group. As an outsider looking in, I only thought there was other Sotheby’s.

 

00:08:55:05 – 00:09:19:05

Michael Conrad

So when I was told that these things were separating, I didn’t even make any sense to me. But of course, going to a Remax brand, if you think internationally or even nationally, it does make sense. Remax has a massive present. Amazing numbers across the board, but locally, locally in our area and this can be different in in every major metro locally, Remax did not have a good flavor in my opinion.

 

00:09:19:07 – 00:09:44:11

Michael Conrad

I mean you knew something about but Georgia, you know but Remax felt like like a fuddy duddy older brand. I’m not even sure that’s true, but it felt like it was relegated to like the outlying areas and that it wasn’t super relevant in the metro. How does a a national brand you could put up these numbers year after year after year, get that sort of like possibly negative flavor in a local metro?

 

00:09:44:12 – 00:09:45:17

Michael Conrad

How does that happen?

 

00:09:45:19 – 00:09:58:23

Chris Grimes

You know, I would say that Remax in Georgia probably. Okay. When I say Remax in Georgia, we were in the Conyers Covington area, so we were east of Atlanta. I can’t speak for other Remax offices and stuff, the.

 

00:09:58:23 – 00:10:00:00

Michael Conrad

Entirety of Georgia.

 

00:10:00:00 – 00:10:27:10

Chris Grimes

Right. But let’s be honest, when you think of when you think of certain brands here and in Nashville, think about billboards and stuff like that, you know, like we just naturally associate things with what we see. TIME Right. So I think that Gary Ashton, you know, really has he really established himself as the face of Remax here and definitely middle Tennessee.

 

00:10:27:12 – 00:10:48:18

Chris Grimes

So, you know, and obviously he’s very successful, you know, and it that whatever that is that appeals to, you know, to to people and stuff. But Larry has Larry and his leadership have really done a great job of trying to really lecture luxuries.

 

00:10:48:20 – 00:10:50:01

Michael Conrad

Luxury is not a word.

 

00:10:50:01 – 00:10:58:22

Chris Grimes

That should be word, but, you know, make Remax collection, you know, make it a luxury side of Remax.

 

00:10:58:23 – 00:11:25:20

Michael Conrad

Well, again, outsider looking in, I’d say it’s been successful. There has been a repair in my mind that there is not only and I don’t like the word luxury, it just gets thrown around so much in real estate. But there is definitely a more of a luxury feel to it. I would have said that the thing that concerned me about, say, a Remax agent in my sort of two dimensional view back in the day was that they just didn’t know the Metro.

 

00:11:25:22 – 00:11:50:17

Michael Conrad

They might have known an outline area, but they didn’t know the Metro. They certainly didn’t know the needs of a metro buyer. That was, I mean, again, a very two dimensional idea in my mind. I think it’s wrong, but that’s what I thought. And so that’s a relevant brand. That’s true to me. And so I do feel like Wittman Group and other small Remax is around have repaired that over the last ten years in mind to say, oh, okay, these people do know what they’re talking about.

 

00:11:50:19 – 00:12:24:23

Michael Conrad

But again, are we talking about a big brand here? Are we talking about a local group of people Who’s doing the repairing? What repair has been done? Are we really starting to just more and more uncover as the years go by that you can’t fix a big brand beyond what a local person can do for it? Like if Larry Lipman just evaporated tomorrow, does the repair continue or is it that continue injection of like good people and continuity over time is doing that repair?

 

00:12:25:01 – 00:12:46:10

Michael Conrad

I think that’s really the question I’m getting out here, is that are these bigger brands serving the individual agents or the agents serving the big brands? And I’m sure there’s consumers on both sides of that fence, but it it feels like I think it’s more individual focused. What do you think?

 

00:12:46:12 – 00:12:49:23

Chris Grimes

I think that the magic is in a symbiotic relationship.

 

00:12:50:01 – 00:12:51:00

Michael Conrad

We’re a balance.

 

00:12:51:02 – 00:13:16:10

Chris Grimes

Yeah. I mean, so being a managing broker at a different office and then doing that where I am now, two totally different types of companies and they both do have, you know, international presence and stuff like that. I would say that when the agent finds value in what the company, it could be the company branding, it could be the offerings that the company provides.

 

00:13:16:10 – 00:13:29:20

Chris Grimes

But when the agent is in love with a brokerage and when the brokerage is truly serving the agents, that’s where the magic happens and that’s where the repairs if there are repairs to be made to a brand, that’s where it happens.

 

00:13:30:01 – 00:14:07:17

Michael Conrad

I think it’s good for us to say out loud for any listeners here, to just remind all of us that the brokerage doesn’t serve the buyer, the brokerage serves the agent and the agent serves the buyer, and that there is a pastor value, I suppose, but I mean, really do in the day the brokerage serves the agent and it’s good for us to remember that no brokerage can make a great agent, that the agent has to do that work themselves within maybe the framework or the opportunities presented to them inside the brokerage.

 

00:14:07:19 – 00:14:34:19

Michael Conrad

But a brokerage can’t make a great agent. You have to have that work either in you or you have to pursue it. But I do think it it begs the question then, does the agent need the brokerage? Because the consumer doesn’t understand any of this stuff. The consumer probably couldn’t tell you the differences in any of the team brokerage.

 

00:14:34:19 – 00:14:47:15

Michael Conrad

Why? Why? My friend, the real estate agent, used to be at KW and now they’re at, you know, this REMAX, you know, whatever. Like the consumer can’t explain any of this stuff. So does the agent need the brokerage?

 

00:14:47:17 – 00:15:09:02

Chris Grimes

I would say yes. Okay. For for a few different reasons. Some of the things that brokerage is bringing value is I mean, the one on ones, the things that we all know about. Right. Training the like marketing, you know, abilities and, you know, relationships and stuff. I mean, an agent can go out there. Don’t get me wrong, there are agents that go out there and they become their own broker.

 

00:15:09:02 – 00:15:40:18

Chris Grimes

They have their own mom and pop shop, and they do very well. They have to they end up spending a lot of time going and forging those relationships and negotiating contracts with different publications or different other avenues to be able to push marketing out and, you know, and stuff like that. There there’s this whole other part of their mind that they have to, instead of 100% of their attention being solely just on their clients building their business and their clients and stuff, they’re taking, they’re needing to take 20 or 30% of their time to also think about the business parts of it.

 

00:15:40:20 – 00:16:04:17

Chris Grimes

You know, the everything from compliance to the cash, all the law changes and the rules change that are changing, coming down from the the local boards and stuff. Perfect, perfect example with the in air settlements and all that stuff. So there are rules and things that are being changed at the national level being passed down into the local levels.

 

00:16:04:17 – 00:16:31:07

Chris Grimes

And then those local levels are having to to collaborate with MLS is to come up with new ways of doing business, new ways of advertising and getting certain things across that we won’t be able to get across the way we used to. Our forms are changing, you know, it’s a tremendous value for for an agent to be connected with a brokerage that is staying on top of those things.

 

00:16:31:09 – 00:16:57:03

Chris Grimes

Otherwise, and I, I, I actually see this a lot there as a focus. Otherwise the agents may be doing things that they don’t realize are not compliant anymore. They may be breaking rules that they didn’t even know that the rules changed. So as a broker, that is a that’s one of the most that’s one of the most important values that a broker should be bringing to their agents right now.

 

00:16:57:03 – 00:17:22:16

Chris Grimes

As an example, there is a I think it’s a one click rule on social media. So let’s just say Instagram as an example. Any time you’re scrolling through Instagram and you see an agent like post something, if they if they advertise a property or whatever within one click, one tap of that post, you are supposed to as a consumer, you’re supposed to be able to see what brokerage that agent is affiliated with.

 

00:17:22:18 – 00:17:43:08

Chris Grimes

And if you were to go through Instagram, you would probably find that at least a third of the agents out there probably don’t know that that’s a rule. And you go and you look at their you look at their posts, you don’t see anything about their brokerage or who they’re affiliated with. You tap on their profile. It doesn’t say anything about it.

 

00:17:43:10 – 00:17:47:00

Chris Grimes

There’s there’s a lot of that. And that’s a that’s a tricky rule.

 

00:17:47:02 – 00:18:27:06

Michael Conrad

Yeah, this is this is great. This is such a great explanation here about why there is value, because we have to understand, are we trying to run a whole business or are we trying to run our small business? Part of it while serving the customer? Predominantly? It’s a great explanation and this should be no surprise to me. I’m in the service industry where there are many solo practitioners who can and often do fail to long term provide high quality to their customers because they’re having to do all this extra stuff around the business management side.

 

00:18:27:08 – 00:18:53:09

Michael Conrad

And unless you love that part of it, that can start to suck up time, you know, at various points in your career and degrade maybe your availability, your brain power, the quality of service you provide. So it’s a good reminder that there is leverage. You can leverage your time, leverage your quality of service by associating yourself with a great brokerage.

 

00:18:53:11 – 00:19:21:02

Michael Conrad

And so while we can say that the brokerage has benefit, perhaps my question that I was baiting you on about does it have benefit is really more about has some of the brokerages lost sight of what the values they need to be giving to agents? Because that’s changing, too. You know, there’s obviously rules coming down from track, but, you know, those are being heavily enforced at the MLS level.

 

00:19:21:02 – 00:19:45:06

Michael Conrad

I know that. And do all the brokerages I mean, there’s so many differences between all of them. Are they keeping up with the changing times? Are they offering the value because people jump brokerages all the time. And so if there was real value being offered, maybe they would be more sticky. I mean, you’ve been a managing broker before.

 

00:19:45:06 – 00:19:48:00

Michael Conrad

Why are people changing so often?

 

00:19:48:02 – 00:20:15:10

Chris Grimes

Okay. So with all of the way that the news was spinning in our settlement stuff, rumors start flying. You know, agents are concerned. You know, there are the way that buyer brokerage is performed or transacted in different states. It varies in different states. In Florida, it’s pretty common not to have a buyer representation agreement. In Tennessee.

 

00:20:15:12 – 00:20:16:03

Michael Conrad

It’s very common.

 

00:20:16:03 – 00:20:18:09

Chris Grimes

And it’s we should be doing it every time.

 

00:20:18:11 – 00:20:21:00

Michael Conrad

You know, it’s more common.

 

00:20:21:02 – 00:20:38:14

Chris Grimes

So so then you have, you know, when listening to the news and hearing these things and stuff, it’s they’re trying to put a blanket report out there or a blanket news story or whatever. And they’re trying to keep it interesting, I guess. I don’t.

 

00:20:38:16 – 00:20:40:20

Michael Conrad

You know, keep it digestible perhaps.

 

00:20:40:22 – 00:21:07:18

Chris Grimes

And it’s in scaring a lot of people. And so and then there was a moment where there was some I saw some agents shifting between brands because, okay, the Anywhere company which owns Sotheby’s Cork and every Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and some other companies like they settled early and so there were some agents that felt, oh my gosh, if I go and I affiliate over there, then, you know, I’ll be I’ll be protected.

 

00:21:07:22 – 00:21:32:01

Chris Grimes

You know, then there were some that felt, you know, they were just part of something that was a little too big. And they got lost in the in the school of fish. And they needed they just needed to have a better connection with their broker. And so they made shifts as well. There’s a million reasons why agents, you know, are are changing right now.

 

00:21:32:05 – 00:22:12:13

Chris Grimes

But I’ll just say on a local level and where the change is happening with like Compass and Parks and Village and Pilkington and all that stuff, there’s, you know, in ballparks, there’s just a lot of a lot of stuff that just gets splashed out there very quickly. And I feel like there is a little bit of unrest, You know, and and this happening in the middle of the whole shifting of what will be able to be put in our MLS with buyer brokerage compensation and what changes will come to our forms and how buyers agents really will get paid.

 

00:22:12:15 – 00:22:16:01

Chris Grimes

There’s just a lot going on at the same time.

 

00:22:16:07 – 00:22:45:21

Michael Conrad

And that’s all just internal conversation and totally there’s another layer of all the conversations we’re having to have with buyers because there’s a lot of misinformation and generally fine questions coming from sellers and buyers about the changes. And there’s almost like, like a manifestation thing going on. Buyers and sellers are now asking questions in a bit of a loaded question sort of way about like, so things are changing.

 

00:22:46:02 – 00:23:17:00

Michael Conrad

So what does it look like? And them, they’re manifesting the change. By the way, these questions and conversations are being had. And so regardless of like the legality of the MLS changes and the forms changing, like that’s all real, but there is a market shift in buyer questions and seller questions and like interactions that is precipitating a change and it’s kind of like someone else fire in a building and everyone starts to run and maybe there wasn’t even a fire, maybe the fire was small or something like this, but the running out of the building is real.

 

00:23:17:02 – 00:23:50:14

Michael Conrad

I would argue that some of the reasons why people probably leave brokerages is because they have a underdeveloped or possibly unhealthy relationship with their brokerage. And I feel like you’ve convinced me, but I mean, you’ve painted a pretty clear sense that like an agent needs a brokerage, but I’m not sure everyone agrees with you. And perhaps that’s just from having an underdeveloped internal monologue or internal dialog about why I’m at KW or why I’m at Remax, or why I’m at Pinkerton or whatever.

 

00:23:50:14 – 00:24:24:15

Michael Conrad

And so it’s like, if I don’t need know why I’m there, then I’m more apt to leave because I don’t have anything keeping me there. And so, you know, it’d be fun to say, Oh, the onus is on the brokerage, you know, or perhaps the onus is on the, you know, the individual agent. But certainly there is no surprise, a balance in a relational aspect that the brokerage has to see the agent as more than just a number producer, and the agent has to see the brokerage as more than just like safe shelter and compliance management.

 

00:24:24:17 – 00:24:26:03

Chris Grimes

You’re hundred percent.

 

00:24:26:08 – 00:24:47:15

Michael Conrad

There has to be like a I want to be here because I like the safe Harbor Bridge. I like the framework of learning. I like the depth of experience there or the possible access to expertise that I might get at a brokerage level. And there has to be like a I want to be associated with these people and not necessarily think these words that.

 

00:24:47:15 – 00:24:54:19

Unknown

Are a brand.

 

00:24:54:21 – 00:25:20:23

Jake Hall

Hey, everyone, it’s Jake, director for the Business of Homes Podcast. I hope you’ve been enjoying today’s episode, starting with how to repair a Brokerage’s reputation, the importance of brokerages letting their agents focus exclusively on their clients and reasons why agents leave brokerages. When we return, Michael and Chris dive into Chris’s vision for his company, a changing mindset around culture and what Chris and his company are doing differently.

 

00:25:21:00 – 00:25:39:14

Jake Hall

You don’t want to miss it. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram @thebusinessofhomespod, where you can interact with us and see some great bite sized pieces from all of our episodes. For you listeners out there, did you know our entire podcast is filmed and is on our YouTube channel? Check it out next time you want to see our amazing guests tell their stories.

 

00:25:39:16 – 00:25:57:07

Jake Hall

And are you currently watching this episode in video format? Don’t forget to follow us on your preferred audio streaming service to take this with you on the go. Lastly, do you have any feedback or one to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomespodcast@gmail.com. Please enjoy the rest of today’s episode with Chris Grimes.

 

00:25:57:07 – 00:26:08:13

Jake Hall

Let’s get back to it.

 

00:26:08:15 – 00:26:34:02

Chris Grimes

I’ve had a lot of interviews with a lot of agents in the past few weeks and I would say a pretty common message that I’m hearing is that they’re looking for a different culture. They are looking for a place where they can walk in the office. The managing broker is touchable, is attainable, you know, where they can be around other agents that are in the.

 

00:26:34:04 – 00:26:37:18

Chris Grimes

It’s funny, like, you know, 20, 20, we all are working from home and, you know.

 

00:26:37:20 – 00:26:39:06

Michael Conrad

We’re never going back to the office.

 

00:26:39:11 – 00:26:50:16

Chris Grimes

And people it seems like. It seems like there are agents that are wanting to be around the energy again. They’re wanting to be around other agents. They’re wanting to have to be in a collaborative environment.

 

00:26:50:18 – 00:27:15:03

Michael Conrad

Well, that should surprise no one. This industry is not well known for having like highly business oriented, motivated people at the outset. And typically you learn those skills and you develop those methods and modes through collaboration and through a brokerage, you know? And so shocker that people are like, I can’t actually do it all on my own. I don’t have enough experience to do it, you know?

 

00:27:15:03 – 00:27:41:13

Michael Conrad

And so that’s great to hear because I do think that there is immense benefit at the brokerage level in that collaborative element. And if you’re missing it, I start to lose gets fuzzy for me where the brokerage is having value. You know, without that base, I, I see you talk to me about this interviewing and I like to hear that because sometimes it feels like agents do jump ship and it’s just about signing your name on some piece of paper.

 

00:27:41:15 – 00:27:57:17

Michael Conrad

But if you’re managing a brokerage that you are now know, you’re wanting to make sure that you have the right people on the boat. And maybe, I don’t know, you tell me. Maybe there’s a limited number of spots on the boat. And so you want the right people to fill the right number of seats.

 

00:27:57:19 – 00:28:33:20

Chris Grimes

You know, So for four, I can speak for our company there. Our vision is to have a certain amount of agents. We don’t ever we don’t really want to have 300 agents. We don’t want to be we don’t want to be that that size. We want to be a size where our brokers still are. The agents can walk in the office and the brokers there and is available for them that there is the you know, the broker can still go out and have a couple of drinks or have dinner or lunches and stuff and still have a personal relationship with the agents and know how the agents conduct business and what’s important to them, what

 

00:28:33:20 – 00:29:01:17

Chris Grimes

their values are, you know, or what they see value in. I would I would rather have 100 agents that are in it to win it, that they are they’re driven. They’re very real estate focused. That is that is how they bring home the bacon. You know, then have 50% whatever 40% of the agents that are in real estate part time and do it as a hobby.

 

00:29:01:19 – 00:29:35:08

Michael Conrad

Okay. But this let’s get real here, because this is hard, because you’re not running a nonprofit and you’re not made of money to start. And so a brokerage is a business. Let’s call it what it is. And you need revenue to run the business. You can’t be there in an office offering your expertise and assistance and knowledge to an agent if there’s not revenue coming in the door and you can’t attract the right people, you know, without having the right whatever around you as a brokerage.

 

00:29:35:08 – 00:30:08:23

Michael Conrad

And so you need revenue. And so that’s where it gets real sticky because yeah, you don’t want 80 drag and 20 pulling the whole team, but you need numbers. And so this is where I think the brokerages are having some of the smaller ones, at the very least a tough time saying no to an agent that they’re interviewing or even just not widely broadcasting a recruitment sort of statement, because the truth is you need people pumping out deals to be bringing revenue in the door.

 

00:30:08:23 – 00:30:28:09

Michael Conrad

And so how are you doing that? I mean, manage your broker support staff like these people are often paid on percentages of total top line revenue coming in. The brokerages door. You know, and so if you don’t have volume at scale, you know, you have to shut your doors. You know, I mean, you can’t just run a no money.

 

00:30:28:09 – 00:30:38:21

Michael Conrad

And so how do you get 100 committed people when it’s hard to go find them? It’s hard to uncover those rocks and find those gems?

 

00:30:38:23 – 00:31:04:13

Chris Grimes

I have to say that I, I owe Andrea Woodard a huge thank you for telling me something one time. Shout out Andrea. When I was a brand new broker, you know, as an agent, I have never been the person to cold call. I have never I have never cold. Well, I’ve probably done it a few times, but it’s not my thing.

 

00:31:04:15 – 00:31:25:15

Chris Grimes

And working lead systems and stuff like, you know, that that really wasn’t my I’ve done it and I’ve had some success, but that’s really not what makes me feel happy. It I don’t enjoy that. And as a new broker, there was a time where I, I called agents and, you know, tried to start conversations and stuff and one day I forgot who was that?

 

00:31:25:15 – 00:31:35:11

Chris Grimes

I called and Andrea Woodard answered the phone, the agent’s phone, and she’s like, Hi, Chris. I was like, Oh, hey, how are you doing?

 

00:31:35:13 – 00:31:40:06

Michael Conrad

And why are you calling?

 

00:31:40:08 – 00:32:01:23

Chris Grimes

She would chuckle if she hears a SEAL chuckle about it because I’ve changed her since. But she told me, she said, Chris, attract, don’t poach, attract. And like that was one of those short conversations that really made me pivot and a lot of things in life. So you’re asking, you know, how do you get 100 agents that are all in it and stuff like that?

 

00:32:01:23 – 00:32:31:02

Chris Grimes

And it really starts with the it really starts with a culture that you build in your company. So we have in our office, we have the your national agent team, Aaron and Mary Joyce. My gosh, talk about an incredible energy and motivating you. Sit down for 30 seconds with Aaron. I kid you not 30 seconds. You get the same kind of energy that you would get from me if I was on steroids.

 

00:32:31:04 – 00:33:02:03

Chris Grimes

It’s it’s incredible. He’s very, very motivating. Valerie Clark. She’s she’s in our office. And my gosh, she is. She’s she’s incredible. Mel Davis, Caroline Cook. We have people in our office that are just very I don’t know, they just have a really strong, positive energy and they’re very motivating to be around. They make my job easier. Oh, Charlotte Flowers, Where’s my roster?

 

00:33:02:03 – 00:33:24:03

Chris Grimes

I seriously like that. I think that’s where it starts. That’s where it begins. You know, it’s think of it. I mean, I’m a pastor, son, so think about it like a church. You know, there are people that want to go to a very pomp and circumstance kind of environment and stuff. And there’s a brokerage for that kind of, you know, situation.

 

00:33:24:03 – 00:33:45:11

Chris Grimes

But you also have the churches that feel more natural. You walk in with your t shirt and your jeans and, you know, come as you are and, you know, you know, we’re here with open arms and we’re here to support each other. That’s kind of like the that’s the culture that that I’m see in our office become.

 

00:33:45:17 – 00:33:46:09

Michael Conrad

Yeah.

 

00:33:46:11 – 00:33:47:07

Chris Grimes

That’s how you attract it.

 

00:33:47:12 – 00:34:12:21

Michael Conrad

I think you have to have some anchor points, people that you can rally around or you have to have some elements of that culture, what you’re doing, the actions, the gathering, the mechanisms that you are attracting people in. But I like that, that it doesn’t it doesn’t come from recruitment. It comes from the magnetism that you’re creating, that attractive quality, and you have to have something.

 

00:34:12:21 – 00:34:45:20

Michael Conrad

There’s some central points, some element to the brokerage, some element to the the onboarding or the ongoing, you know, education and maintenance or just the people, you know, these these points you’re rallying around. And we’re going to see the brokerage continue to be tested. I think through this landscape. There’s been a number of local long time brands over the last five years that have merged, joined forces and those brand identities have gotten extra muddy and murky.

 

00:34:45:21 – 00:35:10:14

Michael Conrad

And now we’re seeing big players on the national scale, Kate, Abby Remax and of course, Compass that are making plays for market share through acquisitions, through big money marketing. Um, heck, honestly, they’re just opening up lots of franchise offices. You’ll see that with, you know, exit, you know, and others. I mean this just drop a franchise in every corner, you know, every 7-Eleven in every corner.

 

00:35:10:16 – 00:35:32:02

Michael Conrad

And I think there’s a lot of great strategies in there. So there’s big plays being made at this big level. But how does that affect the buyer’s agent, the listing agent that are just boots on the ground trying to serve their neighborhood or their community or their, you know, sphere of influence? And I, I can’t help but feel like sometimes it doesn’t matter.

 

00:35:32:04 – 00:35:58:19

Michael Conrad

Like what’s going on way up here in the clouds isn’t really affecting us down here on the ground. And so it’s really nice to hear. And I know and every where you are, the manager broker is not, you know, a boutique brand. Exactly. But it’s good to hear that folks are having perhaps a boutique mindset will say around relationship management with their team culture building.

 

00:35:59:01 – 00:36:23:01

Michael Conrad

This is obviously big and I like the fact that you’re interviewing. I’ll come back to that because that means that we’re not just settled on any old Tom, Dick and Harry coming in and providing us extra numbers to sort of pad top line revenue. I think that’s where we’re going to to see. But the buyers and the sellers are going to continue to test this test every agent test every brokerage.

 

00:36:23:05 – 00:36:51:04

Michael Conrad

Can you stand up to the changing market because agents need different things from their brokers than they did 20 years ago. Buyers need different things than what they did from their agents 20 years ago. And so got to keep changing. Chris, what are you going to do this next 12 months, starting right now to help set your brokerage apart from this sort of noise in the background?

 

00:36:51:06 – 00:36:56:16

Michael Conrad

Because I think that’s what I want to know from like every broker right now.

 

00:36:56:18 – 00:37:48:16

Chris Grimes

Good question. So there are a few things that I think already sets us apart. I’ll say this When Corcoran entered the market, Corcoran River, he purchased Worth Properties and there was Mary Sue Dietrich passed away around that same time. And so Corcoran did a very soft rollout. It was a there wasn’t like a huge, big splash, you know, very just being very respectful of the legacy and, and things that were going on at the time and it’s been a great I mean, it’s actually been a great thing because it’s made like sometimes when you see mergers and acquisitions happen and there’s this really strong turn to the right or left, I think that while that

 

00:37:48:16 – 00:38:17:05

Chris Grimes

might sometimes be easier for you, it might be easier for leadership to say, okay, this is a new here’s a new set of rules and this is what we’re going to do. It’s been really healthy for for Corcoran Reverie to learn the agents that were that were with worse properties, you know, and and instead of saying here’s our culture here in Florida and 30 where they have the strongest presence and let’s just rubber stamp it right here in Nashville.

 

00:38:17:07 – 00:38:55:19

Chris Grimes

They’ve given us the opportunity to to to grow and to develop our own personality here. So that being said, kind of under the radar, the Corcoran over is the official real estate brokerage of the Tennessee Titans. So having the relationship having the relationship there and we have we have seen transaction opportunities for our agents come through that and also opportunities where our agents can take clients and things to the games and have special accommodations and stuff so that that helps them with their networking in their relationship building.

 

00:38:56:01 – 00:39:34:10

Chris Grimes

You know, I’ve, I’ve actually been able to benefit from that myself so that is a really unique thing. Another thing is having such a strong presence down on eight, which is you can’t selling a cat in this city and not know somebody that goes to every year for summer vacation. And not that I selling cats I don’t I got five of them but being able to cross market you know like the secondary like the vacation market with here in Nashville that’s really helpful and Corker and every was amongst one of the first franchises of the Corcoran brand coming from New York.

 

00:39:34:10 – 00:40:05:13

Chris Grimes

So the owners, Hillary and Jacob, have a really great strong relationship with the CEO of Corcoran up in New York. And so with development opportunities, there’s some stuff coming down the pike, really exciting and stuff, but with development opportunities, or if an agent wants to get into development and new construction, there’s a whole support system, you know, that that has experience that does that, that they can bring him in and boom, you have your you have your support.

 

00:40:05:15 – 00:40:33:15

Chris Grimes

I’ll say for myself, I mean, I have a very large a very large listing in Crossville, which I know that’s not middle Tennessee, but it’s close. You know, I was able to to to speak with the development arm of Corcoran and stuff and they put me in touch with some contacts over Gresham Smith and we were able to, you know, get some, some designs and stuff together and put us in front of the Panera’s and the Starbucks and stuff like that, you know, for the commercial development side of things.

 

00:40:33:15 – 00:40:58:04

Chris Grimes

So just a whole nother arm of, of support that honestly that other brands may have even a bigger footprint than Corcoran internationally even nationally. But I think the four agents that are wanting to get into new construction or to get into development or they are in development and they want a whole nother system of support. Corcoran Reverie is fantastic.

 

00:40:58:06 – 00:41:28:14

Michael Conrad

Yeah, it seems like a really good blend of an agent focused brokerage that is also providing a really wide range of opportunities for the agent, plus skills that I think are really needed in today’s market to differentiate yourself. Just being regular flavor agent is almost not enough these days, except for maybe some of your first time buyers fear, you know, your fears more educated.

 

00:41:28:14 – 00:42:05:13

Michael Conrad

They’re really wanting that agent plus level of skill to help them in development or, you know, investment or whatever it is. And so very cool. I’m excited to see where the brokerage goes and continue to follow you on your journey and really appreciate your thoughtfulness on this. I think that it’s a good reminder to all of our listeners that the level of thoughtfulness that Chris brings to the table is really what we should be seeing in more agents, get the experience, put the work in, expand your skills and open your eyes to the changing world around us.

 

00:42:05:13 – 00:42:28:05

Michael Conrad

Because to stay relevant, you’re going to have to have an inner dialog and an outer dialog with both their sphere of influence around you as well as brokerage and your fellow agents. Chris I love to hear the stories and learn through them. I mean, this is all just me and an excuse for me to learn more about the world that I inhabit.

 

00:42:28:07 – 00:42:52:22

Michael Conrad

I love real estate. I’m fascinated by people and trying to help as many people as I can, and this is one of them. So thank you for being here and everyone who’s listening smashed that subscribe button to stay with us. We’ll keep bringing you great stories. If you haven’t heard Chris’s first episode, go back and listen. It’s a great Christmas episode and we’ve got a lot of stuff out there for you.

 

00:42:52:22 – 00:43:00:09

Michael Conrad

Listen to get us in the comments and we’ll catch you next time.

 

00:43:00:11 – 00:43:01:02

Michael Conrad

Hey, everyone.

 

00:43:01:03 – 00:43:21:14

Jake Hall

Jake, again, director for the Business of Homes podcast. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. A huge thank you to Chris Grimes for being a part of the podcast. Go follow him on Instagram @partnersingrimes and let him know how much you enjoyed their story. Don’t forget to subscribe on your preferred listening platform and make sure to follow us on Instagram as well @thebusinessofhomespod.

 

00:43:21:16 – 00:43:31:11

Jake Hall

Do you have any feedback or want to suggest someone for the show? Email us at thebusinessofhomespodcast@gmail.com. Thank you again for listening and we’ll see you soon.