Posts from October 2021
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5
What You Need To Know About AI
Artificial intelligence is poised to become the next big thing in real estate.
Lots of ink has been spilled about the potential of AI to replace jobs. But as the pandemic has shown, that future remains a long way off. Instead of displacing professional expertise, AI has the potential to serve as a highly versatile and adaptive "multi-tool" that can help real estate agents and their clients.
In fact, it is already affecting every stage of today's real estate transactions. To understand what makes artificial intelligence so exciting, it's best to begin with the basics.
What is Artificial Intelligence, Really?
Artificial intelligence enables a piece of software to make inferences and draw conclusio...
4
Change The Game With Next-Level Tech
If you have seen any of the sales or training presentations I've delivered to REALTORS® in the last 12 months, then you'll know I've been beating the drum that the industry needs to "BE DIFFERENT." That's because there's growing disruption within real estate that's not going away anytime soon. In particular, we have continued to see massive movement from industry juggernaut Zillow over the last 12 months.
This is old news, but Zillow has been a licensed brokerage inside of every MLS in the country for months now. They also strategically made an acquisition of popular showing service "ShowingTime" in early 2021. I don't believe they are finished making big-time plays this year, as they also made the switch to power their property search on zillow.com with true ID...
1
Seeing Stars: Get to Know Five Star Real Estate Lakeshore
Five Star Real Estate Lakeshore was built to be different.
Initially owned by David Gritter, Terry Brinks, and Don TerHorst, Five Star Lakeshore opened its doors in April 1999 with a singular purpose: To provide Western Michigan a real estate option made up of the best agents in the area. With those agents in its corner, Five Star Lakeshore quickly built a reputation of quality service, integrity, and professionalism -- all without working under the umbrella of a national agency.
"[Five Star Lakeshore] started because the three original founders were at a different brokerage, and they were tired of the higher fees," explains current owner and partner David J. Arnoldink. "So, they just said, 'Hey, we think we can do this a little better.'"
Five Star Lakeshore's offices are locally owned, staffed by people who are familiar with the West Michigan area. These are people who know the ins and outs of the community, giving clients a local edge when buying or selling a home.
No matter how many years pass or what else changes — like Steve Grilley joining Arnoldink and Brinks as partner — Five Star Lakeshore's agent-focused mindset has helped the company continue to color outside the usual real estate lines. Five Star Lakeshore prides itself on offering an efficient and high-value option for agents and clients alike, buoyed by the strength of a branded franchise without the overhead and control of a bigger organization.
This is a company focused on its people. On what agents can do when given the freedom to do it, because Five Star Lakeshore, at its core, wants its agents to succeed as much as its clients.
"This is the way it was set up from the beginning," says Agent Development Leader Kimberly Ryan. "We're definitely more agent-focused than brokerage-focused."
A FOCUS ON AGENTS
It's easy to claim that a business model puts a spotlight on agents. Plenty of real estate brokerages do that every day. But at Five Star Lakeshore, that spotlight shines a little brighter, allowing agents the power to forge their own real estate paths while still giving them the confidence that the company name on their business cards is there to support them every step of the way.
Since opening, Five Star Lakeshore has evolved without losing sight of its agents and what they're looking for out of their careers. For Five Star Lakeshore, agents are the star of this particular show, and the goal of every transaction is to receive a standing ovation, metaphorical as it may be.
"When it comes to how we're making decisions, whether it be something cost-wise or a website or anything else, we're trying to focus on what's best for our agents versus what's best for the brokerage," Ryan says. "The name Five Star Lakeshore shows our reputation and the backbone of who we are, and we want to have that be a nice umbrella that our agents are comfortable being under. They have the reputation, but they also know the focus is on them and that they can go out and promote their businesses."
"We don't have a corporate number or an office number on our signs," Arnoldink adds. "Our signs are big and bold with the agent's name and their direct line. We want the listing agent to get the phone calls on their own properties. Reward those who are getting the listing themselves."
Real estate can be a tricky business. Buying and selling a home is one of the most important moments in anyone's life, and Arnoldink admits that in a "commission-based business, that's scary for a lot of folks," particularly these days. That's why finding agents with the innate drive to succeed is at the crux of Five Star Lakeshore's company-wide mindset.
After all, Five Star Lakeshore began with three people looking to carve out their own real estate niche. Now, agents are building on that legacy. First-time agents, especially, have found Five Star Lakeshore an appealing landing spot, the perfect jumping-off point for the rest of their careers. With Five Star Lakeshore, agents are in control of their day-to-day life. No one is "breathing down their necks," Arnoldink says, or "telling them they have a task list." As the public faces of Five Star Lakeshore, even things like marketing are left up to the agents to fine-tune and use as they see fit.
"We don't do brokerage marketing very much," Office Manager Diane Wolters says, "because [agents] are the ones that the clients are working with."
When someone is thinking about working with Five Star Lakeshore, the goal, more often than not, is to have them think of working with an agent. Because for as obstacle-filled and nerve-wracking as real estate can be, it's also a distinctly human business, and agents provide that personal connection between Five Star Lakeshore and the communities it serves.
So, now, whenever Arnoldink and Ryan meet with potential agents, they're looking for that specific personality, that desire to be the best they can be and to represent Five Star Lakeshore's decades-long reputation whenever they get a new listing.
"Ambition is a huge key," Arnoldink says. "We try to provide the structure, the umbrella, a good culture for them to work under, but they have to go out and do it themselves."
LEARNING CURVE
While Five Star Lakeshore wants agents with self-motivation and the drive to create their own circle of influence with the sort of local relationships that drive business, the company isn't leaving its people entirely on their own, either.
Training sessions are offered as soon as agents are brought in, educating associates on what it takes to succeed in the area from both an immediate cost standpoint and to help them plan for the future.
"Over the last eight years, we've been focusing on education so our agents can grow, not only in their skill sets but in their commissions," Ryan says, adding that Five Star Lakeshore saw record commissions paid to agents earlier this year. "We're focusing on education for our existing agents, as well as our new agents."
In addition to training sessions, Five Star Lakeshore also offers a mentor program, spearheaded by Ryan, who says it gives new agents "a chance to get into a career that they might not have had guidance in before." Working with existing agents, many of whom have a background of multi-year success, Five Star Lakeshore's most recent hires get an inside look at what works and what doesn't in Western Michigan, giving them a solid foundation to build the rest of their careers. The program beings with Jumpstart, meeting several times a week over three months to cover goal setting, buyers appointments, listing appointments, understanding the purchase and listing agreements, and technology pieces from using a CRM, the MLS, to pricing a property.
Following each session, agents receive homework to, as Ryan details, help "build not only their knowledge but their confidence before working with clients."
Through the program, which got its start, in part, as a response to the Great Recession, every agent also receives a syllabus detailing the local market, a resource they can keep with them for as long as they stay with the company.
"Agents can refer back to their previous lessons and use them for future reference," Arnoldink says. "We've had a lot of success with it. We also started offering some split programs, better, stronger commission splits than a lot of our competition, and more education."
Ryan adds: "The mentor program follows agents as they work on their transactions. They have constant access to me to call, text, email, or meet and get answers to their questions. Since no two transactions are the same, it's helpful to have an experienced agent focused on helping our newer agents. No question is a 'dumb question,' and I would rather hear it all so I can walk side by side them in their transaction.
"As time goes on, the agents start to feel more comfortable, and usually after a year or so, they can handle it on their own and 'graduate' from the program," Ryan continues. "I'm never far away and sometimes have an agent reach out even a few years afterward to discuss a question they haven't run into before. I love helping our agents build their businesses faster and stronger than if they were in a traditional program. We feel like this unique approach is a major piece to our past and future growth and shows them how much Five Star Lakeshore cares."
With the mentor program flourishing and more opportunities than ever for agents to thrive, Five Star Lakeshore has doubled its agent total, bringing in and retaining more and more people looking to take their careers to the next level. And it's that continued growth within the company that's helped Five Star Lakeshore increase its footprint across Michigan.
Most recently, Five Star Lakeshore added offices in Grand Haven and Zeeland and merged with a smaller company, WestEdge Realty. Arnoldink says the growth has "come organically," but it's Five Star Lakeshore's stature as a company with dependable associates that consistently gets the ball rolling on expansion.
"It's been connections that we have in our area, and we've been approached, or we've approached somebody and said, 'Hey, you'd be a great fit,'" Arnoldink says.
FIVE STAR LAKESHORE & DELTA MEDIA GROUP
There'll be no partying like it's 1999 when it comes to technology at Five Star Lakeshore. At least not anymore.
Just a few years ago, while working with a small, local tech provider, Arnoldink admits that Five Star Lakeshore wasn't significantly "involved with technology." So, when Delta Media Group® came into the picture, Five Star Lakeshore wasn't all that knowledgeable of its new tech partner. It didn't take long for that to change. Suddenly, the tech sky was the limit, and Five Star Lakeshore was anxious to make the jump toward that horizon.
DeltaNET® 6 gives agents a suite of tools and, most importantly, provides them with cutting-edge technology to stay at the top of their game without breaking the bank.
"[Agents] keep more dollars in their pocket to allocate where they best see fit," Arnoldink says. "We've started to look inwardly and say, 'Hey, you guys, here's the set of tools.' We know a lot of your business comes from your relationships. Here's a tool to keep track of that in a better way, manage that in a better way."
No matter what their expertise with tech is like — from agents who grew up with a phone in their hands to those who are a little warier of recent changes — the DeltaNET's ease of use gives Five Star Lakeshore agents confidence every time they turn on their computer. Today's real estate world doesn't often afford extra time to learn a brand-new platform, but with DeltaNET 6, Five Star Lakeshore doesn't have to. Instead, agents have an intuitive system that makes sense for their busy schedules and even helps take some of the stress out of their everyday workload.
"Because we're not a national corporation and we're independently owned and operated, we don't always have the marketing background to know what to do," Ryan says. "So we rely on Delta to help us. And the communication that we've had has been awesome to allow us to put those pieces together."
These days, not only does Delta Media Group provide Five Star Lakeshore with the industry's most powerful CRM, but the duo is working on a large-scale website refresh. Moving away from individual agents sites, Five Star Lakeshore's main site will provide clients with an informational hub, giving them all the knowledge they need before buying or selling a home.
"In this revamp, we wanted it to tell a different story on who we are," Ryan says. "As far as what agents are looking for, our website tells a story about us."
When originally coming onboard with Delta, Arnoldink says Five Star Lakeshore's site was "so blatantly templative; it was crazy." Without the ability to customize, the site didn't give clients a sense of what Five Star Lakeshore was truly all about. Now, from the first click, users can learn Five Star Lakeshore's history, while also finding the perfect agent to work with.
Through it all, Arnoldink says the communication between Five Star Lakeshore and Delta has been "smooth," making the entire redesign process seamless. But that's nothing new; open communication is tradition for Five Star Lakeshore and Delta, with regular meetings and updates regarding brand-new tech.
"I check in once a year, at least, and say, 'Hey, what new changes do you have? Are we offering everything we could or can?'" Arnoldink says. "And [Delta] always says, 'These are the couple of changes we've got going on.' They listen and recommend options for some of the things we've taken advantage of or some of the things we haven't, and it's been a good fit for us."
GETTING SOCIAL
Five Star Lakeshore's tech focus has centered on its site refresh recently, but the advent of social media has also required attention. As agents move away from individual sites, social media gives them an avenue to continue marketing themselves and hone their brand, something Five Star Lakeshore, with its reputation of providing agents the leeway to bolster their careers, loves to see.
Social media also allows agents to flex their creative muscles. They're not just selling a property. They're selling their ability to sell that property. Posting photos on Instagram is as important as any other marketing strategy and might even work better to help create relationships with the community.
"As a company, we're letting the agents go out there and do what they're comfortable with," Ryan says. "So we have agents that are using TikTok regularly; they're using Instagram. They're not only showing the public what they have for sale and what open houses are coming up, but they're showing them who they are as a person. And we feel that that's so important because we know that the public's going to work with the agent because of who they are."
By putting not only their name but their personality out there, agents make themselves more approachable, more dependable, and a real estate partner in the truest sense of the word. It also helps create a sense of community, something Five Star Lakeshore has encouraged in the last two decades.
"In our sales meetings before COVID, we would consistently ask all of our agents, 'Where does your business come from?'" Arnoldink details. "And probably 90% would come back and say, 'It's from my sphere of people.' So we want to look more inwardly and offer these tools that [agents] can nurture their sphere. We're hoping it makes a big difference for them."
Building on those relationships also means giving back to the area. In those same interviews where Ryan and Arnoldink look to find self-starting agents, they're also looking for people who want to better the communities where they live and work. Teaming with agents, Five Star Lakeshore supports a handful of organizations and events every year, including Habitat for Humanity, as well as local initiatives like the Mount Baldhead Challenge to support the Boys and Girls Club.
Says Arnoldink: "As far as the community goes, it's everything."
WHAT'S NEXT FOR FIVE STAR LAKESHORE
As Five Star Lakeshore turns its attention to the future, the drive to succeed won't change. That drive is built into the DNA of Five Star Lakeshore, from the company's opening day to this very moment. And with the hopes of seeing agents' continued success while growing teams and expanding into new offices, Five Star Lakeshore is more confident than ever in its structure.
There are no plans to slow down. No plans to back down from any challenge. Only the desire to provide Western Michigan with a dependable real estate pro, led by agents who do their company proud.
"The future of Five Star Lakeshore is to continue to find ways to support those teams, to continue to bring new agents in, educate them, build loyalty with them through the mentor program," Arnoldink says. "And to continue our community involvement and hopefully even grow that."
