By Thomas R Wilkins

February 05, 2010 For Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates 5 Part Blog Recruit Series

Stroudsburg–Text messaging, email, IPods, Facebook and being mobile as ever is a part of the new generation, the Millennial.  The Millennial are the young workers ranging in age between 21 to 29 years old.  They have the potential to create a lasting change in the real estate workplace because of the way they live, communicate and more importantly, the way they view their jobs.

Managing the Millennial as a Broker or manager can be challenging.  Millennials are more productive and work more efficiently than they were initially perceived by employers.  Because they differ from other agents in the workplace, they can sometimes stand out and be a bit “different”.  They may not be like those mature or “old dogs” you have in your office.

The Millennials are very goal oriented and ever critical of their own performance.  They are very interested in making their career in sales.  This generation’s performance is equal to or greater than that of other generations.  They are immediate in looking for a return of their labors and are not afraid to make that known.

Other general characteristics of the Millennial generation include them being very mobile, likely to live within 3 miles of the central business district and have a feeling of autonomy and independence rather than being part of a team.  They always want to win, are collaborative, confident and embrace diversity.  Don’t expect to see them at the water cooler, instead, expect them at your local Starbucks®.

As a Broker, it’s important to recognize the positive attributes of the Millennial generation and make sure that we prepare for them.  Appreciate that close to 100% of buyers start their search online so it’s important to have the tools readily available to the Millennial worker so that they can efficiently do their job online.  That means social media, a popular and tracked internet site, the proper tools to produce contracts, listing agreements and other documents online and other online marketing all become important in retaining that Millennial agent.

One thing is for certain, the Millennials are here to stay and will in fact become the New Face of Real Estate.  –  I say, “Welcome aboard!”

Thomas R. Wilkins is CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associate.  He has been actively involved in the real estate industry as a Broker for the past 22 years.  WARE has 5 offices and 107 Realtors®.  Their offices operate in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.

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For Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates 5 Part Blog Recruit Series

Brodheadsville- Choosing a Real Estate Brokerage is the first and possibly the most important decision you can make when starting your real estate career. Unfortunately, most agents base their decision on commission splits without taking into consideration the most important contributions that a Brokerage can offer to a new agent’s career. Before making a decision on a Real Estate Brokerage you need to ask and receive an answer to the following questions.

Real Estate schools only prepare you to take and pass the real estate exam; they do not teach the skills needed to list and sell real estate. These skills are taught by the Real Estate Brokerage, which is why it is important to find out what kind of training you can expect to receive. You need to ask about structured training such as in office training classes, online training, mentoring programs and what kind of support you will receive from the sales manager on a daily basis. Without the proper training you will have difficulty getting and maintaining listings and buyers.  

As a new agent without a client database, the next question that needs to be addressed is lead generation. Ask the Broker how they obtain leads and how the leads are distributed to the agents. You also need to ask about the availability of floor time or opportunity time. A 70% commission split and no leads mean zero dollars.

Finally, when starting a real estate career there are expenses that are incurred before you close your first transaction. You need to know the cost of doing business as an agent for the Brokerage. Does the Brokerage have office fees, do you have to pay for signs, lockboxes, advertising, and supplies. As a new agent you want to minimize your out of pocket expenses.

When you interview with a Real Estate Brokerage you need to consider everything in order to make a decision that will help you launch your real estate career and make it successful.

 Patricia Blank Toombs is Vice President/Sales Manager at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Associates. She has 8 years fulltime experience in the residential real estate field and currently managers the West End Office and Vacation Rental Department. For more information on Blank Toombs visit www.wilkins1.com

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Pocono Summit – Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Assoc announced the purchase of Liberty Real Estate located in Poc Summit.  Liberty Real Estate was one of the first brokers in the Mt. Poc area.  Roxanne Lewis, Broker/Owner, operated the business since 1985.  Originally from Wilkes-Barre, Lewis moved to the Poconos specifically to open up Liberty Real Estate.  She has been a Realtor since 1974.  “It was a hard decision.  My Agents are like family, but the timing is right.” said Lewis.

 In addition to Lewis, two sales agents have joined the organization as full-time Realtors, Vincent B. Szykman from Wilkes-Barre and Christina M. Scavone.  Szykman owned and operated his own engineering company for 25 years.  After retiring, Szykman entered the real estate business.  He will handle residential and commercial real estate for Wilkes-Barre.

 Scavone, will be assigned to the West End office.  Scavone has been with Liberty RE since 2004.  Originally from the Ft. Lauderdale area, Scavone lives in Lehighton and will be part of the expanding of the Wilkins organization to the Jim Thorpe area.  “Christina Scavone is very close to getting her Broker’s license.”  “She has taken all the courses and only needs to take the required testing.  Wilkins will sponsor her for that.”  “We’re always looking for Assoc Brokers to train for managerial positions as they start to expand again with the changing economy.” said Wilkins.

 Four other agents are part-time Realtors who will also join the Wilkins organization.

 Dominick Sacci, V.P./Gen Mgr. stated “The acquisition of Liberty RE does two things for us.  It opens us to the Wilkes-Barre market (several of the Agents are located in the Back Mt. area of Wilkes-Barre) and we picked up a potential manager in Scavone.”   “We’re pleased that Lewis has agreed to stay on until next year. The cultural mix between the two offices fit like a glove.” said Sacci.

 Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate earlier in 2009 merged the Coldwell Banker Realtors into the company making them the number 1 real estate company in listings and sales.  The Coldwell Banker/Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate deal was one of the largest real estate transactions in the Poc Mts.  To date, in addition to the Blue Team being a part of the organization, BHG has recruited over 20 Realtors in 2009.  Said Sacci, “If you are going to get into real estate, now is definitely the time to do it and Better Homes and Gardens is the place to do it.”  “If anyone wants to learn more about what it is we do, take the Simulator Test to find out if the real estate field is good for you, then they should give me a call.” said Sacci.  You can find the Simulator Test on the career page of bhgrealestate.com.

 The Wilkins organization started in Mt. Pocono with 3 people in 1988.  Since that time, they have expanded the company to over 100 Realtors and cover all northeast Pennsylvania.  Over the past 2 years, due to economic conditions, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate has merged several of their offices with existing ones.  Thomas R. Wilkins, CEO stated, “We hope we’ve hit the bottom at this point.  We are in the business of opening offices, not merging them.”  “We have several new markets that we are looking at and after the Liberty RE purchase, the Wilkes-Barre market might be an easy one to target.” said Heather D’Adamo, Exec VP-Partner.  The company just recently announced the launching of a Vacation Rental Dept.

 WARE, Inc. also owns NEPA Management Assoc a full-service management company that handles bookkeeping, fiscal and property management for a number of town-home communities, condominium complexes and property owner associations throughout northeast Pennsylvania.  Both companies are at the 304 Park Ave office in Stroudsburg.

 Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wilkins & Assoc can be visited at www.wilkins1.com.

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 Stroudsburg – NEPA Management Associates, Inc. announced that Blanca Cordero has been promoted to the position of Property Manager. Cordero has been with the company since March of 2009. Prior to joining the Wilkins organization, Cordero was a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Phyllis Rubin Real Estate.

Said Thomas R. Wilkins, CEO “Blanca came to us with the purchase of the Coldwell Banker business and was a rental manager for them. Since the time she has been with us, she’s advanced herself and is being promoted to the position of Property Manager.” NEPA Management Assoc handles a number of individual rentals, commercial properties, homeowners associations, condo communities and town-home projects throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.

Cordero will be responsible for her own portfolio of rental and income producing properties, work as an admin asst with the homeowner associations, be the primary property manager for Knob Hill Property Owners Assoc and take over the processing of “Get Connected”, an affordable utility hook-up service developed by the Wilkins organization.

NEPA Management Associates is located at 304 Park Avenue in Stroudsburg and is open 7 days a week.

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