Owner with a Leading Eye on the Future
A milestone event in my Philadelphia real estate career occurred this past week. I am now owners with Steven Osiecki, long time friend and mentor, of RE/MAX Affiliates in Philadelphia. It has been a bit of a 
different perspective thinking about the growth opportunities of the office, the profit and loss, training and recuriting of agents and so forth. Some would say I am crazy buying into a real estate business and franchise in this economy !!! But so be it, I think there is great opportunity ! My goal is transparent: Being an owner with a leading eye on the future to create opportunities in the new real estate world.
At this point in our real estate career, it felt like the right thing to do. I believe we can provide an environment and culture in this new real estate world where agents can thrive and consumers can benefit immensely. Stephanie and I plan on using many of the same marketing strategies that helped propel us as agents for the office. Thus, our goal will be to help our people - the current Realtors in the office as well as new agents that we recruit to be the best Agents possible and to provide them with the tools and training that they will need to stand above the crowd.
The good news with our office is that for 2008, we were number seven in all of Philadelphia for total number of transactions. In addition, every office that was ahead of us with the exception of 1, had many more agents. We have a great foundation to grow !
Above is the photo of Steven Osiecki and myself from the settlement. I look foward to this new chapter of Real Estate !
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If interested in buying or selling properties in Philadelphia, contact Chris and Stephanie Somers at thesomersteam@yahoo.com or 215-400-2612 . You can connect with us on Facebook and Twitter . For investment properties, check out our new investor site at Philly Investor Hub !
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great job guys, I love the logo you have of your name that is great have a good sunday.
Dave
Christopher and Stephanie, good luck with your new venture and I wish you well.
Congratulations! I just opened my own real estate company after six years in the business. Everyone thought I was nuts. However, I have two agents underneath me who want to learn the business. That is exciting to me. Best of luck. Do the Deal$
Congrats, Guys! You're going to do great. I opened my own firm 2 years ago this May and would NEVER LOOK BACK.
Dave - Thanks ! We love our logo too as well as our tag line or our "Elevator Pitch" as some marketing professional or Probloggers call it !
Michael - We appreciate the well wishes !
This is an incredible achievement considering how the market has been for the past 18 months. It's proof of how hard you and Stephanie work to be successful... regardless of what the economy is doing! Congratulations and much continued success!!!!!
For everyone who jhave just complimented your logo... thank you, we take a lot of pride in all of the marketing work we have been doing for these guys. They are open-minded, very forward-thinking and they communicate very clearly to us what their vision is. A client like this is every marketeter's dream! :-)
Best wishes to everyone!!!! 2009 will be an year of much opportunity for those looking to stand out from the crowd!
Harry - Congrats to you ! Glad to hear that and wish you great success in 2009 and beyond !
Erica - Thanks for the encouragement ! And congrats to you on your business and success as well ! That is awesome what you did 2 years ago and it is great you are doing great and will do great in the years to come as well !
Chris and Stephie..I know you will achieve you goals.Steve will make a great partner.I feel fortunate to have personally worked with both you
,your team,and Steve..Best of Luck and Continued Success
HelpfulHannah your friend in Philadelphia
Congratulations Christopher and Stephanie. I did smile when I started to read this. I will never forget the question my very first broker asked me when I inquired about buying a franchise. She asked" Do you know how to make small fortune in real estate?, she then replied," Start with a big one".
Chrisopher and Stephanie,
Good luck on your new enterprise. Onward and upward.
Liana- Thanks ! We firmly believe that the current climate of the Philadelphia real estate market (and any local market) brings about tremendous opportunity for forward-thinking agents and offices. This is probably the single best time to gain market share and position oneself as the leader and expert in their field.
Thank you for your compliments. Both Stephanie and I really enjoy working with you - am proud to be every "marketer's dream" : ) . It is great to be able to have goals and vision for the years to come. We agree that 2009 and beyond brings many opportunities for those to stand out from the crowd indeed.
Christopher and Stephanie, I hope the future is so bright for you that you have to wear shades! Congratulations on the good work, and best wishes always
Hannah- Thanks for your nice comment. I really appreciate your well wishes. I will miss working in conjunction with the NE office but it is all for the best as each office can now focus on their own internal growth. There are some great people and Agents at both offices. I look forward to working with Steve to do the best we can with it !
William - Great quote ! Glad this blog was able to bring back a good memory and a smile !
Chris and Stephanie - Congratulations! I think now is a great time to make a move like this. Establish now and reap the rewards later. You've already got a good name, so establishing yourselves won't be hard. I hope you pass on to agents your personal connection and technological sides - the things I think make you a great team. Good luck and I look forward to hearing how it goes!
Terry - "Onward and upward ! " - Most definitely .
Michael- Appreciate the positive vibes and energy ! We hope your future is super bright as well. With hard work and effort, we will all do well !
Matt- Rock on ! One of the reasons we have been so jammed up recently is trying to get the deal done as it was going back and forth between attorneys for awhile as the attorney bills got higher and higher ! We are really looking forward to this next chapter. We already manage a team of 6 people so we have already had a mini-brokerage per se anyway. I am looking forward to helping all the agents thrive and be more successful ! Want to come back to Philly ?
Congrats guys - I LOVE the training and managing end of the business and could understand your excitement to grow and share your great system. Good luck. If you ever need a little help training outside your field, I'll send you my resume, haha. I'm looking forward to your experiences on blog posts coming up. I'd like to see how your current team's system evolves into a larger office system. I'm toying around with a similiar thing now.
Good luck Chris. I used to be a RE/MAX owner but quickly realized I liked sales much more than managing everyone elses problems. I hope you do well with it!
Steve- Thanks for the well wishes ! Am excited about the opportunity. And yes, there will definitely be some blogs about our upcoming experiences.
Bill- I hear you ! I am hoping to have the best of both worlds as my partner Steve will be the Broker of record and will deal with the day-to-day issues. I will concentrate on growing the office, recruiting and technology and of course growing our sales business too. I think the good news is that I have Stephanie to help on both accords as well. It will be interesting and challenging so am looking foward to the months to come.
A huge ~CONGRATULATIONS~ to you Chris and Stephanie! I am excited for you two on this new business venture. I have found so much encouragement and knowledge from you, and I can't even imagine the immense amount those working in your office must receive - those lucky suckers!
Best of luck and I expect big blessings for you two :)
Warmest Regards,
Jessica
Jessica - Thank you for the well wishes ! It could be a little risky in this market environment but at the same time, it could have the biggest reward too. I really enjoy helping the other agents in the office be more successful in terms of training, mentorship, being a team leader and sales. And now an owner ! The pressure is on : )