Changing Your Brokerage is Easy: Frequently Asked Questions About Changing Brokerages

Frequently Asked Questions About Changing Brokerages

Changing your brokerage can be easy with the right help. Here are answers to the most common questions we receive from agents considering a move.

How hard is it to switch?

Very easy. We handle the entire process for you. It takes about a day but you don’t have to do anything except sign your contract and the transfer forms that we provide. We take care of everything else for you even down to providing you a draft resignation letter from your old firm. 

How long does it take to switch?

It takes about a day but you don’t have to do anything except sign your contract and the transfer forms that we provide.

How do I switch?

We sign the contractor agreement and will send you a package of paperwork to sign via dotloop. We’ll handle the transfer paperwork with the GRAR, MR, and everything else. All you have to do is tell your current brokerage and we do everything else.

How do I change on the MLS?

We’ll take care of that for you. It happens automatically once we send in the signed paperwork and there is zero downtime. The next time you login, you’ll automatically be on our roster and express forms will fill everything out with our office.

What will my clients think if I switch?

We have a marketing program in place for you sphere of influence announcing your move and the benefits to them as your clients. We have found that your sphere is typically very excited about your change and it often leads to more contacts and conversations with them. The program is provided at no cost to you.

Will switching temporally slow my business?

No, we actually see the opposite. On average transferring agents see their businesses grow by 40% in the first year with our firm.

Do you help me with any transition marketing material?

Yes. We provide an on-going content marketing campaign that we partner with a local company to produce. We also provide up to 9 months of additional transition marketing. We can also connect you with our creative team for more customize packages (profile photos, bios, video bios, personal branding, etc.)

What happens to my transactions?

We can work on the timing of your transfer to make the process as smooth as possible. Some brokerages transfer the transaction over to our office to make it easier for your old brokerage, others prefer you still close it through them. You’ll most likely still pay the old brokerage the amount they would have been paid on the deal, but you won’t pay us anything on the deals that are already pending.

Other Things to Consider

Download: Brokerage Transition Checklist

More Questions? Contact Dave Veldkamp 

Dave Veldkamp

RE/MAX GR

(616) 460-6123 call/text

daveveldkamp@remax.net

Grand Rapids Real Estate Forecast 2022

Just over 12,000 homes are estimated to be sold next year in our area. For agents That is a little over 24,000 transaction sides. Divided by approximately 3600 agents and that is just over 6.5 deals per agent. You can find more info like this in the forecast included in todays email. So how do you stand out in 2022 to be the agent of choice more often than not? The answer, turn up your volume! You will need to stand out in this sea of sameness and be positioned as the “go to” expert agent in your community. To help, we over the next several weeks we are releasing a 6 part videos series call “turn up the volume”. Each short video is packed with simple and quick activities that if done correctly will be sure to increase your transaction count in 2022. To position yourself for success next year, the work starts now. Keep Elevating Our Industry!

https://youtu.be/q8IOQXTXGFI

Download: Grand Rapids Real Estate Forecast 2022

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123

Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Turning 300 into 30 - Memory Jogger Questions

Agents who do 30+ deals a year have an average of 300 people in their database. If you want to do 30+ deals in 2022 now is the time to get that database organized so you pipeline is full at the beginning of the year. To help we have included a downloadable list of memory jogger questions to help you identify who might be missing from your database. In addition, I recommend running your database through an app that uses big data to identify who is most likely to move in the next 12 months. This helps you prioritize your efforts and make sure those people get a little extra attention. Lastly, make sure to continue to share the materials we provide in our weekly emails to add value and position yourself as the “go-to” real estate expert. This week you can find materials indicating trends in market as we enter the fall. Keep elevating our industry!

Download: Memory Jogger

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Z3bwF-Gbv2k

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net Owner, RE/MAX GR

This Happens 32 Times a Day

On average 32 homes are sold per day in the greater Grand Rapids area. We included a graphic and a graph for you to post. Two important things to note about this stat. First with all the talk of the inventory shortage and lack of homes it is important to let you clients know this rate of sales is just 2.5 homes below our 10 year average of 34.5 sales a day. Second, for your business it is crucial to be aware that this is the slowest daily rate since 2012 and about a 10% drop from last year. Will this pace continue, increase or decrease?

As 2022 approaches, it is important to take a look at your business and ask, am I prepared to stand out in a market where less homes are being sold? Do I have what I need, the support, the environment, the business plan, to not just survive but thrive and grow. Use the realtor success scorecard included in this email to give your business a quick self evaluation. If you have any questions while you work through it we are here to help. Keep elevating our industry.

Download: It Happens 32 Times A Day

Download: Lowest Pace of Sales Since 2012

Video Link: https://youtu.be/5fDXxvV88lo

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Realtor Success Scorecard

Download: Realtor Success Scorecard

Instructions:

Through a series of yes or no questions this tool will score 5 areas of your business. You will first answer "yes" or "no" to the question. If you answer yes, give yourself a score from 1 to 10 (10 being the best) on how well you are executing that item in your business. The 5 areas of your business are listed below.

1. CRM

2. Marketing

3. Leads Management

4. Transaction Management

5. Business Management/Accounting.

There will be tabs for each one of these sections. Once you have answered all the questions you can see your total score on the first tab. Each area is weighted by importance. The total possible score is 650. Once complete you will be able to identify which area of your business needs the most improvement. Each improvement you make will get you another step closer to that perfect score and ultimately a stronger, more profitable business.

The Realtor Success Scorecard has been a proven tool for agents across the country. The agents who use the tool most successfully use the Scorecard every few months to measure how they are improving. If questions come up as you use the scorecard please let me know and we can jump on a zoom meeting. We are happy to help and hope this tool helps you elevate your business.

If there is anything else I can do please let me know.

Thank you,

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Inventory is Up 71%

Inventory is up 71%! That is a massive number. Now to be fair it’s easy to have incredible growth percentages when you only start with 500 listings. Yet, it is still good news that since our low point in May we have seen consistent growth in housing inventory. Mentioning this number will certainly grab people’s attention and start conversations. And since conversations lead to customers we have included a up 71% graphic in today's email for you to post. Buyers, you have more homes to chose from. Sellers, your competition is increasing so price things right. We are about to see a little dip in activity with the upcoming holiday, but then we usually see a spike in the second half of September and thru October. So now is the time to make sure you are continuing to position yourself as the expert. KEOI

Download: Inventory Up 71%

Video Link: https://youtu.be/u00siAdIXc0

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR


Are We Past the Peak?

Are we past the peak? Well the numbers included in today’s email showing the gap between list price and sold price has significantly reduced would suggest we are past the peak for this year. This is important information to set expectations for both buyers and sellers. It’s also important information for agents as we move towards some slower month and plan for 2022.

We encourage the 70-10-10-10 financial program to help. Spend 70%, Save 10%, Invest 10% and Give 10%. This simple strategy makes all the difference in managing your business during slower month and having money to invest in your plans for the future. The best part is you can automate just ask your broker to split your commissions accordingly and direct deposit them into the appropriate accounts. Keep elevating the industry!

Download: Are We Past the Peak?
Video Link: https://youtu.be/G4MusMzvEJU

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Congratulations to the Top 100 Grand Rapids Real Estate Agents for July 2021

Congratulations to all of the top performers in July! Keep up all of your great work. With July behind us, 56% of sales are closed for this year. Two important things to note about the fact. First, if you want to project your year end total sales if you continue at your current pace, simply take your YTD total and divide it by 0.56. Second, with our current market’s pace of sales, and only 44% of sales left, we are on a pace for about 11,700 home sales in 2021. This is slightly behind last years total. The good news is sales price increases will make up for the small dip in transactions keeping over all sales volume growth positive. Keep elevating the industry.

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/ZYKES7PcDzI

Download: Grand Rapids Top 100 Real Estate Agent List - July 2021

Dave Veldkamp

Owner | RE/MAX of Grand Rapids

Listing Inventory Has Been Steadily Growing

Listing inventory has been steadily growing for the last several weeks. We have include a graph in this week’s email to help you communicate this gradual change. Now this increase is positive news for buyers still struggling to find a home, yet at only 748 active listings we still have a long way to go to get to our historically balanced market levels. We will continue to track this trend and keep you updated. To give you some perspective recent studies show that we would have to increase the rate of new builds by 42% annually and build homes at that rate for the next 10 years in order to close the gap on the national housing shortage. Keep elevating the industry!

Closing the Gap? Plus Fall and Winter Client Gift & Event Guide

Welcome to August, we have seen some changes over the last month. For the first time this year the gap between a home’s list price and sale price in the Grand Rapids Metro area has decreased from just over 16,000 in June to closer to 14,000 in July. Keep this and last weeks report about buyer activity in mind when talking with buyers about their offers and sellers about their listing strategies going forward. Historically, we do see a short dip in activity at the beginning of the school year and a then a little bump in up in the fall, so this change in activity is fairly typical. Speaking of the fall, in this week’s email we have include our Client Gift & Event guide for the fall and winter. It’s time to start planning those events now! Leverage these great ideas to stay top of mind with your sphere. Keep elevating the industry!

Download: Fall & Winter Client Gift & Event Guide

Download: Closing the Gap (List Price to Sold Price)

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ouOQQNoCF-k

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Buyer Activity Slowing Down?

Today we are releasing our individual school district real estate sales stats graphics for social media. We have create images for 27 different school districts. Use them to show your expertise and to target your niche market. Our top recommendation is to use them on social media, but they are also great for email and farming campaigns. Be sure to download them today. Looking for a specific school district not included in our package? Send us an email.

We are seeing buyer activity return to 2019 levels. As a frame of reference 2019 activity levels produce 6,800 home sales between July-December which is still a strong market, but about 10% lower than last years record second half. If you had buyers waiting to enter the market, this slow down might be the time. In the last 3 weeks we have seen inventory increase, cash purchase drop, FHA acceptance rise and the gap between list price and sale price be reduced by 10% on average. Keep elevating the industry!

Download: 27 School District Real Estate Market Graphics for Social

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/YTqxPOV6t4M

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

What Home Financing is Winning?

We have received an overwhelmingly positive response to our quarterly market summary guide and last week’s information about “how far over asking price”. You can still find that data and the shareable graphics on our Elevate blog. We also track what type of financing is being used to purchase. We all know that cash and conventional rule the day. In fact, in May and June 89% of all homes were purchased with one of those two methods. We have included a graphic to help you save time explaining the importance of cash and conventional financing in our current market. Print it, post it, take it with you on your next buyer’s appointment. It’s easier to point to the statistics versus ask someone to take your word for it. So position yourself as the expert and keep elevating our industry!

Download: What Home Financing is Winning

Watch the Video: https://youtu.be/Z7y0oz2z0-0

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR


Is the List Price to Sold Price Gap Growing?

Is the gap between list price and sold price still growing? The gap has increased nearly $9000 in the last 4 months, increasing from an average of 7500 in March to well over 16,000 in June. The first 10 days of July have remained consistent with June. We’ll continue to keep an eye on the gap to see if it stay level throughout the month. Until then, we have includes a graph in this week’s email to help you communicate to your clients how the gap is growing in our current market. That graph shows the averages and we know that sometimes that’s not enough information, so we have also included a graphic showing exactly how many homes sold for asking price, 10k above, 20k about and so on in 10k increments all the way to 50k or more above asking price. If you are curious how we gather all of this data send me an email. Keep elevating the industry!


Download: The Gap is Growing Chart

Download: How Much Above Asking Price Chart

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/f67wb5NJwzI

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Congratulations to the Top 100 Real Estate Agents for June 2021

Welcome to July and congratulations to the Top 100 agents in June! Well done. Half of the 2021 is behind us and we have compiled our latest market summary quick reference guide covering the entire first half of the year to save you time and position you as the expert. Make sure to download it today if you haven’t already. In todays email you will also find a shareable market graphic for June and some special bonus materials that will separate you from the crowd. As always if you want to know where you rank YTD send us an email. We are looking forward to a great second half of the year! Keep elevating the industry!

Download: Market Quick Reference Guide January-June 2021

Download: June 2021 Market Info

Download: Special Bonus Materials

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/1P-mftBFNEg

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Updated Market Summary Guide & Second Half of 2021 Real Estate Predictions

We are continuing to help interpret more of the Grand Rapids real estate market information and put it in a shareable format for you and your sphere. This week we answer the question do any homes sell below asking price or does everything sell well above? We crunch the numbers. In May and June, 66% of home sold over asking price, 18% sold at asking price and believe it or not 16% of homes sold below asking price. Yes, about 1/3 of homes are selling at or below the list price. Now we have broken these numbers down in many additional ways to help keep clients informed, make educated decisions on offers and ultimately win more deals. If you are curious how we leverage this extra data send me an email. Next week we will be releasing an update to our most popular item our Quarterly Market Summary Report. Keep elevating our industry!

Download: Quarterly Market Summary Quick Reference Guide - June 2021

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ZtXBaulljBc

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Sold Below Asking Price?

We are continuing to help interpret more of the Grand Rapids real estate market information and put it in a shareable format for you and your sphere. This week we answer the question do any homes sell below asking price or does everything sell above asking price? Well we crunch the numbers again and here is what we found. In May and June 66% of home sold over asking price, 18% sold at asking price and believe it or not 16% of homes sold below asking price. Yes, about 1/3 of homes are selling at or below the list price. Now we have broken these numbers down in many additional ways to help keep clients informed, make educated decisions on offers and ultimately win more deals. If you are curious how we leverage this extra data send me an email. Next week we will be releasing an update to our most popular item our Quarterly Market Summary Report. Keep elevating our industry!

Download: Sold Below, At & Above List Price Graph

Watch the video: 

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

54% Increase Over 5 Years

You often hear the year over year home value increase statistic, which is a great stat to share. However, the challenge is the vast majority of homeowners didn’t buy their home just 12 months ago. The last frame of reference they have for their homes value was the purchase price of their home several years back. A cumulative value increase statistic over several years would be far more valuable and informative for those homeowners.

For example, did you know that the average home in the Grand Rapids area has seen a 54% increase in value over the last 5 years. To help the homeowners understand their potential equity we have include two graphics in this weeks email for you to share on social media, email to your clients, mail to your farm or maybe include in your pre-listing packet. Keep elevating our industry!

Download: Then vs Now - 5 Year Value Increase Comparison
Download: Cumulative Value Increase Based on Home Purchase Year

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ouOQQNoCF-k

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

How Much Over Asking Price - May 2021

We all know that homes are selling for well over asking price...but how much over and what tools do we have to communicate that to our buyers and sellers? Well, we crunch the data for you. We took multiple price points, calculated the list price to sale price ratio for the month of May and translated that to a dollar amount. The result is the sharable graphic in this week’s email to help you illustrate the average amount over asking price homes are selling for at different price points. Additionally, if you want even more detail we publish the list to sold price ratio for every school district in the area in our quarterly market summary. Finally, if you are targeting a specific area and price point send me an email and I will show you how to pull that information. Keep elevating the industry!

Download: How Much Over Asking Price Graph

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/Uc14JZYnPsc

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Congratulations to the Top 100 Real Estate Agents for May 2021

Welcome to June and congratulations to the Top 100 agents in May! Well done. Typically by the end of May 37% of all sales for the year are closed and behind us. The good news is 63% of sales are still to come. If on average we see 13,000 homes sell in a year in the GR metro area, that means there are still about 8000 more homes to be sold in 2021. Let your buyers know that even though spring is nearly behind us that believe it or not there is still plenty of opportunities ahead. The same is true for your business if your spring was slower than you hoped. Today, I am also excited to announce you can find all of our past Monday Market update resources and past top 100 lists all in one place at our Elevate blog. Keep elevating our Industry.

Download: Top 100 List - May 2021

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/wofAkYpoMiA

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR

Homeownership Equals 44x Net Worth

With prices increasing dramatically some first time home buyers are wondering if homeownership is still in their financial best interests. Be sure to let them know that homeownership is still the most effective way to build wealth. In fact, the average homeowners net worth is an amazing 44 times higher than the average renter’s. Reassure your clients that even with rising prices homeownership is a great financial decision.

Even more good news, according to a recent study, millions of more homeowners across the country are growing comfortable with the idea of selling, so as a reminder we have included a list of the most common place home sellers find their agents. When sellers go looking for an agent will they find you? If you would like to position yourself for more listings send me an email and I will send you resources so you can be well positioned when sellers come looking. Keep elevating the industry!


Download: Where Sellers Find Their Real Estate Agent

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/aCCIEeOgEiQ

David Veldkamp - (616) 460-6123 | Daveveldkamp@remax.net

Owner, RE/MAX GR