So. . . You want to be a real estate agent.

Along with Laurie Reney, Associate Broker and Empowerment TEAM Director, The Team tackles the conversation regarding being a real estate agent.

Podcast & Live Radio Show on WATD 95.9 McNamara Broker Team Boston Connect Real Estate Sharon McNamara | Mary Baker | Melissa Wallace | Dustin Hughes Facebook Live every Tuesday at 6:15 pm @ facebook.com/McNamaraBrokerTeam Follow our team on Instagram @McNamaraBrokerTeam

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Announcer:
Now, Talk Real Estate sponsored by Boston Connect, Real Estate Services.

Sharon McNamara:
Hi, I'm Sharon McNamara, and you are listening to Talk Real Estate. Let me share a little bit about my background before we get started. I am the broker/owner of Boston Connect Real Estate, located on the South Shore, and I have been working as a full time realtor in sales and marketing consultant for home buyers and home sellers for the past 15 years. I have helped hundreds of clients throughout the home buying and home selling process. My unique approach to assisting my clients to the next chapter of their lives is driven by being a team player and by offering them continuous training, education, advising, and mentoring. I like to say that I offer my clients exceptional service that moves you. Every week I will be providing you with real estate topics ranging from home buyer and home seller advice, legal matters, insurance binders, flood insurance concerns, home inspection questions, environmental worries like radon, lead paint and mold, mortgages and loan programs, staging tips and ideas, real estate contracts, market trends, home values and more.

Sharon McNamara:
It's a talk radio show, and sometimes we are even interactive so you can follow along online. If you have any questions during the show, please call 781-837-4900. We'd love to talk real estate. If you missed any of our shows, or if you want to listen to one again, you can listen on my podcast at talkrealestateradio.com. If you would like a one-on-one consultation with me regarding your home sale, or your home purchase, I'd love the opportunity to meet with you. You can connect with me anytime at bostonconnect.com or 781-826-8000. Now sit back, relax, take good notes, and let's talk real estate.

Sharon McNamara:
Hello to all my South Shore neighbors. This is Sharon McNamara, and you are, of course, listening to Talk Real Estate with Sharon McNamara, Mary Baker, and Melissa Wallace, and we have a very special guest with us tonight, Laurie Reney.

Laurie Reney:
Hello.

Sharon McNamara:
Hello. Special.

Laurie Reney:
Thank you for having me.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah, and welcome to our Talk Real Estate round table, that's what we're going by here because our table is round, if you get it.

Laurie Reney:
I love it.

Melissa Wallace:
It's the symbolism of it that really-

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah.

Melissa Wallace:
-gets you.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. And we have Ben in studio. Hello there, Benjamin.

Benjamin:
Good evening, ladies. How are we tonight?

Sharon McNamara:
We are doing fantastic. So if people want to call, what number should they call, if they have any questions for us?

Benjamin:
They should call 781-837-4900.

Sharon McNamara:
I was just checking to see if you were on your toes and following along with me.

Benjamin:
Not only am I on my toes, but they are the tippiest part of my toes.

Sharon McNamara:
Perfect. Perfect. So tonight our topic, we decided that we were going to talk about this, we mentioned it briefly last week. So You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? What? What? That's what I just wrote on Facebook. You want to be a what what?

Laurie Reney:
Yeah.

Sharon McNamara:
I'm really hyper today. All that ginger candy I was eating, Mel. Yeah, I know. I ate a whole thing of it. I have a bellyache.

Melissa Wallace:
It's kind of addictive. I'm not going to lie. I didn't like it at all at first and now it's growing on me.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. Well I've decided after I gave up gum, January 1st I gave up gum.

Melissa Wallace:
I found all of your gum today.

Sharon McNamara:
In the drawer?

Melissa Wallace:
It's in the draw by the refrigerator if anybody wants any.

Sharon McNamara:
So we have plenty of gum in the office. But yes, I just gave up gum and I'm doing really good. But then I took on another habit that's called the ginger, and I decided once they're gone I'm not buying anymore.

Melissa Wallace:
Yeah, because it's a replacement thing?

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. I eat 10 of them. I'd rather one piece of gum and then I just have that for a while. Look at Laurie, she's just like, yep. I'm following along.

Laurie Reney:
I am.

Melissa Wallace:
Laurie, this is your first time joining us live, isn't it?

Laurie Reney:
It is.

Melissa Wallace:
Oh my goodness.

Laurie Reney:
I love it down here. It's so cozy.

Melissa Wallace:
Yeah, it really is. Yeah, it's awesome.

Sharon McNamara:
It's really great too. Cause during the day I have like little meetings down here and like little conferences with people. So.

Melissa Wallace:
It's your sound studio.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. [crosstalk 00:03:56] No, I feel like Laurie, we have to adjust her mic a little bit so maybe we have to lift you up. How you feeling about that, Ben? Yep-

Benjamin:
I agree. I think we can bump a little volume and we should be good to go.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. Well, bump her a little volume there and it be good. All right, so we're going to talk about So You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? What? What?

Melissa Wallace:
I was going to say, you crazy?

Sharon McNamara:
No, what are you, crazy? No, we're going to talk about the pros, the cons, the ups, the downs, the in-betweens, everything in between and the, maybe, misconceptions about our profession that it isn't actually a profession, the misconceptions that you can just go into this and make a boatload of money even if you're doing it part-time. There's also the group of people who are like, Oh, I'm going to get into it and I'm going to flip houses and that's going to be my, that's how I roll.

Melissa Wallace:
My niche.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah, my niche. So we're going to talk about all those things and more tonight. What can I help you with there, girl?

Laurie Reney:
Oh, I thought we might have an agenda.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah, we do. They're on the printer. I'll be right back. Sorry about that. So I know that we are going to-

Melissa Wallace:
Why don't we start by talking about why we have Laurie on talking about You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? What? What?

Benjamin:
You mean right after the traffic, ladies?

Melissa Wallace:
Why don't we listen to the traffic first and I wonder if the... Who's the new guy? I don't even know who's the new guy.

Benjamin:
David Cedrone tonight.

Melissa Wallace:
From the WATD Traffic Studio. How's it looking out there, David?

David:
All right. This time we're sponsored by unbound.org. Expressways southbound, typical delays. Heavy out of the O'Neill, the South Bay. You'll come off the brakes, hit them again from Granted Ave. down through the split. Route 3 not looking too bad, just a bit sluggish through Braintree, down to before Union Street. Lower end of 93 southbound, you're bumping to bumper out of the split out through 24, 24 southbound slow from the top down to the Horse Bridge. 95 northbound gets heavy at the top connecting to 128. No issues on Route 44.

David:
A girl in Kenya dreams of becoming a doctor. An elder Guatemala dreams of being part of a community. Reach out and change their world, it will change your own. Unbound.org. Traffic on the nines every morning. I'm David Cedrone and the WATD Traffic Center.

Announcer:
We now return to Talk Real Estate sponsored by Boston Connect Real Estate Services on 95.9 WATV.

Sharon McNamara:
Back. Hello to all of our neighbors out there. I don't want to just say South Shore because we are South of Boston, so I know that we're hitting all kinds of different studios now, too.

Melissa Wallace:
I used to get us all the way up in Medford.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah-

Melissa Wallace:
that's definitely not South... Boston.

Sharon McNamara:
All right, well I lost my glasses, but that's normal.

Melissa Wallace:
They're on your face.

Sharon McNamara:
Oh my God. If we could take a picture of what just happened.

Melissa Wallace:
Well, we have it on video, so, okay. Well while Sharon collects herself, you can go to Facebook. We are live on Sharon Costa McNamara. So if you want to send her a friend request, I'll accept you and you can watch it. Although, we are shared on all of our Connect pages, Pembro Connect, Duxbury, Situate, Hanover, Marshfield, all this on pages. I'm like, "What is she looking for?" And you're, "I'm just looking at my glasses." They were dangling underneath her chin. So that's a thing. That happened, and I'm glad we have it on video. Recorded for the rest of history.

Melissa Wallace:
All right, so she's still collecting herself. So, Laurie, why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners who might not have heard your introduction before. I know this is the first time live with us, but we have certainly talked about you many times because we love you so much and love what you do with our agents and for our company and all that fun stuff.

Melissa Wallace:
So why don't you introduce yourself? How long have you been in the business? What you do here at Boston Connect, where you service, and then we'll dive right in.

Laurie Reney:
All right, cool. I'm Laurie Reney. I've been in the business for about 22 years now. I've been a broker for, I believe, 10 years which is awesome. Here at Boston Connect I sell real estate, but I also mentor agents, as well as coach up the experienced agents, as well, to hold them accountable, to hopefully push them a little bit to do more in sales and to have a good life as well.

Melissa Wallace:
Balance. So you're teaching a lot of balance and how to do it all. Have it all, do it all.

Laurie Reney:
I would say... I call it a both-and.

Melissa Wallace:
Oh, both-and?

Laurie Reney:
Yes, a both-and. You can have a great business and a great-filled [crosstalk 00:08:35] life. Yes.

Melissa Wallace:
You can both have a great business.

Laurie Reney:
Yes. That's my goal. I service the... I raised my family and I grew up in Duxbury so I know that community very well, as well as, I would say, the coast. I live in Marshfield now in the Humarock area, which I love.

Melissa Wallace:
How long have you been in Marshfield?

Laurie Reney:
Six years.

Melissa Wallace:
Okay.

Laurie Reney:
Yep. And we love it. So I do serve, I would say, Quincy all the way down to the upper Cape. Yep.

Melissa Wallace:
Excellent.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. So I put in here that Laurie is also, you're an associate broker, right?

Laurie Reney:
Yes.

Sharon McNamara:
So you have your broker's license, and we'll talk a little bit about that tonight, too, is what do you have to do to earn your broker's license? So she's an associate broker here at Boston Connect Real Estate and she is also the director of our empowerment T.E.A.M.

Sharon McNamara:
At Boston Connect Real Estate, we have T.E.A.M. For us is training, education, advising and mentoring. So that's how we came up with T.E.A.M. And it really is about empowering our agents and our team, really, in more ways than one, just helping everybody. So tonight we are talking more than we normally do about Boston Connect Real Estate because that's where we are, so that's what we know. But we are just going to help people, because people ask us all the time, "So what, what does it entail to get your real estate license? What do you have to do? What..." And all these great things. So I figured we'd just go around the table a little bit around our real estate talk round table here. Mary, why don't you tell everybody about you?

Mary Baker:
Okay. Well, what do you guys not know about me? I have been with Boston Connect for nine years. I got licensed when I was 21 and immediately, yeah, I was 21, and immediately came and hung my license with Boston Connect Real Estate. Before that I was an assistant to an agent up in Arlington, Massachusetts, so that's how I knew I wanted to get into the career. I started at Boston Connect as always licensed, but as Sharon's assistant, trying to hands-on get my feel for the business and what it was going to be, because I was a little trepidatious of how much responsibility would be on me. Then I slowly integrated into being a showing agent then a buyer's agent. Now I am the full time buyer's agent for our team and an assistant listing agent. So yeah, it just grew. It naturally and organically grew and that's where I am today.

Sharon McNamara:
Yes, absolutely. I remember when you came on, it was when we were first in the office and it was about a year. I still sell real estate because that's truly where my love is, with real estate. I mean, I love the office, but I really want to be more hands on with our agents and helping our agents grow their businesses, and me still being hands on with my clients and helping them in their next chapters. We're very, very lucky and fortunate to have Melissa Wallace with us who takes care of everything in between all of those nooks and crannies. And, Melissa, why don't you tell everybody how long you've been doing this and how much you love it here. And AKA Melissa's name tag on her door says, Our Everything. So we have some pretty big titles for her, director of, really, everything.

Melissa Wallace:
Every title that I have. Well, my name is Melissa Wallace. I grew up all over the South Shore, primarily in Weymouth, but about almost six years ago now, I graduated and my first job out of college was an assistant to a real estate agent like Mary, but also working part time in a bar like many real estate agents do, and it just sort of progressed from there. I went to another company and sort of worked as a semi-office manager. I actually worked with Laurie there and that's where I met Laurie, and then we made the decision to come to Boston Connect about four years ago for me, at least almost four years ago. And I didn't have my real estate license beforehand, but after about a year here I decided to go ahead and do that and so I could help out the company more and help out the team more.

Melissa Wallace:
And my role at the company progressed. I was primarily just an assistant to Mary and Sharon and that was my role in the team. And then it sort of progressed and now I'm...

Sharon McNamara:
I was so surprised you said yes to us.

Melissa Wallace:
One day was just like, "Hey, do you want to be the office manager?" And I was like, "Sure."

Mary Baker:
I still remember what I wore during your interview and I remember looking at you and being like, "What do you want me to do?" And me and Sharon looked each other when we like, "We want you to tell us what to do."

Sharon McNamara:
It's sort of your job, you tell us what to do and where to go and-

Mary Baker:
You do it very well.

Sharon McNamara:
And it's been a natural progression for you here at the office. So not only do you help us in our team sell real estate, but you're also immune, or you're out there doing open houses and everything with that new construction and subdivisions that we have. But you're also hands on with the agents individually in the office, helping them with their emails and helping them with Canva and helping them with all the things that go along with being a real estate agent.

Melissa Wallace:
Yeah. I like to view it as my job is to help the agents here, help them be successful in their business because that's what makes me happy and I hope it makes them happy. And I want to see everybody succeed, not just start a team and not just you, Laurie, not just the core peeps here, but I want everybody to succeed. So if there's something that I can do to help you succeed in your business, then my door's always open.

Sharon McNamara:
So long as you get your paperwork in on time. [crosstalk 00:14:26].

Melissa Wallace:
Yeah, as long as you get your paperwork in on time.

Sharon McNamara:
Someone's got to set the rules.

Melissa Wallace:
Yeah.

Mary Baker:
Absolutely.

Sharon McNamara:
So tonight I thought that-

Melissa Wallace:
Well, what about you, Sharon?

Benjamin:
We have Donna on the line, too.

Mary Baker:
Oh, why don't you introduce yourself to our listeners?

Sharon McNamara:
So I will introduce myself. My name is Sharon McNamara. I am the broker/owner of Boston Connect Real Estate. It's funny because I don't often say that I am the broker/owner, it's only in certain situations that I do because I do feel that I work with everybody here at Boston Connect. I don't feel as if I'm above, not that that title means anything. But that was one of the harder aspects of us moving to this building was when our offices for all of our staff was on a level above where the agents sit and all I could think about was my first experiences, in the Peru and the higher up you were in the corner offices. And then when I went to Reebok, my background advertising and marketing when I was at Reebok, the higher up, it just was sort of like a hierarchy, and I never wanted that feeling for here.

Sharon McNamara:
And that's why at the top of the stairs, right outside my office, it says we rise by lifting others. And I want that to be a constant reminder to us as staff. We're staff to them, like really, to our agents. And our job is to lift them above us. So it is a constant reminder to me every single day when I'm going in and out of my office. That that's really what's important to me here at Boston Connect Real Estate. But I do feel like I very much treat myself like an agent who works at Boston Connect, so that's why I think sometimes it gets... It's weird when I have to make some decisions for the company because I'm like, "Well, now what do you think?"

Melissa Wallace:
"Now it's my job to make decisions. I want to go."

Sharon McNamara:
I'm like, Mel said, "No." [inaudible 00:16:08] Like that means no. I had to ask her one day, I remember it was Christmas time, and I took a picture of the mailbox actually that's over in the corner there for Christmas and I was like, "Can we please get this? It's so cute." She's like, "How much is it?" I'm like, "All right..." But I have been, I got in the business. I was very fortunate. Like I said, I was at Reebok advertising and marketing, which is probably why I'm a very heavy listing agent. I love that part of the whole process with buying, helping people sell their homes. I was home with the two girls, and when it was time for them, for me to really go back full time, that's what we decided that we would do when they got to a certain age, I'd said I didn't think I wanted to do that. So I decided to get into real estate and I got into real estate in 2001 is when I got my real estate license. So I've been doing this just about 19 years, I guess, 19-20 years, almost 20 years.

Sharon McNamara:
And it's been something that I really loved, and I think it's because the mindset that I put on this was not that I was helping people sell houses or buy houses. It was more that I was helping families. So that's what moves me. No pun intended. That is what moves me. And that's what gets me through every year and every day as a real estate agent. And I am not motivated by money. I am not motivated by... When we do the vision boards, it's really difficult for me to do a vision board because I'm not motivated by materialistic things, but I'm more motivated by words and inspiration and helping, and it just works out that the more people you help then the things that you would want to have from a vision board perspective like a garage or something like that. That's how that stuff comes to fruition for me.

Sharon McNamara:
I think that one of the things I love, I went out on my own, by the way. I've been at three companies, all wonderful, awesome companies. I have nothing bad to say about any one of them. I learned a little bit of everything from every single one I was in. I learned a lot from every single agent, from every single office that I was in. I can't say that I've had any bad experience in any of the offices, so I would never say, "Oh, I left this company because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." As I grew and when I wanted different things for my clients is when I moved. So I've been in a few different companies and, like I said, I took a little bit of everything from each one and that's how we decided to come up and grow Boston Connect Real Estate.

Sharon McNamara:
So 2010 is when we opened Boston Connect Real Estate. I said to Mark, "Why don't we sell our boat and open a real estate office?" At the time there were a couple of people that were trying to recruit me to be managers for their office. And I just thought, "Well, if people have confidence in me, then I will have confidence in them as well." So I in myself as well and that's when I opened Boston Connect Real Estate. I'm just trying to help these two out that just haven't had [inaudible 00:19:10] [crosstalk 00:19:10] .

Melissa Wallace:
No, we're just saying, I believe we have a caller.

Sharon McNamara:
Oh, do we have a collar, Ben?

Benjamin:
Yes, we do. We have Donna on the line.

Sharon McNamara:
Oh, hello, Donna.

Donna:
Hey ladies.

Sharon McNamara:
Hi. How are you?

Mary Baker:
You said that very nicely. Are you watching it on Facebook?

Donna:
Yes, I have been listening and as a seasoned agent, just one year shy of you, Sharon, I am extremely excited about the success that all of you have made.

Sharon McNamara:
Oh wow. You, too, Donna Bagni.

Donna:
Sharon, you have grown an incredible company that is a boutique atmosphere that allows any agent under them to be able to put the client or the customer's needs before Corporate America. And I worked very heavily in Corporate America before I left my job to have my children. Mary Baker, I don't know. I just thought Mary Baker coming in to interview and in came this girl in stilettos and her name is Mary and... Oh my God.

Mary Baker:
Donna, you're the reason that I'm at the company. You got me here. [crosstalk 00:20:37]

Laurie Reney:
Because Donna was Mary's sister's buyer's agent, right, when she bought her home on Center Street in Pembroke.

Donna:
And, looking at real estate from today's viewpoint, it's not yesterday's real estate. It becomes harder and more difficult. And you need a seasoned agent to be able to navigate through the situations that pop up. And you need to look at them as your final... Your final step is to close the deal for the benefit of both the buyer and the seller.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. One of the things Donna that you're saying is about having a seasoned agent and I think that that's really important, and we just gave away our awards this year and for last year. And one of the things I mentioned for our Was She a Shining Star for us was Maryann Trask. She's been in the business a very long time. And one of the things I love about our office is that we're always learning from each other. I've learned from Maryann and I love that. And I love the fact that we have a new agent, Susan Solace just joined us, and I don't know if she's listening or not, but welcome aboard. But I love that everybody is very hands-on with helping that other agent succeed. And that's where I think our seasoned agents come into play so much because they... We know the road traveled can be wobbly at best and it's like walking on cobblestone.

Sharon McNamara:
But I feel that all of our seasoned agents, whoever's sitting in the room at the time, "Hey, I need some help with..." That's one of the things I really, truly love about Boston Connect Real Estate and just the way that we are able to... We call it our Boston Connect Family and that ain't no lie.

Melissa Wallace:
Donna, I agree with you with what you said with a seasoned agent, but I also, I feel very confident in our, we call them newbies, and our agents who joined the company who haven't been with another agency and are going through a mentoring program, I'm very confident in them being able to succeed as well in a transaction because of the training that we have here. And because we do have the seasoned agent where you can just walk into the office and you hang out with Donna and Nadine or hang out with Trish and Nick. It's so true, when you're here you learn so much. And even if you're just sitting here, your business is going to succeed because you're constantly learning, you're constantly listening, you're asking questions. I even said it in our office meeting last week, "I'd rather you ask me 10,000 questions because that's what I'm here for. Then for you to assume something and have it be wrong. You are here to ask questions."

Donna:
I could not agree with you more because the platform that Sharon set up- [crosstalk 00:23:57]

Sharon McNamara:
And I did not set that up alone, so I cannot take credit for that. So, Donna, when I went out on my own I called Donna Bagni. [crosstalk 00:24:04]

Donna:
I know, but let me just tell you something.

Sharon McNamara:
No, let me finish. I called Donna Bagni and I said, "Hey Donna, can I let you in on something?" It's 2010 it was the market was changing, and I could see it and I could feel it and I didn't like the way that things were going, that you couldn't make choices for your clients. And I said, "I really do want to go out on my own." And I jumped out in a declined market and no place to go but up. But I called Donna and, at the time Joan Eulich, who was her partner and recently deceased, so God bless her. Yeah, we loved Joan. And I asked, "Will you meet with me?"

Sharon McNamara:
She met with me in my cabana and that's where we put together our commission scale and things like that for the agents, like what makes more sense? And that's some of the stuff maybe we'll get a chance to talk about later when people are considering what company to go to. So yes, I had to get that in there, Donna B.

Donna:
All right, well, thank you very much. So what I want to follow up with was the fact that, yes, the platform was created and I had to take care of my grandbabies. So the torch passed to Laurie, and she has done an absolute incredible job with these new people and I couldn't be prouder. And you know what? Boston Connect has my heart and soul.

Mary Baker:
No, that makes me feel great. Yeah, don't make us cry on Facebook Live. I mean I won't cry, but Laurie certainly will. [crosstalk 00:25:42]

Sharon McNamara:
Mary doesn't cry. Well, Donna, honestly I really do think that, I feel like we're gloating a little bit here about Boston Connect Real Estate, but I feel that we are getting out the energy of what Boston Connect Real Estate is and how we feel about our agents who are here with each other.

Laurie Reney:
We're consumed with support and love for each other which is something that you don't really find in every company.

Sharon McNamara:
And when one person is having a bad day, it's like the other person will lift them up. If Donna is over in the corner choking, I'll go grab her water. Even though when I was choking, no one got me water.

Sharon McNamara:
Well, Donna B, thank you so much again. That's Donna Bagni who is a full-time real estate agent at Boston Connect Real Estate. She has been with us since 2010. Donna is a good friend, I have known her since when I first started in this industry. I did start at Jack Conway Company and Jack was wonderful. It was to have Christmas parties and him come in and just sort of hang out. That family feeling that I had back then is one of the very most important parts that I brought to Boston Connect Real Estate with me. Their office is no longer there, but we still have a little bit of just Jack and us, I guess. I say I'm an ex-Con. And again like I said, all great companies.

Sharon McNamara:
I have worked for nothing but great companies, and we're very fortunate on the South Shore, South Coast, everywhere. We are surrounded by great companies and great agents. With that said, we do know that this time of year, all of our agents are being called to be recruited because that's what people do. I call it fishing season, right? It's hunting season. They're looking for the agents who maybe didn't have a great year or they're just trying to persuade them to come over with, "We have the greatest technology, we have the greatest this, we have the greatest that." I always tell people, "You need to do what you feel in your heart is best for you and your family because that's what's going to make you be the best agent that you can possibly be. So staying in a company that you're not thrilled with, or you don't feel like they getting the support from, whether that's us or another company, then you shouldn't. You need to do what's best for you and your family." So we're going to have a little bit of an open house. I don't know that we've picked a date. Did we decide?

Melissa Wallace:
No, we haven't.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. By the end of the show, because we definitely want to give that data out, we're going to have a little bit of an open house here. So if you are currently a real estate agent and you're thinking about making a change, I don't make calls to agents, I don't want to take an agent from any broker. We attract, we don't recruit. And I think that that's why we've built a company with 34 agents that are very much like-minded and really want that warm fuzzy feeling and just some really damn good numbers, because we know how to do that, too. I think we're number 13 in Plymouth County for 2019 of all Massachusetts companies. So volume sold, we're doing really good, but I feel like we're stealth-like. We just sort of like fly under the radar. We're just doing our own thing and not getting in anybody else's way. Fair to say. Yes. So we're going to have that open house, and what we'll do is have a calendar where people could have private one-on-one meetings. So just come and talk to us. Say, "Hey, I want to be a real estate agent. What's entailed in that?"

Melissa Wallace:
Right.

Sharon McNamara:
So I think we were thinking maybe Saturday, February 8th or the following Saturday after that. Probably the Saturday after that.

Melissa Wallace:
Hold on one second, one moment please.

Sharon McNamara:
So Laurie's role here at Boston Connect Real Estate is when new agents come in and they're newbie agents, her role is to get them going as being a mentor. Do you want to talk a little bit about that mentoring process?

Laurie Reney:
Sure. A new agent, especially if they're brand spanking new, that's typically what I do. I take them under my wing, we meet, I have them do a database. That's the most important thing first, create a database with everybody that they know, and then send out a letter introducing themselves. And then from there, hopefully, they get a lead, whether it be a listing or a buyer, and then we walk through the whole process side-by-side throughout the entire deal. I take calls all day, all night from my mentees because it's a big deal. And I love everybody that I'm mentoring because they truly do care, and nobody just assumes that they know the right thing to do.

Laurie Reney:
And what I really appreciate about this office is that it's not just me. If I'm not available, they can call Sharon, they can call Mary, they can call Melissa, they can call Donna, they can call anybody in the office and people just jump to help. Because a lot of people here were mentored. Trish and her husband, and they are killing it because they have such a great foundation.

Sharon McNamara:
And they really did listen to the advice that we gave, which is really great, and how to grow their business right from the beginning when we were doing all the Buffini programs. So we are certified instructors for the Buffini program and we can get into that another day.

Sharon McNamara:
But one of the things that you just rang in my head about everybody being there is I remember it was a Saturday, I think that you were up in New Hampshire and Michelle Fay, who's in a mentoring program right now, love her to pieces. She actually gave me a book today on essential oils. So thank you, Michelle. She's such a giver, I love her. She's always thinking about me and that's probably why she's now my favorite, she gives me presents. But she was in here one day and she's like, "I don't know what to do. One of my clients is going to be writing up an offer, and I don't want to bother Laurie while she's away and I don't want to try to do it on my own," even though she probably could have. But she was following protocol, we'll walk you through the step of everything. And I was like, "I know how to write an offer. Remember me?" So she's like, "No, I wouldn't want to bother you." And I was like, "That is not a bother. I actually enjoy it."

Sharon McNamara:
I know her clients anyways because Michelle was me and Mary's client, we helped her find a house. So that was a lot of fun to be able to sit and do that type of stuff.

Laurie Reney:
Sure. And you're, and you, you love doing that. You just love the training aspect of it as do I. I say to myself, "Do I really want to sell another house, or would I rather just mentor and help people 24/7 because it is very gratifying. When they have their first closing, they get their first check and they just have this biggest smile on their face. It makes what I do worth it.

Sharon McNamara:
So why don't we talk about some of the... What else are we going to talk about? [crosstalk 00:32:32]

Melissa Wallace:
Well, we asked our agents.

Sharon McNamara:
Oh yeah.

Melissa Wallace:
We have a private group on Facebook, and we just posted some questions and let them know what we were going to be talking about tonight. Some of the questions were: Why did you get into real estate? Is it everything that you expected? Is it not what you expected? Do you find it easier or harder? And what surprised you most about the business both good and bad? We had a couple of people comment on it recently, Trish Flynn, we just talked about her in her husband.

Sharon McNamara:
Her husband's name is Nick. Nick Flynn, otherwise known as the Flynn Team.

Melissa Wallace:
Yeah. And Trish said, "It's so hard, you have to constantly work at it to be successful." And we were just talking about this upstairs. What is it that I said? "You essentially get what you put into it." So your salary... Not salary because your commission. At the end of the year, what you make is going to reflect the amount of effort and time and work that you put into your year, into your business. So if you're taking six months off to relax and hanging out at the beach and go on this vacation, this vacation, at the end of the year that bank account is probably going to reflect that. That's right.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah. Well, that's my favorite thing, too, is unfortunately in this business, what ends up happening is, at the end of the year, agents tend to blame their brokerage for their lack of profitability rather than looking at themselves. One of the things and exercises I always had to do with myself when I was an agent was I have to be here every day. You know what I mean? So, but when I was an agent, nobody is punching you in, punching you out. You don't have to be anywhere. You're an independent contractor. I can't even say that the meeting is mandatory. Right?

Sharon McNamara:
But if you don't do these things on your own, you're not going to be successful. So if I was my own boss, would I fire myself? Are you given this 40 hours a week minimum? Because that's what a full time job is. So if you want a full time salary making over six figures a year, then you should be working that many hours, figure it out and that- Laurie, you have all the data. Yeah, the statute did that for me the other day and I want to make that something in the office where how many calls and stuff.

Laurie Reney:
If you want to net a certain dollar amount, say $50,000 a year net, that's before you pay taxes and everything. No, no, that's gross. You would have to make three phone calls a day. You would have to write two notes a day. You'd have to do pop bys and things like that. I'm Buffini coached, so I'm talking Buffini-isms here. The bottom line is, is if you don't do what you need to do, you're not going to make, you're not going to sell. You really have to treat it, as you say, as a full time job. I know myself, if I get up and take a shower and put clothes on, I'm more apt to make my calls, do my notes, do my pop buys. It's key.

Sharon McNamara:
I could never work from home. My problem with working at home is I have OCD and a little bit of ADD mixed in there, so that's a good mixture when you're working at home. "Oh, I think they'll do a load of laundry. Oh, I think I'll clean out the attic. Oh, I think I'll work on the basement now. Oh, I think I'll make a call. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow." It's just too easy to get into that. I've always worked in the office. I'm usually the first one in the office and the last one out of the office. Not now, because now I have Melissa to do that, and I just feel that this time of year, when agents are reflecting back on what they did, I think that having the support to say, "Hey, this is how you grow. We want to help you grow. We want to help you help your clients."

Sharon McNamara:
But my favorite one is when somebody came to me one year and was like, "Oh, I just don't think that I'm doing well because Boston Connect Real Estate isn't a national brand." You have the best tan of anybody in this office right now, and I own a boat and you're tan is better than mine. So while you were sitting on the beach, everybody else was working.

Laurie Reney:
But I do think like so to Melissa's questions on the interoffice page, the biggest misconception that a lot of people have is that this business is going to allow you the freedom and flexibility to do kind of what you want when you want. So right now, because I've always been employed by you, Sharon, my system for when I work is I'm working in the office, but had I not been under your wing when all of that was happening or when I was being trained, I wouldn't know that those are the systems that you have to put in place. So we're always encouraging our agents to be coming into the office and really working on their business and making that time.

Laurie Reney:
I just think a lot of people get the misconception that they can balance everything that work is simultaneous with off time. And you're doing both at the same time. You have your designated work hours and that's how you just have to develop systems and be super, super hyper organized about prospecting and meeting people and talking to people. And when Laurie's talking about making calls, it's not just "Hey" to your mom saying, "Did you pick up any milk today? Do you need anything?" It's you're trying to make new connections with people and get your name out there.

Sharon McNamara:
When I first got into this business I got into it because I thought it would be flexible.

Laurie Reney:
That's a common thing, right?

Sharon McNamara:
I did not realize it was flexible for everybody else's schedule. Right? Because I was home with the kids. They would get on the school bus, and they would do their thing. But when do people want to see houses? After five and on weekends. So it's really flexible for everybody else's schedule.

Sharon McNamara:
And we're not trying to be Debbie Downers here. It can be extremely fruitful. It can be extremely fruitful if you want to do the work. But people who come to us, it comes time after time after time, "Oh, I'm just going to do this part-time in between everything I'm doing."

Mary Baker:
It's not going to happen.

Laurie Reney:
I don't believe the land of the part-time agent is going to be much longer.

Sharon McNamara:
I don't think they can keep up anymore.

Laurie Reney:
I don't mean that for any part-time agent that's out there and you're killing it. Great. You have way more skills than I do, but at the end of the day I just feel as if this business is going to become an incredibly professionalized skill.

Sharon McNamara:
I think that there's a difference between part-time and part-time because part-time I only do real estate part-time. I don't need the other additional income, or is it, "I have a full time job Monday through Friday, nine to five and then I work this part-time." That's when I think it gets difficult because people want to see houses Monday through Friday after work, Saturdays and Sundays all day long, holidays. Monday holidays where we were open yesterday on Monday because people want to see houses. I generally sell a house on Memorial Day Monday, that Monday every single year because people are off. But then what happens? Then comes the transaction and when did the appraisers work? When did the attorneys work? When does everybody, the loan officers? They're all working Monday through Friday, nine to five which means hello- [crosstalk 00:39:47]

Laurie Reney:
You've got to be available.

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah, that's us. Everything in between.

Sharon McNamara:
What are some of the other agents saying? Any questions too by the way. (781) 837-4900. A topic tonight is So You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? If you have any questions about being a real estate agent, or if you have any questions in general about real estate, feel free to call us. (781) 837-4900.

Melissa Wallace:
Jessica Page: Much harder than I expected. I expected to work part time and make my own hours. Kristen Howlette said that she got into the business to help pay for college.

Sharon McNamara:
And I think having a goal-

Laurie Reney:
Motivation definitely helps. And consistency. To piggy back on what Mary said. I know that we went to the National Association for Realtors Conference out in San Francisco this year and it was really, I think the best conference that I've ever been to. And one of the things there was three common messages with almost every single class that we attended. And one of the biggest things is to be consistent and to also build upon your skills. And that's what they're saying. The market is changing. It's still a very strong market, but it is changing for the realtors that are active in the market. Yeah.

Sharon McNamara:
Laurie, you did some statistics. So what is the National Association of Realtors? What is the average that the average real estate agent makes?

Laurie Reney:
$31,900 gross, that is before your taxes and expenses?

Melissa Wallace:
Five minutes.

Sharon McNamara:
Yep, yep. I mean that's hard to believe.

Laurie Reney:
It's poverty. I mean, that's just...

Mary Baker:
Crazy.

Melissa Wallace:
I mean, I'm speechless over here.

Laurie Reney:
And that's a real stat.

Laurie Reney:
I remember when one of my first office meetings with you, this was even pre me coming onto the team in any capacity, was it was 23,000. The average age of a real estate agent was something like 55, am I right? So, and then the average gross commission, or gross net, or over a yearly whatever was 23,000 and I'm like, "I don't know if I want to do this any more.", It's like things remembered. Take me back.

Laurie Reney:
Well, but I could very well have gone the exact opposite route and given up super, super easily early on in this business had it not been for encouraging people in my career and Sharon putting me in the position to succeed essentially and giving me the tools that I needed to do that. I just think especially for a newer agent, it's very, very hard to develop those skills when you're younger and don't have all of the connections, family ties, or kids in the school system. But if you pound the pavement every day, it will happen.

Sharon McNamara:
So the process, your real estate license, just so we can get some of this out. We always refer everybody to Charlie Burke. He's a very good friend. Unfortunately, I only have Charlie Berg's cell phone number. I'm not going to give that out. But he is the Massachusetts Academy of Real Estate located in Braintree. Again, Charlie Burke, Massachusetts Academy of real estate and he is in Braintree. He does the classes, you need 40 hours.

Sharon McNamara:
I think that it should be a little stricter. It takes more time to be a yoga instructor than it does to be a real estate agent. And That I found extremely interesting because you're working in helping people with hundreds of thousands of dollars, their biggest investment. So it's a 40 hour class. So I know Charlie has different ways that you can take that class, like all one week, weekends, nights, whatever it is. I know he's teaching tonight. I was hoping that it would be able to call in at some point. After you do the 40 hours, then you go ahead and you take a test with the state of Massachusetts, so you can get licensed. So then you're a real estate agent, and they're a bunch of fees that go along with that process.

Sharon McNamara:
And then, if you join an office, we are a realtor office, so we belong and we are members of the National Association of Realtors. So you also have to pay those fees, and you have a one day class with code of ethics. And I think that it's good because with the code of ethics, you're sort of at a higher standard of what is acceptable and what isn't. And you have to go through that process. And then there are fees for the... That's the national, then there's the state, so Massachusetts Association of Realtors, and then there's a local board. So I happen to be part of all the local boards because I'm the broker. But I know Mary and Melissa... Laurie, are you part of Greater Boston.

Laurie Reney:
No.

Sharon McNamara:
So you're a part of South Shore, and Mary and Melissa are a part of the Greater Boston board. So altogether I think our fees are what, like $600 a year?

Mary Baker:
Yeah, just about.

Sharon McNamara:
So it's $600 a year. We always start everybody out with, "Start with the checkbook that goes to a business", but you probably need a couple of thousand dollars in it at least to get started in this business. You're an independent contractor. If you treat this like a business, then you will be very successful. You should have QuickBooks and all these other things and treat it like a business. Right.

Laurie Reney:
Anybody else have any thoughts? No, we're just about done.

Sharon McNamara:
How did that happen?

Mary Baker:
Do you still want to be a real estate agent?

Sharon McNamara:
Yeah, very well said, Mary Baker. Well again, we're going to try to have that open house on Saturday, February 8th. We may be changing the date. Actually, I just thought of something, but we'll let you know. So maybe if you want to set up some time with us to talk to any one of us, or all of us, you can get us at the office. (781) 826-8000, (781) 826-8000, or you can go to bostonconnect.com. If you want to listen to any of our past shows, you can go to Talk Real Estate Radio, or you can go to Talk Real Estate Round Table and you will find all of our past shows. Ben, thank you. It's been a pleasure.

Benjamin:
Always a pleasure, ladies. Have a great week.

Sharon McNamara:
All right, we'll see you next week, everybody. Bye. Bye.