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By Rick DeLuca, Regional Owner - EXIT Realty Pacific West

Twenty-six years of traveling throughout North America consulting with real estate office owners, and conducting training sessions for both managers and agents, has made a few ownership complaints very clear to me. I’ve heard the same things so often that when it came time to choose a brand for me in which to re-enter the industry, I made a promise to not commit these same mistakes.

After considering how this brand addresses all the complaints I’ve heard from other franchisees, plus my ‘must haves,’ my options were very few. As a matter of fact, EXIT was the only one that checked all the boxes. Are there other good franchises? Of course. I simply decided why shouldn’t I reward myself by joining forces with the BEST?

MORE FEES = LESS RESPONSIBILITY

This is perhaps the single biggest reason an owner chooses to franchise. Today’s real estate owners wear multiple hats, and often must personally produce to generate an income to make it all worthwhile. Many find themselves disillusioned to learn that paying a franchisee fee doesn’t equate to the franchisor handling trainings and delivery of new programs or tools. For years my passion has been training, however, I recognized when I took on the challenge of growing a five-state region with EXIT Realty, that I simply wouldn’t have time to be conducting a lot of teaching. It was imperative that the training provided would be both high-quality and time sensitive. What impressed me about EXIT was their strong belief in MINDSET training, and their approach of why it’s so important to do something, not just teaching what to do. Without this emphasis most don’t take completion of the activity seriously.

PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING

Franchises charge their fees in various ways, but the ownership perception is often that they’re paying a lot of money, only to discover there are additional, unanticipated costs. It simply rubs many the wrong way, which causes negative consequences. At EXIT, you gain access to better technology than I’ve ever seen for owners and their agents. You simply cannot survive in today’s world without stateof-the-art technology. A primary consideration for me was not just having technology tools, but a brand that is a leader in technology. I’ve also spent my career creating systems, discovering early on that without a systematic approach to things, like many, I would be all over the board. Having access to these tools, systems, checklists, direction, and guides all in writing, was paramount in my choice.

LACKING NETWORK AND SUPPORT

With very few people to turn to in hopes of assistance, real estate ownership can feel like a lonely position. Many franchisees would jump at the chance to learn from their fellow owners and there’s a desperate need to bounce ideas off people who are challenged in the same ways. There’s a general frustration with the lack of sharing in what’s traditionally a competitive business. Like other types of sales, franchisor promises wane as the months turn into years, and I’ve often heard complaints that franchise representatives assigned to help had little real estate experience and were stretched so thin, the value was questionable at best. I’ve seen just about every business model this industry has to offer. My final consideration was to align myself with a company that offered a truly unique model; something so simple, yet so complex and expensive to create, no one else would attempt it. That’s exactly what Founder and Chairman, Steve Morris has done with EXIT. It’s a straight-forward, simple to execute model that encourages a synergistic culture, offers a third revenue stream, with an unparalleled Franchise Support system and network of sharing.