51: It can be said there’s no “I” in teamwork. But successful Realtors know the “we” is the most powerful element they can bring to a client relationship. We’ve written extensively about how successful realtors work as a team to list, market, and sell South Florida homes, or to work with buyers to find the right home for their families to live in or as a property for their investment portfolio. At the Gary Lanham Group at Coldwell Banker Fort Lauderdale Beach Office, we not only believe this. We live this.
Every deal, from Wilton Manors to Las Olas Isles to Lake Ridge and throughout Greater Fort Lauderdale and north to Boca Raton, brings a “full-court press” by our team. From agents and brokers, to our on-staff Fannie Mae-certified appraiser, to the designers, photographers, videographer, attorneys, and title companies, we all work together to ensure every deal goes off without a hitch.
BRINGING THE TEAM TO THE PITCH
The same came to bear when we recently were asked to make a proposal to sell a woman’s Pompano Beach home. The woman came to us by a trusted referral – the source of almost all our new clients. Each has a story that tells the tale of how the right Realtor with the right team can market the right property for the best returns.
The woman, Denise, owned an attractive three bedroom, two bathroom home with a one car garage in one of Greater Fort Lauderdale’s most desirable and rising communities. The city is close to the beach, with shopping, restaurants, and plenty of entertainment options – all close to the major thoroughfares for commuting across Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, or just living the South Florida lifestyle.
Denise was happy in South Florida. But her situation had changed. Her son and his family had taken a post in the U.S. Government in the northern Virginia area. He had asked Denise to join them in their move. Denise agreed, and needed to sell her home.
Her home was immaculate. Recently updated, it was ready to sell. But the listing was in no way ours to lose, as they say. Denise made it clear she was talking to several possible listing agents, including her best friend who lived in the neighborhood.
It was up to the Gary Lanham Group to show this prospective client what it would be like to work with a team of Realtors, as opposed to a single agent. We took on this opportunity as the team we are.
Before our first appointment, I assembled our best agents for this particular assignment. We each did our research to prepare for the prospect meeting. Eileen Mulkey, our certified forensic appraiser, prepared a comparative market analysis. As the listing agent, Juan Cabrera was prepared to speak about how we would present her home and work with home buyers interested in Pompano Beach.
Hope Jackson joined us as the team member who would be critical to the open houses we would stage and hold. As a second Realtor on-site, Hope would work with prospects, agents, and others, while also ensuring the home, its belongings, and fellow team members were safe while on site.
Ultimately, Denise was convinced that both the Gary Lanham Group and Coldwell Banker was the team for her. Part of that came down to Coldwell Banker itself. As one of the nation’s largest real estate organizations, we were in a unique position to help Denise on both ends of her move. We would sell her home, and we would be ideally suited to help her and her son’s family find new homes in the Washington, D.C., area.
We also discussed her financial arrangements, like her son’s access to military and Veterans Administration benefits to help with the move and attractive financing options.
When it came time to shop for homes in D.C., we tapped the Coldwell Banker network. I called Duff Rubin, the president of Coldwell Banker’s MidAtlantic / Washington, D.C., office. I knew Duff well from when he was executive vice president of the agency’s Southeast Florida operations. We had a strong relationship and he was eager to help.
I told Duff about Denise and her family’s needs and we both agreed on the perfect agent to serve them. Timothy Savoy is one of the nation’s top 30-Under-30 agents who intimately knows the D.C. area.
Denise and her son soon found two homes near each other and were ready to start their new lives.
That’s the strength of the Coldwell Banker group. That’s why “group” is part of the Gary Lanham name. The strength of our collective brand allowed Denise to find a single organization to list and sell her Fort Lauderdale home, find the right agent in her new city, even help with the relocation.
The ‘We’ In Real Estate Teamwork
Sure, there’s no “I” in teamwork. But the “we” is undeniable. At the Gary Lanham Group, our team of professionals handle every aspect of a buyer’s or seller’s experience. In Denise’s case, we secured the listing. Juan Cabrera captained the assignment, with Hope Jackson at his side, to get the listing transformed into a sale.
We even called on the Washington, D.C., office to receive two new home buyers.
In between, we enlisted our team of professionals to drive the marketing and sales support. In a recent blog post, “Five Ways the Right Realtor Will Help Buy or Sell Your Fort Lauderdale Home,” [correct title and link to blog], we discussed how the Gary Lanham Group partners are our clients’ partners.
Our “Best of the Best” team touches every aspect of home sales. Our more than a dozen multilingual sales agents versed in working with clients from the U.S., Latin America, to Europe and even Russia, are just the start. We even turn to our coach, Mark Kaminsky, to help polish our team’s personal personas and professional brands.
Other trusted advisors include attorneys George Moraitis and Robert Nemrow whom for years we have relied on to draft our contracts; our preferred insurance broker Dunham Insurance; and our lenders, Donn Rubinand Norman Fisher, who know that closing our deals is Job One.
When it comes to the ensuring the property itself is without any surprises or issues, we enlist professional home inspectors from NJCAT Engineering inspections.
Then comes the presentation. Landscape designer Luis Llenza Garden Designs; general contractor and architect Ron Trebbi Custom Construction; commercial painter Augusto Alagia; and electrician Bill W. Eisenhart all work closely as our team to both make any repairs or transform your home into your buyer’s home (trust me, those can be two different homes – even at the same address).
Next, we capture the beauty of the home to present in our marketing. Our “Golden Rolodex” includes expert broker and staging professional Robert MacKilligan of Florida Stage Hands and Designs to “stage” the home for the best possible showing. Then, professional photographers (ours are Bobbi Smith and Richard Lopez)capture the home in photography to be handed off to Internet marketers who professionally post and share publication-quality images across influential and important websites and social media pages.
We also capture your home in motion. Our videographer, Chetachi A. Egwu, shoots videos of our team discussing various projects. Our business blogger and SEO writer Jeff Zbar, and our journalist and Big Data Specialist Helen Angel Penland, work to write and optimize content to elevate the listing and viewer traffic.
Even our agents are social media savvy. They shoot Facebook Live videos of the listing, even before and several times during open houses to capture traffic – both online, and in person.
That’s the power of both Coldwell Banker and The Gary Lanham Group. When doing business with the CB brand, we think global, and global – and local. We have offices in every major market nationwide. But the most important offices are the ones that serve your immediate needs.
So, if you’re looking to sell in Fort Lauderdale, keep Coldwell Banker in mind. With 55% of the Greater Fort Lauderdale real estate market, from Wilton Manors and Oakland Park, to Las Olas, Lake Ridge, Sailboat Bend and, of course, Pompano Beach, no single agency has our market penetration. And with our presence nationwide, chances are you’ll be working with a Coldwell Banker on any new property you buy, whether as the listing agent, or at your side as your buying agent.
Gary Lanham Group at Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate is a boutique real estate organization offering sales, leasing, and brokerage services to the Greater Fort Lauderdale area. A listings agent matches home sellers with buyers and tenants with landlords. While Broward County is our universe, we focus on Coral Ridge Country Club, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Pompano Beach, and the surrounding areas. Call us today at (954) 695-6518 or visit www.GaryLanhamGroup.com.