Stop living Commission Check to Commission Check
👋 Hey, this is Rick Raanes with the Texas Rockstar Group. We are brokered by eXp Realty. And I wanted to share a little bit about me. I want to see if my experience in real estate is something that could potentially have been your experience as well. ✅
So, I’m about to start my 16th year. I’m a 15 year veteran in real estate, and this has been a wonderful career, and I’m really excited about the things that are coming down the pipeline for us. We are continuing to build year over year, and it’s been a great, great business. However, I want to share a little bit of information about my life in the early 2017 time period. I was four years away from a cancer diagnosis, where I discovered a melanoma tumor inside my right eye, and I was struggling at a point where I knew that I had to take care of my own health issues, but the sad thing was this, I really wasn’t set up where I thought I needed to be financially.
We had a successful business
➡️We were considered a really successful real estate group. We had a number of buyers agents. We had a number of listing agents, and at that point in time, in May of 2017, we sold a ton of homes that year. We were on track for another very successful year. However, I was on this hamster wheel, everything was transactional and I was living commission check to commission check. Is that you? I mean, if I didn’t get a commission check, it was a struggle. I would always want to save on the next check. The check that I currently got always allowed me to cover some of my current expenses. And, we were growing. There was always add this lead source, add that tool, and always be looking for a new buyer’s agent. So our cost to operate was growing every year, which also in turn kind of required us to have more revenue. So we were always looking for that extra opportunity.
What Happened?
➡️So here we were in May of 2017, we were considered a very successful real estate team, but personally, I didn’t have anything from a wealth perspective. We were not considered to be wealthy in any stretch of the word, especially after this many years in the business, we were just transactional. We were relying on buyers. We were relying on sellers, and I knew that something had to change. You know that saying, if you do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. So that’s the definition of insanity! Well, that’s kind of like where I was. We were at a spot where we were doing the things that we needed to do. We were living a great life, but we weren’t saving any money. So I knew something had to change. We looked at a couple of different brokerages. We looked at a couple of different options including the possibility of even starting our own brokerage.
Starting a Brokerage?
➡️What would that look like? How many classes would I have had to take? How much investment would it take for me to go out and start my own brokerage? And the longer we looked into eXp, obviously the more it made sense for us, as we just celebrated our third year with the Company. So we went from doing the same thing every year, every year, every year, trying to expect different results so something had to change. And so we made the decision to make the change. So two of the things that were very attractive to us inside eXp at that point in time were growth and expansion. We were building a team and we wanted to be in multiple locations. So that’s the primary reason why we decided not to do our own brokerage because eXp afforded us the flexibility to grow anywhere in the United States. So fast forward three years, that expansion and partnership growth has allowed us to partner up with over 200 agents around the United States.
National Exposure
➡️We’re in 17 States today, and that’s a significant portion of our revenue today. The revenue share is created by our downline. This is huge. The other thing that stands out is the equity that we got with our first transaction with eXp, when they awarded us shares of EXPI stock. When we reached our cap, we got an additional award for shares of stock. Then we reached our production goals to hit Icon, and we knew that based on our last year’s production, at our former brokerage, that this was a very attainable award. So in our three years here, we’ve been awarded three ICON awards. And we’re very grateful for that. However, those stock awards for those three years has allowed us to obtain almost 5,500 shares of eXp stock. Now it’s trading around 40 to $45 a share. So you can do the math on that. That’s equity that I have inside our company that wasn’t available anywhere else. And now that can continue to grow. Our parent company, EXPI, purchased VirBELA, the platform that drives our online campus.
What do we do every day?
So we now have the opportunity to maintain and manage our client database. We love selling properties. We love listing properties. The excitement that we see from a buyer or seller, at the closing table is still a very exciting thing for me. My goal getting started in this industry was to help people. It was about helping buyers and helping sellers. eXp now gives me the opportunity to look at four different things. I can help buyers. I can help sellers. I can help agents achieve the same level of success, but the most important thing is, is I get to allow success for myself.
And now I get to help me, and my family. This becomes the most important, critical thing for a real estate agent to start thinking about. In 2016, I was successful, but I didn’t really have any wealth creation. I knew at that point in time that I was going to be 70 years old, parked in an open house, asking a potential buyer, can I be the agent of choice for you? Well, now I’ve got a plan. When I am 62, I’m going to stop working. The growth that we’re experiencing, unless something, God forbid, happens, 62 is now my target. And how great will that be? My daughter will graduate from high school. I’ll be able to live the lifestyle that I am looking forward to, and I’ll be able to afford it the way I want to. So if you’re on this hamster wheel and you’re looking for something different and you’re expecting different results, maybe you’re living commission check to commission check without any potential savings, how can I help you?
I want to share our secret!
Can I show you? I’ll be totally transparent, I can show you how our three years with the company has been life-changing? I want to show you the opportunity of a lifetime, as eXp is just getting started. We’re really excited about the next level of opportunities that the company is going to provide. Not only for the agents, but the staff, and everybody that’s around us. We’re selling a lot of properties. We’re growing like crazy. And, I would love for you to come in and be a partner with us. My number is (281) 960-1900. My email address is rick@texasrockstargroup.com. I’d like to share how this opportunity can fit you and your goals starting today. Reach out to me, give me a call, I look forward to hearing from you.
