Making a decision on a Maine brokerage. Any Mainers here?

Question

I just passed my Maine Associate Broker's exam yesterday as my wife and I are relocating to Maine later this year.  Not sure where, but most likely somewhere between Freeport and Boothbay.

As I understand it, east of I-95 is the place to be for a higher volume of sales at higher prices - though the average sale price is half of what it is here in Plymouth County MA.

I've interviewed with KW and Bean Group and am trying to make a decision between them.

KW has the bigger company nationwide.  Bean has a 5% higher split and no $3,000/year (at 6% per transaction) to corporate like KW, so that's an 11% hit until that $3K cap is reached.

At 63 years old, I don't see building a "downline" with KW to be a meaningful attraction.  At least not as much as if I were 30 years younger.  I think I'll be working another 10 years or so.

FWIW, I expect to straddle MA and ME for 6-12 months as an ice cold start in Maine will no doubt be slow.  My entire SOI is fewer than 10 people.

I'd love to hear from practicing Maine brokers!

Cody DeLong · Answer

@David Bell Multi Level Marketing.  Think Avon or Lula Rue, you get paid more when you recruit people to sell under you. And note I don't know enough about EXP, I'm just commenting on the structure of an MLM

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@David Bell @Cody DeLong is correct.  It's like Amway or Herbalife.  The people who pitched me were *very* focused on how I could make money by recruiting other agents - almost to the exclusion of selling real estate.

They're probably just fine as a company, but that kind of pitch is really off-putting because the person making the pitch stands to gain personally by convincing me to sign on.

It's not exactly a conflict of interest, but it certainly calls objectivity into question.

Ryan Murdock · Answer

@Charlie MacPherson I spent nearly 10 years with Realty of Maine. They are primarily based out of Bangor but have offices all over the state. I don't know of any other agency in the state that offers more lucrative splits and I always had the freedom to pretty much do what I wanted there.

Due to my recent move to Hawaii and probability of doing business nationwide I jumped ship to eXp Realty. I haven't been with eXp long enough to really form a solid opinion but the commission cap, stock options, and other unique benefits make me inclined to think their model is the wave of the future. Time will tell.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Mike Cumbie  Thanks, Mike.  If nothing else, it's going to be an adventure!

Russell Brazil · Answer

@Ryan Murdock is licensed in Maine.

David Bell · Answer

Yea unfortunately some people don't know how to properly present the opportunity exp offers.The difference is that the agents we attract do not pay us nor are we selling them anything.  We get a % of the company side split for the transactions those agents do with an annual cap on each and it cascades 7 tiers with differing tier defined caps and each tier has a qualifier to unlock it.  So the way I explain it is if you came over you do exactly what you are doing now, in addition to commission, you will earn stocks, can buy shares at a discount from commission check, and you have the potential to earn back your cap in stock if you reach ICON status.  If you share your experience and attract producing agents, you will explode your earnings.  The power of rev share is why so many are pushing hard but one thing they seem to forget to mention is that if no one is selling real estate, there is no revenue to share.  I actually did not understand rev share when I decided to join.  I came over for all the other reasons and I thought it was just a nice little bonus.  Turns out, it's a game changer.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Ryan Murdock -  thanks for the correction.

Ryan Murdock · Answer

Bean Group bought Maine Real Estate Network.  Realty of Maine is alive and well.

David Bell · Answer

@Charlie MacPherson I'm curious what you mean by MLM style of the pitch.  You can PM me if you want.

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Ryan Murdock Bean Group recently bought Realty of Maine (late 2017) and they (RoM) seemed to be focused in northern Maine - or at least Bangor and north.  Bean seems well spread out.

I've been pitched a few times on exp, but the MLM style of the pitch was a real turn-off for me.

Trying to make sense of it all...

Any comments on KW's reputation there?

Making a decision on a Maine brokerage. Any Mainers here?

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