Through political advocacy and a long-running radio show, Shad Bogany guides Houston’s Black community to homeownership.

As a teenager, Shadrick Bogany woke up nearly every Christmas morning in a different home. Living in subsidized housing with his brother and mother, Bogany moved frequently within Houston. “I had a ringside view of how families can be disrupted, how hard it is to make friends when you’re constantly moving, and the stigma of living in a housing project,” Bogany says.

Until he was 10, Bogany had lived with his dad, who owned his home, invested in other properties, and eventually retired early from bus driving to live on his rental income. The contrasting experiences had a profound effect on Bogany. By the time he was 18, he had purchased his first home with the money he earned from his job at Montgomery Ward. While he attended the University of North Texas in Denton, his mother moved into the house to assume the payments. And when he graduated—with a wife and baby in tow—he was able to move back into the house.

“I realized early on that home-ownership was a great way to build wealth,” he says. He eventually parlayed the equity in his first home to start his own real estate brokerage and purchase his next home. “I felt like if I could do it, everybody else could do it,” he says.

Bogany, ePRO, who heads the Shad Bogany Team at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate—Gary Greene in Houston, says too often people in the Black community don’t believe homeownership is possible. Without a family member or peer providing a real-life example of how to grow wealth, the idea of owning seems out of reach.

At the Houston Association of REALTORS®, he was instrumental in making a down payment assistance finder and financing primer, available at har.com/downpayment. And as vice chair of the Houston Area Urban League Community Development Corp., he has helped veterans and others secure homes.

“During his decades-long career, he has relentlessly worked to address systemic barriers that impede equal housing opportunities,” says retiring Houston Association of REALTORS® President and CEO Bob Hale. “His actions have not only transformed individual lives but also reshaped entire communities, making them more inclusive, prosperous and just.”

A Teacher at Heart

Bogany has executed his mission in two ways: educating as many people as possible and volunteering with numerous Texas housing agencies in service to the community. On the education side, Bogany often teaches courses and workshops, instructing practitioners about fair housing and consumers about buying and selling. He’s routinely tapped for insights about affordability by the Houston Chronicle.

His biggest educational platform is his live, weekly radio show. “Real Estate Corner,” on gospel station KWWJ 1360 AM, has run every Tuesday night for nearly 34 years. Bogany uses the show to discuss everything from down payment assistance to REALTOR® advocacy.

He Talks, People Listen

The show has imbued Bogany with local and state clout. “That’s why the mayor knows me. Politicians come on my show. I’ve had Republicans and Democrats. I’m proud that I’ve been respected on both sides of the aisle, and that’s because I do the right thing.”

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed him to the board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the agency responsible for affordable housing and other community programs statewide, where he served for seven years. At the Fort Bend County Housing Finance Corp., where he is currently president, he has partnered with for-profit developers to help build apartments using the low-income housing tax credit.

At the Houston Association of REALTORS®, he was instrumental in making a down payment assistance finder and financing primer, available at har.com/downpayment. And as vice chair of the Houston Area Urban League Community Development Corp., he has helped veterans and others secure homes.

One developer asked Bogany to help combat NIMBYism jeopardizing a 125-unit, $14 million affordable project. Bogany says the councilman and the neighbors were adamant. “People had bought into this thing that we don’t want ‘these people’ in our neighborhood. ‘It’s going to bring our property values down.’ It was like a disease spreading,” he says. “There’s no evidence. It’s all myth. I put a tax credit apartment right down the street from my house, and my value has tripled.” (A recent Georgia Institute of Technology study supports Bogany’s claim. The researchers studied property values in the Los Angeles area before and after the addition of affordable housing and compared the changes to similar neighborhoods without affordable housing nearby. The study found affordable housing developments could help raise nearby prices by 3%–5%.)

Residents near the proposed project showed Bogany a brochure to explain the type of complex they’d prefer. It was one of Bogany’s own tax credit developments. “I said, ‘Tell me what it will take for us to do this.’ We did everything they asked us to do. They voted to support us. And we had a two-month waiting list the moment the complex was finished,” he says. “You would never know it’s a tax-credit deal. It has computer rooms, a business area with internet access, even a day care.”

One of the programs Bogany talks about in classes and on his radio program is the Housing Choice Voucher program. Many people are unaware, he says, that it enables Section 8 recipients to use their housing benefit as a source of income for a purchase under certain eligibility requirements (though not every housing authority participates). “Homeowners gain stability. And their mortgage payments, aside from taxes and insurance, remain the same. The government benefits because it doesn’t have to increase assistance to cover rising rental costs.”

One client he recalls was a waitress with kids, including two she took in after her sister died. Bogany helped her use a Section 8 voucher to buy a four-bedroom home. “When I gave her those keys, she hugged me. The kids hugged me. It made me cry,” he says.

For Bogany, those keys mean her kids will be able to stay at one school, make friends, and have a house of their own to come home to each night. That stability, he says, is the key to a vibrant future.

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

With a mom who set the example, and a fierce personal drive, Eve B. Lee has become a legendary housing advocate in Illinois.

For more than 60 years, Eve B. Lee, AHWD, has served as a leader in expanding housing opportunities in Lake County, Ill. As a testament to her work, the village of Libertyville, Ill., recently approved a $20 million plan from the Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH) for the development of 34 affordable apartment units for seniors. The development will be called Eve B. Lee Place.

Lee knew from a young age that people deserve equal treatment, regardless of their economic status, age, color, race or ethnicity.

“For reasons that I don’t quite understand, fair play was doctrine for my mom,” Lee says, maybe because she understood deeply what it was to struggle. Lee’s parents battled alcoholism and financial problems.

“They divorced when I was 12. After that, I was raised by my maternal grandparents” in Mundelein, Ill., 40 miles north of downtown Chicago. Lee’s grandfather, who had once been mayor of Mundelein, died when she was 14. “That background taught me how easy it is to lose everything because of circumstances beyond your control,” she says.

Although she couldn’t afford it, Lee had dreams of furthering her education. “I wanted badly to go to Middlebury College. It was my most cherished goal. We didn’t have the money, but I couldn’t let it go.”

In high school she studied Latin, served as editor of the school’s newspaper and was a National Merit Scholar. She applied for every scholarship she could find, but it wasn’t enough to cover the cost of attending the elite Vermont college. Lee’s mother reached out to a member of the Heinz family, which as a major benefactor helped to connect her with financial aid for tuition.

Lee’s moral compass was put to the test in 1964 when her sorority reinstituted a blackball rule that effectively allowed for the exclusion of Black women. Lee, at the time president of the Middlebury College chapter, chose to leave the sorority. Later, facing her own personal and financial struggles, she left Middlebury without graduating. She went home, married a childhood friend and soon had her real estate license.

Fair Housing Gains Ground

It was a time when the Civil Rights Movement was gaining ground in Chicago. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. took up temporary residence in the city to fight unfair housing practices through the Chicago Freedom Movement and a fair housing organization he helped to found, the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. When an LCMOC employee named Bob Cizek came to her brokerage to talk about how to integrate Lake County, she volunteered to advise him.

In 1968, Lee read a study showing that an estimated 15,000 affordable housing units were needed in Lake County. “So I got myself appointed to the regional planning commission.”

Thirty years later, in 1995, she became the first real estate agent appointed to the LCMOC board of directors. She made it clear she would serve only if the organization would help implement training and agree to the use of professional standards hearings, rather than lawsuits, for pattern-or-practice violations. Lee also negotiated a meeting between National Association of REALTORS® General Counsel Laurie Janik and LCMOC Lead Attorney Bill Caruso that resulted in a historic détente between the two organizations.

Filling the Gap

Lee served as board chair on the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities with Aurie Pennick, its former president and CEO.

In 1968, Lee read a study done by Northshore Gas Co. that an estimated 15,000 housing units were needed to serve the population in Lake County. Lee went to the chairman of the county board to find out what efforts were being made. “They were doing nothing at the time, so I got myself appointed to the regional planning commission,” she says. She later chaired the commission and ensured that affordable housing was included in the county’s Framework Plan. That work spurred her appointment as a founding member of the Lake County Affordable Housing Commission, which studies housing needs and finds funding opportunities.

When her old friend Bob Cizek became executive director at the Lake County Housing Authority, he reached out to Lee. The agency had received several million dollars in federal funding for the planning and building of affordable housing. “At the time, housing authorities were not able to borrow money, so he came to me to help figure out how we could make the best use of the money,” she says. She co-founded the Lake County Residential Development Corp., a nonprofit that worked with developers, builders and investors to create 1,300 affordable housing units across Lake County from 1978 to 2019.

In 2017, Lee initiated a strategic planning process that resulted in the merger of the three largest affordable housing nonprofits in Lake County. CPAH is the merged organization, and it has changed the affordable housing landscape by creating a continuum of housing services, including HUD-certified housing counseling, down payment assistance and accessibility improvements. Lee served as the new entity’s first board chair.

Arc of the Moral Universe

In the 1980s, when she served on equal opportunity committees for both the Illinois REALTORS® and NAR, Lee called for mandatory state and national fair housing training for real estate professionals. In 2023, her vision was realized when NAR’s board of directors passed a fair housing training requirement for members; it goes into effect in 2025.

At a vibrant 80 years old, Lee says her work is not yet done. “Now my mission is to make affordable housing more accessible,” she says. “You cannot have fair housing without affordable housing.”

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

There’s never an easy time to be an agent, but right now it is particularly complicated. Work with your agents to build confidence so they can find their footing.

For many practitioners in today’s market, confidence is in shorter supply. Experienced and newer agents find that strategies to build confidence that worked before are no longer cutting it. So, how can you help your team boost their mojo? According to Tim and Julie Harris, of Tim and Julie Harris Real Estate Coaching, the bottom line is encouraging them to remain active—even if they’re feeling discouraged. “They shouldn’t wait to have a stellar mindset before getting into action. Once they get into action, a stellar mindset will follow,” says Tim.

Here are eight strategies brokers, managers and team leads can use to boost their agent’s self-assurance.

Throw Them Into the Fire

“The conventional wisdom is to sit around and think, but the problem there is you don’t build momentum,” Tim explains. That’s why he and Julie prescribe 90-day “massive action plans” to coaching clients newer to the industry. Read: they get them out of planning mode and into the activities of real estate as quickly as possible. Along with shadowing experienced agents, this involves spending two straight weeks previewing properties. Segueing from the bottom to the top of the market (including new construction), they visit 10 listings per day for four to five days a week. While there, they learn about each property and how to show it. “Knowledge equals confidence, and ignorance equals fear,” Tim explains. So, the sooner agents become knowledgeable, the more quickly they’ll build their confidence.

Let Them Fail Early

“We want agents to fail in such big, horrible ways right when they get their licenses because they’ll realize it wasn’t that big of a deal,” reveals Julie. “Otherwise, they’re living in fear of the monster under their bed.” For instance, if they lose a buyer because they neglected to give a buyer presentation, they’ll learn not to skip that step next time. “By making mistakes, you can course correct faster,” she adds. 

Encourage Proactive Lead Generation

Discourage agents from spending time and money on speculative activities, like social media marketing, Tim advises. “It’s ego-satisfying for agents to say they’re building their brands. But if they don’t get results, they’ll lose their confidence and blame themselves.”

Often, these efforts take a long time to build, if they result in any measurable profit at all. “Agents are being told to do social media marketing and branding, but that stuff will be ubiquitous,” he projects. “AI will make everyone an Instagram and YouTube star and at such a frequency and high level. So, agents who think they’ll differentiate themselves with branding are 100% wrong.”

Instead, suggest your agents focus on proactive lead generation strategies that get them in front of actual buyers and sellers. Time-tested strategies, like attending open houses and door-knocking, tend to be more effective, in their experience. As a result, agents will experience success more quickly, expediting their path to confidence.

Suggest a Nourishing Morning Routine

“Control all your inputs,” Julie advises their coaching clients. Instead of scrolling through news feeds with doomsday headlines or nasty comments on social media, your team members can work on proactive lead generation or read inspiring biographies. “Salacious news headlines can get you in your head and take you off track.”

Emphasize Presentation Skills

Recommend your agents dress one notch above the local market, suggests Tim. Think linen pants and lace-up shoes in an area where jeans are the norm. Also, encourage them to build their communication skills by joining a Toastmasters group and steering clear of texting mainstays, like emojis and acronyms (“SMH,” “IRL,” etc.). To sound relaxed and articulate when communicating with clients or prospects, they should rehearse their presentations and scripts, ideally in front of colleagues.

Teach Them That Confidence is a Team Effort

It’s human nature to want to appear knowledgeable and confident, but sometimes that can lead to issues. Train agents to understand that they won’t have all the answers, and that’s okay. It doesn’t make them less of an agent as a result. Instead, teach them this line:

I might not know the answer, but I have a team of experienced leaders at the other end of a phone call always available to answer my questions.

“My agents say that constantly,” reveals Erin Cestero, San Antonio Division President at JB Goodwin REALTORS. “Knowing they have access to knowledgeable leadership so they can get advice in real time gives them the confidence to handle different scenarios,” she adds.

Praise Wins, No Matter the Size

Your highest-performing agents are recognized the most for their efforts, but they’re not the only ones doing the work.

“You can’t just celebrate million-dollar sales—it takes a while to get there,” notes Cestero. “So, build agents’ confidence by celebrating small wins.” In weekly sales meetings, her team announces an “agent of the week.” Instead of sales volume, this award is based on less obvious successes, like dynamic open houses and lead conversions.

Always Educate

“Real estate is always changing,” says Cestero. “So, on a regular basis, provide agents with knowledge from the leadership team, which will empower them to tackle those changes.”

Her brokerage’s marketing department distributes scripts to help agents talk about the state of the industry. In sales meetings, they talk about relevant market issues and updates and give out guides on navigating those issues with consumers. After these sessions, “our agents left fueled and excited and were high-fiving—they were in a real great place. A flood of them posted photos from the meeting on social media saying they’d met with leadership and could best answer questions” Cestero says.

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

A New Jersey broker and salesperson is committed to creating a vibrant, equitable community where all can reap the benefits.

Growing up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tezeta “Tez” Roro, a broker and salesperson with Keller Williams Suburban Realty in Livingston, N.J., learned to prioritize her family and neighbors—values she took with her when she immigrated to America.

As she progressed in her corporate career and navigated a culture sometimes inhospitable to those values, her resolve to bring the focus back to family and community intensified.

Roro knew that to maintain the values she held dearly, she’d have to shake things up. To summarize her approach, she often quotes the late civil rights leader and politician, John Lewis: “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Committed to Family

When Roro was 15, she immigrated to the U.S. with her mother and then-preschool-age sister. While attending high school in Orange, N.J., Roro—who knew she’d need to help her family—got a job at a drugstore and babysat her sister while her mom worked. When it was time to go off to college, she chose to attend a local university—Montclair State University—so she’d be close enough to continue to help care for her little sister. 

Although she studied biology and intended to become a doctor, she realized she’d need to pivot: the cost and years of training were formidable obstacles. By the end of college, Roro was simultaneously working three jobs. Along with the drugstore, she pulled overnight shifts at the school computer lab and gave campus tours to prospective families.

Navigating Inhospitable Corporate Culture

While spending 12 years climbing the corporate ladder at a retail outpost for a major communication technology company, Roro earned her MBA and got married. In 2012, while growing her family and becoming a mother for the first time, she started experiencing frustration with modern corporate culture. 

After she’d missed a few days of work to care for her baby (who was sick with RSV), her then-manager warned her the absences shouldn’t become a habit. Frustrated and emboldened, she realized she needed to stand up for herself and her family.

She told her manager, “I’m a professional with an advanced degree. I’ll do all I can to be here. But if my support system doesn’t come through, I’ll have to leave. I will not feel guilty when he gets sick.”

Afterward, she says colleagues told her she walked differently. “It was a turning point for me,” Roro recalls. “I’m generally an introvert and not assertive, but I began to be assertive. Being from somewhere else, I know there’s a different model for life. In Ethiopia, neighbors look out for each other. The culture is very communal.”

When she was nine months pregnant with her second child, Roro realized the demands of her job were unsustainable. One evening, after working until 10 p.m., she was so exhausted, and the roads were so dark, that she hit a deer on her way home. After arriving at her condo, she checked her email and found a message from her manager, alerting her there was more work to be done.

“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” she reflects. In 2016, after her parental leave, she resigned. At the time, she’d already obtained her real estate license two years earlier and had been working with an independent brokerage on weekends. Now though, she was intent on making a living outside the corporate world in a career that would allow her to live in alignment with her values, which meant exploring real estate in more depth.

A Career Built on Creating Access

Roro’s experience as a first-time home buyer spurred her interest in learning more about the industry. When she and her husband bought their first home in 2014, they were confused and intimidated. Along with not realizing buying was possible for them, they struggled to navigate complex contracts and HOA bylaws. “We were dealing with brokers and attorneys that had zero empathy for someone buying a home for the first time. It was such a big decision, I had questions, and I felt dismissed.” Then, she thought, “I can do this better.”

Two months later, Roro began taking real estate courses and earned her license. In January 2015, while still a full-time employee at the communication technology corporation, she started working weekends and evenings at a small independent brokerage. After a year she transitioned over to Keller Williams, sensing more growth opportunities.

She used personal time from her full-time job to attend the brokerage’s monthly in-person sales meetings and completed the brokerage’s intensive real estate training courses while out on maternity leave from her corporate job. Following her leave and her resignation from the large corporation, she worked full-time in real estate.

Now, years later with her broker’s license and numerous certifications, Roro strives to help her clients understand their options and their rights so they can make informed decisions. In particular, expanding access to housing galvanizes Roro, who convinced and helped a local 80-unit community to get FHA certification. “Some HOA boards and sellers are biased against buyers with FHA loans,” she explains. “People think they don’t have good credit. But, to get an FHA loan, your finances need to be in order. There’s a great auditing system.”

Commitment to Community 

Roro believes that to build a real estate business, she must also build up her community. She sees the two as intrinsically linked. To motivate people to move to West Orange, she needs to help them see its appeal and reap its benefits. “A lot of people complain about the taxes here, and I explain to them that we have high taxes because of our proximity to New York City and also because those taxes help uplift our community offerings.” One of those offerings, free full-day pre-K, is something she helped bring to life.

President of the West Orange Council of PTAs, Roro wasn’t discouraged when the town of West Orange told her they couldn’t offer such a program. Instead, she sprang into action, creating a grassroots organization, which sent emails to the Board of Education and organized community meetings. Simultaneously, Roro contacted private daycares, partnering with them to create a program serving nearly 500 kids. “When you become part of the solution and understand the puzzle pieces, it’s hard for people to say ‘no,’” she observes.

Along with being President of the West Orange Chamber of Commerce and on the board of her local YMCA, Roro offers free virtual business advice sessions to her network. (In the future, she plans to add career coaching to her business.) She also helps with English-Amharic interpretations for the Ethiopian community. “I’m active in my community in authentic ways,” she explains. “I’m on the PTA because I’m a parent. I’m in the Chamber of Commerce because I own a business.” 

At the end of the day, Roro makes things happen. “I like to call myself a professional troublemaker,” she says. “I challenge assumptions and I don’t like accepting things the way they are just because they’ve been done that way. And if I’m taking time away from my family and business to give, I’m going to make an impact.”

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

Brokers should model the traits they want their agents to have when moving forward in a new industry order.

It’s healthy to talk openly about the challenges and changes occurring in the real estate industry, but getting stuck on them is not. The moment is ripe with opportunity despite the initial discomfort of a new order in the profession following the National Association of REALTORS®’ settlement agreement. But “where there’s change, there’s always significant margin,” Peter Sheahan, a C-suite advisor and entrepreneur, told attendees at NAR’s REALTOR® Broker Summit in San Diego. 

Whether or not leaders reap the benefits of that margin is directly tied to their propensity for honesty, ability to adapt and willingness to lead with optimism, Sheahan added. 

The reality, he said, is that talking in a loop about what has changed or is changing in the industry is not the same thing as accepting those changes. And acceptance of change is the only thing that will enable leaders to move forward. Sheahan used the tumult caused by the Sitzer-Burnett case as an example but noted that the settlement gives some clarity to what change will look like.  

He said industry leaders like executives and brokers are tasked with reflecting on what’s different now, using the clarity provided by the settlement to create a plan of action.  

Question Your Assumptions 

The mindset of “this is how it’s always been done” is detrimental for a leader, Sheahan said. “You don’t want to shoehorn the past into the future.” 

He challenged brokers to collaborate with each other on areas of their businesses where they might be making assumptions about how things need to be done. Instead, Sheahan said, it’s important to take a step back from time to time and look at things objectively. It’s only when leaders are willing to challenge their own assumptions that they can make progress on systems and ways of doing things that are no longer working. 

Now is a great time for real estate leaders to challenge themselves to let go of resistance to the changes that are inevitable and look instead at the possibilities. “Your value proposition, in many cases, relies on your ability to lead through the change rather than waiting,” Sheahan said. 

Sheahan urged leaders to see the current uncertainty in the industry as an opportunity for growth, noting that agents are likely to be attracted to leaders who are creating the future rather than holding onto the past. He noted that brokers would be wise to prepare now for the changing compensation model rather than waiting until things feel like “they’re on fire.” 

“You do not want to spread anxiety and fear,” he said. “You have an obligation to be operating from burning ambition rather than a burning platform.” 

Take Responsibility and Lead 

Leaders often don’t realize that the people surrounding them are watching their every move. Sheahan used an experience from his own business as an example: He wanted to go home after a holiday party, but he was waiting on his staff members to leave first. A trusted staffer let him know that everyone was staying because Sheahan was still present. Sheahan says he didn’t believe the staffer but decided to test what she said. Once he left the party quietly, many of the staff members started leaving as well. 

The test was a moment of clarity for him. Once he realized his influence as a leader, he resolved to lean into soliciting feedback from his employees on how he could do so. He encourages brokers and real estate leaders to do the same. “Your agents will respond. They’re looking to you for direction,” Sheahan said. 

He stressed the importance of brokers being willing to figure out what their agents need and align those needs with their leadership style. He also spoke in depth about the importance of brokers leading with a mindset that aligns with their business goals. “Your job is to set the tone, and you should set a tone of optimism. If you are the leader in optimism, your agents will follow.” 

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission

No one understands the unique challenges of running a brokerage like another broker. Invest in relationships and build rapport with other brokers so you have a support system.

In the wake of the announcement of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) lawsuit settlement on March 15, Erin Cestero, San Antonio Division President of JB Goodwin REALTORS ®, contacted other top brokers in her area. They met to discuss how best to communicate their value proposition to consumers and help address their questions about the role of real estate professionals. Cestero left the session more confident and recommended that her board begin holding similar meetings regularly.

The Broker Power Hour hosted by NAR and various local and regional meetups among brokers, has long been a source of education and camaraderie. Here are some other ways brokers can bolster each other and the industry.

Meet for Lunch

Once a month, Cestero [right] breaks bread with another local broker to share ideas. “Think about how often we pick up the phone when we have concerns in transactions,” she emphasizes. “It’s easier to solve problems if I have a rapport with another broker.”

Distribute Resources

Brokers can support each other by sharing best practices and tools, notes Leigh Brown, broker-owner at One Community Real Estate® in Concord, N.C. “If there’s an update coming from the state legal counsel, I’ll text my fellow brokers about it.” She might say, “I found this great framework for a policy and procedures manual. I’d love for you to have access to it as well.”

Become Active in Associations

“One of my regrets is not getting involved with associations sooner,” Brown [left] admits. “I thought I was on my own and had to behave that way. And when I found the associations and the caliber of my fellow professionals, it elevated my business.” In the future, she feels broker communication will be even more critical. “You don’t need to be lonely and isolated—the industry can be collaborative and healthy.”

Karen Hatcher, CEO and Head Broker at Sovereign Realty & Management in Atlanta, GA, agrees. An active member of NAR’s broker engagement committee, she recommends participating in local, state and national associations (including broker councils). Attend events, seek out broker tracks and suggest topics for conferences to cover, she adds.

Mentor Each Other

“As an independent broker, I lean on my broker network—and have since I became a broker,” says Hatcher. “If I’m taking on business outside of my area of expertise, I’ll have someone counsel me through it.” For instance, she currently relies on a broker operations coach to help her set up her operations, from software to policy manuals and connectivity. Whether the mentorships are formal or informal, Hatcher reaches out to experts to help her flesh out her ideas. For instance, when she was considering getting involved in association management, she asked a broker colleague how they thought it would impact her company.

Be Open and Empathetic

“I see a better level of communication between brokers now, which I attribute partly to fewer listings and brokers having more bandwidth,” observes Brown, “We’re doing a better job of taking care of each other as humans. When you go to a lunch, open house or event, you see more of, ‘How are you?,’ ‘Can I help you with anything?,’ and ‘How is your family?’” By the opposite token, she says, social media can sometimes be problematic because most users post upbeat stories rather than admitting to struggles.

Discuss What Works—and What Doesn’t

Don’t miss social gatherings at conferences, says Hatcher [right], noting, “You get ideas from these random conversations.” For instance, at a broker meetup at an NAR conference, she learned operational strategies from a colleague running two virtual real estate offices from her ranch. “I might have a conversation with someone from another part of the country and tell them I’m thinking of expanding into titles. And they’ll say, ‘Yeah, we did that three years ago.’ We’ll talk about the pros and cons, which will help me decide whether I want to pursue that. Being able to talk about challenges with counterparts in different states and regions so you don’t have the local competition—that’s where the NAR network has shown a big benefit,” she reflects.

…But steer clear of certain topics that should not be discussed among competitors

“As brokers, we need to be sensitive to the risk of legal liability,” Brown warns, saying she is careful not to disclose competitive information or discuss topics that could veer into the territory of antitrust violations. Do not discuss any confidential information, including pricing strategies, business plans and the specifics of buyer or listing consultations. “Any discussion of these topics risks potential legal liability,” she adds.

National Association of REALTORS®
Reprinted with permission