Russ has a NEW BUSINESS Plan

Why would a very successful and well known York County real estate agent suddenly dissolve his team and join another.

I know, I know.   I’ve been asked that question a lot in the past few months.  But it wasn’t exactly suddenly that I dissolved the team, said Russ and there were very good reasons, at least from my side of the street, for doing what I did. 

Now if you live in York and have your eyes open even a little, you know that Russ is a well known Real Estate Agent and immersed in the Real Estate business for over 40 years.  What you may not know, is that Russ’s team, “The Russ Malehorn Group”, has been in the top 8 in production at Berkshire Hathaway HomeSale Realty of York County for at least 4 out of the past 8 years.  And #2 in one of those years.  So he and his team are not slackers.

Russ went on;  It was late summer 2015, when about 10 transactions and a couple of personal needs all came together  around the same ten days.  Over the course of the last 8 years, It seemed to be happening more and more.  A Changing America.  And with the federal government passing more laws that added more time and confusion needed per transaction, it was going to get worse. 

I realized I needed to take a significant step within our group, in order to continue doing our business at same level of service. Our business results rely on me and our teams agents staying on top of primary sales follow up, and when other admin tasks start getting added to the mix, it can cause us to lose focus and get distracted.  What we were going to need was taking on and training one or more coordination specialists for both Listing sides and Buyer sides of transactions.  Called Client Care Specialists.  

Now, I’m no spring chicken, said Russ, and the effort and expense for doing what I needed to do, was a lot more than I was going to reap in rewards over the next 10 years.  Quite frankly, I didn’t have the time to institute such a change.

What Russ basically needed was a “Listing and Sales Coordinator”, commonly called various names, to handle more of the little details, both on the Sellers side and the Buyers side, of a real estate transaction.   You see, there are now, so many people that are involved in a transaction, so many more details, it is very hard to keep them all on track and on schedule, without someone who just specializes in those endeavors.  Coupled with that, is the fact that in most transactions, a lot of activities have to be coordinated in the last few days of a transaction.  Throw in the few extra hurdles the government has, not so smartly, forced into the Lending and Settlement Companies and it has added a lot more to do for the real estate agent.  All this complicates the lending and settlement processes and since stuff flows downhill it also effects the Realtor and his or her clients.

Combined with this, there is more and more competition which has created additional services.  So much so,  that if an agent wants to handle their transactions or marketing their listings effectively, they need someone else to assist them in order to make a half decent living working 50-90 hours per week.  We are increasingly moving to employing specialized roles rather than trying, as agents, to be a jack of all trades (and possibly a master of none!), which means it’s important to give those different roles specialized tools that are optimized for the execution of what that team member needs to do on a daily basis. 

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell,. agreed Russ, as he continued;     So, said Russ; in Fall of 2015 my wife, Linda, and I were driving to Myrtle Beach.  It was early morning.  I was driving and headed south.  One of those times that I95 didn’t have much traffic.  The mid morning sun was shining from my upper left and bathing Linda in a morning glow that was absolutely beautiful.  She was beautiful.  It was peaceful and my mind was clear.  I started thinking about what I wanted to do with the Team.  I needed more time.  Now an excellent way of getting more time was to give up the management (Team Management) part of the Russ Malehorn Group.   It was one month afterwards, that I announced to the Russ Malehorn Group, my intent to dissolve or blend the Group with another Team or Group by the end of 2016 or beginning 2017. 

Don’t get me wrong, I offered the Group to my Partners first, but no one wanted to manage..  They liked what they did and I can’t blame them.  I love what I do too. 

In any event, Russ went on; we went about picking the most likely Teams within Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty who had the most to offer, where we would feel the most comfortable and then, we would interview those teams.  Our company, Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty is the cream of the crop in the York Area.  From me and my partners perspective they offer more tools and services, then any other real estate firm nearby.  We use these tools and services to serve our Clients at a higher standard.  Bottom line, we had quite a few Teams to choose from and many equal to the Russ Malehorn Group.  (hate to say it …maybe even better)

Sounds like a good plan, I said.

Well it was, said Russ and he continued on by saying;   Well, as it happened, one of the Group Members, got a little impatient and decided to go out on their own and sample a team.   And that moved things up a little bit.  Kind of compressed all the interviews and investigations into a smaller period of time.  And as it usually happens, the busiest time. 

Well we got the job done, not as well as if we had waited for a slower time of the year.  Probably costs us, or at least, some of us a little negotiating power, but it was done.  And when the smoke cleared we all went different directions.  But all of us ended up joining the teams we had put at the top to consider originally and they were all within Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty.  And all of us ended up being happy with our decisions.  

They are happy and Russ is happy.   Russ ended up with the Carr Cleaver FlinchbaughTeam who has been the #1 Team at Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty for quite a few years.  Also they are #8 in the Country within Berkshire Hathaway. ( By the way they recently became Carr Cleaver Pendergast Team – and that’s another interesting story.  Sometime I’ll tell you that one.

Why Russ, did you choose this particularTeam?

Well, Russ replied;  Like I said, I could have chosen any one of 3 teams and I know that I probably would have been happy.   Most importantly, the one I finally chose, had more plans which fit right into what the Russ Malehorn Group was working on, with and behind the scenes, for the last 6 years, in relation to digital/internet and Social media marketing of Real Estate. The fact that they were #1 at Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty and # 8 at Berkshire Hathaway Nationwide, didn’t hurt.  But the other teams are absolutely superb too.

Now folks, Russ is referring to what is happening in the Real Estate world over the past 20 years.   First of all, the Team concept, started many years ago to compete more effectively and efficiently.  But teams have been getting larger and larger over the past 10-20 years.  You see, the real estate world today is so competitive, so detailed and fast changing that some say, close to 98% of new agents cannot build a business fast enough on their own to be profitable enough to survive for more than 3 years.  Throw in competitive forces like Realtor.com and Zillow and 1000’s of other smaller 3rd party companies, its much harder.  And then throw in the new marketing environments of Social media which requires even more time and money, its near impossible.

Thank you .  That is absolutely right, said Russ.  So here I am fat and happy with my new Team, having the support of a great Coordinator and the market clout of the of one of the top Teams in Berkshire Hathaway Homesale Realty, together with all their extra marketing, marketing tools and the savvy to utilize the internet and social media to our advantage.  And I’m able to offer my knowledge, to the Team Leaders, which is also very important to me.

One other thing Russ said that I thought was very important.  He told me then that he has limited the number of Clients he works with at one time.  That has afforded him to offer a lot more detailed personal attention and to provide specialized marketing to each Listing and Home Buyer under his purvey.  Folks, the one thing you can lose if you get too big is that personal attention. 

Russ ended with; Yes Sir.  That’s right.  When I agree to work with a client, they will get more of my personal attention then ever before.  These days that counts for even more.   Clients love the personal attention and service and I love it too.   He went on; I have built many solid and long lasting relationships over the years doing what I do.  I still love what I do and now I can do it better than ever before.

So, let it be known, that most days, Russ Malehorn can be found at Carr Cleaver Pendergast, located at 2525 Eastern Blvd, York, Pa.  but more often then not, he’s in his car with Clients or going to meet a Client.  But you can tract him down quickly just by texting or calling him at 717-880-1162.  I believe you won’t get any better advice or service anywhere. Plus he has an excellent reputation and incredible knowlege base from all that experience.  And Folks, he’s got 40 years worth of it and that can make an enormous difference in your next Real Estate Transaction.  Go ahead.  Check him out on his Website.  Check some of his reviews out on Zillow.   Just google “Home with Russ Malehorn” you’ll find him.  He seems to be everywhere.