5 Best and Worse Reasons for Joining a Real Estate Team

 As a mentor, I get asked this question a lot of times. Is joining a team ideal for brand new agents? What are the pros and cons of joining a Real Estate Team? Should you join a team as a brand new real estate agent? Do you really need a team to get you going? Before we get started let me ask you these questions straight ahead, why do you want to join a team? Is it just to learn and take resources and bounce afterward? Make sure to have a straightforward conversation with that team leader.  Are you serious about being part of a team environment? Think about your reasons first before you read this blog. 

Here are my top pros and cons on why you should join a real estate team. 

The Pros:

 The Team Structure. 
There are traditional real estate teams in which there is a team leader like myself. And then there are teams with downlines like what we do with eXp. I have a virtual team. We have that structure in eXp. The reason for that is that I want my agents out there showing houses and doing listing presentations rather than being stuck in an office. Some conventional teams make their agents come to the office and stay there and make phone calls and get “Training” before deploying them to the real world. 

 The mentoring
If you sign up with a team with productive agents who can actually produce and sell, those who are going to have time that's to teach you time to guide and train you will help you become productive as well. You need this early on in your career as a Realtor. 

Leads
When you're on your own you need to figure out how you are going to get your leads. You’re going to spend more time and money. Teams on the other hand help you by providing a nice flow of leads to help you get started and grow. 

 The Processes 
Some teams have a really good process.  Some have really good leads. You can have systems but if you don't know how to tie that stuff together into a good process, it won’t mean anything. I know most teams have good processes in terms of doing their follow-ups and lead generation. The important thing is, they teach you how to do this stuff. 

The CRM and Website
Do they have a good CRM? Some teams usually have really good CRMs. Some of them don’t even have to pay for using one because they can get it from their brokerage. Here at eXp, we would use KV Core, which is a really really good CRM. However, my entire team uses an entirely different CRM that we call Real Geeks and BombBomb. Within these systems, they can call text and video message our leads so we can be at the top of the game. My team uses an awesome website for branding and recognition, as well as lead generation.  

The Cons:

 You’re not the boss. 
When you're on the team you're not in charge. Basically, you're like an employee and follow what the team leader tells you to do. A lot of agents have a hard time understanding this when their team lead tells them what they need to do. When you’re in a team, you need to be able to meet the needs, expectations, and goals of the team. Personally, as a team leader, it costs me a lot of money to pay for the lease and the tools that we use that is why I have expectations.

Commission
You know you're not getting your full commission in a team because you’re going to have to split it with your team leader. Whenever you have a new deal, you're going to split that commission

with the team leader and then after they take their cut off the top then it's going to be split between you and the broker and if there are still other fees out there, that will be your final commission. So if you're not comfortable with that, it will just be a problem.

Team rules and Team Meetings
Some agents just can't stand attending a meeting and I don't understand it. As a team leader, I have rules and meetings every Tuesday with my team. Many agents just skip the meeting like it's not important. Then they end up bugging you all the time to come and help them when they need it. If you can't devote yourself to the 30-minute meeting that you're going to have with your team leader then you want to still call them all due throughout the day that's going to play a little differently. 

 You need to be Accountable
You need to be really accountable especially for your time and the amount of effort that you put in for your leads. If you're not the one who likes being held accountable and you want to do things on your own, then you don’t click being on the team. 

Your Motivation 
When you join a team and you know you're really not trying to stay there for a long time, simply try to have that conversation upfront with that team leader don't be shady and try to steal leads from that team leader. I have seen agents try to do that in this industry. And that is a surefire way to get your reputation tarnished and destroyed. The Real estate market is very small and 

the number of agents who sell is even smaller. So make sure you watch yourself any kind of things like that.

I hope you find my blog helpful and informative for you in deciding whether being on a team is the right fit for you.