At the beginning of 2010 I couldn't afford to run the heat. We had laid off our wonderful secretary, Kay, because we couldn't afford to pay her. I was looking for smaller office space, while working as the office staff, the broker and a Realtor. I have to say I have the best agents in the world. I didn't lose a single one of them because of the cuts. A few of them became dual career agents because of the economy, but none of them left and went to work for another company. They worked at home or bundled up and came to work. We put a space heater in the conference room for meeting with customers.
We worked more. We worked smarter. We changed our focus. We added to our specialities. We tighten our belts and cut out everything that was unneccesary, duplicated elsewhere or just plain unaffordable.
We have always traditionally specialized in waterfront property in South Mobile County. We were making progress. Between the tax credit and a pick up in our local economy sales were increasing every month. Just when I thought we were going to be able to hire our beloved Kay back, we had to deal with the BP Oil Spill disaster! Our sales almost stopped completely overnight and Kay went to work on Dauphin Island feeding the workers. I also lost one of my agents to the BP recovery effort. They paid money by the hour. Our worst months were June, July and August! Any waterfront that sold, sold at low, fire-sale prices, and there were only a few. I'll have to say BP did step up and pay claims to Realtors even though legally we didn't have a leg to stand on. After all, if we don't close, we don't get paid. And it's really hard to know what would have happened with waterfront property this year if the oil spill didn't happen. BP may not have paid what we could have possibly have earned, who knows? But BP did help, and we are very greatful.
We moved to a smaller office where we are all in one big room working together. That is the single best thing that we did. We all communicate so much better now. We feed off each other's energy and accomplishments. We know each other's inventory and we know the other agent's buyers and what they are looking for. We are truly working together now and it has made such a difference.
We finished 2010 with a 28% increase in production and a 31% increase in gross commission's earned! And we didn't do it by hiring a bunch of new agents. We do have a few new agents, but they are just getting started. Eight of our Nine existing agents earned more in 2010 than 2009. One of my top agents increased his earnings by 70%! I had two more that increase their earnings by more than 25%. One of my agents who was looking for a new job earlier this year finished 3rd in the company. December was actually our best month ever (in 9.5 years)! January looks better than any January has in several years.
I wouldn't still be in this business if I were in it for the money, but I have to say earning money selling real estate does make it so much more fun!!! I am really excited to see what 2011 brings.