Let me introduce myself — I am Danny Kelman, your Dallas Texas realtor, and CEO of the Amazing Real Estate Brokerage.
With over 120,000 realtors in Texas, it is not easy to make a choice when it comes down to choosing the right representation for your real estate sale, purchase, or rental.
Now, I am not going to go into the usual spiel of telling you why I am the best…and so on, because being the best is subjective and I’m sure you have noticed other realtors going down that path, so I’ll leave that to them.
What I am going to do, however, is to outline my views on the industry and give you a perspective of how I believe the industry should operate for the better.
In short, I don’t like the way the industry operates — and in my opinion, there are too many realtors who are in it purely for the money and not for the best interests of their clients.
And I am far more likely to talk you out of a deal than into it!
But that is just one aspect and even more importantly, there seems to be an overall lack of knowledge and transparency.
Real estate is not complicated in essence…but the process can be difficult to understand if you are purchasing a home for the first time, or even just looking to rent an apartment.
I got into the industry because a friend told me I would make a good realtor and go and get my real estate license.
It turned out to be great advice and coming from a background of sales, online marketing, and luxury event planning, I had the right mix of skills to combine with my already-honed passion for the real estate industry.
I have always been fascinated by homes and given that I have lived in over fifty homes, and across 2 continents, living in social housing in the UK, a luxury home in Coto De Zaza, a ranch in Texas, and everything in between — I suppose in some ways I was destined for a real estate career.
And by the way…I’ve also been homeless!
Anyway, take a look at my bio here and read on to get my views!
What Makes A Good Realtor
In this interesting article in Forbes, they talk about sixteen essential personality traits that are common in good realtors.
They talk about having the drive, curiosity, honesty & persistence, transparency…and more — it’s definitely worth a read.
At # sixteen in their list is the quality of “having good energy,” which is something that is becoming more and more important when doing any business in today’s volatile and uncertain economy…to me anyway.
I love being around positive people and so should you be…but I will make one point about this from my perspective — you also have to be a “realist” and that means accepting the “bad” along with the good and dealing with it.
It’s easy to get carried away in the real estate industry and that is where you have to be careful when viewing properties and setting your heart on them — things can and do go wrong,
But from my perspective, I believe that in addition to the personal qualities and specifically:
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Trustworthiness
- A Strong work ethic
You need to have a passion for the industry.
Passion is something that you cannot buy and you should “feel” the passion from your realtor as it is infectious.
There is one other quality that I believe is critical to the industry and that is having a high degree of commercial awareness.
You see, in a sense, it’s too easy for people to enter the industry and lured by the idea of selling multi-million dollar homes and the commissions that go with it…and seeing the reality shows that portray the lifestyles of the rich and famous agents, it’s easy to fall into the trap and be suckered into the dream.
Getting a license is relatively easy if you are prepared to do the work and pay the fees…but that is just the start and many realtors fail to make any real money in their first year, which is why they have their licenses and work other jobs.
To me, a good realtor is one that puts the interests of their clients first and has the right knowledge and expertise to guide and influence their clients to make more informed and better real estate decisions.
And also please don’t be fooled by experience — just because someone has been doing something for a long time, does not necessarily make them the best choice — it’s easy to do something consistently wrong and over a period of time!
Finally, look at the people they have around them — do they have a team that offers the right support, both in legal and commercial terms, because you are going to be making some very important decisions.
My Personal Real Estate Customer Services Charter
When I decided to get into the industry, I made sure that my brokerage would commit to a standard of excellence.
I don’t do things in half-measures and I know excellence is something that has to be worked on each and every day, so with that in mind, I decided to set out my own customer services charter and I am going to explain each point below:
All Customers Are Treated Equally
This is a critical one for me as I absolutely do not care whether you are looking to rent a low-budget apartment, purchase sell a multi-million dollar home, or relocate your company premises.
I will treat you exactly the same.
Too many realtors look at the “endgame” of a deal before anything else…and that means a nice commission check.
I hear this all the time in our apartment locating division where other locators are guiding their clients to the apartments that pay the highest commissions, rather than putting them into the ones that are right for them.
It’s not about the money for me, because the money comes when you perform your job and deliver the best service to your clients, so for me, you have to focus on those aspects first, and not the size of the commission check.
No (Sleazy) Sales Tactics
One of my other passions is sales…or the art of “not selling,” to be more precise.
I cannot stand pushy salespeople or salespeople that have no interest in giving their clients exactly what they want, before considering their financial reward.
Thanks to the Internet, we live in a “buyers world” and that means you can compare, review and purchase products and services from the comfort of your living room chair!
Selling has become replaced by “guiding and influencing” and for me, that was what real selling was about anyway and long before the invention of the Internet.
This is where commercial awareness comes into play and also transparency — I have talked clients out of lucrative deals because they didn’t make sense commercially and I make sure that all of our processes and procedures are totally transparent to our clients.
In our apartment location division, I make sure to tell all clients that I would only put them into an apartment that I would live in myself, or put in members of my own family and friends.
Real selling to me, is being able to offer the right guidance to the client in all aspects of the purchase and put their best interests at heart — you need to have the right knowledge, interpersonal skills, and integrity to do this.
Quality Control
I always check out the cell phone coverage in every property I view…I know the importance of communication in my own life and business, so it’s natural that it is important to my clients.
This little step can make the difference between choosing a property or not and it’s not the only one.
I have a checklist that I personally walk through with each property and I make sure my clients are aware of it.
The Marriott hotel designed a fifty-point room check process to be applied to the cleaning and inspection of all rooms in their properties and this gave the guests another level of confidence when choosing the Marriott over their competitors.
Is the world of quality foolproof and consistent…absolutely not, but what is more important is to constantly strive to deliver the best quality and put things right immediately, when they go wrong.
Data-Driven
I come from a tech background and am acutely aware of the huge amounts of data that are being harvested in today’s high-tech world.
But I am also aware of keeping the “human touch” alive in the process.
My goal is to build a custom software solution for the operation and management of a real estate brokerage and of course, there are many other options out there…but I want to build this from the ground up and in the real operational world.
We have our own basic algorithms that allow us to keep pace with pricing and other market dynamics and trends, but we are also conscious that automation can be taken too far and there is a certain satisfaction that is gained from actually speaking to someone!
Total Transparency
This is the big one for me and I always make sure my clients are aware of the exact process regarding each aspect and of every real estate transaction.
Like I said earlier, real estate is not complicated, but the processes and procedures can be and that’s why it’s important for clients to be informed as to what to expect.
Finally, I want to hear from my clients…and not just the good.
I chose the name for this brokerage carefully and I need to ensure that I live up to the term “amazing.”
I want everyone to have an amazing experience, no matter what and I want to hear from anyone who doesn’t.
I will personally deal with any issues…that is my guarantee.
Your Real Estate Life Plan
You probably have career plans, business plans, and many other plans…but do you have a real estate plan?
Real estate decisions are going to be some of the most important ones that you make in your life, so think about them proactively and make a plan.
It doesn’t matter where you are in life, you can always start the process and that means planning your first rental apartment and being aware of the right time to purchase — your first home, your dream home, your vacation lake house, and of course, planning for your retirement.
You also have business premises to consider if you are in business or plan to be and this is where we as a brokerage come into our own.
We have over fifty years of business and entrepreneurial experience between our founders and we make sure that we understand the business dynamics of any commercial transaction, not just the cost per square foot of the lease!
We have vetted a number of lease applications and identified issues with the fundamental business model, which has in many cases, benefitted our clients.
Planning in many ways gives you a sense of freedom as well as the knowledge that you have taken your real estate purchasing decisions seriously.
When you commit to a plan, you remove stress, worry and avoid those last-minute and spur-of-the-moment decisions that could prove disastrous.
Take-Aways
There are many choices when it comes down to choosing your Dallas Texas realtor and it can be difficult to choose a realtor when there are in excess of 120,000 licensed realtors in Texas alone.
My suggestion is to talk to many and then narrow down the choices to the ones who can immediately listen to what it is that you want…exactly and then guide you through the process demonstrating their commercial and real estate knowledge and commitment to giving you what you want.
It’s a tough economic climate out there right now and many people are jumping on the real estate bandwagon, because of the misconception that it is a totally lucrative and glamourous industry.
Don’t get me wrong…it certainly can be, but like anything else in life, it requires a tremendous amount of hard work, dedication…and passion, if you want to be successful.
The best agents know this and have worked hard to get where they are…or they are demonstrating their willingness to do so.
Be careful when you enter into commercial real estate decisions as many realtors lack the necessary business and commercial experience that goes hand-in-hand with the territory.
Finally, don’t rely on pure experience because it is easy to gain the wrong type of experience if you keep making mistakes or doing things in the wrong way.
Expertise is more important and I am here to offer you mine.
Give me a call and I will gladly talk through your real estate needs with you and help guide you through the process, of course, there is no obligation whatsoever, so feel free to contact me anytime:
Danny Kelman | 469-847-3753 | danny@amazingbrokerage.com
