LandVest, Inc. and Charles Reinhart Company are members of The Active Enterprise Network, a union of privately-held real estate companies across the country that share information and strategy as well as a unified technology platform.

Advantage in 2030– Independent Brokerages

Years ago, real estate as a profession used to attract those with people skills, and often not much else in the way of education or training. A social butterfly could make a nice living taking orders from friends and acquaintances. In fact, someone with poor organizational skills were often considered to be an ideal candidate for the job.

Today, a successful Realtor needs to be disciplined, highly trained, tech savvy and have good social skills. Ever increasing regulation, environmental issues, liability factors and the complexities of deal structures have taken the degree of difficulty to a very different level. There is so much a Realtor needs to know in order to avoid legal and financial pitfalls. No one believes it will get any easier in the coming years. This sea change to the industry favors the traditional, independent brokerage model. By the year 2030, independent brokers will hold a significant advantage.

Adapting to Change

Independent model brokers pay lower commissions to agents because they provide staff for support services: marketing, technology, education, and transaction management being the most common. Franchises can function the same way, but take a percentage off the top of every commission to pay for the brand name and then divide the rest between the brokerage and the agent. 100% models, such as ReMax, pay the whole commission to the agent and charge the agent back for services used.

Franchises can not adapt fast enough to the pace of technology change. Their marketing and tech tools are built for the member masses across the country and are watered down in effectiveness to provide a common denominator. Updating website software means dealing with hundreds of boards of Realtors–a massive and slow moving project. It doesn’t get done in a way that meets the needs of clients in a timely fashion, a significant strike against franchises.

Agent Support Services

The 100% and modified 100% brokerage models do not make support services a high priority. Agents who choose that model tend to believe they can handle the details themselves, and don’t want to pay the company for them.
At Reinhart, we’re seeing that it is becoming too difficult to do the job without quality support services. An individual cannot keep up with all the details and the constant change. It takes a small army of skilled specialists to keep all the bases covered. Independent, non-franchise brokers already have a distinct advantage today and will have even more of one by 2030. They can move ahead unencumbered, offering the latest tools to clients in a way that is flexible to the particular needs of their market. Higher quality support services keep everyone on track and frees the agent to focus on selling real estate. A balanced team of specialists keeps the process moving along smoothly, ensuring the best quality information and marketing for clients and customers. Everyone wins.

By. Marsha Volchoff, VP of Operations at Charles Reinhart Company, serving Ann Arbor Real Estate, a proud participant of the Holiday Blog Swap, presented by The Active Enterprise Network.

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More article on Real Estate in 2030 found here: Smith & Associates, Residential Properties, Helen Adams Realty, Murney Associates, Windermere Tri Cities, The Group, inc., Hasson Company, McEnearney Associates, N.T. Callaway, and LandVest.

Richard Carbonetti, Vice President of LandVest’s Timberland Division and President of the Association of Consulting Foresters of America, was recently featured in The Consultant, an ACF publication.   The article, called “Madonna, Cher & …Carbo?” tells the story of Richard Carbonetti (or “Carbo,” as he is more commonly known by many); how he began his forestry career and how he has risen to become ACF’s newest president.

The author of the article, Robert P. Bradbury — a LandVest Forester — holds “Carbo” in high esteem as he describes his colleague’s “outsized personality” and boundless conviction to succeed at all that he does. Carbonetti graduated from the University of Maine in 1977 with a degree in Forestry. He subsequently moved to Vermont to pursue his career.  In 1978, he began his own small company called Round Top Woodlot Management which steadily grew for the next seventeen years. He managed almost 100,000 acres of land before merging with LandVest in 1995.

Richard Carbonetti, LandVest

Bradbury illustrates Carbonetti’s hard-working personality by detailing instances of Carbonetti rising before dawn and keeping his limitless energy well into the night, sometimes even on overnight road trips. He was able to fit in with a variety of different people – from loggers to lawyers.  In his business, and in policy work as a member of the Northern Forest Lands Council, Carbonetti always stood up for what he believed in. He actively participated in committees in order to make forestry practices better. Along with several others, Carbonetti helped to improve the laws in Vermont dealing with timber harvesting practices and overcutting.

Carbonetti is very passionate about his forestry work, and enjoyed it so much, he never even thought of it as actual work. Bradbury recalls Carbonetti saying “I’ve never worked a day in my life because I love this profession so much I’d never consider it work.”

Bradbury attests that Carbonetti wouldn’t be where he is today without the encouragement and support of his wife Emily and two sons, Ben and Sam. During the early years he could dedicate numerous hours to his work because of his wife’s patience. And for over 20 years he worked from a home office so that he could play an active role in his sons’ lives.

The article serves as a nice testament to Carbonetti’s work and his life. It is clear that Carbonetti will be an asset to ACF and will undoubtedly succeed as president.

Read the full article, “Madonna, Cher & …Carbo?”

The ACF was founded in 1948 to advance the professionalism, ethics, and interests of professional foresters whose primary work was consulting to the public. The ACF is the only national association for consulting foresters. Currently, there are more than 675 members in 40 states, as well as several international members.

Click for more information about the ACF