NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 6-5-23

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EDITION

RECONSIDER REFERRAL-ONLY WHEN PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

Tips on Breaking Into the

How to

LUXURY MARKET

SPEED UP FIRSTTIME HOMEBUYER TRANSACTIONS

HOW TO BUILD A TEAM THAT WILL WIN BIG NO MATTER ITS SIZE

FEATURED AGENT

KIM CLEGHORN COVER STORY

DUNJA GREEN & MILAN JEZDIMIROVIC

COMPLETE RETROFITTING AND WATER CONSERVATION COMPLIANCE (PER SENATE BILL NO. 407)

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Tips on Breaking Into the Luxury Market So, you’ve been doing residential real estate for a while and you’re looking to up your game. A lot of people consider going into the luxury market at that point. Or, maybe you started in the business always intending to specialize in luxury properties and were just learning the ropes before you tackled one of the industry’s most lucrative specialties.

No matter the reason, the luxury market is a whole new ballgame and you don’t want to go into it unprepared. First impressions are everything in this business, especially when you’re dealing with wealthy clients and investors. Here are few things to consider if you’re thinking of going from starter homes to estates.

LEARN HOW THE LUXURY MARKET AND CLIENTELE ARE DIFFERENT As experienced as you might be in traditional real estate, the luxury market is almost like starting at ground zero. Everything from the buyers, to the sellers, and obviously, the properties themselves, will take a new approach.

One of the key ways it is different is that the feeling of exclusivity truly matters. You will be doing more targeted marketing through high-end networking groups as wealthier clients tend to be more comfortable when 4

you come recommended by people they trust to have the highest standards. There are no mass-marketed open houses. It’s all about private showings. Although professional, one-on-one service is key in this business no matter what the price point, wealthier buyers are accustomed to concierge-style service, and the way to stand out from the rest is to provide service that goes above and beyond what even they expect.

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LOOK THE PART If you’re thinking of going the luxury route, creating high-end branding and marketing yourself properly is of the utmost importance.

That includes your own personal look. You and your business will need a total makeover, or at least a major upgrade. It might even be time to buy that new car you’ve always wanted. It is also key that all of your marketing materials are high end. So start gathering a stable of highly-trained professionals,

photographers, and stagers as every aspect of the service network you’ll be providing complements the brand that you’re selling.

It’s well worth the time to get all of this nailed down and seamless before you even think of entering the luxury market. Another good investment? You want to have an indepth knowledge of all the latest real estate technologies and innovations. Don’t just look the part, actually be on the cutting edge.

SELL THE LIFESTYLE Yes, you’re selling a home, but you’re also selling a lifestyle, which in luxury is almost more important. When someone is spending millions of dollars on a home, they want to see the fabulous life they will be living in their new digs. Really highlight amazing party spaces, unique one of kind features,

and amenities. As with anything of value, things that make a property rare, will automatically make it more appealing to people who can afford the best. It also helps people connect more emotionally with a home, giving it even more value than if you just try and sell it as a good investment.

NETWORKING, NETWORKING, NETWORKING Networking is an important aspect of this business at every level, but it a vital tool in the luxury market. Most of your referrals and targeted marketing will be done through luxury agent exclusive networking groups. In addition to that, it is even more important in this segment of the business to be actively Top Agent Magazine

involved in your community through volunteering and supporting local charitable events. You will not only build a stellar reputation, but you’ll also be giving back to the community you represent, and ultimately, integrity is what it’s all about in this business.

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How to Build a Team That Will Win Big No Matter its Size In the real estate world building a team is a goal almost every agent strives towards achieving. Doing business with a team as opposed to solo has numerous advantages. With more agents handling clients as well as other employees specialized in areas such as marketing and administrative support there to assist you; you can greatly increase your business and sales.

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So, when creating a team, logic would tell us that the bigger it is, the better, right? Wrong. When it comes to real estate teams, size doesn’t matter so much as the players you bring onto that team to work with you. A team doesn’t have to be big to win big, and here are the secrets to building a team that wins big no matter its size.

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Hire the Right Team Members

Put Your Team Members in the Right Positions to Win

You’ve probably heard the saying, “you’re only as strong as you’re weakest link.” That idea holds true for any kind of team, including those in real estate. If you have weak members on your team, then it’s not possible to have a strong team. Drawing strong team members to your business is essential.

Finding strong team members is just one part of the equation. As the leader of your team, you now have to assess each member’s strengths and weaknesses and position them appropriately. You want the best player for each role playing that part and catering to their strengths. Choose your team member’s roles wisely, and place each individual in the position where their strengths can shine and they can best contribute to a win for the entire team. Every role is important to the team working smoothly and winning as a whole, so it is important to place each team member in the role most suited to his or her skills.

To better understand what kind of person would make a strong addition to your team, you need to ask yourself what skills and characteristics you want your team members to possess. The strongest members are often ones that share their leader’s values. When you share values with your teammates, you are all running along the same course towards the same goal as one. Your definition of a victory in this case is also your teammates’ definition of it. This helps strengthen even the smallest of numbers because you are all working together toward a common goal.

Another characteristic too look out for in potential team members is a positive attitude. You can teach someone the skills needed in real estate, but you can’t teach someone how to have a positive attitude.

Positive members tend to achieve more due to their optimistic nature, but more importantly, they spread that positive attitude to the rest of the team, which improves every members’ performance.

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Communicating Your Vision to Your Team

Your team members are the key ingredients to ultimate victory, but what recipe do you follow now to lead them to victory? That is what communication is for a winning team; the recipe you will use to

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help best utilize each team member and instruct them on how they need to work together to fulfill the recipe that will lead them to be a winning team. Your team members need to know the plan and you must give them the tools to successfully execute it.

It is up to the leader of a team to help your players see your vision and help them understand what a victory looks like. The goal may seem simple and obvious to you, but you must communicate it over and over again to your team members, so they understand it as well as you do. With different personalities coming together to form a unit, you are going to be dealing with numerous challenges such as competing agendas. You will find this on any team. You must keep the goal and at the forefront of your player’s minds in order to encourage them to put aside their own personal desires in order to come together as one cohesive, single-minded unit and push towards the team’s goal.

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Give Your Team Members the Tools to Help Them Perform at Their Best The final thing all great leaders do is equip their team members with the proper tools and training needed for them to succeed. You have to show them how they can each come together with their different strengths to work as a team towards one unified goal. This involves more than simple skills training, but also endurance, so they can last as a team and win even those matches that seem unending and impossible.

Think of all the challenges that they could possibly face ahead, and clear their path to victory by giving them the necessary training and tools they will need to get past any obstacle. As the leader, you must be prepared to continually communicate the team’s goal and your vision. Use that vision to motivate your team members throughout the journey towards victory.

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DUNJA GREEN & MILAN JEZDIMIROVIC

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The dynamic husband and wife duo Milan Jezdimirovic and Dunja Green, combined to form the MD Real Estate Team powered by Compass, servicing the luxury condo market in the Bay Area.

Milan Jezdimirovic and Dunja Green, of San Francisco, California, combine to form MD Real Estate Team powered by Compass: a dynamic husband and wife duo that brings a professionally sharpened legal mind and a penchant for unparalleled client service to the luxury condo market in the Bay Area.

“We have lifelong relationships with our clients. They always have questions about market movements or tenant relationships.

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These are high end buyers and sellers – many of them have bought and sold several properties in the past, they’re all extremely educated, and some of them are public figures. We have learned a lot by working with them and serving them – it’s been a pleasure to work and grow alongside them.”

When they immigrated to the United States in 2009, they traveled the country in search Top Agent Magazine

of a new home, and as soon as they entered San Francisco the couple decided to plant roots. “We are both Serbian, and I graduated from a school of law in Belgrade. I originally planned to practice law in the states, but I started leasing apartments in downtown San Francisco, and that business

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just took off – I was consistently ranked as the best leasing agent in the company.”

Milan was promoted to assistant manager, and he won the Trophy Award for Assistant Manager of the Year from the SFAA (San Francisco Apartment Association) in 2015. He was then promoted to property

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The team is celebrating a record setting year with a staggering $62.4 million in total volume for 2022, but their success has done nothing to stymie their drive and ambition. “We try to be better every day. This year we’re focusing on education – for ourselves and our clients.” manager, so he readily acquired his real estate license. “I decided to join a boutique style brokerage here, and it was an amazing experience. I was doubling my revenue every year, and I got in on the ground floor of a luxury development in downtown San Francisco. I cleared $15 million for that 12Copyright Top Agent Magazine

construction, which launched the next stage of my career.”

As his enterprise expanded, Milan recognized his wife Dunja was becoming increasingly tasked by his business, and the two decided to formally cement their business Top Agent Magazine

partnership. “Dunja got licensed in 2018, and by then we were leasing 150+ units per year. Once she joined, that was when we entered the Top 1% of REALTORS® in San Francisco.” The team is celebrating a record setting year with a staggering $62.4 million in total volume for 2022, but their

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success has done nothing to stymie their drive and ambition. “We try to be better every day. This year we’re focusing on education – for ourselves and our clients. Just last week we were at the first Regional Top Producer Summit that Compass organized for 150 top-producing agents in Northern

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California and just by talking to the people there, we’ve already learned so much. We love sharing that knowledge, helping people to accomplish their goals, and learning about different industries in the process.”

Beyond their clients and colleagues, Milan and Dunja go to great lengths to share their prosperity and knowledge with the greater community. They regularly donate to several

local nonprofit organizations, annually host a fully funded meal for the nearby homeless population, and they participate in their Serbian Church in San Francisco. “The first time we saw this city, we knew this would be our home. We like to help it grow in any way that we can, especially because we know our two year old son will be growing up here!

We spend a lot of time helping people acquire books, food, and clothing.”

For more about Milan & Dunja, visit mdrealestatesf.com, call 415.933.4364 & 415.990.4883 or email them at www.

milan@milansfhomes.com & dunja.green@compass.com

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Reconsider Referral-Only When Planning for the Future

A 100% referral rate is a testament of client happiness. But even a 30% referral rate is proof of client satisfaction. It’s all relative, say some agents. One number pays tribute to past success, which is certainly a story worth telling. But the other might better predict the future. Many agents plan for the idea that Top Agent Magazine

working only on referral may not be sufficient during slower times of the year, in a down market, or when an agent needs to expanding into a new sector.

Unless you are clairvoyant enough to flawlessly predict every market change or every

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Many agents plan for the idea that working only on referral may not be sufficient during slower times of the year, in a down market, or when an agent needs to expanding into a new sector. life change that your clients and referral partners may experience, it’s wise to maintain an active marketing presence. The reasons vary, however, depending on the goals and trajectory of each individual’s business.

If long-term success, a growing team, a legacy or expansion into new areas are not priorities, then working a sphere of influence may be enough for some agents, especially those who may be in the industry mostly for the love of the business. But for a majority of agents, no matter how much they love their work, their real estate and mortgage businesses are careers, first and foremost.

Let’s start with the team-builders and mentors. Agents and brokers who are building teams are wise to invest in business marketing, advertising and community outreach. Ty Hutchins, who owns and operates Ty & Company Real Estate in Colorado’s Front Range, says that, while she could personally live off referrals alone, her goal is to build up her agents. “I do the marketing piece for my team, so I can help them succeed,” she says. That marketing includes running commercials on TV and in movies theatres, as well as lead generation that identifies potential buyers, sellers and 16

investors between the Colorado Springs and Denver markets. Her team’s goal, she adds, is to promote their reputation of being honest, hardworking professionals with the reach of a major brand but the personalized approach of a boutique.

Then there are the growers. Khrista Jarvis and Nicole Jung of The Khrista Jarvis Team in the San Francisco Bay Area, are on a considerable growth track. “We’re the #1 team in our area and the top team in Compass Real Estate nationally,” explains Khrista. While high marks for service on behalf of their clients have led them to these heights, they know that they must continue to evolve and market their brand. “We do a good deal of social media marketing for our listings and for our business,” she says. Their names, therefore, are frequently linked to sentiments of trust, dependability and market knowledge, both in their marketing and in their reviews.

Next, there are those who weathered the worst of times. Susan Roche entered real estate sales in 2003, following several years of property management in North Carolina.

The key to her sustained triumphs through major market swings lies in her long-range planning. “If the market starts to dip or fall,

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I have safety nets in place,” says Susan Roche, team leader of Simply Real Estate, based in Charlotte. “When it’s a seller’s market, I still plan for a buyer’s market and when it’s a buyer’s market I plan for a seller’s market..” In other words, no matter how comfortable her existing work may feel, she networks consistently. She also employs a full-time marketing director who leads several projects including ongoing research, events and social media exposure in addition to listings marketing. By staying ahead of market changes, Susan knows she can unfailingly represent her clients’ best interests while still maintaining a safety net for her business.

Even professionals with more than three decades’ experience and deep referral networks know the importance of business

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marketing. Cathy Richards, co-owner with Nancy Dalaska of Epic-Wasatch Homes in Park City, UT, entered real estate in 1987 and still draws at least a fifth of her business from lead generation, social media marketing and community outreach. Her business partner, Nancy, adds that real estate is about much more than their own business. “We love collaborating and brainstorming with other agents to help them prosper,” says Nancy. “We believe the healthier the market, the better we all are.”

Regardless of market conditions, even the best reputation can’t guarantee long-term success. To sustain and grow, it’s wise to feed your business by increasing exposure, remaining flexible and maintaining systems for customer service, networking, research, marketing and lead-generation.

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Laughs!

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How to Speed Up First-Time Homebuyer Transactions Working with first-time homebuyers can be among the most rewarding real estate transactions an agent can embark upon.

Not only are you helping guide newcomers into the housing market, but you’re also witness to the excitement and triumphs along the way, including handing over those keys for the first time. While 20

helping first-time homebuyers navigate the transactional process can be a reminder of real estate’s benevolent power, it can also come with its own bumps and bruises.

So, what’s the best way to streamline the homebuying process for first-timers, while maintaining the magic and keeping your sanity along the way?

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While helping first-time homebuyers navigate the transactional process can be a reminder of real estate’s benevolent power, it can also come with its own bumps and bruises.

Set expectations upfront and often.

It’s no secret that communication is a cornerstone of a successful real estate practice and client relationship. Amidst a transaction as complex as buying (or selling) a home, it’s important that no wires get crossed, no questions go unanswered, and no information gets lost in translation. To accomplish this, create communication parameters with your clients up front. Inquire about the communication medium they’re most comfortable with—a text, a call, an email, etc.

Then, tailor your outreach accordingly.

Also, consider setting a weekly time to check in, even if no official progress has been made. This helps clients and agents touch base, float questions and concerns, and get ahead of any problems or developments. Another helpful tool is to draft a transaction timeline for your client that outlines the major milestones along the way, what sort of information will need to be gathered, what steps taken, and what outcomes are possible. This might seem like exhaustive work, but in the era of digital research, clients will come to their own conclusions and biases Top Agent Magazine

whether you like it or not. To stay on the same page and timeline, be the foremost resource for your client, and don’t leave their questions up to chance.

Know your first-time homebuyer programs and perks.

There are a variety of national, state, regional, and local grants and programs that aid first-time homebuyers as they pay their down payment, shop for home or mortgage insurance, and otherwise deal with the financial implications of becoming a homeowner. Sometimes these programs are neighborhood-specific in certain cities, with incentives to buy in up and coming areas. In some cases, there are grants that support underrepresented minority communities breaking into homebuying, and these can go a long way in making the burden of a down payment and associated fees doable. In other words, do your research.

The right program or grant could make the difference in nabbing a dream starter home for your client, while setting them up for future financial success.

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Get pre-approved for a mortgage—and shop around for the best rate.

Not all mortgage rates are made equal. As an agent, you likely have good relationships with area lenders that you trust, but it’s still important to complete your due diligence when helping first-time homebuyers find the rate that suits their longterm housing goals. Also remember that first-time homebuyers are new to this process, and while real estate transactions are complex in their own right, the borrowing and lending processes can be alienating in their complexity. As an agent, it’s your job to play intermediary and teacher, ensuring your clients know their options, are prepared to make an educated decision, and

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feel confident that they’ve chosen correctly. Talk with your preferred mortgage partners to best outline options for your clients’ understanding, laying out a framework that’s informative, projected into the future, and allows them to feel empowered by knowledge.

All in all, working with first-time homebuyers can be an exciting and joyous occasion, as long as you’re adequately prepared for some hand-holding and instruction along the way. Aside from the enthusiasm of successful first-timers at the closing table, you’ll also enjoy the lasting benefit of strong referrals to their friends and family, many of whom will be shopping with you for their own first dream homes.

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KIM CLEGHORN in person, but they trust me to sell their property.”

The word that most aptly describes Kim Cleghorn’s transition from biomedical research to real estate is “metamorphosis.” That is also why she has named her Keller Williams team, the “Metamoves Team.” She explains, “The term ‘metamorphosis’ has a very important meaning in my life. I feel like my life is constantly unfolding and reinventing itself. ‘Meta’ also stands for going beyond, beyond the nuts and bolts of a transaction to help clients achieve the lifestyle they desire. It’s a metamorphosis as you progress from one stage of your life to the next.”

Her reputation as a caring, connected agent is what differentiates Kim, and what she believes every agent should pursue.

“I tell other young REALTORS® coming into the marketplace that their biggest asset is their name and reputation,” she says. “It makes all the difference in your business. Your rapport with other agents, the respect you gain from other agents, especially in recent years when there’s a lot of competitive bidding, is something you need to have. A good reputation will float your offers up to the top a lot of the time. Our names must be solid in our marketplaces.”

Kim’s transformation began after working her way up to a management position with a biomedical research company. “I hit a glass ceiling,” she recalls.

“I never thought I would do anything other than the sciences, but I was frustrated with the limits of corporate America.” She and her father decided to start their own financial services company. She obtained her stockbrokers’ and insurance licenses. That is when she discovered her love for the real estate process. “Being a people person and connecting with people through the process of real estate just fit more with my personality,” she says.

Kim says it is important to not only work hard, but play hard and keep balance in your life. “People who work with me know that I have a lot of extracurricular activities,” she relates. “A big one is being a grandmother and spending time with my grandsons.” She is also a past president of the Oakland REALTOR® Association and current director for the Bridge Association of REALTORS®. She is a yoga instructor and competes in bodybuilding matches. In fact, she adds, she’s in training right now for an upcoming competition.

After managing other agents and a real estate office, along with serving as director of the California Association of Realtors, Kim is now a full-time agent serving the Bay area. The best part of her job: The people. A lot of people know my name in my marketplace,” she says. “I have a way of connecting with people and making them feel comfortable and that their wishes and needs are met. I have clients from outside of California that I have never seen

Through all the changes Kim has experienced, her metamorphosis is still not complete. She is constantly expanding her business, expanding her marketing and social media presence, and hopes to break the $20 million sales mark, up from her current $18 million annually. “I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon,” she adds. “My name has been around for three decades and people know that I’m transforming lives one house at a time.”

Contact Kim at (510) 304-4875, email kim@metamoves.com, or visit her website: metamoves.com www.

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