Any experience with Pari Passu brokerage?

Sweetheart, GOOD LUCK! Gonna be a RE agent? These folks will eat you alive!!! Might be interesting to hear what Burkhardt has to say but he's been MIA of late.

Aw, thanks drdrd! :) I don't think I'll get eaten alive, but I am definitely gonna get stepped on and roughed up a bit. It's OK, I'm a grown up ;)

I'm wondering about reputation and access to listings/buyers for newbie agents. If any buyers/sellers/landlords/tenants care to comment, it would be great to hear from them. (In case anyone is shy, I can be emailed privately at info at outcatllc.com.)

fluter: drdrd is half right. Act like a typical broker and you will be destroyed here. Conduct your professional life the way you would like to be treated, and we all wish you a long and prosperous career (not too prosperous though). Tell the truth, admit when you are wrong, work hard, its all gravy after that. Good Luck..peace

I think as a new agent (given what you've said here and on other posts) you'd be better off starting out with a different agency and gleaning what you can from a senior broker - and then switch to Pari Passu when you've built a client base. If you don't make any money in your first few months at another agency, at least you're not paying out of pocket. But at Pari Passu you pay them even while you're essentially still in training. And (if this is still true) there's no one to train you. Even the founders of Pari Passu sell the company as a boon for experienced agents - not really as a place for newbies. Unless that's changed in the past few years...

Agents have a lot of flexibility to make deals happen at plenty of "traditional" firms. The big upside to Pari Passu is getting to keep 90% of your commission. But until you know where those commissions are coming from, it's probably best to avoid paying out of pocket for services the traditional firms will provide for free, plus their training.

At any rate, interview with a few different firms to see where you feel you fit best. My guess is that you'll know where you belong when you get there. Keep going till you find the right place.

Tina
(Brooklyn broker)

Wow. Going into RE brokerage now.

WOW.

I'm thinking of changing jobs to become a Freelance Supreme Court Justice.

:)) 30 Years, you made me laugh! Actually I'm champing at the bit to get started! My father was a real estate investor, alas in Michigan, which means I inherited hundreds of slow-moving acres...nonetheless, it really is the family business.

Thanks Tina, I'm going to follow your sage advice, it rings true with a lot of other sources. Yes you're exactly right about Pari Passu. They only charge $99/month, very affordable, but I see no way to talk shop with other agents, shadow and hang out with experienced agents, help them out at open houses, etc., within their business model. Thanks again for sharing your expertise.

"My father was a real estate investor, alas in Michigan"

Really? You sounded a little Michugenah.

Fluter, did you get your license yet?

I am with a firm. We only have open listings, and I pay desk fees (I don't even have a desk/computer or phone but I pay desk fees) and craigslist fees. I have found several new management companies the past few months (only open listings as well). That I have shared with my firm. I have been with them since obtaining my license 6 months ago.
I am feeling somewhat torn as I know other firms offer better deals to their newer agents then what I get. And they probably have much more in terms of listings. With having access to open listings only, not having an office with a desk/computer/phone, I might as well be at Pari Passu. I do my computer work from home.

Any experiences with larger agency's? Are they really the way to go as a newbie?
Any advice appreciated

nycrentals/Fluter: I offer agents a 95% split and will be looking to start hiring in January as we expand our business plan. I have been a successful agent in NYC for almost 20 years and started this company to offer both agents and clients an alternative. Feel free to call me to discuss what we are doing and what we can offer you.

www.theburkhardtgroup.com

Keith

Greetings, NYCrentals and Keith B, thank you for reinvigorating the thread.

I really don't want to blow my cover....so pardon some vagueness here....

I think what KeithB doing is fantastic, and if I weren't so happy where I am, I would definitely be talking with Keith. In my opinion their business model is excellent.

I got my salesperson license in late July and I love my job. After more than two months at another firm, I ended up at Charles Rutenberg LLC and I am happy, happy, happy, and I recommend these fine people to anyone. Even if you're new, if you have the right spirit and can afford to invest in yourself with a monthly fee and some other support services, such as advertising packages, it's a great place.

Since I'm sure you want to know: I have a couple of sales deals either in contract now or going into contract next week. These were all strangers, I don't have much personal network at all. These will be my first paychecks. I tried rentals at previous firm but I don't like rentals so I don't do rentals.

While I am new to being an agent, I'm a real estate investor and my parents were also, so I kinda grew up on this stuff. To learn about being an agent, I bought about $200 worth of books at Amazon.com, and those books have helped me more than anything other than my own personal experience in real estate.

Also, I've been an independent contractor almost all my life, so that's all I know. I bring an entrepreneurial perspective to this job too, not a employee perspective. I happen to like paying fees for services I want, and I like deciding which advertising to use, or not use. Not everybody is of this mindset, obviously.

As far as "more in terms of listings" at another firm, nycrentals, I wouldn't count on it, unless you're just talking rentals. It seems to me sales listings are scarcer and buyers are scarcer than they were a few years ago. Even if the big firms get more sales listings, they're not going to give you access to them, they'll give them to their Senior Executive Vice President Directors.

One great bit of advice I heard is that if your office manager is competing with you for listings, run from that place. By law the office manager has to be licensed as an associate broker, but that doesn't mean they have to be working listings and intercepting your efforts at generating your own business. At my previous firm, once I happened to be near the door when the buzzer rang, so I went to open it, and the office manager almost knocked me down. That's when I first started to get hip to this.

At my previous firm, agents pay nothing to work there, $0, but I, at least, got no help at all. In fact, anything I asked for they would say sure and then it never happened, even if I pestered them a few times. Advertising was free, but you had to wait 10-14 days to get your ads activated. I'd rather pay a few bucks and get my ads out there immediately.

Charles Rutenberg has seminars almost every week and I always pick up tips and good info when I attend. But you don't have to attend, which is fantastic, because at times I've had scheduling conflicts with showing appointments. I like that I can put the client or potential client first. You can also listen in by phone if you want.

The things I didn't like about Pari Passu is their website, which had bugs when I toured it, and the name itself, which I think puts them at a disadvantage. United Parcel Service changed its name to "UPS" for a reason. Also, it seems to be run by one person, I prefer to see business partnerships. But I liked the idea, so when I heard about Rutenberg, which seems similar, I moved to them.

Hope this is helpful ~

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

KeithB, I will be contact you! Great website, and I like your concept.

Fluter, it sounds like you are happy where you are. Congratulations on your 2 sales deals. Were you also at a large firm prior to Charles Rutenberg?

Fluter would love to meet for coffee and talk shop. :) Look forward to the call nycrentals...

Sorry guys that is from KeithB...

Ah, KeithB, but if we meet, my cover would be blown ;) But thank you anyway.

What remains to be seen about these alternative business models (and there are several agencies out there doing creative things) is whether the firms themselves can survive more than a few years. Discount brokerages based on the traditional model, with limited services, in general do not; at least I watched at least one fold around here.

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

Fluter: your cover is already blown, you gave out your mobile # :)

I agree, you can't offer limited service, you have to offer a multitude of services. That is why I have been able to have a very, very strong year in one of the worst markets ever. Pari and Rutenberg are a step in the right direction giving agents a bigger slice of the pie (like ReMax), but their business model is the same old same old. Of course it works if you are a good agent, a good agent will make money anywhere he/she works, a good agent can write his/her own ticket at any firm.

I have been successful for 20 years and it has not always been easy, just like any other job. I can't guarantee that an agent working with me will be successful , but I can open your eyes to some dynamic new ways to be creative and build a prosperous business. I want to teach agents to think outside of the box, get creative, go beyond 15% of the first years rent, 6% sales commission, office pep meetings etc...We are not simply a discount broker, you HAVE to be more creative than that.

and for second place...a set of steak knives..third place..you're fired!

Yeah...guess I got a little carried away, but that's part of my charm. lol.

Fluter,
You say "Even if the big firms get more sales listings, they're not going to give you access to them, they'll give them to their Senior Executive Vice President Directors." No company gives you listings, you have to get them on your own. As far as giving you access to listings, if you are working with a buyer, you have access to every listing of every REBNY company. We all co-broke. There are also fees at all companies, they just vary in what is free and what you pay for. Additionally in the "big firms" there is "technology fee" or "cost of business" fee taken out of your commissions. this is a yearly figure. To me by far what is the most important is to be somewhere honest and ethical, and to always conduct yourself that way as well.

All I have to say is that you get what you pay for. "Discount broker = discount service"

KeithB- I have been away over the holidays and completely forgot about this thread as I haven't been on the boards much other then to check the new rentals hotsheet ...then the other day I received an email that we were both cc'ed on (it's a small world), and I though to myself - I think this is KeithB from the streeteasy thread - And after checking your email url, it realized that yes, it was :)

I will email you this week as I am quite interested in discussing things with you - I am still at the same place pounding the pavement - but had a great december month.

nycrentals: Look forward to your email. I was in Costa Rica most of December and unfortunately suffered a very severe back injury surfing. Lost the feeling in my legs for about 10 seconds after impacting the sand! Scary...Slowly getting better, can walk again!!

See my blog for my take on Discount brokers: www.nycrentrant.blogspot.com

If you're a good agent you will thrive under a broker centric model like ours, where you keep 95% of the commission on sales deals and there is a sliding scale for rentals from $250 dollars capping at $750 per transaction.

Best,

Keith (broker)

KeithB

I just sent you a mini novel - and my apologies if the email seemed a bit mangled - I tend to go off on tangents when I start writing my thoughts :)

Hey Keith, so sorry about the surf injury! Get Well Soon!

New agents - companies like Parri Passu or Charles Ruttenberg are the last places you'd want to work. They have no listings so earning 90 or 100% splits on zero deals is not so much money. The reason they can pay 90% splits is because they don't hire listings agents or managerial support. You end up showing other brokers' listings off of OLR or else all the open listings that every XYZ company has. You cannot make a living that way.

You need to work at a company that has exclusive listings and also has a good reputation. Exclusive listings are the key to making money in this business, otherwise you're chasing open listings and competing with the whole city. And if a company has 10 exclusive listings on average each month and 100 agents, then you'll also be broke. Find a smaller neighborhood-oriented brokerage that has many exclusives and few agents. This is how you build a real career in rentals!

So glad I found this board... I am looking to become a new agent [*ACK!*], focusing on rentals in this market. Glad to read everyone's comments before I take the plunge. I have a good deal of business experience, particularly sales and working for myself, but I am trying to very quickly come up to speed on the real estate industry. Have lived in the same rent stabilized apartment in the East 50s for many years now, so a little out of touch. Would like to hear more thoughts on what places are good places to start as a new agent in the current environment. And, Keith, are you still open to taking on new agents?