Zip Realty on Baypine Road in Jacksonville’s Baymeadows area. The office opened in May and has 35 agents.
THE LEADERS
• Stephanie White is the full-time non-competing district broker of the office. “My major function is to teach the contract and to monitor compliance,” she said. “I help agents go through the process of negotiating, executing and making sure all their documents are correct. I then help make sure it gets to the closing table.”
• Shawn O’Neill is the district director. “His role is primarily the budget and overseeing the sale,” said White. “He makes sure the numbers are there and they are getting to the point of writing the offer. He does a lot of the training on prospecting. He’s more focused on the numbers and budget side.”
THE OFFICE?
Though the company has a physical office, all of the agents work from their homes. “We have a training room with 10 computers, a conference room, private offices for the management and two vacant private offices. We encourage the agents to bring their laptop and come in. If they want to make phone calls here, we are always available for them and we encourage them to do that.”
MONITORING THE FILES?
White and a closing service manager monitor the files to determine risk. “We look at every deal that’s pending for the next 30 days. We give it a status of risk with a percentage of whether it will close or not. If it’s not looking like it’s going to close, we are proactive in getting involved. If we need to talk to the lender, title company or surveyor, or whatever the issue is, we are very hands-on to make sure the deal gets closed.”
TEAM LEADERS
There’s a team leader for every 15 agents. “They receive a small amount of pay for being available as a second tier to the agents. Sometimes an agent may have a question that is more appropriately answered by someone in the field, such as a Multiple Listing Service question or how they did a certain showing. It creates more of a peer support system.”
COMPANY HISTORY
A couple of California graduate students came up with the concept. They were both looking for housing and they said there has to be a better way to do this. All their data was stored on a zip drive and, when it came time to name the company, they decided on Zip Realty.
Zip Realty was founded in 1999 and became publicly traded in 2004. It is in 17 states and 28 major metropolitan markets. “We are not a franchise, which means we have a lot of consistency and conformity. Every office in every district has the same policies, marketing materials and access to the same information. All agents are employees. After month one, they are eligible for 401(k.) After month six, they are eligible for benefits. We are not a discount brokerage but we do give 20 percent of the company’s commission to the buyer that works with our Realtor.”
TEAM MEETINGS?
White said they hold an “All Hands” meeting once a month. “The agents are required to attend and we usually have a speaker cover a topic we think needs to be discussed. We have a ‘Zip Rally’ each quarter that is geared to be more fun. We have awards based on phone calls, listings and sales.”
TRAINING?
Zip Realty has a trainer come twice a month for a week each time. “We do a week of training for all new agents regardless of their level of experience.”
WHAT TYPE OF QUALITIES DO YOU LOOK FOR IN AGENTS?
“That’s one of the bigger challenges. We have such a different business model and we expect a full-time commitment period. There’s not much latitude there at all.”
WEBSITE
www.ziprealty.com
— by Michele Newbern Gillis