Most people in Jacksonville have never heard of the independent brokerage, La Rosa Realty. Then again, most people in Miami have never heard of Watson Realty.
Based in Orlando and with 17 branches statewide, La Rosa Realty launched in the Jacksonville market this week, celebrating the grand opening of its Southside office Tuesday.
Thirty-five agents already have signed on, and Jacksonville managing broker Tom Stewart’s goal is to recruit 150 by the end of the year.
The reason to scale up so quickly? Brand recognition.
“If you go to South Florida, everybody knows who La Rosa Realty is,” Stewart said. In Jacksonville, not so much.
But with more than 1,200 agents statewide, the brokerage rivals the size of Watson, based in Jacksonville, which has 1,350 agents, according to last year’s RISMedia survey.
Founded in 2004 by Joe La Rosa, the firm differentiates itself as a 100 percent commission company, “the fastest growing” one in the state of Florida, according to its website.
One hundred percent commission means agents don’t split their sales commissions with their broker. At traditional brokerages, the commission split can be as high as 50 percent.
“It’s what’s so obscene about real estate,” Stewart said, “that agents pay so much to their broker, when the agents do all the work.”
La Rosa earns its money by charging fees to Realtors — a flat fee of $345 per real estate sale, charged to the customer; a $36 monthly desk fee; fees for marketing services; and a fee to use its customer relationship management system.
It’s a model that can be attractive to top-producing agents, because it enables them to tailor the services they purchase from their broker.
But, Stewart said he enjoys training new agents and he plans to recruit some.
When Joe La Rosa first opened the real estate company in Celebration, it was to market homes built by his development company.
During the downturn, he switched to selling franchises nationally for another real estate brokerage, Casa Latino.
But in late 2010, he brought La Rosa Realty back, adopting its progressive business model.
“I felt with the downturn, Realtors were left in limbo,” La Rosa said. “They were giving so much to the brokerages in return just for the branding.”
Coming out of the recession there was an opportunity for new ideas to gain a foothold.
There are other 100 percent commission companies in the market, but each offers a different fee structure and many don’t have office support and education, he said.
La Rosa Realty offers title company services, back office support, webinar training, marketing and residual payments for agents that recruit other agents.
La Rosa will compete in the region with another 100 percent commission company, Florida Homes Realty & Mortgage. Based in Jacksonville, that company advertises over 500 agents statewide.
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