Cece Ellis And Joe Weinzetl: Top Tips For New Brokers

This article provides tips for navigating the early stages of your brokerage. 

Cece Ellis, Broker/Owner at Ellis Luxury Homes in Saint Louis Missouri, and Joe Weinzetl, Broker/Owner at Greater Midwest Realty (GMR) in Minnesota, Wisconsin, spoke to our founder, Dane Maxwell, as part of a roundtable event where Paperless Pipeline users shared insights on adapting to the current real estate downturn. 

This article is part of a series based on that event. To learn more, check out Secrets on How Brokers Recruit and Increase Production As Rates Rise, or scroll to the bottom of this page to see the other speakers. 

Two Routes to Becoming a Broker

CeCe and Joe have both recently become brokers. However, they are in different positions and have taken different approaches. 

CeCe recently started her own brokerage from scratch, while Joe purchased an existing brokerage when the owner retired.

We were excited to hear about their experiences and insights. 

CeCe Ellis: A New Brokerage

CeCe had been working at a large brokerage. However, she was concerned that the company wasn’t getting value from its franchise. She also felt that the broker wasn’t doing enough to build relationships with agents. 

These issues eventually led to her leaving the business and setting up her own brokerage. 

Always build relationships

CeCe believes that building relationships with other agents is critical to the success of any brokerage. She always sends a card and an email to thank those she works with. 

But little did she know that this approach would be a great recruitment strategy. When she announced that she was starting her own brokerage, around eight agents contacted her asking if they could join. 

When we spoke to CeCe, her brokerage was just two weeks old. She shared some of her insights with us. 

Tech is tough

CeCe explained that large brokerages typically provide agent training via the big expensive software they buy for them. This means those agents don’t know how to operate without the expensive software. This effectively locks agents in and makes it harder for them to start independently. 

This is exactly what happened to CeCe. She had to discover which tools to use from scratch. Luckily she found Paperless Pipeline. Our customer success team has been helping CeCe get her transaction management processes up and running. CeCe was blown away by how easy Paperless Pipeline was to use. With her previous brokerage, she used up to five different tools to manage transactions. Now she only uses one. 

Use tools to recruit

Relationships aren’t the only recruiting method that CeCe has discovered. Because most agents are locked in to their brokerage’s software, they don’t realize how painful the transaction management process is. By explaining her tech stack to agents, CeCe shows them just how easy their lives can be. She even lets them use her Paperless Pipeline account to manage some transactions. 

Joe Weinzetl: Buying a Brokerage

Joe has been a licensed agent since 2012. Starting as a part-time agent at GMR, he went full-time in 2016 and moved to a big box brokerage, where he started his own team. The team achieved 150 transactions in their top year.

Joe had always wanted to be a broker and loved working at GMR. When he left the company, he asked the owner to contact him if they ever wanted to sell up.

They stayed in touch for three years and in 2020, he got that call. 

The deal

Joe bought equity in GMR for six months in July 2020. Before becoming the sole owner in January 2021. Getting a loan to buy the business would have been complicated. The company’s previous broker owned the building, so Joe bought that off them instead, with the company attached. In total, Joe paid a 20% deposit for the building, 10% of which he borrowed from the previous broker. Joe makes regular repayments to them, including interest. This deal works well for both parties. 

The review

GMR had been around for over 20 years when Joe took over. The previous broker had run the business well and the agents were very loyal. But revenues were declining. 

Immediately after the acquisition, Joe reviewed the business. He looked for ways to boost revenue and cut expenses. First, he removed the company’s satellite offices and moved all agents to remote working. The head office would still be available for them to use. 

He also devised several new revenue streams, including:

  • A loan originator program for top agents
  • Renting out office space as shared workspace
  • Providing a transaction coordinator and compliance officer outsourcing service
  • Offering agent coaching

New tech

GMR’s previous owner hadn’t invested in new tech. Joe knew that doing so would improve the company’s efficiency.  

Joe started researching options. Joe likes to take a macro approach to choosing software, letting his agents and staff tell him what they want to use. Ultimately, the company chose KvCORE as its CRM and their transaction coordinator chose Paperless Pipeline. 

Survive the Real Estate Downturn with Paperless Pipeline

If you found this information valuable, then why not check out advice from other contributors at the webinar, including:

One way to survive the real estate downturn is to make your closing process faster and more reliable with Paperless Pipeline. 

We know that switching to new software during this time feels risky. That’s why we offer a free trial—no credit card details are required.