Crossland Real Estate News & Thoughts

 Thursday, October 06, 2011

I broker a real estate office in OKC. Whenever I can I like to travel and explore new areas of this beautiful country and many times the Real Estate Business allows me that opportunity.  How fortunate I was last week to stay one night and day at Cape Cod.  The Atlantic Ocean was breathtaking, the shops and lunch at  Provincetown, MA were charming and the housing styles were, well,  Cape Cod. Quite different from our brick houses back in OK. The best part was enjoying the tour of  the Cape with my business associate and friend, Roberta Conway with WRRI. Last April when she was in OKC working on a group move for Continental Resources from Enid to OKC, she commented about the how the sun light is so different at the Cape. She's lived there for over 20 years. As a youngster from CT, her family would vacation there in the summer. It’s the most beautiful place to live, and so close to Boston.  She invited me to come see her if ever I was in the area. Well lo and behold, the door just opened up and off I went a day early to explore the sun lit Cape Cod towns and beaches. The weather was beautiful, 80 degrees; people were actually out on the beach sunbathing on Sept. 27. What perfect timing.  I would be eating fish and lobster and steamed clams for most of my meals.

The purpose of the trip was the annual meeting with my national peer group from Leading Real Estate Companies of The World ,to visit the offices of one of our members.  We call ourselves the POETS and our focus and primary purpose is to share ideas, trends, and hot topics, but as importantly, we take turns being the host company. The peer group consults with the host broker to help them by identifying the positives of the company and help locate areas for improvement to the business. Our host company Coco, Early and Associates were phenomenal! They have tremendous growth over the past four years just when many firms are scaling back, they have boldly earned a  large market share, recruited quality associates and new locations to serve Methuen, Andover, and areas nearby, well into New Hampshire.

The common thread which unites our group is we all are Independently Owned businesses, and members of the world’s largest broker to broker referral network, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, or LeadingRE, as it’s called. It was great to meet with most of the group from FL, CA, TX , OH, IL, and me, proud to be the OKIE in the group. We were so fortunate to have Pam O’Conner. President and CEO of Leading RE arrange to meet with us as she was making her way to Pittsburgh.

The Salvatore restaurant at the Riverwalk in Lawrence, Mass has a fabulous deck overlooking the Merrimack River. It was energizing taking in the serene view at sunset and catching up with one another in person. The popular Salvatore restaurant served delicious hors d'oeuvres and entrees. Naturally,  I had the fresh lobster catch. It was a lovely place for us to meet Monday night. Later some watched the Red Sox game on TV in the lounge.

Tues morning instead of my usual weekly business meeting with associates at Crossland Real Estate back in OKC, the POETS peer group started to work. It was an all day event, hearing about the operations of the company, learning of their strengths and concerns, meeting their outstanding agents and office managers via cruising in a Rock Star Tour Bus from location to location. Then we went back to the conference room at the Wyndham in Andover, MA  without our hosts to tabulate our findings.  Blaise Coco and Linda Early had every detail covered. Tuesday night we boarded our Rock Star Limo Bus and went to a casual long time favorite restaurant called Browns Seafood Lobster Pound in Seabrook, NH. The lobster and steamed clams  were heavenly!  After dinner on the way back to the hotel we stopped for ice cream for dessert. We had to go inside and order because the bus wouldn't’t fit through the drive through! Our big heads might have caused that, we were something special riding in the sleek tricked out bus! It was even more special that our President and CEO, Pam O’Conner joined us for dinner on Tuesday. With her busy schedule it was fun for us to have her with us and so gracious of her to come to dinner and play with the POET brokers. We all had a good time and had our fill of seafood, but there was one hamburger served. The non-seafood person caught a lot of flack for that!

Wednesday morning Pam addressed the group  Thursday, October 06, 2011with the latest news and updates from Leading RE before she went on to other meetings with member brokers.  Our group facilitators, J.D. Rinehart and Michael Hickman presented our findings for Blaise and Linda.  Brainstorming and discussing new ideas and ways to improve our real estate companies was beneficial for us all. We look forward to our meeting at the exciting annual conference in Orlando, 2012,  but the meeting in the host city with the POETS is anticipated all year. Thanks to Roberta, the POETS and Pam for making the Boston trip so amazing!

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.- Lou Holtz