Linda Anderson, broker/owner of Diablo Realty in Walnut Creek, CA, discusses how the company cut costs, servicing REOs and Short Sales, restructuring offices for the future, and more.

What have been the best cost-saving measures you have taken? We began tightening our belts in August 2007. By the end of the first quarter we reduced staff by 39%. This was a bold step and one we agonized over because these people were part of our “family” at Diablo Realty, and we were offering the best service to the agents of any office in our community. Looking back, it was the best move we could have made — one position was eliminated altogether, one position became a part-time position, and one position was taken over by me and two agents. With the cooperation of the agents and the remaining staff stepping up to the plate to take on additional tasks/roles, we are running as before in most areas. The agents and the staff are very close and supportive of one another in this “survival mode.” The second important thing that we did was to rearrange the office to again accommodate a meeting space within our office for staff meetings, speakers for training sessions, socializing and networking, and a space for agents to provide workshops for their clients on the issues of the market today. It has been an excellent move. The agents really like being able to stay in-house for meetings. We provide snacks so they don’t have to purchase a meal, and the room can be arranged around a large conference table or in a more informal seating “around a coffee table. When we have speakers, we arrange the room with rows of folding chairs, which accommodates all agents plus the presenters.

What do you think will be the key real estate trends in 2009-2012, and how are you preparing for them? Key trends for 2009-10 will be retooling ourselves to work REOs and Short Sales. We have been working on this since mid 2008, but we are not geared up like some of our LeadingRE partners in NORCAL, some of whom saw their markets plunge in 2007. We are still optimistic about combining our Relocation Department and the Foreclosure/REO Department to service a much greater volume of business that is “company structured” verses “individual agent structured,” as it is today. We will see our market level off and come out of the current situation, as more buyers are able to get loans and more sellers are able to modify mortgages to stay in their homes. When they cannot, we are experienced in guiding them through the Short Sale process. In the meantime, I am taking advantage of an incredible opportunity which has been made available to many of the brokerages in our association to do some strategy planning for the future market AFTER this current market condition has run its course. We are meeting with one of the top Brokerage Designers in the country, and those brokers who are taking advantage of this expertise at the expense of the Association will be ready for it before it is upon us.

If you could re-invent your company in any way possible, what would it look like? I will keep this one simple: we have a team of experienced agents/brokers who have been with us for 20+ years and most have been quick to adapt to combining their traditional referral based business with contracts to market REO properties, reinventing themselves to become “green certified,” while others are struggling to obtain their business through more non-traditional means. If I could reinvent our model, I would keep these valued agents who can take care of themselves and start a new division with Net Generation agents in their twenties and thirties, who think outside the box armed with all the tech gadgets and who do business a completely different way. This division will be consumer centered, as well as broker centered, but not necessarily agent centered as traditional real estate has been for many years.

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