What’s your degree of difficulty in real estate?
As with Olympic gymnastics moves, we could rate real estate transactions by their degree of difficulty. Our rapport—or lack thereof—with the client or other agent, the circumstances, the negotiations: each component ranges from easy to hard.
Then there are the doozies. From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Doozy (noun): an extraordinary one of its kind
In gymnastics, doozies are those moves achieved first and often exclusively by a certain athlete: Simone Biles has five moves named after her. The degree of difficulty is so high her scores grow exponentially.
In real estate, the doozy is the multiple-sibling seller with lots of emotions and complicated communication; or the cash-poor buyer who keeps getting beat out but keeps searching even after all those unsuccessful offers. Doozies have an extra portion of The God Layer and feel miraculous when they close.
Longtime agents say that over years of transactions, they only remember the doozies. Doozy work can be excruciatingly difficult and stretch us to the max—but we become better agents and humans for it. When we up the degree of difficulty, this already rewarding job grows even more meaningful.
Call me crazy, but I feel God challenging me to up the degree of difficulty in my real estate practice. I’ve been thinking and praying about how to prioritize and make more room—for the doozies.
Pro Bono Real Estate: Why and How
Rob Hahn is a straight-talking real estate industry pundit with a legal background. He tackles the questions we agents ponder but are too timid to say out loud. Hahn recently wrote extensively and passionately about pro bono real estate, and it lit a fire under me. I’ve read his article more than a dozen times trying to absorb all the visionary ideas. Please take a few minutes to read it.
Pro bono publico (Latin phrase): for the public good
Attorneys are mandated to take pro bono clients—the underserved and underprivileged—to give fair access to all who need legal help but can’t afford it. Why isn’t this more common in real estate? I know, I know—if someone can afford a mortgage, they can afford to pay a real estate agent—but every agent has met a client whose situation broke their heart. Pro bono work could be for a special type of real estate doozy.
In his article, Hahn outlines how real estate brokerages might adopt a pro bono arm:
The pro bono program I would launch would have two parts: unpaid and subsidized.
Unpaid pro bono is exactly what it sounds like: the agent can simply represent whoever he or she wants for free. Maybe it’s a young couple they know, or a veteran they go to church with. It’s the agent’s time and energy, and if she wants to help a non-paying client, management should approve nearly all such requests.
Subsidized pro bono involves the company paying the agent to enable her to represent a deserving client for free. Keep in mind that the lawyers who do pro bono work are paid by the firm, because they’re usually on salary. So the company should pay the agents to do pro bono work.
On the flip side, nobody is going to get rich doing pro bono work. Lawyers don’t get bonuses because of pro bono work. So, the payment would be a fraction of what normal market-rate compensation would be.
Hahn further fleshes out how much a pro bono commission might be and how to qualify who deserves a pro bono transaction. I love his idea to pair newer agents with experienced ones to work pro bono transactions together as a training ground.
Pro bono work also makes sense in this new era (circa August 17, 2024) of negotiable buy-side commissions. A buyer’s offer will gather strength if her agent requires a substantially lower commission from the seller. Or, if the buyer must pay some or all of the commission, more of her limited cash can be applied to the home purchase and equity instead of paying her agent.
Brokers doing missional real estate
I recently met with two Hawaii brokers who incorporate some pro bono real estate into their practice. One allows his small company of agents autonomy to decide what they charge each client—putting people and relationships before profits. He has paid out of pocket for expenses in transactions above and beyond the commission he received. The other independent broker told me she didn’t charge a client who was a church.
The first broker’s company also handles all the rental agreements—at greatly reduced fees—for the non-profit Institute for Human Service’s Kahauiki Village, a plantation-style permanent supportive housing community for formerly homeless households.
These brokers are serving the Lord as they serve their real estate clients. Degree of difficulty: as hard as it gets. Earnings: very small if not negative… but how extremely rewarding is this real estate with a mission.
Do you know of a real estate broker who does missional or pro bono work? Please share—I want to learn more!
10x is Easier than 2x
10x is Easier than 2x, by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy, is a business book that teaches how, instead of doing a little more of the same old thing which might result in a 2x increase, a radical mindset shift can lead to a 10x increase in productivity and income.
The book inspires you to identify and go after your best business life. Rather than 10x profits, I felt God planting a desire to 10x the social impact of my real estate practice. Real estate is inherently meaningful, but I want a 10x increase for more life-changing, life-giving, doozy-type transactions and relationships—to glorify Him!
What a God-led realty company might look like
Hahn correctly writes that move-up and luxury buyers—and most sellers—aren’t appropriate clients for pro bono realty work. A pro bono brokerage could only survive financially by also serving regular paying clientele. These clients would become vital, valuable contributors to the cause.
Here’s how a pro bono brokerage might look:
A mission-minded realty company is formed, possibly as a non-profit.
A budget to balance paid and pro bono transactions would be maintained.
Agents paid a living wage on salary with a reasonable minimum expectation of transactions worked for the brokerage. Or, a combination of a smaller salary plus modest bonuses per closing might be another model.
Qualified first-time buyers would be considered for pro bono or discounted commission. They must be buying at or below the current median home price.
Sellers and non-first-time buyers would pay the brokerage a customary commission. This income will fund the agent salaries—and the pro bono work.
Supporters who don’t currently need real estate help could donate to the non-profit. If they do a transaction with the brokerage in the future, their donations would be taken into consideration toward their commission owed.
I need to research more about non-profits and tax code, and query paying clients if they would support such a brokerage. I welcome any and all comments and criticisms—please share your insight and feedback! This idea seems to be untested territory: nothing pertinent comes up when I search “pro bono real estate” online except Hahn’s article and this NAR one shooting it down. Are some doing pro bono work but keeping quiet and humble about it? Or have others tried and failed?
The Narrow Gate
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
My pastor at Bluewater Mission, Jordan Seng, recently preached on Matthew 7:13-14 (NLT, above)—the famous passage of the easy wide road vs the difficult narrow road. Living out one’s best Christian life is not the popular way of the crowd. Creating a missional real estate brokerage might be similarly unpopular. It might require a 10x mindset shift and it will have an extreme degree of difficulty. Whether it succeeds or fails, I believe it would give glory to God.
A few years ago, long before I had ever heard or thought about pro bono real estate, God gave me a name for a brokerage if ever I went independent. I ended up using that name last year when I wrote my first book and needed to create a publishing company: “For the Good Publishing”—taken from Romans 8:28.
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
My missional brokerage would be called “For the Good Realty”—not only after Romans 8:28, but also from the translation of “pro bono”—for good—from the Latin. God did a thing there!
I will continue praying for God’s will and guidance. I believe there is a way—maybe through a narrow, difficult gate—for a pro bono brokerage to not only survive financially but to thrive in its mission.
Agents: Would you be crazy and inspired enough to work at such a missional brokerage? Would you work on a salary, earning much less—for the good? I want to hear from you!
Sellers and higher-end buyers: What would incentivize you to give a missional brokerage your business?
Matthew 10:39 (NLT)
If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.