Metro Brokers TV:  Hi.  I am Amy Chase and welcome to Metro Brokers TV.  I am here today with Mike Hixon of Hixon and Associates.  Mike is out of the southeast suburban Metro Brokers office.  Mike welcome.

Mike Hixon:  Thank you.

Metro Brokers TV:  Thanks for coming today.

Mike Hixon:  You are welcome.

Metro Brokers TV:  And I would like to hear a little bit about you, how long have you been in the business and how long have you been with Metro Brokers.

Mike Hixon:  I got my real estate license in 1985 and I joined Metro Brokers in January of 2003.

Metro Brokers TV:  Okay.  So, you have been around to see some of these trends and some of these changes within our market.

Mike Hixon:  A couple.

Metro Brokers TV:  A couple, just a few, eh?

Mike Hixon:  Just a couple.

Metro Brokers TV:  All right and I know that you are active within Metro Brokers.  You are currently serving on our membership and communications committees.  Okay.  Well, one of the things that I think is unique about Metro Brokers is that our membership is growing despite a down-turned[Phonetic] market.  Can you tell us a little bit about what you are seeing and what your experience with that is on membership?

Mike Hixon:  Yeah, it is growing.  Last year we had several offices open up that in a downturn[Phonetic] market is pretty impressive.  I mean there is a lot of folks are going the other way.  We are actually opening up several offices or did open up several offices and in our last two membership orientation there were well over 30% of RE/MAX brokers, former RE/MAX brokers that were in attendance.

Metro Brokers TV:  And we are also pulling from other firms as well.  Where are you seeing other people come from?

Mike Hixon:  Keller Williams is a significant number of folks who came in the last orientation.

Metro Brokers TV:  What are you hearing from those folks?  What do you think the reason is why they are leaving RE/MAX and Keller and coming to Metro instead?

Mike Hixon:  I think without a doubt it's our business model.  When you look at Metro Brokers business model versus some of the other large franchise firms we are just a real true independent thinking office or organization that you can actually go out, open up your own office and not have to worry about you know large fees and big office issues that we don't have to deal with.  We are truly independent.

Metro Brokers TV:  Yeah, that is unique with Metro.  For somebody who is considering looking at Metro Brokers as a place to hang your sign, what would you like to say to them, what do you think is important for potential members to know?

Mike Hixon:  What are you waiting on?  I think you should get on over here.  When you look at what we have in our business model along with the support for Metro Brokers and all the training models[Phonetic] and... we are very... we are a lot more... we are thinking a lot more out of the box and a lot of folks[Phonetic].  We have a great media campaign going on, a lot of synergy, the offices are working together better than most offices you will find don't have that type of synergy what we do.

Metro Brokers TV:  And we are all over the city.

Mike Hixon:  All over.  In the mountains and....

Metro Brokers TV:  In essence.

Mike Hixon:  Yeah.

Metro Brokers TV:  An office for everyone.

Mike Hixon:  There is, there truly is.  There is you know like if you don't like a certain setup you can find an office just about anywhere that you fit.

Metro Brokers TV:  Terrific.  Mike, thanks so much for coming today.

Mike Hixon:  You are welcome.  Thank you.

Metro Brokers TV:  All right.  You bet.

Posted in Advantages, Membership Info

MetrobrokersTV: Hi. Welcome to Metro Brokers TV. I am Robin Wood and I have the pleasure today of speaking with Bob Luna from Metro Brokers Crescent Properties, LLC. Thanks for joining us Bob.

Bob Luna: Good to be here Robin.

MetrobrokersTV: So, congratulations first of all for becoming the President Elect for 2010.

Bob Luna: Oh thank you.

MetrobrokersTV: For Metro Brokers Organization. How long have you been with us, with Metro Brokers?

Bob Luna: With Metro Brokers, nine years now.

MetrobrokersTV: And how long have you been in the business?

ob Luna: It's 30 years. So, a long time.

MetrobrokersTV: Different companies?

Bob Luna: Different companies. Started out with Century 21, went to RE/MAX, and finally saw the light. I think that this is the place where I am going to be for a long time.

MetrobrokersTV: Excellent. Excellent. Well, you definitely will be at the helm next year for us, thank you. So, tell me a little bit about your business.

Bob Luna: Most of my business is out of Boulder County. I manage an office in Lafayette. It's a very traditional little Victorian house. We get a lot of walk in traffic, have the little brochure boxes out front and it's just a lot of fun. So, it's antique furniture, the whole bit, but lot of technology in there.

MetrobrokersTV: Yes, there is. We do have so much technology in Metro Brokers and I imagine you will be using that to help with our membership as you take [Voice Cross Over].

Bob Luna: Well, that's what I am hoping for and promoting the outlying areas is the area that you know I think that Metro Brokers really needs to grow in, you know getting the message out. There is... we just started a Fort Collins Metro Broker office. The agent up there in one month has already gotten two leads from other Metro Brokers for two listings. So, she has gotten two listings just because of joining Metro Brokers right away. So, that's great.

MetrobrokersTV: That is great. What other areas do you think that we could really focus on trying to draw into this group, the successful Metro Brokers group?

Bob Luna: That's a good question. Colorado Springs I think is another sleeping giant for Metro Brokers. Grand Junction and again that whole northern corridor from Longmont, Loveland, and Fort Collins. So, very excited on trying to get the word out there as to what Metro Brokers is all about.

MetrobrokersTV: Now, what types of tools do you think we can use to let these areas know what we offer?

Bob Luna: Well Robin, we are in one of the best tools that they have right here at Metro Brokers TV. The other thing it's our online, the metrobrokersonline.com. That's all web based and it is all maps for the state. It has all the leads from all the MLS'. So, your searches can all be done from one place. Now, it offers lead generation and lead capture to all of our brokers. So, it's a phenomenal tool and getting that word out is the most important thing.

MetrobrokersTV: Thank you so much Bob for all that great information.

Bob Luna: Well thank you Robin. It has been my pleasure.

MetrobrokersTV: For more interviews and membership information, please join us at metrobrokerstv.com.

Posted in Advantages, From The President, Join Metro Brokers, Board Of Directors, Membership Info

Metro Brokers - The Differences

The purpose of this document is to a list of some of the unique "differences" Metro Brokers offers Agents that other franchises do not. It outlines the reasons why I came to Metro Brokers and why I plan to stay. My summary is intended to be helpful and assist other agents to make their decision as to where to hang their license.

What Metro Brokers  is NOT:

1. No 45,000 sf Trophy Mansion on a hilltop.

2. No Yacht for the exclusive use of management.

3. No private Golf & Country Club with restricted access.

4. No Corporate Jet for the convenience of executive management.

5. No MLM-style Ponzi scheme offering a retirement fund and burdening new agents.

6. No high agent fees and splits to pay for all of the above executive toys for the privileged few.

7. Disgruntled Agents complaining openly about their corporate overheads and performance.

8. Certainly not enough hot air to fill a balloon!

What Metro Brokers  IS:

Metro Brokers is a collaborative effort of funds, expertise, time, experience, and resources by Independent Agents who pool their efforts for mutual benefit. This results in economies of scale, better thought-out solutions, volume buying power, marketing, advertising, and shared cost of common tools, resources, software, blogs, and corporate staff. At year end, excess funds are rolled over into next year's budget. Metro Brokers is more a cooperative, than a franchise.

Metro Brokers supports ALL types of real estate - Land, Water Rights, Residential, Investment, Commercial, Office, Industrial and Property Management. Metro Brokers supports an enabling, inclusive, and independent attitude; not a restrictive "do it our way" attitude. Metro Brokers executives are personally approachable and sincerely dedicated to helping every Metro Brokers agent.

            1. On-line contracts software              2. Leading edge website

            3. Corporate training                           4. Corporate camaraderie

The Future Of Metro Brokers:

Most franchises operate on a competitive, "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?" premise. This is the narrowly focused "traditional" real estate office model that is out-of-date and on its way out.

(Paris Hilton says it best: "I'm not from the Olden Days.")

Metro Brokers promotes and encourages cooperation, shared effort, common goals, and has a "how-can-we-help-you?" premise. Very refreshing, very in tune with today's Clients, and headed to a bright future!

No, not perfect, but unlike franchises... Metro Brokers understands the problem... and they are working on it.

Ken Turnbull

Posted in Advantages, Join Metro Brokers, Membership Info

MetroBrokersTV: I am Amy Chase with Metro Brokers TV and we are here today with Dianne Haynes out of the Rifle office. Dianne, welcome

Dianne Haynes: Thank you. It's great to be here today

MetroBrokersTV: Great. Tell us a little bit about your office, where you are located, how many people are working underneath you and how things are going in Rifle, Colorado?

Dianne Haynes: We have seven brokers in our office, six of us are owners and if people don't know where Rifle is, it's between Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction, Colorado. People are usually more familiar with those towns, but we are kind of centered in the oil and gas industry explosion right now. We have a lot of influx of those kinds of people. We are very excited. We have been in business for a year-and-a-half and we welcome anybody to call us or come visit us on the web, look us up. We would be happy to visit and talk.

MetroBrokersTV: Great. So, your business is really booming right now.

Dianne Haynes: It's doing very well. We still have a lot of people who are what I would call transient workers who come in and work for a year or two and they are mainly renting, but we still have a lot of management type people in the industry and we have... the community of Rifle itself is drawing... our hospital is expanding, we have new doctors coming in and I do some work with them, helping them find homes; businesses are expanding. So, we do have, because of the influx of the oil and gas industry, so, it's kind of a domino effect and we are doing very well.

MetroBrokersTV: Great. Exciting times and also new to our website is the fact that the Aspen Rifle MLS is up and running now.

Dianne Haynes: Right.

MetroBrokersTV: Tell me a little bit about what that means for you and your business and your presence on the web.

Dianne Haynes: Well, Rifle is still kind of a small town. We are about 8000 people, but the Aspen Glenwood MLS encompasses quite a large area. So, for us to be on that and to be on the website is really meaningful to us because a lot of people still have not heard of Rifle, but they have heard of other... they have heard of Aspen, they have heard of Glenwood; so, when they go to those MLS' or look in that area, we are right there and we are just very pleased to have our presence finally there.

MetroBrokersTV: Great. Well, thanks so much for joining us today and we will talk to you soon.

Dianne Haynes: Thank you.

Posted in Join Metro Brokers, Who's New, MBI News, Metro Brokers Offices, Membership Info