Doing so was scary, Whitehouse noted, because income was offset by a worrisome amount of debt. But the gamble underlined the partners’ commitment to find new ways to add value while also growing profitability.
“We racked our brains to get lean and mean, trimming costs as seamlessly as we could without undermining the structure and stability that we were working so hard to give our agents,” Whitehouse explains.
One of the ways they did that was by creating a company culture that respects and encourages a healthy work/life balance.
“We may be part of a corporate conglomerate, but we operate family-style,” says Whitehouse. “That means our doors are open, we mentor and assist one another, and we make time to have fun together no matter how busy our work life may be.”
Among other things, they work side by side to raise funds for a non-profit agency they founded when an agent had a child with leukemia—an effort that has expanded to help local children with life threatening illnesses.
At a recent awards banquet, the company honored six agents with more than 30 years of service. RE/MAX Professionals’ agents, on average, have about 16 years of experience—a commendable rate of retention for a company whose per-agent production is among the highest in the nation.
In all, the company has grown from 230 agents and four locations in 2006 to more than 380 agents in eight locations today, positioning RE/MAX Professionals as one of the top real estate firms in the Denver Metro region, the seventh largest RE/MAX agency in the nation and the 13th largest globally.
