In the following interview, Abe Lee, owner of CENTURY 21 iProperties Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii, discusses the advantages of the brand, technology, training and more.
Region Served: Hawaiian Islands
Years in Real Estate: 43
Number of Offices: 1
Number of Agents: 130
Best Time Management Tip: Follow Stephen Covey’s “4 Quadrants of Time Management:” Prioritize and schedule urgent tasks, then work other activities around top priorities.
Key to Staying Profitable: Keep costs to a minimum, spend where you need to, keep to your budget, and don’t splurge.
No. 1 Tip for Working With First-Time Buyers: My Kindle book, “How to Become a First-Time Homebuyer,” offers helpful advice for real estate professionals to better serve first-time clients who may be afraid or need guidance on what to do.
You have one of the biggest REALTOR® training programs in Hawaii. Why do so many students come to you for training?
Students like the fact that I’m a practicing REALTOR® who teaches from real-life situations related to how to pass the state exam and how to prepare for the real world of real estate. I stress the importance of being honest, having a great attitude and finding a brokerage that will provide excellent training. The ability to offer the CENTURY 21® learning platform makes us one of the best training programs in Hawaii, and we’re the only school with over 215 five-star Yelp reviews.
Talk about your reputation for helping both students and experienced agents keep up with changing real estate trends. We’re the only school that has a videotaped pre-licensing course, in addition to live courses and over 44 continuing education courses online with a wide range of topics taught by excellent teachers. We update our courses regularly, and attend seminars and share information from the nonprofit Hawaii Homeownership Center, which teaches people how to prepare for becoming a homeowner.
How is CENTURY 21 iProperties Hawaii utilizing the C21® Zap® platform, and why is it a game changer for your team?
Our office is just learning the Zap program and we are excited about all the tools it offers both agents and clients, particularly its CRM program. I recently uploaded 480 contacts from my other CRM database to the Zap platform, and I’m confident that keeping in touch with clients through the Zap platform will be much easier and more efficient.
What’s the most important thing real estate professionals need to understand when serving clients from other cultures?
Knowing the culture of each country is very important, so our office offers native speakers from Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Tonga, South America and France. Hawaii is an attraction because we’re close to Asian countries and the mainland United States. We’re able to work more successfully with C21 affiliates from around the world because we’re familiar with various cultures and are better positioned to help them adjust to Hawaii.
For more information, please visit www.c21ipropertieshawaii.com.
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