Scott Comey
CEO
Renee Comey
Broker/Owner
RE/MAX Elite and Motto Mortgage Elite
Lynnwood, Wash.
www.remaxelitebrokers.com
Region served: The Puget Sound region of Washington State
Years in real estate: Scott: 14; Renee: 9
Number of offices: 4
Number of agents: 93
How does being a part of RE/MAX help you and your agents do your jobs well?
Renee Comey: RE/MAX provides us with all of the key tools to run an excellent company.
Scott Comey: RE/MAX allows us to be in business for ourselves, not by ourselves. When I first got into the business and had an independent brokerage, I had to have third-party tools for my agents from many different third-party vendors. But
RE/MAX gives us all the key tools in one, which is huge.
Can you talk about your recent acquisition of First Choice Realty? Was it part of your strategy for growing the business?
SC: We’ve always been open to opportunities that make sense for us, and we know that some independents may not be poised to deal with the pandemic, so our coach encouraged us to build relationships with others in the market where an acquisition could be mutually beneficial for both businesses. Growth through acquisition has been a great strategy for us.
RC: We wanted to be able to help out. We all get burnt out in this business, and I think the professional who owned the independent brokerage wanted to step back. Now that we acquired her business, she is thriving, so it’s been a win-win.
What is your No. 1 piece of advice for hiring and retaining the best agents?
SC: You have to have a good culture and foundation. If you’re great at bringing agents in, but agents are leaving out the back door, you’ve missed the point. We have a solid support staff, solid tools and solid core values.
RC: And we listen. We ask our agents a lot of questions, including what they believe they’re missing. Then we give them what they say they need. In the end, it’s all about how we can best serve our agents.
What values do you operate your office by?
RC: We live by the philosophy that if we help enough agents achieve their aspirations, we will achieve our own. It’s written into our mission statement. We try to help as many agents as possible.
SC: One of our core values is community driven. As a high-producing office, we’ve received countless accolades for sales, as well as an award for our mortgage company, Motto Mortgage Elite. But none of that is as important as the award we got from the Secretary of State last year. Out of 600,000-plus businesses in the state, we were one of five selected to win the award for giving back to the community—and that, for us, is what we are all about.
Are there any fundamental changes you have made to your business during the pandemic?
RC: As a company, we are leaning in to giving clients options. When the world is going crazy, you want to be able to control something. We want sellers to be able to direct the ship, so we have set up solid safety protocols that sellers can work with their agent to implement as they are comfortable.
SC: Through Zoom, we’ve realized that you can get a lot out of virtual meetings, so having the ability to choose what meeting format is right for each agent and their clients has made a huge difference in allowing us to continue operations through the pandemic.
For more information, please visit www.remax.com.
Lesley Grand is a contributing editor to RISMedia.
