John and Jeff Finn
Broker/Owners
United Real Estate Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
www.UnitedRealEstateRichmond.com
Region served: Greater Richmond and Virginia Beach, Virginia
Years in real estate: John, 44; Jeff, 17
Number of offices: 2, with a third opening in September
Number of agents: 240
When did you join United Real Estate?
Jan. 20, 2015 was the day we signed our agreement with United Real Estate. At the time, our old firm had just six agents. Today, we have 240, which makes us the largest and fastest-growing brokerage office in Central Virginia.
Could you tell us more about the growth of your business since we last interviewed you in 2018?
Since we last spoke, we have added 100 more agents to our brokerage; we’ve started a title and escrow company; and we created an entity to provide our agents with cash management support services.
What originally attracted you to United Real Estate Network’s brokerage offerings, and why was United the best fit for you?
In 2014, with our old firm, we had a lot of the problems that many real estate companies have today. Most notably, it was difficult for us to keep up with technology changes in the industry. By the time we had the funds to afford state-of-the-art technology, it was no longer state-of-the-art. United Real Estate was the perfect match for us because it solved this problem and got us to where we wanted to go. Our Agent & Broker Productivity Platform—Bullseye—is our proprietary, cloud-based technology tool that contains the programs and services our agents need to be successful.
As brothers, how do you work together to support and grow your business?
Our strength as a team is that we are two vastly different personalities with different skill sets, but by growing up in the same house, we share the same faith and value systems. Our different strengths complement each other very well.
Tell us your story. You are the fourth generation in your family to be in the real estate business.
In 1917, our great-grandfather sold five acres of his land to build the first African American school in the area. Grandpa was in the lumber business, and our dad was a contractor in Central Virginia. We like to say, “We have sawdust in our blood.”
How does United support you in your day-to-day operations and the evolution of your brokerage?
We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They have great support staff in place for branding, website development, tech support, marketing, etc. They take care of all the little things, which is a big thing, and that allows us to go out and grow our business.
Is there anything else you can say about your personal philosophy for what makes a brokerage succeed?
Thanks to United Real Estate, we’re not only able to grow our business, but we’re also able to commit time to various charities in our community that we care so much about, which also aligns with United’s guiding principle of giving back. We come from a long line of family businesses, so we’ve learned to treat our agents and staff like family. Our success is a byproduct of that.
United Real Estate’s mission is to change the financial trajectory of their agents’ and brokers’ careers and sometimes their lives. How has this played out for you in the building of your brokerage?
Our agents get to keep 100% of their commission minus a small fee; the majority of their commission from a sale goes toward their net income. It’s not only the compensation model that is important, you also need to give them the tools and support to succeed. It comes down to training and support from broker to agent and from company to broker, and we get all of that by being with United.
For more information, please visit www.GrowWithUnited.com.
