Rick Musto
Managing Broker/Owner/REALTOR®
HomeSmart Realty Partners
Roswell, Georgia, and Pensacola, Florida
https://homesmart.com/real-estate-agent/georgia/roswell/52169-rick-musto
Region served: Southeast Atlanta Metro Area and Pensacola, Florida
Years in real estate: 17
Number of offices: 4
Number of agents: 170
Most valuable real estate tool: Collaborative training. Since partnering with HomeSmart, all of my agents are now able to participate in training with other HomeSmart agents nationally.
Tell us about your history with HomeSmart.
My firm was independent from 2006 through late 2018. HomeSmart came on my radar around this time when I read an article about the company. I loved how their brokerages were structured in the same way I had structured mine, with a 100% commission model. I decided to start working with them in 2018 because they had a lot of bells and whistles that I couldn’t provide my agents.
RealSmart Agent has become a vital tool for my brokerage and is a sort of access point for all of my agents. It’s a one-stop backend site that provides my agents with marketing tools and training, as well as a place for them to input all of their contacts. One other thing that really drew me to HomeSmart was the name. I love it. It’s generic, yet descriptive.
How have you differentiated your brokerage from others in the two areas that you serve?
What we like to say is that we are all about our agents. I know that is a bit cliche, but it really is true. Our agents are what we base all of our decisions on. We also offer hands-on training that most of the legacy brokerages charge for, but we do completely free for our agents. We don’t nickel and dime our agents, and even though we’re part of a franchise now, we are still a full-service brokerage.
Do you foresee the current hot market that we’re in continuing through 2022?
Absolutely. We’re full-service, which is unique to our brokerage. We provide mortgage loans, insurance, closing services and title services. All of that is under one roof, and because of that, we’re always looking to the future. In 2023, we might see a bit of a slowdown, but in Georgia and Florida, we are still seeing a ton of demand.
On top of COVID, 2021 was an incredibly demanding year for real estate professionals. In what ways did you help your agents get through last year?
Training specific to multiple offers. We provided several collaborative classes with other agents where everyone could share their experiences. We also waived the price of contingencies and shortened the length of our contracts and closing times in order to make moving more palatable to buyers.
Where do you see your business in five years?
I started my brokerage from scratch, but my acquisition of 60 agents in Georgia has allowed me to jump ahead quickly. We have a growth model now. It’s organic, but we’re also in acquisition mode. We’re looking to make purchases. If the market slows down, there will be more brokerages in play as brokers look to retire. I’m hoping that in five years we will be able to grow our brokerage to include 500 – 750 agents.
For more information, please visit www.homesmart.com.
Jameson Doris is RISMedia’s blog and social media editor. Email him you real estate news ideas at jdoris@rismedia.com
