Madison Hildebrand Splits Coldwell Banker for Partners Trust, Says Smaller Brokerages Are Better

Malibu will never be the same. You know Madison Hildebrand, yes, that sexy, dapper, original cast member of Million Dollar Listing, contributing host on E!, public speaker, author and yes, also Realtor? He’s on his way to the NAR in New Orleans, but I caught him at the airport before he had to turn off his phone. What is up?

Madison made a cameo appearance in the final season finale of Million Dollar Listing to announce that he’s switching brokerages. Why do we care? A, because we love him and B, you have to know the reason why — and how it could very well apply to the agents who read this blog. Leaving Coldwell Banker, where he first launched in the real estate business in, Madison, his partners and three assistants have signed on with a boutique agency as a founding partner. That agency is Partners Trust.

So no more TV? No more TV.

The 34 year old began filming “Million Dollar Listing” seven years ago, just six months after he first started selling real estate. Can you imagine being on a hit TV show six months into your new job?

Now he’s moving away from the big brand company, which he says was good for him at the time when he started. Maybe not so good now:

“Reaction time for large companies is slow,” he told me. ” Smaller companies are more localized, nimble.”

It was different ten years ago when he first started, he says — the technology was not available.

“I needed a big firm then,” he says, “not so much now.”

Technology has freed Realtors from dependence on a big company to supply all their needs — they can get what they need to market on their own, even covering the cost. A few fees here and there, says Madison, is nothing when commission fee splits are so much larger at smaller firms with less bulky overhead.

Hildebrand says he ultimately realized Coldwell Banker was a little “too stolid” for his style. Or what his style had become. He wanted ought a firm that encouraged him to stay on the cutting edge, take risks and implement the latest technology. Even using emerging technology like Instagram is a challenge for a big brand like Coldwell Banker, he said.

“I believe the big companies are going to have a hard time keeping up with all the changes in technology,” he told me. “Smaller brokerages have an advantage, and the support for the agents is dramatically different.”

He and his partners interviewed several brokerages, then settled on Partners Trust, a Beverly Hills-based brokerage with approximately 200 agents and the most exclusive listings in the Los Angeles area.

Did he feel TV helped launch his successful real estate career? Absolutely, he said. It gave him instant credibility with the exclusive, high-net worth clientele every agents dreams of having. Talk about the ultimate marketing machine: a Saudi Prince looking for a Malibu property would see him on TV, then pick up the phone.

Oh about those clients? They all stayed with him, every last one.

“We inked the deal on Halloween,” he told me, “I was moved out of Coldwell banker by 9 a.m. November 1.”