Tag: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

With a purchase price rumored (but not substantiated) to be in the seven figures, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty Texas has purchased a Flower Mound powerhouse agent and associates, all formerly of Keller Williams’s Preston Road office in Plano.

Russell Rhodes, one of the five top producing Keller Williams agents in the world for the last ten years, his 15 associate agents and 12 administrators, are now a part of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brand.

Rhodes’ Dallas-Fort Worth based team generated $196 million in sales volume last year. 

Here is an example of how hard charging the Rhodes team is: of the 526 homes they sold last year throughout the DFW Metroplex, 322 were repeat client or past client referrals to Russell and his team.

To put this in another perspective, it would take a sweet deal to leave Keller Williams when you are pumping out that kind of sales volume. Which the Rhodes team apparently got. Keller Williams is known as having one of the most generous splits — that is, sharing of the commission with the broker — in the business. Every agent starts on a 70/30 split: 70% for the agent, 30% for Keller Williams. But by the time your 30% to KW reaches a certain level (about $23K in Dallas), you are “capped” and you get to keep 100% of your commission for the remainder of your fiscal year. With $196 million in sales, the Rhodes team met their cap way back during covered wagon days. Thus Rhodes left a 100% commission structure with Keller Williams to join Berkshire Hathaway Home Services PenFed.

Please note, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed is NOT the same group that bought out Allie Beth Allman & Associates last year. It is like a cousin. The BHHS PenFed Realty is a franchise of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, part of the HSF Affiliates LLC family of real estate brokerage franchise networks, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pentagon Federal Credit Union, the third largest credit union in the US. (USAA is a competitor.) Previously an affiliate of the Prudential Real Estate network, the company changed its affiliation to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in November, 2014.” 

PenFed + Berkshire Hathaway Home Services merged financial services (PenFed) and the suite of online tools, agent support services and highly regarded brand that Berkshire Hathaway had in the bag.  The company has grown its annual sales volume to $3.8 billion with 1,700 sales agent and 50+ offices, providing complete real estate services nationwide.

“We’ve been watching the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brand and are impressed by its business principles and core values, which are closely aligned with our own,” Rhodes told me. “For me this is a double win, aligning with a company that is so strong in relocation. The $20 billion PenFed Credit Union based in Washington is growing, and will continue to grow through the real estate agent network. PenFed Realty’s growth has been phenomenal, and we want to be a part of it.”

Still, why leave that generous split with KW? Relocation expertise + juicy client perks = more clients than ever. (more…)