RE/MAX Shoreline tops $1B in under five years
Courtesy / RE/MAX Shoreline
RE/MAX Shoreline in May hit the $1 billion mark for sales volume under the leadership of co-owners Derrick Buckspan and Rachel Reed.
RE/MAX Shoreline, a real estate brokerage with offices in Portland, Falmouth and Portsmouth, N.H., achieved a milestone when it topped $1 billion in sales volume on May 15, after finalizing 2,885 transactions since its inception Dec. 31, 2015.
Co-owners Rachel Reed and Derrick Buckspan attribute the accomplishment to a culture of collaboration between agents rather than competition; as well as the agency’s offer of business coaching and continuing education.
Reaching the $1 billion milestone in 4 ½ years is fast for a company of its size, said Reed.
“We’ve tried to create a culture where instead of being a competitive environment, it’s an environment where people can ask questions,” said Reed.
Competition in the real estate industry is traditionally viewed as a way to increase productivity, she explained.
“There is a percentage of our operation that thrives in a culture of competition,” she added. “But the vast majority of our population is much more confident and feels more supported in a more collaborative environment. We thought that was missing in our industry. So that was the hallmark of the founding of our company.”
The firm, primarily focused on the residential market, grew from 37 agents the first year to over 80 today. Listings include everything from mobile homes for under $100,000 to a $5.3 million home in Kennebunkport that’s currently on the market.
Wilderness instructor
A graduate of the University of Vermont, Buckspan originally came to Maine to work as a wilderness instructor and course director at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Newry. He went on to work with RE/MAX By the Bay in 2003, specializing in the Greater Portland market.
Reed has a background in finance and consulting and served as chief financial officer for RE/MAX By the Bay.
In late 2015, they acquired the Portland and Portsmouth, N.H., RE/MAX franchises from RE/MAX By the Bay’s owner David Banks, who continues to operate with his team out of the RE/MAX By the Bay office in Portland.
Reed and Buckspan transitioned 37 agents along with support staff to their new organization, RE/MAX Shoreline, which offers residential, commercial and vacation property services throughout Maine and New Hampshire.
In 2018, they opened an office in Falmouth.
With RE/MAX Shoreline, Buckspan and Reed felt that business coaching and continuing education would be an important part of the culture for their agents, said Buckspan.
Sounding board
“Agents can come to me and talk about what they want to accomplish,” said Reed. “They can use me as a sounding board.”
Education and group events tie into the spirit of collaboration, said Buckspan. That includes weekly staff and networking meetings, which is now happening on Zoom, along with their virtual education, training and sales performance programs offered through RE/MAX and its affiliates.
Educational presentations on topics like changes in how listings are marketed in today’s environment are designed to be universally useful and to invite input from the agents, said Reed.
The shift to a fully virtual platform for all facets of the agency went pretty seamlessly, they said, thanks to their use of technology since the start of the company in order to create networking and educational cohesion across the offices.
“We’ve been using Zoom for over four years,” said Buckspan. “So Zoom was a platform they were familiar with from the start.”
As a result, a quick shift to online operations led to better sales and financial performance so far in 2020 than had been achieved previously, despite the year’s challenges, they said. Agents were able to quickly adopt digital marketing strategies such as targeted Facebook advertising, email marketing and videoconferencing to perform virtual property tours. The firm developed a Virtual Homebuying page as a platform for agents to show their listings while physical showings are restricted.
“Our phones have been ringing like crazy,” said Buckspan.
Agents continue to receive coaching and networking opportunities each day via the company’s virtual platform.
In 2109, RE/MAX Shoreline-sponsored events and programs raised over $160,000 for Maine and New Hampshire nonprofits.
The RE/MAX franchisor was founded in 1973, is headquartered in Denver, Colo., and operates globally.
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