4 Reasons Husband and Wife Real Estate Teams Thrive at Keller Williams

4 Reasons Husband and Wife Real Estate Teams Thrive at Keller Williams Realty

Updated: Blog, Keller Williams

I have found that the majority of real estate agents get into the business in some degree because of the freedom and flexibility that the industry offers. To enjoy the full benefits of this freedom and flexibility, some couples or partners look to get into real estate together as a Husband and Wife team. “Why are so many husband and wife team drawn to work with Keller Williams Realty?”

Keller Williams encourages the formation of Husband and Wife teams by offering them a shared cap. This shared cap on the amount of commission shared with the company means that the couple is only paying the company once. Not every real estate company offers this shared program.

Because of this, Keller Williams has been able to attract and retain some amazing Husband and Wife teams that I will spotlight in just a bit.

In my experience and research, there are four reasons why the husband and wife team makes the most at Keller Williams and what benefits they have by being associated with this real estate business. After discussing the reasons, I am going to give some examples of some successful husband and wife real estate teams who thrived at Keller Williams. 

REASONS WHY MARRIED COUPLE AGENTS SUCCEED AT KW

Keller Williams Real Estate Company is growing every day. The company knows how to attract the best agents. It gives such an offer to the married couples that they cannot refuse. 

This not only helps KW to expand its business but also helps the married agents to strengthen their careers in the real estate business. Here are the details of the opportunities:

1. SHARING A SINGLE CAP

When an agent joins Keller Williams, he or she works on a 70/30 commission rate. The agent can have 100% of his commission for the rest of his anniversary year once he fulfills his cap. Interestingly, married couples who work at KW as agents share a single cap.

Before discussing how this system of sharing a single cap works for husband and wife real estate agents, you need to know about the commission split and the cap system of KW.

As you know, 70% of the commission from a business deal made by the agent goes to his or her pocket, and 30% of the commission goes to the market center as market commission. 

Now, from the 70% share, an agent has to pay 6% (capped at $3,000/year) as a royalty fee to the KW international market.

A cap is a maximum amount of money an agent has to pay to KW. KW uses the money to bear the expenses of the market centers. The agents have to fulfill the cap to earn a 100% commission for the year.

What the market commission cap for an agent will be depends on where the market center is situated. The prices of the houses depend on the land. So, the different KW market centers have different amounts of commission caps for agents. The cap can be $18,000 to $25,000 per year according to the location and house price of the market center. 

Moreover, a KW market center requiring high maintenance cost will fix a high market commission cap in that office.

However, the royalty fee which is 6% (capped at $3,000/year) to the company is the same in all market centers. And once agents reach their caps, they start to get the full commission for your own self.

Now, how is the system different for husband and wife agents of KW? The difference is that they are not treated as individual agents while paying the cap. Both can get a 100% commission for the rest of the year when they reach the cap fixed by their market center. 

For example, Mike and Anne are husband and wife. Their market center fixed the cap money to be $21.000 for each agent. As married couples Mike and Anne only have to pay only $21,000 per year and not $42,000. 

However, there are some conditions that the married agent couples need to fulfill to get this opportunity. 

Only the couples who file a joint Federal tax return are qualified to have the benefit of sharing a single Royalty Cap. Sharing a Royalty cap is not a must for the agent couples. But, why miss a great opportunity to earn more right?

Secondly, the husband and wife agent must have the same royalty anniversary date. The husband and wife may start working with KW at different times. As a result, they will have different anniversary dates. To solve this problem, KW gives the couples an option to select either one’s anniversary date. 

With the option of sharing only one cap, the couple of agents can start getting 100% commissions faster than any other agent. Therefore, they make more money as agents. The couple can use the money to promote their business and get more clients for themselves. 

2. MORE PASSIVE INCOME THROUGH PROFIT SHARING SYSTEM

The commissions the agents pay at Keller Williams come back to them in the form of profit sharing. Every month the Market Center splits its profits with the agents who help it grow. The Market center keeps 48% of the profit and distributes the other 52% among the agents who bring new agents to the company. 

Profit share is a kind of passive income for the agents. When an agent becomes a sponsor of another agent, he becomes part of the profit share system. Each month when the recruited sponsored agents pay the commission, the sponsoring agent gets a share of that commission through profit sharing.

When both husband and wife become sponsor agents, they start to get a profit share. This means more extra money for the team. They will keep getting this extra income even if they retire from the company. Moreover, they can name their own heirs or beneficiaries. The heirs they named will keep getting the profit share after the death of the agents.  

Many married couples join Keller Williams as agents for the profit-sharing system and the single cap opportunity. Both of these systems ensure a stable source of income for agent couples.

3. MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AND COMMUNICATIONS

One of the biggest challenges that real estate agent teams face is a lack of understanding and communication. If the team members do not understand each other, it becomes an issue for making business decisions. Moreover, in a new team, members often do not understand each other’s strengths or weaknesses. 

One the other hand, when a husband and wife are in a team, they understand each other quite well. They know each other’s weaknesses and share work according to their skills. For example, the wife can handle the marketing and operations of the business and the husband can manage the listing and become the buyer specialist.

The husband and wife can also access the Keller Personality Assessment (KPA) test to find out what are their strengths and weaknesses. As agents, they both have access to technical support and tools of KW.   

Communicating as a team member becomes much easier when team members understand each other. Sometimes at the workplace, people may not like each other. As a result, they may not be helpful to each other. So, a new agent may struggle in the company since he does not have a good mentor.

Fortunately, in the case of the husband and wife team, it is not the same. Suppose, husband joined the company as a KW agent a few years back. Now, he thinks that he should bring his wife in the business as well. So, when his wife joins the business, she already has a real estate coach who is her husband.

The wife can learn all the basics and more firsthand from her husband as he has more experience than her. As her husband and mentor, the husband would definitely support and teach her better than others. 

A spouse who is comparatively new in the company may have a lot of questions. So, the other spouse can always be available to answer those questions. The husband and wife are also allowed to use any resources available in the company to improve their skills.

Moreover, the husband and wife team can avoid office conflicts more than the other teams. They already know what makes them angry or upset. Therefore, they would avoid doing things that disturb each other. Letting go of unnecessary conflicts and respect can do great for a real estate business.   

Furthermore, the husband and wife can discuss their problems openly unlike other teams. Different agents coming from different places and backgrounds are bound to have some major conflicts from time to time. The team members may have different goals and visions. Sometimes, the agents only think about their career and not about their partner’s career.

But, married couples can face challenges together and support each other without any ulterior motives. This can be seen because they often have the same goal and mindset. Working towards the same goals as a couple is one of the reasons why husband and wife teams are becoming successful at KW.  

4. BALANCE IN WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE 

Another reason for the husband and wife real estate team success at KW is their opportunity to balance personal and professional life. As they understand each other and have similar goals, they can focus on the business more than the other agents.

The job of a real estate agent is very challenging. The agents who work full time have a busy schedule to maintain. As a result, they may not be able to spend much time with their family. The spouses of the agents may often complain that their partners are more invested in business than taking care of family responsibilities.

It is difficult even for an agent. He or she may want to spend some quality time with the spouse or family too. But his clients may end up calling for a meeting when he is supposed to have a family dinner. 

Moreover, the spouse of real estate agents may have completely different interests and future planning. They may not understand anything about real estate. Agents may go home and try to share their mission and vision with their spouses. But they become disappointed when their spouses do not understand them.

On the other hand, the spouses who have no interest in real estate may get annoyed or frustrated when their partners talk about work at home.

Fortunately, when married couples work as agents in the company, they share the same feelings. They spend both personal and official hours with their partners. So, there is no chance of complaining like not spending much time together or ignoring family responsibilities. They can have a candlelight dinner and talk about the real estate business. 

Besides, they understand each other and know what the other is talking about. Both of them support each other’s ambitions and spend more time together. Therefore, they have less conflict and mental press. They do not need to feel guilty for not sharing quality time as they do everything together. 

This creates positive energy in the couple, and they can use this positivity for growing their real estate business. 

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL HUSBAND AND WIFE REAL ESTATE TEAMS

There are lots of husband and wife teams who are successful in the real estate business. In this article, you are going to be introduced to a few of these couples. The couples have been working side by side for many years now. Their success story can inspire many couples to try their luck in the real estate business.

GARY AND NIKKI UBALDINI:

The first successful husband and wife team that comes to mind is Gary and Nikki. In 1986, Gary and Nikki Ubaldini formed the Gary and Nikki Team. The team has been active for 30 years now. During all these years, the team has managed to help over 5,000 clients to sell and buy houses. 

The husband and wife duo have managed to balance their work and personal life efficiently. This clearly reflects on their success. Gary and Nikki are licensed Brokers in Florida. They are also certified Distressed Property Experts. As a part of their job, they provide short sale advice, and they protect homeowners from foreclosure. 

GENE AND REBEKAH RIVERS: 

The next couple I am going to talk about is Gene and Rebekah Rivers from the Rivers team. They started their team in 1992 with the vision of creating a successful real estate agency. In these 25 years of operation, the team has satisfied more than 5,400 clients. 

The Rivers Team has been active in Tallahassee, Florida for a long time now. Both husband and wife are successful real estate agents. Gene Rivers is an owner at Keller Williams Tallahassee, Florida. Rebekah Rivers is an Operating Principal, and she is working for Keller Williams with her husband efficiently. 

They train other agents so that the new talented agents get the opportunity to become successful in the real estate business. Many agents agree that the reason for their huge success is the dynamic relationship between the husband and wife as well as their shared ambitions. 

Wall Street Journal and Real Trends ranked the team at the top several times for its outstanding activities in the real estate business world. 

 LESLEY AND ANDY PETERS:

The story of Lesley and Andy Peters becoming real estate agents is quite interesting. Lesley used to be a school teacher and a part-time agent. In 9 months of working as a part-time agent, she earned more than her full-time job. So, she left her job as a teacher and became a full time agent.

Lesley also had to take care of her child because Andy had a full-time job requiring traveling from place to place. Lesley, then convinced her husband to join her as an agent. Her husband agreed, and they started the Peters Company in 2008. 

Andy does not work as a full-time agent anymore. But, he is now a successful corporate sales leader and Admin of the Peter Company. The company has gained huge success and reputation in a relatively short period of time. Most of the credit goes to Lesley for being a dynamic and talented agent.

In 2018, the company sold 304 homes and earned &120 million in sales volume. For this success, the company was declared number one by the Keller Williams organization for being active in Georgia and the Southeast region. 

JAY AND WENDY PAPASAN: 

This couple is known as the power couple of Keller Williams. Jay used to work as a freelance writer and editor in his early life. In 2003, he established KellerINK with Gary Keller. Before that, they worked as an editor and fellow writer for Gary Keller. Since then, Jay’s books on real estate business have been best sellers in the real estate world.

In 2009, Jay and Wendy founded Papasan Properties. The couple has worked hard for the success of the company. Their hard work obviously paid off, and the company is thriving. It is now one of the top-ranked real estate teams of Keller Williams.

The company office is in Austin, Texas. Over the 12 years of establishment, the company has made more than $475 million in sales. Moreover, it guided over 1,350 clients in buying and selling houses.

CONCLUSION 

By now, you can see that Keller Williams gives a lot of extra benefits to its husband and wife real estate teams. Couples understand each other and can provide support in critical moments. The stories of the mentioned couples are proof that building a team with your spouse better than joining other teams and companies.