Sell and Live the Okanagan Life – Vancouver Island Free Daily
– Words by Angela Cowan Photographs by Don Denton
In March, Anna and Max Carbone celebrated five years of success since acquiring Century 21 Assurance Realty in Kelowna, growing the business from 60 to over 90 high-performing real estate agents and earning the distinction of being named the second home of Century 21 Canada’s top-rated brokerage in the country.
The couple love the Okanagan and researched for five years to find a business to bring them here, a place where they could help people succeed and thrive in all aspects of their lives.
“We believe the Okanagan is the best place in the country to live and work,” says Max, explaining why he and Anna moved here from Toronto. “People are friendly, it’s more relaxed, it has a nicer pace of life, but it also has a thriving entrepreneurial culture.”
Both had experience in real estate before moving to the Okanagan. Anna came to the table after a long and successful career in sales and senior management positions at media companies including CHUM Television, CTV and Bell Media, and grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and real estate investors. . And Max had worked in commercial real estate in the GTA, facilitating multi-million dollar transactions, and had also started his own strategic planning firm, which worked with many real estate companies, corporations, contractors, non-profit organizations among the largest in Canada. and more.
Tackling Century 21 made sense, but it was also an opportunity for the duo to turn to something more personalized.
“We thought it would be great to help people thrive, not just businesses,” says Max. “We love helping new Realtors get started and succeed, as well as helping experienced Realtors enhance their careers while still having time to enjoy the incredible Okanagan lifestyle.”
In addition to personalized high performance strategy coaching, another impactful aspect of brokerage is Elevate 21, a comprehensive in-house marketing service provided to every real estate agent, ensuring that every listing has the same high level of photography, exposure to social media, signage, professional website and more, and all for less cost and higher value than if agents had to do all the work themselves.
“We have exceptional photographers and a great marketing team. We make all the photographs and high quality virtual tours. We support the real estate marketing of our real estate agents,” says Anna. “It saves real estate agents incredible time, which they can then spend with their clients or with their families enjoying life in the Okanagan.”
Elevate 21 is also what helped attract Dean Desrosiers to the company. Having been in the real estate industry since 2008, Dean recently joined as an associate with Max and Anna after working as an associate broker for several years. Dean, a Certified Real Estate Coach, is passionate about working and helping people on a very personal level, whether it’s the agents he works with or their clients.
“Real estate is one of those professions where you can work 12 hour days very easily and not be successful, and it can wear you out,” he says. “With Elevate 21, we offer a win-win situation, where the agent can sign up a client and we will work together to help the real estate agent look good with that client.”
Moving on to partner, Dean moved on to a more behind-the-scenes role supporting the agents.
“It’s very important for agents to know they have someone behind them who understands what can go right and what can go wrong,” he says, adding that Century 21 in Kelowna has a broker to incredibly (and unusually) high agents. With three brokers and five senior staff ready to support agent distribution, someone is always available.
“An agent might need to talk to one of us for two or three minutes, and that’s not a lot of time, but it makes a difference,” Dean explains. “They may need someone with experience to come up with an idea, and we always want them to feel and know they can call us anytime.”
“Dean is also a licensed coach and he’s a really solid member of the management team to help the younger, inexperienced members grow,” says Anna. “It can be quite daunting, graduating from your real estate course and not knowing where to start.”
Max pioneered a proven goal-oriented coaching program that “helps real estate agents and entrepreneurs determine their life purpose, values, and goals,” he explains. “It’s a very powerful approach because it’s about helping them create and execute a plan that aligns with their personal and professional aspirations.”
Anna says, “People who are drawn to life in the Okanagan are here for very deliberate reasons, so our brokerage’s ability to ease the workload of real estate agents helps align them with their values. of life.
Max adds, “Our company philosophy is to ‘enable prosperity’, both financially and personally.”
This approach has resulted in a win-win situation for staff, estate agents and their clients.
“Honestly, I think we have the best Okanagan agents in our brokerage,” Dean says, “down to the last one.”
Story reprinted courtesy of Boulevard Magazine, a publication of Black Press Media
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