Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself

This from the comments section of the website Outrageous Agents. Written much better than I ever could have articulated the same thoughts.
Former Veltri Agent
March 30th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Unfortunately, MANY of us former Veltri Agents ARE finding out that the “myths” and “rumors” about the Veltri reputation are, in fact, TRUE … Several of us were kept heavily sheltered from those unethical, unprofessional and dishonest facts by the ONLY person who ever knew how to run that Company profitably and professionally. Surprisingly enough, The Veltri’s did not have enough business sense to keep their best assets, but rather chose to destroy as many relationships (both personal and professional) as possible in the shortest amount of time, creating the beginning of their demise in this world of Real Estate. Is THIS someone you would trust with your largest financial investment?
Fortunately for all of those who would prefer honest Real Estate expertise, or those seeking an honest career in this field, Karma is going to have the final say, and mark my words … There WILL be a FINAL day for Veltri Realtors in the near future.
Kathy D is not only a fellow Associate in this business, but also a dear friend. She, as well as several others in a similar situation thanks to the Veltri’s, will all triumph together once that final “FOR RENT” sign is placed in the last Veltri office window!

KARMA The way I understand it is that the energy or the vibe you put out is the energy you get in return. At this point I've let go of my personnal anger towards the man, but I still get fired up when I get the thrice weekly calls about how Mr & Mrs Bloated have mistreated another former associate. This week alone 2 Beltri associates handed in their resignations and a third was fired because she was a good friend of one of the associates. What a way to run a business!!! Another former associate will be in small claims court on Wednesday fighting the bloated one over a relatively small amount of money due her. The bloated one had his lawyer, he has a team of them if you believe a word he says, call this associate and try to settle for half the amount owed, on principle she refused and will have her day in court. I only hope she brings the tape recording of his 5 mgrs and asst mgrs screaming at her over the telephone. It would make for good Court TV !!! I will report how all turns out, until then...

You're All Against Me

In 2002 when the Beltris started their real estate company, The Bloated Ones favorite phrase was "I love to pay my agents". Legally a Real Estate Broker has 10 days after receiving a commission check to pay their agent. With the new banking regulations and checks clearing in 2 or 3 days, the 10 day law is really outdated. Some brokers routinely held paychecks til the 10th day, just because they could. The agent would work with a buyer for 2-3 months, show them 20-25 houses, negotiate a contract, wait another 45 days for a home to to close, go to the closing, give a gift to his buyer, bring the check back to his brokers office, then have to wait an additional 10 days to receive his paycheck. The cash would sit in the brokers operating account doing nothing, not even earning interest, for 5-6 extra days when an agent could be using it to pay his bills, invest it or even piss it away. Mr Beltri had the right idea, paying an agent quickly made for a happy agent, and a happy agent let other agents know how happy they were which led to office growth and more happy agents. Well let me tell you how times have changed. When agents start leaving a company in droves, there's a problem, usually a multitude of problems, but for this post I'll just mention two. The first is The Bloated One is not paying his agents for 15-20 days and beyond. I have not been with the company for 15 months and I still receive bi-weekly calls from agents who haven't been paid in 2 weeks or who want to leave the company and are seeking advice on how to accomplish their goal. Times are tough for everyone in the real estate industry these days, but holding an agents pay to cover other bills, robbing Peter to pay Paul, is just unacceptable. He's getting away with it because if an agent complains and threatens to leave, The Bloated One will not release an agents hard earned listings and will cut an agents pay in half if they have any deals that have not yet closed. So basically an agent is stuck. Now the Beltris have come up with a new trick, if an agent is lucky or plans his departure well and is not owed any money and has no current listings, he could normally offer his resignation and in a day or two pick up his license from the office and begin his next job. Now The Bloated One is telling his departing agents that he can legally hold their license for 5 days before returning it to them or sending it back to the Real Estate Commission. Mr Beltri has gone from being gung ho pro agent to an agents worst nightmare. The Beltris honestly believe that there is a conspiracy theory against them and everyone is out to get them. When the company and I parted ways I would have liked nothing better than to leave quietly, professionally and get on with my life. But he couldn't stop talking about me, making nonsense up, and hurting friends and those around me. Every BS story or word he uttered with my name attached to it got back to me almost immediately. The Beltri's lost their agents respect long before I was dismissed, my last 15 months in their employ was mostly covering for them, making excuses, and soothing hurt feelings. They have continued to hurt my former associates and friends and so I blog, exposing the bloated owners of Beltri Realtors for what they are, selfish, greedy, unfeeling ogres who are only concerned about their faux lifestyle of a big house, dinners out every night and nice cars. More to come...

The Truth

The company I managed, we'll call it Beltri, because both owners wear really large belts and it rhymes with the actual name of the company, is in a tailspin. When I was "downsized" in Dec of '07 things were looking bleak. My office sales fell about 10% but compared to the 35 & 40% losses of most other companies, we were holding our own. Future business was not looking good, as I said, most of my agents were part timers and were looking for other employment just so they could get by. The owners had just ended the relationship with our mortgage company and announced a partnership with one of the most maligned mortgage companies in the business. In the process a good friend was cut loose in the most unproffesional way possible. This would later become business as usual. At our yearly holiday party, numbers were almost as low as everyones spirits. Alcohol solved the spirits problem but when the owner got up and announced "Things are gonna change around here, there's a new sheriff in town" everyone looked around at one another embarrasedly and sobered up on the spot. On the morning of Dec 28 I got a call from my crying secretary saying she had just been let go, I was shocked because just 6 months ago we recruited her from a competing broker and 45 days ago when the owners thought she wasn't showing them enough "respect", they talked to me about letting her go. I, in no uncertain terms let them know she was the best secretary we had ever had and if they fired her they would lose me also. As I finished my conversation and hung up the phone, I knew I would soon begin another chapter in my life. I stormed through the office door and yelled what the **** do you think you are doing. The bloated owner asked me to step into the conference room and talk, I sat down and looked him in the eyes and knew he was a beaten man. He told me he had let my secretary go and he was also returning my license to me, that he and the Mrs decided to take the company in a different direction. I spewed a few choice words in his direction, cursing him for leading on and letting go of a woman with a family who needed the paycheck, and then realized the man couldn't even look me in the eyes, I left and started packing 4 years worth of nonsense. As I walked around the office packing my things, I felt like a heavy load had just been lifted off of my shoulders. My past year had been spent making excuses for the Beltris, trying to expain why we weren't advertising, how come bonuses weren't being paid, why wouldn't the Beltris return any calls. From my own office this was fine, but the calls were coming from the other offices as well. I realised the Beltris had gone into hibernation and weren't even going into their own office. Packing my bags I though it was finally over, no more phone calls, no more covering up, no more making excuses. What a relief!!! As I loaded the last box into my truck, I returned to the office to return my keys, amex, tell him where some important papers were, and to let him know he should really give me an exit interview, that I would let him know exactly what was going on in the company. Again, he never looked at me, I thanked him for the oppurtunity and walked out of the office a happy man. Two days later I stopped by the office to drop off a company jacket and some tee shirts I would never wear again. The man still owed me over $6,000 so I figured I would be civil. Real Estate is a close knit, gossipy type of business, and Mr Beltri was a well connected businessman. I figured he would pay what he had owed me and we would go forward with our respective lives. How wrong I was... For the latest news on my former employer go to http://outrageousagents.com/agentdatabasewp/?p=875

Life's a Negotiation

Everyone has their comfort level. I welcome a good negotiation when it comes to Real Estate. The better the agent I'm up against, the faster my mind starts to work. Plotting to get my client the best possible price and terms while not letting the other agent know his client got the short end of the stick. Of course the best negotiation in R.E. is one in which both sides win, the buyer feels he got a decent deal, the seller a fair price, and the good feelings last through inspections to closing. Handshakes and hugs all around and sometimes everyone actually keeps in touch. $600,000 deals I can handle, purchasing a $30,000 car makes me squeamish. My truck lease was up today and I knew weeks ago I would have to go car shopping. Typical male, I started 2 days ago. I went to my local Toyota dealer to inquire about my lease surrender and to see what model car I might be interested in purchasing. The salesperson was very knowledgeable and did her best to put me at ease. She had me test drive 2 cars, met with someone in a back room, then came out with figures that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I never countered her numbers, complained or even squinted hard at the numbers, I just told her I would have to discuss things with my wife. Thats when my real negotiation began, trying to convince my wife to go to the dealership after work the next day and close the deal. My whining must have gotten to her because she agreed and I felt a ton of weight being lifted off my surgically repaired shoulders. We agreed on the most we wanted to spend a month and then I wished her luck. While hard at work the next day I anxiously awaited her phone call. At 3:30 my cell rang and Kathleen gave me the good news, she got the car at our budgeted amount, and because she cared about my comfort, and my newfound panic disorder, she had managed to move us up to the next more spacious model. I asked her how she did it and she said she just said no, and pointed to our number. Where I couldn't say no to my salespersons initial price, Kathleen went through 2 levels of mgmt and the finance guy to get us a deal. Her reward was my running out at 1Am to pick up her father at Allaire Limosine after a 14 hr workday. Well worth it in my admiring eyes. I'll probably throw in dinner and a movie this weekend. Better go to Deb's blog at JerseyBites.com to get a good restaurant recommendation!

Point Pleasant Area Real Estate is Picking Up

Typically an agent in the Pt Pleasant area can vacation from January to mid February and not lose any business. Come President's Day activity tends to really pick up. This year seems to be about 3 weeks behind schedule. Sellers are hesitant to put their homes on the market and buyers think the home of their dreams will still be on the market in 60 days when they finally get around to making an offer. All indications are pointing to buyer beware, the stock market is giving the consumer more confidence, housing starts are up for Feb. and mortgage rates are still at all time lows. The buyer who finds the perfect home and drags their feet on an offer, may very well be regretting that decision two months from now. A good agent will give a buyer all the information to make a well thought out offer taking into consideration sold comparables, days on market and market conditions at the time of the offer. Many homes are selling 10-15% below their asking prices. I'm not suggesting just throwing a number at a seller to see if they'll bite, but a well presented offer with an attached market analysis may very well sway the seller and lead to favorable negotiations. With a little homework and a hard working agent on their side, buyers wont be telling the " I could've, I should've" stories on their next visit to the beautiful Jersey Shore beaches with their friends and loved ones.

Qualifications

Here are my qualifications to blog about Point Pleasant Real Estate and Real Estate in general. Not that this blog will be all about R.E., when a thought pops into my head that makes me want to open a window and scream it out loud for all my neighbors to hear, I'll just post it instead. These thoughts generally occur after reading my bible, The Ocean Star, and marvelling at the coverage of our local town councils, planning boards and the lack of coherent, knowlegeable sports coverage since Keith Grace left to pursue another career. Letters to the editor are another favorite of mine and if you continue to gander at my posts, you'll soon see why I feel that way.
I moved to PPB at the tender age of 9, graduated PPB in '83, rec'd an AA from Raritan Valley CC in '86 and passed the real estate exam in '87. The training I rec'd from my first RE Broker was listen to Tom Hopkins tapes and earn your GRI designation. Aiming to please, I did both and never looked back. My first sale was a $100,000 listing in TR that I got from a wrong number, my second sale was a whopper, a $400,000 home in PPB from a walk-in family of 7 brothers, sisters and cousins. Confusion reigned but the deal got done. Soon after that sale I joined The Atlantic Club, got engaged, and invested my first $2,000 in the stock market. Times were good. Then 1989 rolled in and the real estate market crashed, I lost $1600 in the stock market and marriage was looming in October, I did what any inexperienced REALTOR would do, I got a full time job with benefits in the insurance industry.
In 1995 I had a chance to fufill a dream and coach High School Basketball, I turned down a promotion at work so I could keep suitable hours and when the company decided to relocate to Cranford, a buyout and unemployment reignited my real estate career. For the next 5 years I worked an assortment of jobs, substitute teaching, construction, door man, and real estate agent just so I would be able to keep the dream alive. In 2000 I concentrated on real estate full time and haven't looked back since.
In 2002 I was cajoled into switching companies and joining a start up in Point Pleasant. I wasn't unhappy at my old company but the thought of growing with this new venture and working with a good friend peaked my interest. The bloated owner said all the right things and gave me a 10% increase in my commission rate so I signed on the dotted line. In hindsight, I was making a deal with the devil but gained all so much experience and knowledge.
In early 2003 I earned my Brokers License and in 07/2003 I had my own office to manage. I started out with 6 agents, fired 1 and began to recruit and build the business. The pay was horrible but I knew the experience I would gain would be invaluable.
To make a long story short, in the 4.5 yrs I managed this office it grew from 6 agents to over 40 agents and we were competing and beating the smaller established agencies in town. No way were we competing with the DT's or the Coldwell Bankers, but the Mary Holders, Perko Agency and many others we were right there with in sales and market share. We were doing this with a majority of part time agents and barely a Million Dollar Club member. I always wondered why we couldn't get any "heavy hitters" to sign on with us and I wouldn't know until I parted ways with the company in late December of 2007.
During my tenure there I earned my Accredited Buyers Representative designation, the Seniors Real Estate Specialist designation, testified before the Pt Pleasant Board of Adjustment and was deamed an Expert Witness, testified and won a procurring cause case before the Monmouth County Assn of Realtors in the amount of $!8,000 , and oversaw the files and supervised the agents actions in almost 400 closings.
My time with that company gave me more experience and knowledge of the Real Estate industry than I could ever imagine. There are enough stories to fill a book but a blog will have to do. Look for some scandolous stuff in the posts to come...