Jon Ufland
Title: Principal and Managing Broker, Unlimited Sotheby’s International Realty
Age: 44
Experience: 13 years
Q: How did you get into real estate?
A: I had just gotten my MBA and was looking to get into consulting [when my father fell ill and I ended up helping to run the family business for several years]. Then I went into selling advertising for a computer magazine – and then when 9/11 happened, all orders were cancelled. Everybody at my level across the company got laid off – least that’s what they told me. So at that point, I had my own condo here in Brookline, and I loved it, loved having my own place, loved the tax breaks, loved the fact that the price had gone up. So then I decided [to go into real estate]. With my background in accounting and finance, I could talk the financial side of it, [and] I liked the idea of being my own boss. I’ll never get laid off again. I’m accountable to myself, and however I want to grow my business, I reap all the benefits and all the repercussions.
Q: You picked an interesting time to leap into an ownership role – one of the toughest markets in decades. What made you want to become a broker?
A: It was a nerve-racking time. But I believed I would never have another opportunity like it, because it drove the cost of entry down so much that we were able to offer my predecessor a way out. … Having managed the office, I knew a lot about the financial structure of the company. So taking it over, my goal was to restructure the company, stabilize it and change morale within the company. There had been lots of changes over the years between this office and the Jamaica Plain office. … I don’t want to dwell on the negative, but there were a lot of improvements that were able to be made [right away]. And it made me look like I was doing a really good job, and it really wasn’t that hard to improve what was on my plate! It was just running things honestly and openly. Our transition to Sotheby’s is really good example – when we went into this transition, we told our agents within a couple days of signing [the deal], six months before the switch. They had heard, like everyone else, that Prudential had sold off their real estate arm, and most people expected that we would become a Berkshire Hathaway Home Services office.
Q: Yes, tell me more about that. Berkshire’s obviously making a strong push into real estate – what made you guys decide to go in a different direction?
A: Our franchise agreement was expiring [at the beginning of October 2014]. Because of that, we had options – if the franchise agreement had extended for another year, we might have become a Berkshire office, because we knew we didn’t want to be Prudential anymore. But because we had options, we were able to search around. We talked to Sotheby’s, and we were blown away by their articulation of their value proposition. Berkshire just never measured up. I have three partners, and four to nothing [we favored Sotheby’s] … We wanted a brand that represented quality. We’re not big on quantity. We don’t think we have to have 100 to 150 agents, if we have 25 to 50 really good ones, in each office. We don’t really have a goal for how many agents we want [to recruit each year]; we just want full-time, hard-working, honest agents who understand it’s about the relationship. The business will come if you focus on the relationship. It’s not about “I need to make this sale so I can get my commission.” All of that will come. But if that’s your last transaction with this person and they never refer you to anybody, because they didn’t think you had their best interests at heart, what good is that money? It’s short-term. That’s really our philosophy, and we just thought that this brand was a good fit [for us and for the markets we serve].
Q: With that kind of focus, and working in two relatively high-end markets, did you ever consider becoming a boutique brokerage?
A: We know, having been with a brand, we felt that there was value that out get of that brand. In this industry, brand recognition is really important, and it’s really hard to have a company full of successful agents and then go them and say, “We’re going independent.” We want our agents to feel like they can work happily, and grow their business and have a fulfilling life here and at home. We worked really hard to get to a point where we feel like we have two offices acting as one company, and it’s taken a lot of hard work, especially in light of the Prudential sale. We’ve had to work extra hard, because they’ve known about the sale for two or three years now. And so we just feel that this brand change will put some wind to our backs.
Ufland’s Five Long-Term Plans For Unlimited Sotheby’s:
- Expand the rental divisions
- Continue a strong first-time homebuyer program
- Grow the property management division, Boston Property Care
- Expand our investor services
- Grow the investor’s club
