Hans Brings
Title: Agent, Coldwell Banker
Age: 45
Experience: 24 years
Superlatives seem to cling to Hans Brings – he’s been Coldwell Banker’s most productive sales agent in New England for the past four years, as well as making the Wall Street Journal/RealTrends list of the top 250 real estate agents in the country. Recently, he formed his own charitable foundation, Hans Brings Results for Children’s Charities Fund, directing a portion of each of his closings toward a variety of local children’s charities. Not bad for a guy who only got into real estate in order to kill time while waiting to start law school.
Q: Tell me how you got started in real estate.
A: In 1985, I went to Bentley College, graduated from Bentley and applied to BC Law, got on the wait list there. Real estate was just a temporary thing. But that was 24 years ago. [Laughs.] I realized real estate was kind of a win-win – buyers were happy with their new home, sellers were happy, they were moving on. Everybody’s happy … I just loved it from day one.
Q: Not too many people think of going into real estate right out of college.
A: Well, I already had my license, since I had taken a bunch of real estate law courses in college. When I was wait-listed at BC, a friend of mine [who was in the industry] said, “Hey, why don’t you come down to our office temporarily, do a few rentals.” So I called the guy who was doing the hiring, left a message. He never called me back. Called him a second time, same thing. So I called him a third time – finally got a hold of him, and when I did, he said “You’re hired.” I said, “But you haven’t had a chance to talk to me!” And he said, “But you called me three times, and that’s what it takes in this business.” I always remembered that.
Q: Has Waltham changed much in your time here?
A: Absolutely – back in the late ’80s, early ’90s, when I started out, if you looked out on Moody Street here, there were a lot of run-down investment properties, a lot of restaurants that had to offer dollar drafts and free appetizers just to get anyone to walk in the door. Now you have multifamilies that have been converted to condos, close to 50 percent of them – and they’re all owner-occupants taking care of the properties – everything’s painted, [there are] flowers, grass. And the restaurants are now charging $24 an appetizer, instead of the free appetizers. So everything’s changed pretty dramatically.
Q: High-production agents often use the team model. Do you have any assistants or anyone who you work with?
A: I have a teammate, her name is Nancy. She’s kind of a concierge of sorts, does everything with me, helps me track all the details of a transaction. At the same time, she’s a top-producing agent as well, so if by chance I’m out of the office, she making sure everything’s taken care of. I also have a couple of buyer agents who work with me, who work in the areas that I don’t cover. I work mostly in Waltham, and if I have a seller who’s looking to move out of Framingham or Melrose or North Shore, South Shore, they take care of them. I used to refer them out to other offices, but I unfortunately I found I wasn’t able to keep watch, and I’d hear back from my sellers – “You call me back in 30 minutes, these people call me back the next day.” It just wasn’t the same, so I decided to work my own network out.
Q: What qualities do you look for in an agent, when you’re thinking about adding a team member?
A: The top would be loyalty – loyalty to me, to the team, to the company, in every possible way. Number two would be an interest in long-term relationships. One of the problems in this business, you’ll see someone start off, say, “I want to be a part of your team,” and then they’ll learn what they can, copy what they can and then [they’re out the door]. When I started working with Nancy and Ashley and Anthony, I made it clear: I’m not looking for a temporary gig. I’m not looking just to train you and then you go your own way. I’ll definitely make sure things will work out for you long-term – Nancy been with me since 2002, Ashley for 10 years and Anthony’s been with me for three years.
Number three is rapport – there’s some people who are really intelligent out there, but at the same time they can’t have a conversation. And that’s a biggie as far as I’m concerned. But number four obviously would be intelligence. I want people who can perform their job well. And number five would be lack of fear of the no. In other words, don’t worry about calling people that third time. What’s the worst they can do? Say no? Not let you sell their house? Don’t worry about that. I make I’d say at least 25 to 50 phone calls today – not necessarily cold calls, but just people I’m following up with. I’m not really bothered by it. I’m just excited I get to check it off my list.
Bring’s Top Five Favorite Children’s Charities:
- Stanley Snowflake, a organization that helps fulfill underprivileged children’s Christmas wishes
- Home for Little Wanderers
- The Boys and Girls Club
- The YMCA
- The Genesis Fund
