The Foundation of a Great

The Foundation of a Great Partnership: Trust

by Chris George

To see the full interview, visit www.cmgfi.com/jv-partners/realtyonegroup-chat

Kuba Jewgieniew

Founder and CEO Realty ONE Group www.realtyonegroup.com

We want to launch a joint venture partnership the right way, and there’s definitely a process and a discipline to it. Our purpose is not profit; our purpose is to make a meaningful difference in peoples’ lives—starting locally. Our business is hyper-local. So, we want to make a difference in peoples’ lives in the place that we work, play and serve. The lender partner we’ve chosen has the same exact beliefs. Simply put, the foundation of any lasting joint venture is trust. And the trust is that your partner is the expert in their field. We don’t have multiple partners and unnecessary “noise” trying to influence us, so we have the freedom to choose who we do business with and how we do business, and how we do business Our joint venture satisfies that is very much aligned between our orneed through its mission to ganizations. The joint venture should create a unified real estate reflect a bond that both entities comand lending experience mit to long-term and grow together for the customer. It truly over time. How did your background reflects the “ONE” comwith startups prepare ponent of the Realty ONE you for launching a joint venture? Jewgieniew Group. Kuba Jewgieniew: Launching a joint Explain to us the ‘one’ cornerstone of venture is essentially starting a new your organization. business. Even when you are work- KJ: ONE represents unity—that ing with two established entities, through togetherness, we all achieve your joint venture will operate as more. Our mantra is “EveryONE Wins something new. Over the past de- Together.” We drive each other’s succade, I’ve been an investor in start- cesses and achieve milestones, and ups, and one thing I learned early we celebrate them. We do what we on is that in any relationship or any say. We’re action people. It’s very business, you don’t only invest in the simple, very straightforward. Our idea or the concept, you invest in the purpose is to make a positive difpeople. We have had success in the ference in people’s lives around joint venture arena because we’ve the globe, and our next chapter, I’m taken the care to invest in the right proud to say, is that we’re becoming people. Our main differentiator is our an international brand. two assets—our people, who represent our culture, and our branding, How did you choose your joint venwhich tells our story. ture partner? KJ: It takes time to get to know each What was missing from your market other and go through the vetting that led you to your joint venture? process and make sure there is a KJ: Our market needed a business strong alignment before moving formodel that could withstand econom- ward with a joint venture agreement. ic changes and provide lasting value. We’re not going to just “test it out.” What have you done to convert agents to trusting your joint venture? KJ: Our brokerage was built on the foundation of listening to our agents. Listening turns to understanding. To get our agents to truly care about this partnership, we’ve listened to them explain the local dynamics of this market, and we built a model to serve it.

How are you recruiting loan officers to work with your joint venture? KJ: We are a volume and value play. We give agents opportunity and empower real estate professionals to use the savings to reinvest back into their business. When a loan officer joins our organization, they get access to this growing network of mega offices. It’s an opportunity to work with hundreds on hundreds of real estate professionals in every area of expertise. RE

Chris George is the CEO of CMG Financial. For more information, please visit cmgfi.com/jv-partners.