Home / Real Estate EXIT Realty Continues To Expand, Now Has Th ree Real Estate Offices In The Region

BY JILL NAGY

EXIT Realty now has a Glens Falls office in addition to its Clifton Park and Hudson offices.

The real estate group held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Glens Falls office in February. But actually, the office had been open since June 2021. The event was delayed by the COVID pandemic.

The Glens Falls branch is part of the regional franchise, EXIT Realty Empire Associates. The group’s headquarters is in Clifton Par.

Jennifer Vucetic, principal broker and owner, said the company was doing so much business in the Lake George area, out of its Clifton Park office, they decided to open the new office at 1 Lawrence St.

Empire Associates celebrate its fifth anniversary this summer. Vucetic has been in the real estate business since 2005.

Currently, there are 12 agents in the Glens Falls office. The core of the group is a team of agents headed by Bill Moon, who is also director of the board of the local Big Brothers and Sisters organization. The office occupies the first floor of a former pediatrics office.

The connection with Big Brothers and Sisters reflects the community service participation that is part of the DNA of both the national EXIT Realty International organization and the local franchise. A portion of every transaction fee received by the parent company is applied to its charitable fund, $7 million, to date, according to the company.

Locally, fees are shared with the Open Door Mission, Habitat for Humanity, the Food Pantry, and other organizations in addition to Big Brothers and Sisters. In addition, brokers donate time to community organizations and make cash contributions, including a recent $5,000 gift to Big Brothers and Sisters to help that organization serve more young people.

“EXIT has a very big culture of giving back to the community but Glens Falls does it to a greater extent,” Vucetic said.

One of the employees, Lisa Grassi Bartlett, was recently recognized by the Women’s Council of Realtors as a top producing agents and received an award from EXIT Realty International for her dedication to real estate and to her community. Grassi helped the Open Door Mission sell its former headquarters building and then donated her commission back to the organization.

“We are very good at time management,” Vucetic replied when asked how she and her colleagues can devote so much time to the community and still hold full-time jobs and raise families.

Vucetic just completed a year as president of the New York State Association of Realtors. As president, she placed much of her emphasis on advocacy activities.

“Anyone who knows me understands that advocacy is a passion of mine. As Realtors, it is paramount that we have an active voice at the table on local, state, and national levels,” she said.

Activities of the organization during her tenure included providing frequent legislative updates to association members and organizing the group’s annual lobbying day in Albany. She also participated in a trade mission to Italy, revamped the group’s Leadership Academy, and created a new strategic plan.

There are no immediate plans to add to the current team of 12 agents in the Glens Falls office. However, Vucetic said, “We will consider anyone of a like mind set who is community driven and has a passion for real estate.”

Further information about EXIT’s Glens Falls operation is available online at www. exitrealtyempireassociates.com, or by telephone at 518-225-1013.

Shannon McCarthy Team Uses Cloud-Based, Non-Traditional Model To Benefit Its Agents

BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL

Shannon McCarthy may be ahead of the curve when it comes to rapidly changing trends in the local real estate industry.

The Shannon McCarthy Team of 14 real estate professionals, formerly part of Keller Williams, has moved en masse to eXp Realty, a cloud-based firm that trades on NASDAQ and claims to be the number-one independent real estate broker in the U.S. in terms of transactions and closed sales, according to the company’s website.

McCarthy is a Saratoga native who sold her first home in 2003. She has her flagship realty office in Saratoga and a second office in Lake George.

In the next month she plans to expand south into the Tri-Cities, where she said there is need for experienced real estate professionals.

“Once you have team members in an area and working it, you slowly grow market share,” said McCarthy. “It grows organically because you are attracting more agents.”

Whatever brick-and-mortar presence the team may build next, headquarters is now a cloud-based, non-traditional business model that McCarthy says benefits both agents and consumers.

“The industry is getting disrupted by eXp because a cloud-based company cuts expenses,” said McCarthy. “Real estate professionals can build our teams without a ceiling or restrictions on what we can do with processing and systems.”

The eXp paradigm also links brokers with buyers from all over the world. This is especially important for clients served by the Lake George office, as many sales are second homes. Buyers come from everywhere, McCarthy said, and are willing to wait for the right opportunity to open.

McCarthy has imposed a limit on the number of team members she hopes to attract, saying that 25 to 30 is a manageable number that she can mentor and support.

“I have been a solo agent, on a small team and on a mega-team,” she said. “I know how to help team members build a business and grow it and they won’t have to recreate the wheel. I want to have a close relationship with each team member. It is super important to me to mentor my team and support each individual.”

On the Shannon McCarthy Team, McCarthy said each professional can “work at a very high level. There’s no trial and error.”

By providing a cloud-based framework, agents have even more freedom to work with clients, a strategy that McCarthy said consistently outperforms.

“We had 344 transactions last year and year-to-date we have 125, so we are talking 400 transactions this year,” she said.

She said the traditional brokerage models are limited to whatever programs, servicing and contact systems they currently use. But because eXp’s membership base is so wide, she can “see what the best agents and team leaders around the country are doing and bring that back” to her teams serving the North Country down to the Capital Region.

“There is no doubt that COVID forced society online, and the industry realized we can do business this way,” she said. “We can all learn virtually and leverage technology to serve clients better.”

The transition enables the Shannon McCarthy Team to utilize eXp’s “superior contact relationship software for keeping in touch and staying informed,” she said. “There are so many nuances to each transaction, we cannot rely on our memories to stay on top of every detail.”

McCarthy said that “constantly following up and communicating” within the team and with consumers “is what our clients need to feel supported. Moving is already stressful.”

The premise of eXp Realty is that it “provides a network of other highly professional agents and the widest audience” of homebuyers, she said. “Usually there are franchises in different regions, but eXp is one large brokerage.”

Instead of competing with one another, agents learn from and help other members because eXp’s revenue sharing program motivates all to succeed, said McCarthy.

“So we have a true collaboration, working together to solve consumer problems,” she said.

Lack of inventory has been the number-one problem in real estate, which combined with rising mortgage rates adds up to a unique market, according to McCarthy.

“When there is no inventory, we have to mastermind how to work with clients to craft offers that will get chosen,” she said. “Also, sellers are concerned about where they’re going to move to when inventory is low.”

McCarthy is “looking to attract like-minded agents and support staff who want to work hard, be creative and innovative, and evolve to better help the consumer.”

McCarthy beat the odds by flourishing in her industry for 20 years. According to her, 90 percent of new real estate agents fail in the first two years.

Recent years experienced “the highest turnover I’ve ever seen,” she said.“I am excited and happy to be here and hope other business people out there with aspirations will join my team to be mentored. Teams are the future of this business.”

Learn more at www.mccarthysells.com or on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.