Tip: Free your time by hiring a property manager to maintain investment properties.
When Patrick “Trey” Salatto, ABR®, and his wife opened Century 21 Paramount Real Estate Inc. in June 2000, they had a head start building their database of potential clients.
Salatto and his wife had both previously worked for large developers—she in commercial and he in residential. “Our previous work gave us credibility. I don’t think we’d have done as well without the experience,” he says.
Salatto’s Auburn, Ala., company closed $10 million in sales in 2001. Salatto now has 14 full-time salespeople working for him and has expanded into property management. He plans to open his second office in June. “At first I wasn’t sure I wanted to do property management, but it’s been very lucrative for us,” he says.
His company manages six shopping centers as well as a homeowners association and is now branching into selling condos and multifamily units.
His expansion plans mean Salatto is putting increased focus on recruiting. He’s creating an in-house training program with hopes of attracting new salespeople and teaching them what he knows about the profession. “I want to take them beyond the licensing class, so they realize there are systems to back them up.”