West Hawaii Real Estate | October 26, 2018 3
Real Estate West Hawaii
“Live Big.”
Featured Brokers Joseph Garcia, BIC, Christina Sotelo, BA
October 26, 2018 | West Hawaii Real Estate | ©2018 West Hawaii Real Estate distributed bi-weekly in West Hawaii Today. Published October 26, 2018.
A publication of the West Hawaii Today Advertising Department. | Questions or comments: Jay Higa, Head of Advertising • jhiga@staradvertiser.com
When it comes to running
a successful real estate
brokerage, Joseph Garcia
and Christina Sotelo rely
on the oldest, but most important
trick in the book: Good, old-fashioned
customer service.
Garcia is the owner and brokerin
charge of Kona Real Estate
Management, a small, professional real
estate company that has been growing
quickly because of word-of-mouth
from satisfied clients. Christina Sotelo,
BA, is Garcia’s daughter and partner.
Kona Real Estate Management
specializes in the management
of long-term rentals, home check
services and real estate sales. Their
new website, KonaHomesandRentals.
com, is up and running and features
all their listings plus long-term rentals.
Garcia began his real estate career
in 1972 and has been in the profession
for 30 years on Hawaii Island. Sotelo
obtained her broker’s license more
than a year ago, and has long been
involved in the family business.
“She’s been my right-hand person
ever since high school,” said Garcia.
“My clients like having her there. One
of us is always available and we both
know everything that’s going on.”
Garcia, who has sold properties on
all of the Hawaiian Islands, specializes
in Kona homes and condos. He has
also handled lease to fee-simple
conversions and 1031 exchanges, and
is experienced with helping investors.
Many of his clients remained loyal to
him for years to handle multiple sales.
Frequent communication is essential
throughout every step of a transaction,
he says. Learning as much as possible
about a property is key.
“When you buy a piece of property,
it’s a big investment,” said Garcia. “You
need to know everything about it.”
When it comes to representing
sellers, Garcia makes sure properties
are marketed on the multiple listing
systems, including Zillow, Trulia
and in West Hawaii Today. Word of
mouth is also highly effective. Before
a new listing hits the market, Garcia
informs colleagues, who often find a
buyer quickly.
Impressed by Garcia and Sotelo’s
service, many clients continuously urged
them to go into property management.
“They knew us, they trusted us, and
they wanted us to handle their Hawaii
affairs,” explained Garcia.
Kona Real Estate Management
now manages between 60 and
65 condominiums and 15 houses.
As in real estate sales, careful
communication is maintained with
property owners. Customized service
gives clients the freedom to make
decisions about their property.
“We manage their property as if it
is our own,” he said. “We give it that
personal touch.”
The company also performs
vacation-property inspections to
provide peace of mind while owners
are away. This service is customized to
each client. Cleanings can be arranged
before owners arrive; refrigerators can
be stocked with provisions for the first
day back on the island.
“When people get what they want,
whether it’s a house, an apartment or
a rental, it’s a joy to know how happy
they are; that’s what we like to see,”
said Garcia.
CONTACT:
Joseph A. Garcia, BIC
Christina Sotelo, BA
Kona Real Estate Management
329-3121
KonaHomesandRentals.com
KonaJoe1@hawaii.rr.com
Number of real estate teams is growing, NAR survey finds
Teams are becoming more
common in the real estate
industry as an increasing
number of Realtors,
members of the National Association
of Realtors, consider themselves
a member of a real estate team,
according to a new survey by NAR.
NAR’s 2018 Teams Survey found
that 26 percent of respondents were
members of a real estate team while
73 percent were not a member of a
real estate team.
The definition of a real estate team
varies and some states describe it as
two or more real estate salespeople
or licensees who work together to
provide real estate services, or who
hold themselves out to the public as a
member of a team. Real estate teams
are an appealing option as they help
sales productivity by letting individual
team members thrive with their own
strengths and skill sets.
“The transformation of the real
estate landscape continues to change
the way Realtors® do business. Over
the last few years, Realtors have
continued to embrace changing
technology and business tactics that
are modernizing the industry. Real
estate teams are an increasingly
popular business model in response
to consumer demand for a wide range
of specialties from their Realtor as they
expect constant support throughout
the real estate transaction,” said NAR
CEO Bob Goldberg.
The median year that real estate
teams were established was in 2014
and Realtors® typically joined their
current real estate team in 2016,
according to the report. Nearly 30
percent of Realtors had two people on
their real estate team, with a median
number of four team members.
Among respondents that are not
currently on a real estate team, 16
percent have previously been on a
team, while 84 percent have never
been a member of a real estate team.
For Realtors that are not currently on
a real estate team, nine percent have
strongly considered the prospect and
30 percent have briefly considered
joining or starting a real estate team.
The survey asked Realtors to choose
from a list of activities to explain
their primary functions on a team.
The most common answer was agent
(88 percent), followed by broker (50
percent), marketing (47 percent),
administrative (47 percent) and
transaction coordinator (34 percent).
“This growing trend not only helps
our members share workloads and
responsibilities, but also allow Realtors
to benefit from the experience of
fellow professionals. The synergies of
a well-functioning team are often an
incentive to relinquish some of the
independence of a solo practitioner
and offer many attractive features for
both licensees and their customers,”
said NAR President Elizabeth
Mendenhall, a sixth-generation Realtor
from Columbia, Missouri and CEO of
RE/MAX Boone Realty.
The most common compensation
arrangements within a real estate
team were fixed commission split
(38 percent), graduated commission
split (22 percent), and 100 percent
commission split (13 percent).
As real estate teams become a
fixture of the contemporary real
estate environment, it is important
to understand that real estate teams
will attract the attention of real estate
regulators. In recent years, 24 states
have statutes or formal regulations in
place that address real estate teams.
“These regulations may continue
to be relatively minimal, limited
largely to advertising rules. Yet, as
teams continue to develop and as
the practice continues to evolve,
it is possible that more extensive
regulations will also develop and
evolve,” Mendenhall said.
In July 2018, NAR invited a random
sample of 50,436 active Realtors
to complete the Real Estate Teams
survey. A total of 3,483 useable
responses were received for an
overall response rate of 6.9 percent.
At the 95 percent confidence level,
the margin of error is plus-or-minus
1.66 percent.
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