What do you guys think of teams? Does joining one help an agent learn the ropes, or get him stuck being a specific cog in a larger machine without the benefit of learning all the sides of the business, and having to pay for this privilege?

itely a good idea..if they are a super team doing over 50-100 transactions and have over 30-100 listings...

you will learn alot in a short time frame..

Teams can be a good way to start. Make sure you don't sign any non-compete agreements, so when you are ready to go on your own you can work in the area you are now familiar with.

how long do you think is a good time to stay on a team? would a person approach a team directly or go to an agency first, and then try to find a team within the agency? or would you just look for top agents who have teams and then see if you like the brokerage too?

Teams is best as a new agent you can learn a lot and your team lead will be more likely to share knowledge.

I have a partner and we have 200 listings and it's nice to share work load and something always seems to be closing.

hmm, see I was under the impression that the way teams work is that you have a lead guy who generates the leads, and a team of agents who work those leads and pretty much stick to that and not much else...

I also thought that if you're on a team you cannot really have your own site/marketing as you're part of a team, so it would be much harder to get your name out there, and get your own clients...

For the right person, it could be a great way to get a foot in the door and start generating income (as opposed to going solo, in which case it could be several months before a commission materializes). As far as making a decision of where to go, I'd say that finding the right team is more important than the brokerage. Best of luck.

Very interesting point. We farm out 90+% of our buyer leads to other agents for a referral as opposed to being on our "Team". FYI these referrals produce 15% - 17% of our annual income. But, you have to be VERY careful of who you give the leads to as some will put the referrals behind their own customers. We expect an agent to convert about 10% of buyer leads to closings.

The people we refer buyer leads to have no idea about anything to do with the listing of REO and are not involved in the listing side or any contact info for any of our AMC's.

Our REO listing team is myself, my lovely wife, a full time closing co-ordinator (former title person with no RE license and no desire to get one) and a full time billing, property preservation, inspection photo, and research person (former bookkeeper who is a four foot two inch cross between a tiger, a ferret (for ferreting out info), and a bear (half teddy and half grizzly also with no RE license nor a desire to get one).

IMO for newer agents, joining a team is a great idea because you will learn how to be successful in this business and get leads at the same time.

NJC,

The team structure may vary a LOT, depending on the team. You may be only doing one aspect of the job, with each member having their own segment to stay on top of. You may get all the buyer leads from a variety of sources.

If you are newer, I would strongly consider the team concept to learn the processes involved. Branding yourself can come later, after you get a real feel for what you are doing!