The MOB gathered in Dallas recently at Coldwell Banker Apex for one of their twice-yearly meetings.
One of the unique hallmarks of the residential real estate business is its widespread commitment to collaboration for the greater good, from the listings shared among brokerage firms to the strategies exchanged among friendly competitors.
When it comes to the Coldwell Banker Multi-Office Broker network, however, the concept of collaboration rises to a whole new level. The “MOB,” as they’re colloquially known, serves as an intimate and trusted focus group for members. An extension of their own firms. A family of sorts with no agenda other than helping one another succeed.
Originally started by five Coldwell Banker brokers, the present-day MOB is composed of 15 firms sprinkled across the country. The group’s first official meeting took place in December 1990, marking a nearly 35-year history that speaks to the MOB’s value.
The purpose of the MOB is simple—and simultaneously ambitious. According to MOB Executive Director Douglas Banzhof—who joined as a broker in 1997—the group is designed to serve as a network of like brokers who can confidently share problems, ideas, plans and strategies around organizational structure, marketing, recruiting, core services, operational issues and more.
Given this commitment to opening the kimono, being a member of the MOB requires an ability to freely provide and receive constructive criticism in order to unearth solutions to shared problems. As Banzhof says, MOB members must be those “who can bond together in a common interest to serve the needs of the group in their pursuit of improving the business and profitability of the respective members.”
Jamie Mancuso, broker/owner of Pennsylvania-based Coldwell Banker Hearthside, currently serves as chair of the MOB, a rotating position that is held for two years. He was invited into the group in 2015 by then-chair, Tim Milam, CEO of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage in the Carolinas.
“It was probably one of the most intimidating experiences in my life to go into a group of 14 large company CEOs and owners and be the new guy in the group,” says Mancuso. “And what I found out very quickly is that I have 14 people that are literally in your corner.”
Lori Arnold, broker/owner of Texas-based Coldwell Banker Apex, began as a small broker with one office and five agents. As her firm grew, she was invited to join the Coldwell Banker Large Office Group (LOG), which helped her expand her company even further. Her continued growth eventually led to an invitation from the MOB. “Brokers have challenges and opportunities that change with size and scale,” she says. “The MOB allowed me to address the next level of those in my growth journey.”
Mancuso explains that the MOB provides an invaluable outside perspective that is illusive to many larger brokerage executives. “The whole goal of this group is to share what’s working, your successes, your failures, your strengths, your weaknesses,” he says. “You have 14 other executives that are there to pick you up, support you, continue you down the path that you’re going on. When you get a fresh perspective, it’s a great thing.”
While MOB members are committed to meeting twice a year in person and also come together at industry events, meaningful interaction happens throughout the year. “When an MOB member has an issue that they want input from the other members on, they send that request to me, and I send it out to the MOB. Sometimes, there might be three or four of those requests a week. So it’s more than just every six months where we get feedback. It’s a daily communication, frankly.”
According to Milam, this ability to network and share best practices with other top Coldwell Banker brokers has “truly helped us build our business.”
“Learning from other broker/owners who are willing to share ideas and suggestions, as well as systems they’ve tried that did not work, has saved us a lot of time and money,” he says. “The information that has been shared has allowed me to make changes and implement strategies often before our market might encounter an issue or before the general trends in the industry appear.”
Exclusive and effective
To make good on such high-minded and critical goals, it’s imperative that MOB members are carefully selected. According to Mancuso, the executive committee vets firms that are recommended, and if there’s interest on both sides, the addition of the prospective member would be put to a vote among the group, with the majority ruling.
The size of a prospective firm is a key consideration for MOB membership in order to ensure relatability and appropriate advice. Members, therefore, must earn at least $20M in closed gross commission volume. Care is also taken to ensure that no two members operate in the same geographical area.
Mancuso explains that the MOB also looks for firms that continually bring new perspectives to the group. “Getting to that finish line, we’re all kind of doing it a little bit differently,” he says. “We’re not looking for someone that is replicating what we’re doing. We’re looking for someone with different perspectives, trying different things—who’s not afraid to make the necessary changes or evolve in the current environment.”
While there is no official limit to the number of firms that can be part of the MOB, there is consensus that keeping the network intimate is critical to achieving its objectives. Maintaining exclusivity helps create the type of culture that is essential to the group’s effectiveness.
“It’s a very good, tight group,” says Banzhof. “You can ask any member any question and it’s going to remain confidential, and that’s a big deal. “You get too big, you’re going to lose that camaraderie and that true peer group feel that we have.”
Maintaining strict membership criteria and keeping the number of participants down is essential to creating the one thing above all else that makes the MOB so effective: trust. Members share highly sensitive information with each other, including a master financial review annually for each firm. Many firms also invite members and their teams to tour their operations.
“We open our businesses in every way to each other, from sharing financials to giving/receiving operational reviews of our companies,” says Arnold. “Because we know each other and our companies well, the operational reviews provide invaluable information from our peers who know us.”
Banzhof says “there’s no holding back on comments” during operational reviews. “When they see something that’s doing great, we’ll say we need to amplify that. If there’s something that needs attention, that’s certainly brought up in our feedback, too.”
This type of no-holds-barred interaction is integral to how the MOB functions. Mancuso explains that during every meeting, each member has 15 minutes to share issues they’re confronting or strategies they’ve implemented. He refers to it as a “judgment-free zone.”
“We share our failures as much as we share our wins,” he says. “I’ve had ideas where the group kind of grabbed me and said, ‘I don’t know if that would be the right move to make. We’ve been there, we’ve done that.’”
This type of shared experience and peer feedback helps MOB members get something they can’t from Coldwell Banker corporate: the trials and errors of fellow brokers. As Mancuso says, “Coldwell Banker leadership doesn’t really tell you, ‘we tried that, it didn’t work.’”
Members agree that what they derive from the network doesn’t replace but rather enhances the various types of support they receive from their parent brand. In turn, corporate fully supports the efforts of the MOB, with key company leaders making an appearance at each meeting. “We ask them some questions and they help us solve some things, but they also reverse that and ask our opinion on some items as well,” says Banzhof. “It’s a great relationship.”
“Coldwell Banker has been through the ups and the downs,” adds Mancuso. “Their leadership, on a larger level, is doing what we’re doing on a daily basis. So it’s great to have them in our corner.”
Bridge over troubled waters
For MOB members, there may be no greater time than now to lean into the advantages of the network. As the industry navigates a host of challenges in the wake of the commission lawsuits and NAR settlement, the idea exchange among MOB members takes on new urgency.
“Knowing this is a moving target as we move forward, the fellow MOB members are doing a great job of sharing what we are hearing on the street, as well as various input from MLSs and Coldwell Banker,” says Milam. “It has been invaluable.”
Mancuso says that members of the group have been preparing for and implementing necessary changes surrounding buyer agency for some time now, and that communication on the topic has been ongoing. “We stayed in communication, whether it be via email or a conference call,” he says. “Everybody’s pretty much ahead of it.”
In terms of the Burnett fall-out, Mancuso, like many, does not agree with the changes being mandated via the NAR settlement. “I think that’s probably our biggest struggle now—we have to pivot for changes that somebody else has made.”
Banzhof is quick to point out, however, that being part of the MOB means you don’t have to navigate such changes alone. “You have 14 other companies that are working on the same plan. So collectively we can brainstorm through that,” he says.
For example, Arnold explains that her firm has been practicing buyer agency for more than a decade, and presenting the listing options to a seller regarding commission in depth since 2017. “However, learning what other market practices are is always helpful to continue to evaluate best practices to serve our sellers and buyers better—we are always working on improving,” she says.
Arnold also believes the current transformation unfolding in the industry holds great promise for savvy leaders. “I believe there is opportunity for brokerages and strong agents to develop deeper relationships with customers and clients through the transparency that is being demanded by the industry changes regarding professional fees,” she says.
Commission talk aside, the overall slowdown in the market post-pandemic has helped the MOB benefit from what Mancuso calls “the best meetings we’ve had in some years.”
“Rather than just trying to handle a surge of business and trying to manage that, we’re actually able to chart our futures,” he says. “When the fish are jumping in the boat, you don’t have the time to look at things. You just keep moving forward and trying to make sure everybody’s happy and the deals are closing. In a market like this, there’s more opportunity to talk to people about expansion.”
Of course, navigating change is nothing new for the MOB, who have helped each other persevere and succeed through various challenges for decades. This reciprocal nature of the group dynamic is highly valued by Mancuso.
“To be able to share something, successes and failures, and to help someone else in the group—to me, there’s nothing better than doing that,” he says. “When you get a call saying, ‘Hey, I need help with this,’ I’ll drop whatever I need to, and I’m more than happy to help.”
“There are, and will continue to be, many opportunities for growth,” says Milam. “We are all experienced and have been through the good times and the bad times. The market will survive and thrive, and together as MOB members, we’ll all be there to help one another.”
“In the MOB, I have developed lifelong friends who share beyond just the business ideas that a normal brainstorming/mastermind group would,” says Arnold.
