Bonus: Building the CMG Real Estate Team with Corey Gilmore

Building a successful real estate team requires a balance of strategic growth and comprehensive agent education. CMG Real Estate grew from a single agent to a 24-agent powerhouse, becoming the #1 large team in Huntsville and #2 in Alabama in just five years.

• Started CMG Real Estate five years ago after 12 years in the industry
• Began with one buyer's agent and expanded as business demands increased
• Currently has 24 agents supported by a full leadership team
• Provides comprehensive training rather than specializing agents in single roles
• Educates agents in all aspects of real estate to ensure their long-term success
• Operates under Capstone brokerage for legal protection and compliance support
• Services the entire North Alabama region, including Huntsville and Athens
• Achieved #1 large team status in Huntsville and #2 in Alabama

Chapters

• 0:00 CMG Real Estate Team Origin Story
• 0:54 Growing to 24 Agents
• 1:07 Team Structure and Agent Development
• 2:34 Brokerage Relationship and Legal Benefits
• 4:16 Market Leadership in North Alabama

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

So you're the team lead of CMG Real.

Speaker 2: 0:03

Estate.

Speaker 1: 0:04

CMG. Yeah, so let's launch into it. How'd you start that?

Speaker 2: 0:08

So we started CMG five years ago. I've been in real estate for 12 years and got to a point in my business where I needed help. So I was like let's start a team. And I did all the wrong things first. But you know, obviously just through trial and error we started just building. I started with one, but like our buyer's agent, yeah say, and then she got really busy.

Speaker 2: 0:41

She was like man, we need some help. So I was like man, okay, let's figure out how to really do this thing. Then, from there, we brought in two more people. They were like a husband and wife team, right? Um, and then it just starts snowballing. So we're at 24 agents right now. You're great man, yeah I know that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:00

Yeah, that's awesome, yeah. So you know, are they all buyers, agents or you got support staff?

Speaker 2: 1:07

yeah, so I have, we have support back in, we call, call it our leadership team. Yeah, so I've got, we got a full-time transaction coordinator, slash admin, uh, full-time marketing, um, inside sales agent, uh, sales manager, the whole nine so, um, but our agents I don't. We don't run our team to where there's like fire and seller or listing agents right, they can do that, we can do it, but you know most of them may end up working with buyers at first and then get in listings as they get.

Speaker 1: 1:41

I don't want that term either. I mean someone who says they're like a listing agent and I'm like so you're telling me you're going to list their house and they're going to sell it, to go buy another house and you're just going to be like I'm out there, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:54

Good luck. Right, You've got to be able to work all sides. We run our team to where we really want to just educate agents on really how to grow and do real estate the right way. So we feel like it's not advantageous to say, hey, only work with buyers, because if they were to leave the team then that's all they would know to do. So we'd rather teach them how to do all assets or aspects of it and if they were to ever leave the team, they can go out and fly.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Okay, so you're giving them an education, yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:28

That's the benefit of your team structures.

Speaker 1: 2:30

You're going to come in, have the training and maybe being a part of just being a part of a brokerage.

Speaker 2: 2:36

That's it. Yep, that's it, that's cool.

Speaker 1: 2:38

So I know your team's under capstone. So what's that?

Speaker 2: 2:44

set up like yeah, so capstone, yeah, it's really capstone. We hang our license there, but everything runs through the team, so the only thing they they really do for us is cut our checks. Capstone is great. They're there for, like you know, high level support really do for us is cut our checks. The Capstone is great. They're there for high level support, making sure if they get into legal trouble they step in and intervene. For the most part, we do our own thing. That's good, that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 3:25

I've always been curious about that because I've known several large teams and they're usually under a big brokerage problem.

Speaker 2: 3:33

Yeah, what's the difference there? Yeah, you know, biggest difference is from a team owner standpoint. I don't have that legal liability on me, so if my agents do mess up to a point where they get sued, it doesn't come directly on me.

Speaker 1: 3:51

Right, it's still on the brokerage for, like, the contract reviews, keeping up with all the paperwork, that kind of stuff yeah all the compliance stuff.

Speaker 2: 3:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So will we at one point probably get to the point where it doesn't make financial sense to be a part of the brokerage? Probably at some point. But until then I'm just going to ride it out.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Yeah, that's cool, yeah All right, weren't you number one last year?

Speaker 2: 4:16

Yeah, we were number one large team in Huntsville last year.

Speaker 1: 4:20

That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 4:21

And then number two large team in Alabama. So were you primarily working out of Huntsville, taking listing, selling and then number two large?

Speaker 1: 4:24

team in Alabama. So where are you all? Are you primarily working out of Huntsville taking listings selling Huntsville?

Speaker 2: 4:29

you niche down there North Alabama, yeah, we're kind of spread out. We've got agents that work a lot, a lot of Athens. But, really anywhere in North Alabama we typically service.

Speaker 1: 4:40

Very cool.

Speaker 2: 4:40

Awesome Yep.

Speaker 1: 4:44

Well, I think that's a pretty good warm-up.