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

Transcript

CMG Real Estate Team Origin Story

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

Growing to 24 Agents

Speaker 2 0:54

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

Team Structure and Agent Development

Speaker 1 1:07

?

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

Brokerage Relationship and Legal Benefits

Speaker 1 2:34

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

Market Leadership in North Alabama

Speaker 1 4:16

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 .