A 50-50 partnership

Susanna Cherubin-Delisi and Daniel Otto make up the two-person Otto Delisi Team with CONLON/Christie’s International Real Estate. They are equal partners who split the business evenly between them, including expenses.

Cherubin-Delisi and Otto also divide their responsibilities evenly, though each has areas of specialization when it comes to servicing clients. “We do light staging for homes,” Cherubin-Delisi says. “We help them prepare and get them photo-ready for when the photographer comes. If it means hanging pictures or bringing in props or decluttering, we’ll do that. Most of the time, we do it together.”

“Marketing is probably split 50-50,” Otto says. “I probably specialize more in the spreadsheet creation for the CMAs, bringing some of my business background to the team.”

They had a part-time assistant who helped with showings and administrative work, but she moved away. “It’s basically the two of us,” Otto says. “When we had the assistant, we were compensating her on an hourly rate.”

One leader, many agents

Akos Straub is CEO of The Group | RE at Coldwell Banker Previews International, based in Lincoln Park.

Straub has five full-time agents on his team, though they do not adhere to specific roles for his licensed members. “The sales associates and brokers are chameleons,” he says. “They can fulfill the role of the listing agent or they can fulfill the role of the buyer’s agent. I do not lock them down to one specific role.”

Straub’s team also includes two full-time administrative staff members. One is a client manager who handles lead generation tasks, and the other serves in the role of executive assistant. There is also a part-time virtual assistant who answers phones. The group is rounded out by four part-time real estate agents.

His team’s compensation is based on commissions, with additional payments available for performing various tasks, such as showings and inspections. Each agent’s experience and each property’s price point also factor in to the commission.

“Each showing is $20,” Straub says. “If they’re going to go out and show clients their property, it covers their costs. We do all of the backend stuff and scheduling, so they just need to be there and do the actual showing. If I have a client that needs to be hands-on, I’ll assign one of my team members and pay them a flat 1 percent.”

A family business

Frank Passaro leads The Passaro Team in Naperville under the Baird & Warner banner. Passaro and his father, Tom Passaro, have more than 60 years of real estate experience between them. The Passaros view themselves more as partners to the agents on their team, and readily make themselves available when situations arise.

“I am hands-off, but I’m available to help if one of our agents is struggling,” Passaro says. “We try to collaborate so that it’s not just every man for himself.”

Passaro’s team consists of seven full-time people, who all operate within a set structure with specialized roles. There’s a salaried administrator who handles marketing and website maintenance tasks, as well as six licensed Realtors; two focus primarily on listings, three handle buyers and sellers, and one focuses on property management.

“Our team is based on the premise that they have access to an assistant,” Passaro says. “We have systems and plans in place for bringing in buyers. We really do not want agents to have to spend a lot of time on administrative tasks. We want the agents out there in front of the people. If they’re not face to face with someone, they’re not making sales. We try to provide systems and tools over and above what the general office does – things the agent may not have the capability of getting on their own.”

Passaro bases compensation for his team’s agents on a combination of experience and productivity, with each agent having their own commission structure.

“I look at some of the market studies of the competition to see what’s available from the various companies,” Passaro says of setting up the structure. “I also looked at how Baird & Warner does compensation, and tried to make it fair based on what was going on.”