With greater than $1B in gross sales in 17 years, the co-founders of Weinberg Choi Residential in Chicago constructed their actual property enterprise on relationships.
An Early Lesson in Homeownership
Native Chicagoan Tommy Choi has by no means taken homeownership with no consideration. As a younger boy, Tommy’s grandfather usually reminded him of one of many prime causes he immigrated to the US from South Korea: for the chance to personal his own residence. “He needed to place his stake within the floor,” Tommy mentioned. “He needed to say that this piece of Chicago, this piece of America, was his.” His grandfather impressed upon Tommy the assumption that homeownership wasn’t a assure, however a privilege. Tommy couldn’t have guessed how this angle would later issue into his life’s work.
Just a few years after graduating from faculty, Tommy was at a profession crossroads. He was making good cash, however he was depressing in his day job. His inside gross sales place with a tech firm paid nicely sufficient for him to purchase his first property – a apartment the place he lived along with his finest buddy, Missouri native Josh Weinberg. Josh was working in gross sales for a nationwide homebuilder, and whereas he favored the true property trade, the 2 usually commiserated about their every day grind. That’s after they began eager about constructing one thing collectively.
Tommy and Josh already knew they made good enterprise companions. Again in faculty, they’d created a worthwhile autograph gross sales enterprise that funded journeys and events. They harnessed the identical entrepreneurial spirit to put in writing up a brand new marketing strategy, and by 2007, the buddies had develop into licensed actual property brokers. Preferring to construct an unbiased model, they opened Weinberg Choi Residential as a boutique brokerage and by no means thought of becoming a member of a bigger group.
Regardless of their enthusiasm and dedication, Tommy and Josh received pushback from family and friends, who thought they had been making an enormous mistake getting into the true property trade in the course of a downturn. Nonetheless, the prevailing market situations supplied an surprising profit. Whereas different corporations had been contracting and brokers had been leaving actual property, Tommy and Josh took up the slack, rising and constructing their community and database. “We had been on the market hustling, assembly individuals, actually constructing relationships – which has been the muse from day one,” Josh mentioned.
On the outset, the companions targeted on what they knew finest: They concentrated their efforts on serving to latest faculty grads discover house leases, realizing these renters would finally flip into householders. With endurance, their technique labored, and those self same purchasers referred to as again after they had been prepared to purchase. The method resulted in year-over-year progress for the companions’ burgeoning enterprise.
Discovering A Recreation-Altering Hiring Technique
Because the enterprise grew, Tommy and Josh discovered themselves carrying a number of hats – and approaching burnout. They knew they wanted assist, however as Tommy mentioned, “Once you begin to earn cash as an agent, that’s once you begin to get protecting over it.”
After 4 years, they made their first rent, and later grew to a seven-person staff. Whereas they had been doing nicely, they discovered themselves making hiring choices primarily based on favorable private impressions, fairly than on a candidate’s profession potential. They finally acknowledged they had been doing a disservice to potential expertise and to their enterprise.
Later, after becoming a member of Keller Williams® ONEChicago, they realized how necessary a complete hiring technique might be to their efficiency and progress. They adopted Profession Visioning, KW’s four-step expertise screening course of, and by no means regarded again. Josh mentioned the deep-dive method to hiring has allowed them to set expertise up for fulfillment by positioning every individual in a job that not solely makes use of their strengths, however fuels their fireplace to come back to work every day. “Fingers down, CV is the primary game-changing factor for our enterprise, which can also be a game-changer for our life,” Josh mentioned. It’s what’s allowed them to scale their staff to 16 members robust.
Offering for his or her staff’s success has develop into Josh and Tommy’s prime precedence. “Our staff is tremendous necessary to us. Impacting their lives and [helping] them obtain all the pieces they ever dreamed of and extra is why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Josh mentioned.
Discovering A Clear Cultural Match
Their give attention to private affect finally led Tommy and Josh to Keller Williams. In 2016, a colleague they admired, who had simply joined a KW® market middle, invited them to sit down right down to be taught extra concerning the firm. They had been shocked by the cultural alignment. Tommy recalled, “After we realized extra about it … we realized Weinberg Choi was principally Keller Williams. We had been residing the tradition of what KW was.” That’s after they made the choice to hitch Keller Williams® ONEChicago.
They plugged into KW programs and fashions immediately. Josh mentioned, “Earlier than we joined Keller Williams, we had tried out each completely different mannequin with our staff, and we had been very, very worthwhile. However we realized we actually didn’t have a mannequin – apart from attempting each completely different factor.”
By being strategic about their new hires and following a specialist mannequin, Tommy says they added years of data to their staff with out having to take action in real-time. “And we realized that not solely may we have now an even bigger life, we may create an even bigger alternative for everybody that’s a part of our household at Weinberg Choi,” Josh mentioned.
The distinction was rapid. Earlier than becoming a member of Keller Williams® ONEChicago, Weinberg Choi was averaging $30-35M in gross sales quantity a yr. Of their first yr with KW, they hit $50M, and from 2021-2024, they averaged greater than $100M in gross sales quantity and 150-175 models offered yearly. Since their founding, the staff has offered greater than $1B in actual property and served greater than 2,000 purchasers. It’s an accomplishment they by no means imagined can be doable for a referral-based enterprise.
Defining the Fashionable Actual Property Skilled
After they made the choice to hitch Keller Williams® ONEChicago, Josh recalled they did so understanding they might have the ability to run their enterprise based on their beliefs and values, and construct on the model they’d labored so exhausting to ascertain.
As a enterprise, Tommy says their differentiator is serving their purchasers as “trendy actual property professionals.” To the Weinberg Choi staff, which means leaning into offline cellphone calls, lunches, and face-to-face touchpoints, whereas additionally offering digital content material that engages their audiences and will increase their on-line visibility. From explainer movies on rate of interest shifts to mortgage fundamentals and native restaurant suggestions, Tommy says constructing an internet status is about creating helpful, well timed posts that construct belief with followers. For Tommy, it’s additionally about letting his character shine by means of and creating real connection. The twin-pronged method to advertising and marketing helps them keep prime of thoughts with previous and future purchasers, whereas serving as a throughline to their tradition and mission.
Tommy says he will get to honor his grandfather’s legacy with each consumer they serve. “I assume my grandfather can be very pleased with not simply what I’ve achieved, however what we’ve achieved as a staff, collectively,” he mentioned. “Particularly understanding the explanation why I’m within the place I’m in the present day was due to his journey right here.”
Watch the total KW Actual Property Function Fashions Weinberg Choi profile @kellerwiliams on YouTube.
