We were lucky to catch up with Kelly Schuit recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kelly and James, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
When James Weiskerger decided to start The W Home Group, he had a vision of a local Real Estate team comprised of only top producers. This idea of combining top talent under one roof has not been done before locally. In most brokerages and teams, there is a low barrier odf entry and the profit model is that of volume. Teams will take on a lot of changes knowing that some will sink and some will swim. James wanted to create the opposite. A small team of elite agents who could represent the best customer service and levels of success on real estate transactions. Out of this idea, The W Home Group was born and together they have changed the local real estate landscape in Maryland
Kelly and James, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
James Weiskerger has been a licensed real estate agent for almost 20 years. He met Kelly Schuit when he was forming The W Home Group.
The W Home Group is a residential real estate team in Maryland comprised of top talent agents. They provide the highest level of customer service and represent the top 2% of agents in Maryland. Their team has been nationally recognized and they are the #1 team in terms of sales volume in Maryland according to BRIGHT MLS. Together they outsell every other team in Maryland.
They attribute their success to truly understanding the real estate process, allowing them to navigate their clients through the often stressful journey of buying and selling homes. They have over 1,200 5 star reviews, a testament that they follow through on exceptional customer service and successful closings. Each year they help over 1,000 Marylander’s buy and sell homes, a huge honor!
Kelly’s background is in advertising sales so her understanding of marketing and advertising has allowed their team to experience exceptional growth. over the past 5 years, They have expanded to three offices and support over 25 agents on the W Home Group for a total annual volume of over 300 Million Locally.
Together, James and Kelly own Next Step Realty, the brokerage that their team, The W Home Group operates within. Under this umbrella, 5 other teams and over 125 agents are represented. The brokerage is known for hiring top agents who truly care about their clients. The culture is positive, collaborative, motivational and has an energy that you can feel when walking through any of their three gorgeous offices.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
For months, people had been telling James that he needed to meet Kelly and vice versa. They were both leaders in their spaces, Kelly in advertising and James in Real Estate. James had been quietly selling 35-40 million a year in residential real estate and Kelly was the top advertising rep at her company. They met for coffee where Kelly thought she would sell James on buying advertising and James in turn convince her to quit her corporate day job to sell real estate full time. Within months she had quit her job and game to work for Next Step realty. They soon formed The W Home Group and grew together from there without ever looking back!
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
Our customers are our biggest cheerleaders. We have the BEST clients!! We love to offer an amazing experience when buying or selling a home from beginning to end and we treat each client and their individual situation with the highest level of professionalism and care. We have a very high success rate. Over 85% of our business comes from repeat and referral business so our clients are truly our lifeline! We create touch points to stay in front of them and connect with them for years after we pass them the keys at the closing table. We have amazing free events for the community, send them important market updates and keep them spoiled with treats and fun surprises and snail mail in the months and years following their home purchase. We are a phone call away when they need a recommendation for a plumber, handyman, landscaper or any other home service provider. We are also there to answer any questions they have about their home value, the market, re-fis or anythingq else related to real estate. In this way, our clients become customers (and friends)) for life!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thewhomegroup.com
- Instagram: @Thewhomegroup
- Facebook: Sold By Kelly Schuit, James Weiskerger, The W Home Group
- Linkedin: Kelly Schuit, James Weiskerger
- Youtube: The W Home Group
- Yelp: Kelly Schuit