Meet one of our team members at Tongo - Nick Johnson. Before Tongo, Nick worked at Side, Zillow and Compass both as a broker and on the corporate side. Nick joined the Tongo team as our VP of Partnerships back in April. We asked him a few questions about Tongo and real estate:
Throughout my career in the Real Estate industry, I’ve seen dozens of products emerge and what excites me most is when something serves as a solution to benefit realtors and help them grow their business, that was the first thing that excited me about the team and what we are building. Outside that of that, the team is passionate about expanding on the solution and building new products that fit in. Lastly, I’ve never met a team that cares as much about their customers as the Tongo team does.
Absolutely. Tongo is a tool built to support agents and their business. As an agent you need all types of support; marketing, technology (CRM, Transaction Management), administrative as well as financial- and that’s where Tongo fits in.
I’d say the misconception is Tongo is there because someone doesn’t manage funds well or they are in desperate need of a commission. In reality, Tongo allows agents to have flexibility with the way they leverage their income. For any successful business, not just real estate, alignment of cash flow and expenses is critical. With the seasonality and market changes, Tongo is an intelligent way for agents to achieve such a thing, and invest in the growth of their business earlier than a standard commission timeline allows.
In the current market, knowledge is key. Be up to speed with what is going on and have a positive spin on it. The majority is referring to a “doomsday.” I’d suggest speaking to how it’s a good time to be a buyer and as a seller. Be sure your clients know to lean on you for the best strategy, and don’t give in to sellers. Don’t just price the home wherever they want to, be the expert. This is the first time in almost a decade where the value of the realtor is critical.
My 6-year-old twins keep me busy! In the winter, we enjoy getting up to the mountains in Truckee, CA for snowboarding. I also enjoy coaching their sports teams throughout the year.