Keller Williams ONEChicago is expanding! With a commitment to creating more equitable opportunities for home buyers, sellers, and agents, a new office will open on the Southside of Chicago in the first quarter of 2023.
Four influential agents will invest and lead the new office, team, and operations. One is a long-time Keller Williams agent and leader, and three are new to the company.
La’Dweena Smith, the chief executive officer of Keller Williams ONEChicago, will continue in her current role at the new site. She’s been with the KW since 2008 and began a leadership position there in 2016 as a productivity coach. In addition, Smith has been involved in several office launches for KW.
The other three hires — Nate Thompson, Jerome Harper, and Rashauna Scott — are new to Keller Williams.
Most recently, Thompson served as the Designated Managing Broker for Baird & Warner‘s South Loop and Northwest Indiana office. He will take on the same role for KW ONEChicago and, additionally, has been named senior vice president of compliance for all locations. In 2020, he earned an Agents’Choice Award for Managing Broker of the Year.
Like Thompson, Harper came from Baird & Warner South Loop and Northwest Indiana office, where he served as Assistant Manager. At KW, he will be the senior vice president of growth for all locations. He is also a Chicago Association of REALTORS® Neighborhood Award winner.
Scott joins KW from Kale Realty and has over a decade of experience in real estate. She was named a Top Producer by the Chicago Association of REALTORS® two years in a row. At KW, her responsibilities will center around business development for the new office.
N’DIGO sat down with the new Keller Williams ONEChicago team and talked about their mission and goals to provide excellent service, support, and education to real estate agents and help the community navigate the challenges of home ownership and create generational wealth.
N’DIGO: Let’s start by having everyone introduce themselves and telling us what your role is?
La’Dweena Smith: I’m the CEO of Keller Williams ONEChicago. I’ve been with KW since 2008 and part of the original team that wanted to open up a new location on the Southside of Chicago.
La’Dweena, you mentioned you wanted to open up a new location servicing Chicago’s South Side residents. What prevented that from happening?
Smith: That was in 2018, and I’m happy that it never came to fruition because, looking back at it now, the investor team wasn’t Black. So now, it’s a little more meaningful because of who the investors are.
What is the goal of ONEChicago?
Smith: To be the real estate company of choice for agents and their customers.
N’DIGO: That was said just like a Pro! (Laughs)
What sets KW apart from other brokers?
Smith: I think that what sets KW apart from other brokerages is that we truly believe that the agent’s brand and their business should be at the forefront, and the franchise itself is a close second. So we want all of the agents to build their own brands, run their own businesses and be as successful as possible, and have their own client base, following them in their business and not necessarily directly attached to the brokerage.
Explain the role of your Leadership Team.
Smith: So our ‘Leadership Team‘ which Nate, Jerome, and myself are a part of. We’re responsible for providing training to all the agents at different levels. KW, as a whole, is the number one training company in North America across all industries. So we take pride in the training that we offer the agents. We have classes such as ‘IGNITE’ that are designed to get agents into business and into production very quickly. AND ‘BOLD,” which is a high-level mindset and skill-based training for agents at all levels. We also have a Productivity Coaching program, where we hired agents and then get them into a program that enables them to coach into productivity, so that they can get into business quickly.
And there’s the Mentoring Program that starts in January. Agents will be able to get more hands-on mentorship and can shadow other agents, and the top agents will lead that in our office. Rashauna will be one of those mentors, giving back to agents that are not at the production level that she is but striving to get where she is.
We put out a Training calendar every month. Nate’s team is responsible for it, and it consists of over a hundred hours or more of training each month for agents at all different levels. And 90 percent of the training we offer is free to our agents.
N’DIGO: What is your role?
Nate Thompson: I’m the Senior Vice President of Compliance, Designated Managing Broker, and formerly Managing Broker at Baird & Warner and Coldwell Banker before that.
Is Keller ONEChicago a new company?
Thompson: No, the company is already established. The Keller Williams ONEChicago is the franchise, and we are opening a new office location on the Southside of Chicago. We are four investors and the owners of that location. We have locations in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and O’Hare. And we will be the first Black-owned location.
How will the agents help your customers?
Thompson: If we are grooming the agents to be excellent in what they do in their industry and the craft, then the customers obviously benefit from that. So that’s the goal, to make sure we are equipping our agents to help the people in the community survive and strive.
Is it mandatory that agents participate in training classes?
Thompson: It’s not mandatory but encouraged. If you are a new agent or an agent that’s not productive as they can be, their training is vital, especially in getting in the business or growing their business. People like Rashauna and other top agents teach them. Now everyone will create their own lane or way to do it, but they need the fundamentals first. So we highly recommend that they attend the training so that at least they can build that foundation.
Who has mentored you?
Thompson: Over the years I’ve been in Real Estate, I’ve had several mentors. Whether they knew it or not, they had some impact on the building of my career. Scott Curcio, who I started with ten years ago at Coldwell Banker (he’s now with Baird & Warner) without knowing it, laid the foundation and taught me how to run a business, build a business, and how to be aggressive in the industry. I absorbed a lot from him.
N’DIGO: How are you a part of the Keller Williams ONEChicago equation?
Jerome Harper: I’m the Senior Vice President of Growth. My job is to attract agents to Keller Williams ONEChicago. I was originally with Baird & Warner and, prior to that, Northern Trust.
Do you think it’s a better time for Keller Williams ONEChicago now after the pandemic?
Harper: The pandemic was obviously tragic, but for real estate and for real estate brokers, it was a time of growth. Now for us, as we recruit and try to bring a certain level of sophistication to what we do, it’s a much better environment post-pandemic to train and educate agents to thrive in this business.
After passing the Real Estate exam, is continued education a path to take?
Smith: The Real Estate state exam is designed or teaches you how not to get sued by the State of Illinois. It does not teach you how to run a successful real estate business. Most agents, once they pass the state exam, don’t know what to do.
Harper: And there’s a distinction to be made there. So, it teaches the difference between running a real estate business and being a real estate broker. You can pass the test and become a broker; that works. But KW and our brand are all about you running a real estate business, which requires a certain level of specialization, intensity, and depth of knowledge that we provide through our training.
Where are the hot spots for real estate on the Southside?
Harper: Bronzeville, Englewood, South Shore, Auburn Gresham, Pullman, and Avalon Park. It’s the entire Southside, to be perfectly candid. If you look at the last 5-7 years, no neighborhood has seen a slowdown. If you see a deal, you work with a lot of investors. If you have an investor, they will say they are looking for a deal and not in any particular location. They are recognizing that the Southside of Chicago and the south suburbs have an immense amount of opportunity.
Rashauna Scott (Photo Courtesy of Keller Williams ONEChicago)
N’DIGO: You already know what I’m about to ask you! (Laughs)
What attracted you to Keller Williams?
Scott: And I’ll say that’s what attracted me to KW. I was actually in the process of opening my own brokerage before I joined them. I wanted an opportunity where I could still be an individual, be in a position of ownership, create a legacy and continue to be in a position of equity. Keller Williams had so many opportunities, models, and income streams that helped me realize that I really didn’t want to reinvent the wheel and really do all the heavy lifting by myself. And all the reasons that I was looking to open a brokerage, I recognized I could still get that at KW.
Can you tell me why a Southside location was a necessity?
Scott: So, being a Southside native, born and raised there, schooled, worked, and lived all over the Southside, primarily a lot of my business is on the Southside. And the company that I was at prior to KW, all of their main hubs or main headquartered locations were north of Roosevelt Road. So, I had to commute downtown or to the Northside just to go into the office. It was important for me to open an office in the community where I lived, worked, and served.
What important aspect of training is vital?
Scott: I think exposure is key. Keller Williams also has two major conferences that are held every year on a national and international level for agents. Thousands of agents attend these two-three-four day training events., and you’re able to be exposed to highly successful agents in different markets. Agents who are running and operating businesses at very high levels. And just being exposed to that, I think, is key. What attracted me to KW is the exposure, training, and support that enables agents to get where they aspire.
Are these training classes in person or virtual?
KW: They are in-person with an option for virtual classes. But face-to-face (in-class training) really is essential.
Do you have someone who has mentored or given you advice in your career?
Scott: I have a friend, and her name is Jane Bond. She is the first Black real estate broker and the only Black broker in Naples, FL. About 4-5 years ago, I reached out to her on social media as I was trying to connect with more Black women in real estate. I googled Black Enterprise and typed in women in real estate, and her article came up. I reached out, and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s a record-breaking multi-million dollar agent, selling an expensive condo on the beach in Naples, FL. She has been highly inspiring, and it is just wonderful to see another Black woman in this business be successful. I consulted with her before I quit my job and joined KW. She’s been a friend and an amazing mentor. And she’ll be here for our grand opening.
What are the top three values of Keller Williams ONEChicago?
Smith: The culture is different. We have a culture of giving and sharing.
Thompson: The values for sure. The KW family believes in We, God, Family, and then Business. We prioritize those things in terms of making sure that if you have that relationship with whatever higher power it is, that you value that relationship, then your family comes next and the your business is in place. And so we respect different backgrounds and all of that, but whatever you value the most, we encourage you to put that in the forefront.
Harper: Then education over all things. So, education is very key for our agents to have the tools to inform their clients, customers, and the general public. But also educating the general public if they wanted to become real estate brokers themselves. We offer training classes for them to do that. It’s sharing everything. It’s sharing our knowledge it’s sharing our resources, whether it’s time, talent, or treasure. It is part of the ethos of the organization that those things are at the forefront of everything that we do.
How do you think the Obama Center will impact real estate?
Harper: If you look at the history of presidential museums and education campuses, they really don’t have an impact on real estate values. But in the case of the first Black president, it will have an impact on our Black community, especially South Shore and to some degree Hyde Park.
Smith: I agree. I do believe that a majority of the impact has already been done. The Woodlawn area recently was named one of one the fastest growing neighborhoods by Redfin because home prices doubled just around the announcement of the Obama Library before it even broke ground. Then we had the pandemic, which also affected home prices and surges. I’ve done research as well, as Jerome mentioned historically, there hasn’t been a ton of impact after the opening and if there has been some, it’s usually during the first five years and then tapers off from there. Because I’m actively in the community, selling and working with buyers and sellers, there will be more individuals looking for short-term rental opportunities in the community. The Obama Library will attract a lot of visitors within the first couple of years of opening, and there may be some different investment strategies that owners may be open to exploring.
When is the grand opening?
KW: Tentatively, the first or second quarter of 2023. And we thank you for having us in your N’DIGO offices, and please be on the lookout for an invitation to our grand opening.
Sylvester Cosby is the Digital Content Editor and a Contributing Writer for N’DIGO.
