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Five Star Real Estate Network, a real estate team serving Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, recently joined The Real Brokerage. Made up of 18 agents, their primary markets include Spokane, Spokane Valley, Coeur d’Alene, and Post Falls.
We interviewed Five Star Owner and Leader Cindy Carrigan to learn more about the team and the area they serve.
What led you to start Five Star?
We founded Five Star in March of 2010, which was one of the worst housing markets in recent memory in our area—and certainly not the ideal time to build a real estate business! We were selling bank foreclosures and short sales all over Eastern Washington with an average sales price of about $100,000, down from an average price of about $220,000 just a few years prior. It was a grind, but we were able to establish a business that has managed to grow every year by forming lifelong relationships with our clients. We help them when they’re ready to buy their first home, when they’re ready to expand their families, and when they’re looking to downsize. We focus on making sure our clients feel loved by hosting client events, engaging with them through MVP Client Programs, and participating in local charities.
What made you decide to make the move to Real?
When we first began looking, we knew that we wanted to partner with a cloud-based brokerage because autonomy was important to us, but we still wanted to benefit from the mastermind opportunities with other top producers across the country. And that’s what we loved about The Real Brokerage. Real combines the strong agent culture of a smaller brokerage with the revenue share opportunities and technology platform of a large company.
We want what’s best for everyone on our team, and Real’s model offers revenue share to all our agents. They work incredibly hard to build strong professional relationships with their cooperating agents, and by partnering with Real, they are rewarded if they bring on those agents looking for a better brokerage.
Why are you excited to be joining Real?
Our local market has shifted and so has the real estate industry. We see the value in a virtual brokerage model that gives growth opportunities to all agents. We are also excited to collaborate with some of the industry’s most innovative agents choosing to bring their businesses to Real. We look forward to partnering with some of the strong creative talent at Real to attract a new generation of home buyers.
How do you feel Five Star fits in with Real’s culture?
At Five Star, our mission is Grit ~ Growth ~ Giving, and we think that aligns perfectly with Real’s core value: Work hard. Be kind. We believe it takes grit to build a real estate business, and we celebrate with our agents as they do the hard work necessary to build the lives they dream of while giving back to our local community along the way.
We’ve talked a bit about Grit and Growth—tell us more about the impact you’ve made by Giving back to your community.
Supporting local charities is important to our team and clients. We integrate our annual charity plan with our client appreciation events, and our clientele loves to participate! We coordinate events around local charities that our clients and team members value. It’s so heartwarming to see our past clients show up for our 2nd Harvest Food Drives through Covid, Sally’s House shopping sprees, and bringing Christmas to families going through hard times.
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