Tom Baumgartner is a San Francisco listing agent who has a genuine heart for service and lives the Redfin values. Tom has worked in marketing, nonprofits, traditional real estate and now Redfin real estate in California. We got to sit down and talk with Tom about what led him to Redfin.
How did you first hear about Redfin, and what brought you here?
I happened to be holding a listing of my own open, and people came through the door one after another, saying, “I saw your listing on Redfin.” I thought that was interesting. Coming from the traditional agent side of real estate, I hadn’t had any direct experience with Redfin. I only knew my clients were doing most of their searching on the Redfin website.
Then one of the Redfin listing agents from San Francisco happened to come in and gave me her card. The more I talked to her, the more I became interested in what was going on. She was doing great business at all price points, and she was excited about her job. It happened that a Redfin ad came up on Craigslist, just about the same time that Redfin was on my radar, and I think that’s what prompted my first call to this agent. I was impressed with everything she had to say.
I spoke to the recruiter and market manager and was terrifically impressed with everyone I met and connected with. They were all excited about their jobs and had interesting backgrounds, so I decided to throw my hat in the ring. I’ve been on board since October, and it’s been a very interesting past few months.
Have you always worked in real estate?
I’m originally from New York; my professional background for 10 to 15 years was in luxury retail marketing and public relations. I worked for Tiffany & Co. for almost 10 years, and then for another high-end jewelry firm.
For two years I did nonprofit fundraising in San Francisco. I ended up working on a lot of projects where I was soliciting donations from real estate agents, and they were universally generous in giving and easy to approach. I was learning more and more about how the real estate industry worked from that point of view, and I decided to get my license.
I worked with Zephyr Real Estate in San Francisco for 13 years before leaving to come to Redfin. I worked with both buyers and sellers, and since San Francisco is kind of a small “big town” split into all price ranges, I did a bit of everything.
How was the transition for you coming from a background in traditional real estate?
I’m a very traditional agent, having started 14 years ago, so it’s been an interesting challenge to get up and running with all the powerful technology that Redfin offers. Ultimately their systems have enabled me to do great work and increase volume. I’m definitely serving the customer’s interests a lot better.
The interface between the support agents and the associate agents has taken a bit of getting used to, but I’ve come to rely on a great local team to do the business I’m doing.
What’s it like working on a team? How does it differ from your previous agent role?
Most frequently I work with a transaction coordinator and listing concierge, so those are my primary contacts. As a traditional agent, I was working alone, so the burden of the work fell on me. I managed my own files. Now my transaction coordinator does a lot of the administrative tasks, which frees me up for more customer-centric work.
I’ve also had to learn to give up some control and trust in the process, and I have not been disappointed.
Is there anything else you’d like to add, or other experiences you’d like to share?
My experience has been so positive. I’ve been very inclined to refer former colleagues to the company. One of them recently came on board. It’s easy for me to go out and talk up Redfin amongst my industry peers.
I’m also finding the conversation on the client side very interesting. There are a lot of misconceptions about what we do, the biggest one being that most people don’t understand that we have agents in the field, especially on the listing side. On the buying side I think people have a better understanding of how we support the process, but I’ve heard many sellers say they didn’t even know we had agents. I use our marketing materials to explain what we offer and demonstrate through my actions that we’re doing fantastic work on their behalf.
I’ve had great success converting my listing consults into clients, so the proof is in the pudding.
To learn more about becoming a Lead Agent and available opportunities, click here.
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