Our Story
Ever since our inception, our team mantra has been “Green Means Grow.” That’s pretty self explanatory about our intention for what we wanted Green to Mean to You: We meet you, we share our mastery around Real Estate, and leave you better than how we found you. That’s growth, by design.
That’s cool. But, what is the story of The GreenHouse Group? Like, what does “Green” mean to us?
We believe there’s 3 parts to answering that question:
1. Our Formula: Four Green Houses & a Red Hotel.
2. Our Impact: Green’ing up the Real Estate game.
3. Our Brand: Purpose & Mastery.
1. Our Formula: Four Green Houses & a Red Hotel.
Robert Kiosaki, author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series of real estate ownership & investment books, was quoted as saying the following in his book The Cash Flow Quadrant. He said that people will come up to him during break in his seminars and ask, “Hey Robert, all this stuff your teaching great…but I want to know how did YOU do it?” His answer is always the same, “Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel.” They usually laugh uncomfortably thinking he’s trying to dodge the question by making a joke, as he holds his composure, letting them know he’s not joking one bit.
The same formula for success in playing the old board game Monopoly as a kid is the one he used to become wealthy in real life. He bought his first home, used the money he made in that one to buy the second one, and so on. He eventually built up that residential empire of 1-4 unit houses [greenhouses] and traded them in for a commercial property [red hotel].
We just loved the simplicity and the wisdom of that as soon as we heard it. As for me, I instantly shot into a reverie of playing that game with my family when I was a kid and just knew that this was the perfect frame for which everyone could relate to. Who doesn’t have a personal experience with that and who can’t appreciate the simplicity and wisdom in that being the same formula to win in the game of real life?
So there it was: Our mission was to help you with the residential part of that formula, or, the green houses, hence The GreenHouse Group was born.
2. Our Impact: Green’ing up the Real Estate game.
The other half of that perfectly fitting into place was that we already practiced and identified ourselves with being part of the “green movement.” Everything that we did in and around the office, everything that we practiced in our personal lives with our families, and all of the extra training and focus we had practiced professionally – being early adopters of the green revolution of real estate – it just felt like the perfect double entendre to officially raise the flag around.
And, while its not incumbent upon you to practice Green Lifestyle in order to work with us, our hope is that you appreciate that its an option for you that is always there with us. So, even if its just one thing Green that you pick up while working together with us – you know, learning what light bulb is best to buy and why – then we’ve done our part. And, if you are a more serious client along that Green Spectrum, then isn’t it nice to know that we might really be able to add that value to your home buying and selling experience as well? That’s all a good name is ever intended to accomplish: to help someone identify with who we are and see themselves identifying with that as well.
3. Our Brand: Purpose & Mastery.
The GreenHouse Group’s brand in one word is: Purpose. In two words: its Purpose & Mastery. If you’re not used to that word being used in Real Estate speak, and it sounds a little weird, you might be quick to ask: “Cool…but what’s that supposed to mean to me?”
To answer this question, one must know where we came from and why were we became the heretics, the 1st new breed of agents & lenders to practice this exclusively unique and untested (yet refreshing) approach to an age-old trade.
Simple – we’ve been through the rest of the approaches to get to the what we feel is the best.
Meaning: The traditional, sales-based approach to real estate is where we started in this business over a decade ago. And it’s a dried up old conversation that can no longer relate. A relic you might say. The problem with traditional sales is that its about seduction & abandonment. We’ve replaced traditional salespersons model with consultants who’s art is connecting with our clients, not selling to our clients. That’s right, imagine that: not for the sale, but for the relationship…and then seeing it all the way through.
One of our mantra’s is: We never leave a soldier behind. Once we’ve met, decided that we are good fit and choose to work together, we see that responsibility all the way through.
Our motto is: “On time, or early…and never ugly.”
In this brave new demographic of more conscious, educated and authentically interested population of consumers, we have to be courageous enough to not accept the status quo and go running down the dime while letting the dollar go flying by (aka miss what’s truly important because we myopically focused on what wasn’t).
Here’s what we did about it: We pulverized the old model. Then, we drafted up an experience that we would actually want to be a part of & installed a 6-Step Process with Purpose to get us there and committed to fine tuning it ever since. With that in place, the next challenge was to restore the trust and the respect we felt our industry had lost by developing the consultant approach vs. the salesperson model (A salesperson is someone who badgers you with his/her opinions, pushing their agenda onto you in the process. A consultant goes his/her whole career (dare we say whole life) without offering their opinion unless it’s specifically asked for, who’s role is engineered by asking great questions and being an even better listener).
Put Purpose in the Process: In the market in which there is so much that we can’t control, buying, selling or borrowing with purpose will restore in you the ultimate sense of power. You will determine your circumstances. Knowing your “why”, you are no longer subject to the whims of other people’s decisions, or the uncertainty outside of your own choices in the process. This emphasis might seem like a poetic conceit without any bearing on practical realities. But in fact it is extremely relevant to the times that we live in. We’re entering a world in which we can rely less and less upon the state, the corporation, or family & friends to help and protect us. The real estate market is a harshly competitive environment. We must learn to stay focused and clear about what is important to us, then develop ourselves in the process with the feedback we are given. At the same time it is a market teaming with critical opportunity best seized by the fully prepared. It is a conversation best led by the people with purpose, the individuals and small groups who think independently, adapt quickly and possess unique perspectives. Our individualized, creative skills we bring to your experience serve this conversation at a premium. Think of it this way, what we lack most in this is a sense for a larger purpose for “why” we are doing what we want to do in our lives.
The typical buyer or seller operating under a traditional real estate model is asked to react to events that are happening to them. But without a sense of direction provided to us, we tend to flounder. We don’t know how to fill up and structure our time and energy. There seems to be no defining purpose for those would be buyers or sellers. They are perhaps not conscious of this emptiness, but it infects them in all kinds of ways. Feeling that we are called to accomplish something is the most positive way for us to supply this sense of purpose and direction. It is a quest for each of us and it is, in fact, connected to something much larger than our individual lives. Our evolution depends on it in order to thrive. We, as your consultants, thrive by the collective activity of you contributing your individual talents. The people who are closest to you, who are affected most by the choices and directions you take in your life – are counting on this process you are about to take to be as purposeful as possible. The people who are closest to us, as your GreenTeam supporting you through this, are counting on us to play big while we create something that matters and build something that fulfills us far beyond the financial remuneration we’ll receive for just doing a job. Its what we gain when we give in servitude to knowing that we accomplished much more that just your real estate goals. We accomplished what you were after through a distinct process of purpose grounded in your “why”, knowing with certainty why we ended up where we did; and in doing so truly leaving each other better than how we found each other.
Without it, a culture dies.
At The GreenHouse Group, our culture isn’t the most important thing…it’s the ONLY thing.
Let 1,000 flowers bloom.
Our vocation is so much more that what we do. We are deeply connected to the deepest part of our being, and is a manifestation of the intense diversification of nature and within human culture. In this sense, we must see our vocation as eminently poetic and inspiring. Some 2,600 years ago, the ancient Greek poet Pindar wrote, “Become who you are by learning who you are.” And this is the git that you give back to us. In helping you get what you want, we are getting what we want. We are learning the lessons that we need to learn. We are practicing our own mastery so that we are also leaving ourselves, better than how we found us…and we get to thank you for that in advance.
Its really a cool way to approach business. We know you’ll dig it and you’ll appreciate the difference.
