www.JoeCharde.com In 1983, Joe Charde left his corporate job in New York City to join his brother Mark selling real estate on Marco Island. Business was not good. Both Joe and his brother worked as waiters at night and worked during the day in real estate. “I would meet buyers at the restaurant,” said Charde. “When they were finished with dinner, we would get in my car, and I would show them property. That was when waterfront lots cost $37,000. Now those same lots are selling for about $900,000.”   Twenty-two years later, Charde is one of the biggest real estate brokers on Marco Island. Innovations in the business made the Charde brothers trendsetters. They say they were the first real estate “team” on Marco, the first to put their pictures in the paper with their ads, first to put free information boxes on properties for sale, first to video their own listings, first to co-produce a cable real estate show on television, and first to write a real estate column in the newspaper.   Another first for Joe Charde was the Nov. 12 grand opening of the first Exit Realty on Marco Island. “We’re now in business as EXIT Charde Realty,” said Charde. He had many real estate franchises offered to him through the years. “I resisted them all because I didn’t think I needed it,” said Charde.   Deech Hassan is the franchise sales director for Exit Realty in Southwest Florida. He knocked on Charde’s door for nine months. Hassan was their recruiter on the east coast of Florida. He says he targeted Charde Group because they are one of the largest real estate companies on Marco Island. Hassan even brought his boss, Scott Forbes, along occasionally. “Finally, I opened up the door and let them in,” said Charde ¬ when he saw Forbes pull into his parking lot in a Porsche one afternoon.   Charde listened to the DVD they gave him and read the material. He made trips to see their headquarters in Toronto, Canada. Charde describes Exit Realty as real estate “reinvented.”   “It was one of those things that doesn’t happen often in life. It’s profound,” Charde said. Until then, he had been skeptical of things that seem too good to be true. Eight weeks ago, after having made the decision to buy into Exit Realty, he was in Orlando attending a Florida Association of Realtors gathering. Hassan asked Charde to share with the people what he had told him after he made the decision to join Exit Realty.   “In life, there are not many major decisions you make,” Charde told the audience. He said three dates stood out in his life.  “The first was Sept. 11, 1971, when I walked the aisle and married my wife, Julie. The second most important decision I ever made was April 4, 1980, when I put myself in the hospital for the disease of alcoholism. This year will be my 25th anniversary of being sober. The third most important decision was when I signed with Exit Realty on July 17, 2004.” He says he has no doubt he made three of the best decisions in his life.   “You can make money when you get a listing or get a sale,” explained Charde. “EXIT Charde Realty is now offering a third dimension.” Steve Moore, the founder of Exit Realty is a genius, according to Charde, because he has added that third dimension. The third dimension includes a formula of residuals. With residuals, you do the work once and get paid repeatedly. A sponsor bringing in a new recruit makes 10 percent off that new agent’s first $100,000 of gross commission income for one year. The 10 percent starts again the following year and each year after. When a Realtor with Exit Realty retires, those referrals from sponsoring someone earn him or her seven percent. When they die, their heirs continue to make five percent.   He gave the example of an agent working for the company who recruits three people a year for the next 10 years. If those 30 people sell $100,000 a year in real estate, the sponsor will make $300,000 even if the sponsor does not sell any real estate at all that year.   With EXIT Charde Realty, there are no desk fees. Exit starts their Realtors off at 70 percent, which is a traditional 70/30 split. After agents get to $100,000 gross income, they go to 90 percent.   Charde now owns the only Exit franchise on Marco Island and two in Naples. The territories in the franchise are set-up in grids. A grid is usually three square miles but may be adjusted. One of EXIT Charde Realty’s grids in Naples is five miles long and one-half mile wide. That office, located at 4444 Tamiami Trail North, opens in two weeks. No other Exit Realty office can open in that grid. Marco’s first EXIT Charde Realty is located at 207 North Collier Boulevard with other offices set up for new agents at several locations on the island.   On Dec. 1, EXIT Charde Realty will open Cooke Real Estate School above Eckerd Drugs/CVS in Island Plaza. The Cooke classroom is state-of-the-art with an audio/video system in the classroom enabling students to interact with their teacher ¬ who is in Miami ¬ just as if he were in the classroom with them.   Bill Nasby, Exit International vice president of personal development, will teach a three-day seminar there on Dec. 13. His subjects include Creating Your Own Reality and Doors to Success. Nasby has been with Exit from the beginning and bought the very first franchise in Florida with his partner, Scott Forbes.   Forbes owns Exit Realty in Florida. With 115 franchises so far, he is the most successful of all the regional owners. Forbes leads the country in franchise openings.   “I’m proud to have Joe as a part of Exit Realty,” Forbes said. “He’s a great addition to us. You couldn’t get a better person for Marco Island.” ©Marco Island Sun Times 2006