Tag: Broker

Joe Kipping loves his family and he also loves to be a coach. A former high school and college football player himself, he now coaches football for his sons, Joey, 10, and Jaxson, 9. 

But, Joe spends most of his time coaching clients in his role as a real estate agent and broker, and cultivating a business that feels more like a family than a corporation. 

He and his wife, Christina, who also is a real estate agent, own Tampa Bay Home Team. 

Joe started in the industry in 2003. 

“I was doing mortgages, but I didn’t want to be strapped behind a desk,” he says. From his vantage point, he met real estate agents who weren’t serving their clients well. “I can do this better,” he thought, so he pursued a real estate license. 

He started selling homes in 2007, then established the company that would become Tampa Bay Home Team in 2009. After 10 years under the Keller Williams umbrella, Tampa Bay Home Team is now part of eXp Realty. 

“We made the switch to eXp Realty because it offers greater opportunities for Realtors through revenue sharing and stock ownership,” Joe explains, adding that eXp Realty has an innovative model that allows agents to build wealth for retirement during their careers. 

In 2014, Christina was let go from a corporate job in finance and joined Joe in the business. 

And in 2021, Joe’s career came full circle when he opened a mortgage business, called Motto Mortgage Home Team, a local franchise of a Denver-based company that has more than 225 offices in 40 states. 

The office for both companies is located in Wesley Chapel, on Cypress Ridge Blvd. near AdventHealth Center Ice. It includes five more agents, all of whom have been at the company for several years. 

“We’re family oriented,” says Christina. “We’re a small business, and we really do treat clients as family, and our employees would say the same thing.” 

Joe and Christina are native to the Tampa Bay area and moved to Wesley Chapel almost 15 years ago. In addition to Joey and Jaxon, Joe and Christina also have two daughters. Taylor, who is 14 and six-year-old Natalie. 

“I love to educate people,” Joe says, “whether they’re buying now or 10 years from now. I’m a coach at heart. If they buy 10 years from now, I want to be the guy who has been there the whole time, educating them along the way.” 

“We’re here to help people when the time is right,” Christina adds. 

Discounted Commissions 

Joe and Christina say they have stripped their commission fees “down to bare bones” and offer a menu system where buyers can pay as little as 1.5 percent. However, they say, most people choose the 2% option. 

They say that if someone doesn’t see value in a particular service, they shouldn’t have to pay for it. In other words, their options put the consumer in the driver seat. 

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay Home Team’s clients say their lower commission rate doesn’t mean a lower level of service. 

Eric Sanchez worked with Christina to sell his home in Meadow Pointe. He’s lived in Wesley Chapel for 18 years, but recently bought a home in Two Rivers. 

“I was under duress and had to make a quick sale,” he explains. “I was looking for a Realtor who was willing to take less commission and found Christina. It was truly a godsend.” 

Back in 2006, during the local real estate market crash, Eric had tried to sell in Temple Terrace by hiring a full-commission Realtor. That home never sold and he eventually lost it. He wanted to be sure he didn’t make that mistake again.

“(Christina and Joe) have a whole office working hard to sell my home,” Eric says. “They did everything from referring me to contractors who did an excellent job, to helping me pack. There was absolutely nothing the Home Team couldn’t handle for me.” 

Eric received an offer within two weeks and closed on the sale of his home less than four weeks from when it was listed. 

“A lot of things had to fall into place, and Christina handled everything to a ‘T,’” Eric says. “I got premium service — absolutely the full service of what you would expect from a Realtor’s office, with no corners cut – at a discounted rate. 

He says he and his wife, Carmen, speak of them highly every opportunity we get, and refer them to anyone they can. 

“They even have the post-sale saying,” explains Eric. “You’re family now. They have get-togethers and social events, and they invite us. It’s not a business feeling; it’s a family feeling. I don’t feel like a customer; I feel like a friend.” 

Joe and Christina say a couple of things their clients really appreciate include their partnership with Zillow to showcase the homes they market. 

Also, Tampa Bay Home Team has an in-house media department for photography and videography. When they used to outsource photography, pictures were snapped quickly in less than an hour, but now their staff can spend all day getting the perfect pictures to best showcase a home online. 

“Clients like it because they don’t feel rushed,” Christina explains. “This is a big step for them, putting their biggest asset on the market. They want someone to come in and care about it as much as they do.” 

They also say their background in the financial industry and mortgages also is a benefit to their clients. 

“A lot of agents are not trained on the mortgage side,” Joe says. “You want to make sure the person you’re hiring as a listing agent has the background knowledge to know what questions to ask the lender so there are no issues with the mortgage.” 

He says they’ve heard a lot of horror stories about deals that don’t close. “The worst thing is after you’ve made plans, you’re packed up and ready to move, and the deal dies,” he says. 

Guaranteed Offers, Too 

That’s one reason people are tempted by online companies that offer convenience and a sure thing, such as Open Door and Offerpad. But Joe says his company offers a better option. 

Tampa Bay Home Team will make a guaranteed cash offer on your home. 

“We have investors that will give full market value for homes,” Joe explains. “It’s a unique program that gets people a lot more money.” 

He says online companies typically offer about 80 percent of a home’s value. Recently, Joe says a seller got $30,000 more from Tampa Bay Home Team than they were offered from an online source. 

“If consumers go to Open Door or Offerpad, they are not being represented,” explains Joe. “Our fiduciary responsibility is to the client to represent their best interest. Those companies’ responsibility is to their shareholders.” 

He says the most important thing when buying or selling a home is to work with someone who has a track record of selling a lot of homes, with the experience and education to navigate the transaction. 

For example, Robert Holbert and his wife Carrie have 2-year-old twins and a 10-year-old. They are another client of The Home Team who recently moved to Wesley Chapel from New Tampa. They’re also repeat customers who first bought a house with Home Team in 2020. Then, The Home Team helped Robert’s parents move into the area in 2022. 

“Joe is super knowledgeable about the market and has done a great job of keeping the relationship with us,” Robert says. “It’s not just a deal, but he’s been someone we see around town, who has helped us with follow-up questions about schools and when we needed a recommendation to replace our A/C. He’s been available for us, not just for one transaction.” 

Tampa Bay Home Team is located at 2818 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Ste. 150. For more information about Tampa Bay Home Team, contact Joe and Christina at (813) 321-HOME (4663), email info@TampaBayHome.com or visit TampaBayHome.com.