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After 25 years as a managing broker where she was known for her training and coaching initiatives, Annette DeCicco pivoted to her role as director of growth and development, creating content and curriculum across multiple brokerages.

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“Our company attracts agents at every level and is dedicated to the growth of all,” she said, “investing in both tech and touch, hard skills and soft skills, to develop the team. That’s one of the reasons I’m a part of this experience, and why others have joined me. If we can’t learn, we can’t grow. Curate culture where camaraderie and learning flourish, where you work for work-life balance and work-life happiness.”

With an organization of approximately 200 agents and employees, “the glue is definitely culture,” DeCicco said. That stems from the company’s deep roots as a family brokerage since 1952, led first by founder Jordan Baris and now by his son, Ken.

Find out how this broker put her background in education to work to create training that resonates and gets results.

Name: Annette DeCicco

Current title: Director of Growth and Development, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty

Location: West Orange, New Jersey

Brokerage name: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty

Team size: 185

Awards:

• Manager of the Year, 2013, Livingston
• Top office companywide, Prudential New Jersey Properties
• Second place in Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, residential GCI, U.S. Northeast 2013 (rebranded to BHHS the following year)
• Realtor of the Year 2018, North Central Jersey Association of Realtors

How did you get your start in real estate?

That is a classic story I have told to countless new licensees during company orientations. “Before real estate,” as the holder of a graduate degree in education, I was an instructor at a community college. I loved the classroom, but not the bureaucracy.

“Year after year, several of us were RIFFed [reduction in force] at the end of the term and rehired for the start of the new school year to prevent us from getting tenure. After years of no advancement, no opportunity, no income steps, I resigned because someone who would become very important to my success in real estate told me that in sales, “You can earn in direct proportion to your skill level.”

I never looked back, never doubting my ability to reshape myself, to learn or to earn.

Tell us about an epic fail you’ve experienced since you’ve been a broker

It was a fail in recognizing that no matter one’s experience, tributes, stature, whatever one has “earned” and even “given back tenfold,” none of us is protected from unpredictable events that can quickly propel us down to earth. There is no fair in fail.

What I had failed to learn early is that no one is irreplaceable, and no one’s job description is sustainable and “needable” through various markets where other new factors surface. Yes, you can grow all over again if you have the will to do it. Skill without will equals retirement!

There is also no ego in fail. Fail is actually a badge you can wear as you reinvent yourself. When a new door presents itself, don’t wait for someone to invite you in. Proceed across the threshold. Someone, somewhere, may be glad you did.

What’s your top tip for freshly licensed brokers?

This is also a tip for freshly licensed agents. As a “new” managing broker whose job it is to foster office growth, don’t hire anyone who tells you in an interview that they are going to “try” real estate. A new agent’s business will be shuttered as fast as the percentage of restaurants that fail because of  “trying” for the wrong reason.

Money is not a driver. The prospect of money will never drive the “try” because money is not the driver. Money is the result. Managing brokers need to help agents find their “why.” “Why” is not a goal. “Why” is the driver of the goal.

Email Christy Murdock

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

There are a lot of real estate brokers out there heading up many different models. There are broker-owners, brokers who oversee entire states, brokers who work for large brokerages and brokers who head up one-person companies. I think if a broker really knew what they were getting into prior to taking on this position, they may have thought twice about it, as the challenges are many, and the skills needed to be successful as a real estate broker are more than they appear to be.

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Being a broker takes an unusual set of skills, as you have to be entrepreneurial enough to make money but also be able to serve the agents that you lead in a meaningful way. It is not easy to balance these two skill sets, and most people lean one way or the other, which may not be ideal for this position.

So, after doing this for a while and meeting brokers from all over the country, make that the world, I have come up with 10 characteristics that I have observed of great real estate brokers. Should you possess many of these traits, your office will be a success for sure.

How many do you possess, and which ones do you need to work on?

1. Great brokers are really good at hiring people, both staff and agents. Like sports coaches, they are master recruiters and can consistently bring in new extraordinary talent to their offices. They always surround themselves with the best staff.
2. They have the ability to keep all the balls in the air at the same time. They achieve consistent growth in all areas. They don’t slack off on one thing to excel in another. That’s why they have a great staff.
3. They are very eager to learn and get better. You can always find them reading a book or taking a class, even when they ran out of time hours ago. They are always seeking new information that will make them better.
4. They never stop working. Their brokerage is always top of mind, and they are always in total control of the direction it is taking. The best ones like to be in control, much like a top-producing agent.
5. They are easily accessible. They are easy to reach and fast to get you what you need. They do not procrastinate.
6. They are masters in time management. They are generous with time when needed and selfish with it when needed as well. This could be the most important characteristic of all, contributing to their success.
7. They are master delegators. They delegate everything that they can but watch everything from a distance as well. This gives them the time to do the most important things for the bottom line. 
8. They are passionate about succeeding, and their agents like them. They are good people with good hearts.
9. They create a positive, productive business environment and structure for their agents to thrive in and find success.
10. They are master communicators. They keep the information flowing between the office, the staff and their agents. They stay in communication with all their agents all of the time so they can address issues as they come up.

So, there you have it. Like any position, there are certain traits and skills that are conducive to success. Many of these brokers have these characteristics within them naturally, and the best are always striving to get better at the skills that they do not possess. 

Being a broker is a challenging job, but also one that you can get great satisfaction from, as you can play a role in the success of many people in many ways. The one thing that comes through very clearly about successful real estate brokers is that they really love what they do.

Joseph Santini is a managing broker at Coldwell Banker Realty in Boca Raton, Florida. Listen to his podcast or connect with him on  LinkedIn.

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

As it promised it would in January, MoxiWorks is making moves.

The company has sold off the back-office component of its software platform to Upfront, a fintech startup focused on facilitating agent benefits programs, Inman has learned.

The software, MoxiBalance, will be called Vero under a new operating unit formed by Upfront. It was an all-cash deal, and terms were not disclosed.

MoxiWorks said in a May 29 statement that the move is part of an effort to offload products that don’t directly serve its “focus on sales and marketing solutions that help brokerages and their agents find, win and close more deals.”

MoxiWorks stated that the accounting system manages close to $2 billion in transaction volume for more than 150 brokerage customers, two franchises, and 20,000 agents across the U.S. and Canada. MoxiBalance users will see no pause in service or support, the companies, which are working in partnership on the transition, said.

The move is part of an effort to alter the industry perspective on MoxiWorks, according to CEO Eric Elfman, who is now a year into his position after previous CEO York Baur transitioned into a board role.

“At MoxiWorks, our focus is to evolve from a leading legacy software provider into the go-to real estate sales and marketing platform,” Elfman said in the release. “The sale of MoxiBalance aligns with our strategic transformation to provide innovative software solutions that adapt with the ever-changing needs of agents.”

The company announced a funding influx in January 2025 to accompany a number of internal product initiatives. Funds came in from MoxiWorks’ existing ownership group, including Vector Capital, and brokerages Howard Hanna Real Estate Services and Windermere Real Estate, Inman reported.

Elfman hinted at changes to come, saying in January that “MoxiWorks is building new capabilities from the ground up that bring our well-respected legacy platform into the future,” he said. “We are disrupting our company through investments in product and leadership to be a better partner to our customers.”

Moving to Upfront with the platform is MoxiBalance General Manager Ishtyaq Ahmed. He’ll become chief product officer at Vero after joining MoxiWorks in 2021 from Lone Wolf.

“Ish has played a critical role in modernizing and growing MoxiBalance over the past four years,” Elfman said. “Under his continued leadership at Upfront, it will remain a powerful tool for brokerages, delivering innovative back-office capabilities.”

Upfront emerged from the first proptech cohort of Equity Angels, a business advisory firm centered on increasing exposure to financial resources for minority startup founders. It was started by Katherine Winston and Kenya Burrell-VanWormer.

Upfront’s founders are COO Pierre Calzadilla and CEO Mukund (Muk) Venkatakrishnan. The company offers a capital extension service that allows brokers to provide funds to agents for a range of needs based on pending commissions. Earlier in May, it added Care by Upfront, a nationwide service to provide healthcare for the industry.

“We’re thrilled to bring modern finance and innovation to the back-office space,” Venkatakrishnan said in the release. “MoxiBalance is a great platform, and we are excited to add Ish and his 10 years of back-office experience to our team in this deal.”

Said Calzadilla, “We will turn the back-office from a cost-center to a profit-center, while bringing agents new innovations to manage their commissions, taxes, investments and more.”

Calzadilla’s new colleague, Ahmed, called the move a new way to look at financial support for agent and brokerages.

“I saw firsthand the potential with dedicated focus. That’s why I’m thrilled to join forces with Upfront, a company built from the ground up to solve real financial pain for brokerages and agents.”

Email Craig Rowe

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Pending home sales plummeted by 6.3 percent in April, the National Association of Realtors reported on Thursday.

All four major U.S. regions saw a drop in pending sales on a monthly basis. Year over year, the Midwest saw contract signings increase, but the Northeast, South and West regions all saw contract signings drop during that period as homebuyers resisted transacting in an elevated mortgage rate landscape.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) dropped to 71.3 in April, which was down by 2.5 percent year over year. An index of 100 represents the level of contract activity in 2001.

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“At this critical stage of the housing market, it is all about mortgage rates,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Despite an increase in housing inventory, we are not seeing higher home sales. Lower mortgage rates are essential to bring homebuyers back into the housing market.”

The West took the biggest hit on a monthly and annual basis, and was down 8.9 percent from March 2025 to 53.3 and down 6.5 percent year over year.

The South PHSI declined 7.7 percent month over month to 85.9 and dropped 3.0 percent from April 2024.

The Midwest index decreased 5.0 percent from the previous month to 73.5 and was up 2.2 percent year over year.

The Northeast PHSI declined just 0.6 percent from March 2025 to 62.1 and was down 3.0 percent on an annual basis.

Yun added that growing inventory should at least help homebuyers get a leg up in this market.

“Homebuyers have a better chance to purchase homes in affordable regions such as the Midwest, where the typical home price is $313,3000 — 25 percent below the national median home price,” Yun said. “Moreover, with housing inventory levels reaching five-year highs, homebuyers in nearly every region of the country are in a better position to negotiate more favorable terms.”

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Email Lillian Dickerson

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Welcome to Lead with Fire: A soulful series for real estate game changers. This is more than business advice. “Lead with Fire” is a transformative series created for the soulful, visionary humans in the real estate industry who are done with the old playbook and ready to redefine success on their own terms.

She wanted to be on that stage.

My client, a brilliant and driven woman who already leads business meetings and speaks at association events, came to me with a new goal: to speak at her brokerage’s annual conference. Not just attend. Not just sit in the audience. She wanted to own the mic. Share her story. Make an impact.

Together, we created a plan. We uncovered the message she most wanted to share, mapped out how to organically elevate her voice and expertise within her day-to-day work and gave her the structure to take bold, aligned action.

She submitted her proposal, complete with a short video, and waited.

When the invitation came, it was more than she imagined: She was selected to speak on the main stage and lead a breakout session for her peers. 

The feedback? “Your confidence radiates.”

Her confidence wasn’t accidental. It was cultivated.

We’ve all seen the glossy highlight reels: the keynote speaker who owns the stage, the CEO who commands a room, the influencer with perfect captions and curated charisma. And we wonder, were they born that way?

The answer? Nope. True leadership isn’t about having it all figured out. It’s about leading from who you are, not who you think you “should” be.

“Shoulding” on yourself is not recommended — ever.

Confidence and clarity are cultivated through intention, aligned action and a deep trust in yourself.

The myths of leadership

Let’s reframe a few:

Myth No. 1: Confident leaders never doubt themselves

Truth: Everyone doubts themselves. The difference is how we respond to that doubt.

Myth No. 2: You have to be loud, extroverted or dominating to lead

Truth: Some of the most powerful leaders are calm, quiet, deeply intuitive forces.

Myth No. 3: Leadership means having all the answers

Truth: True leadership is about asking the right questions, listening deeply and guiding with integrity.

Confidence isn’t a personality trait. It’s a practice

Confidence doesn’t come from being perfect. It comes from being aligned.

You can ditch posturing or pretending when you’re clear on your values (hello, article No. 1) and grounded in your purpose (hey, article No. 2). You lead with presence, and people feel it.

Clarity is knowing your direction. Confidence is trusting yourself to walk it.

Clarity also helps you discern:

• When to speak up
• What to say yes or no to
• How to respond to challenges with resilience instead of reactivity

And here’s the best part — it’s a muscle you can strengthen.

My confidence catalyst

There was a time when I second-guessed nearly everything — every email, every offer, every step forward in my work. I’d been praised for being “put together,” but inside, I felt stuck between who I was supposed to be and the calling I couldn’t ignore.

Everything shifted when I stopped trying to perform leadership and, instead, began to embody it.

I got clear on what I stand for. I ditched the masks and costumes that made me comfortable and began showing up for and as myself. I stood taller in rooms where I once felt too much or not enough. I asked for what I needed. I trusted my intuition. I said “no” without apology. And every time I did, my confidence grew.

The most powerful leaders I know, including the phenomenal women inside the Red Threads Collective, are not the loudest. They’re the most aligned. They lead from their center. And that is magnetic.

A confidence challenge

This week, I invite you to take one bold action: Speak up in one area where you’ve been holding back.

Maybe it’s making a request, setting a boundary, sharing your truth or stepping into a role you’ve resisted. Let it be messy, real and wildly you. Remember, confidence doesn’t require certainty, only courage.

Reflective journal prompts

Take a few quiet moments to explore these journal prompts. Let your pen move without judgment. Confidence grows in self-awareness.

1. Where in my life or leadership am I holding back my full expression? What part of me is craving to be seen, heard, or honored more fully?
2. What does “confidence” feel like in my body? When have I felt most aligned and alive? Let your body remember that moment — breathe into it.
3. What beliefs or stories am I ready to release about what it means to be a leader? Am I leading from truth… or from someone else’s template?
4. What would it look like to trust myself just 10% more this week? Where could I let go of overthinking and lean into inner knowing?
5. How do I want others to feel in my presence? How do I want to feel? What energy do I want to embody and extend into every room I enter?
6. What action have I been avoiding that, deep down, I know I’m ready for? Even a small step in that direction is a radical act of leadership.

Mantra to Lead With Fire

“I trust myself to take up space. I lead from my center, not someone else’s expectations.”

Next up in the Lead with Fire series: Energy management for soulful leaders: How to protect your fire without burning out

In our next post, we’ll delve into one of the most overlooked keys to long-term success: managing your energy effectively. Because it’s not about doing more; it’s about protecting your fire.

Debra Trappen is the founder of the Red Threads Collective, a sacred community for women entrepreneurs. Connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn.