Judge Awards in Favor of EXIT Realty Beneficiary

Bill Pankonin, a 30+ year veteran in real estate and the Regional Owner of EXIT Realty Upper Midwest (Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota) shares this story.

About four years ago there was a promising young lady in her early twenties who came on board with EXIT Realty in the Upper Midwest Region. When she joined, she took advantage of EXIT Realty’s unique business model, known as the EXIT Formula and introduced a few of her friends who were also real estate agents to the company and they joined thereby becoming their sponsor. Unfortunately very soon after that she was involved in a tragic car accident which resulted in her untimely death. “We were all heart broken that her life ended so abruptly and at such a young age,” says Pankonin.

A couple of years passed and Bill received a call from the young lady’s former broker. “You know how it is – you tend to forget about things overtime, and I had done just that,” says Bill. “As we talked he told me that he had been called to appear in court the next day which took me by surprise, so of course I asked him why.” The broker reminded Bill about the young lady and explained that there was a lawsuit regarding the accident and the judge had asked the broker to come to his court to explain how the EXIT Formula works.

EXIT Realty’s unique business model, known as the EXIT Formula provides EXIT Associates with the opportunity to earn single-level residual income above and beyond their commissions by introducing real estate agents to management who are subsequently hired. This residual income extends into the associate’s retirement and perpetually beyond death as a beneficiary benefit as long as the recruit stays with EXIT and continues to earn commission.

Pankonin explains, “The court wanted to be able to determine her potential earnings power through the EXIT Formula had she lived and continued to sponsor agents to the company. In this particular case the court awarded the decedent’s family a very large settlement due in part to the value of her potential future residual income with EXIT Realty.”

Although this is an uncommon occurrence, it demonstrates the clear value of the EXIT Formula and not only how it potentially benefits the agent while he or she is working, but how it also protects their loved ones when a tragedy like this occurs.
“In traditional real estate when someone brags about their company they usually speak about the tools and training that it offers. With EXIT, in addition to those benefits, we also talk about the single-level residual income but sometimes we forget to mention the beneficiary residual,” says Pankonin. “I think it’s probably because we don’t like to think about death. However, as in this particular case, the beneficiary residual can be a real blessing that can help a family after a tragedy has occurred.”

In summary Pankonin says, “I always tell people you pick a career – I happened to pick real estate – and you invest all these years into it. Now that I am with EXIT, I have the opportunity to get an additional reward while doing it. There is no other company in real estate that has these benefits for its people. I figure I’m going to be in the real estate business anyway, why not get rewarded both now and long term and leave something to my kids and grandkids?”