Principal / Trainer
What the "J" Stands for and Other Bio Stuff
My dad was Joe, and when I was born he saw his last shot to have his 4th son named after him. My mom had enough Josephs and wanted a Philip, so the Great Compromise of 1967 was struck in the Faranda household: I would be named Joseph for my father, but go by my middle name, hence the name J. Philip Faranda. My brothers wanted a dog and abstained from voting.
The More Important Stuff
I graduated from Villanova University in 1989 with a BA in English. After 6 relocations in 7 years in publishing sales, I entered the real estate industry in 1996. I started in Rochester, NY, 300 miles from where I grew up in Westchester County NY and sold for a small indie there for 5 years. In 2000, I moved back home and took a year off from wearing a tie every day to bartend. I still shake a great cocktail now and then.
I spent 5 years as a loan officer before founding my brokerage in 2005.
Full disclosure: I wasn't sure I could cut it in the suburbs of NYC the way I did in Rochester, so mortgages seemed like a smart move. But after writing loans for all that time, it dawned on me that I could make it as an agent in Westchester, so I just started J. Philip Real Estate as a sole practitioner.
I sold a whopping 3 houses my first 9 months as a broker. Not an auspicious beginning. In early 2006 I took a bold step for the time: I decided to stop advertising in newspapers and focus all of my marketing online. I was among the very first brokers to ever syndicate my listings to Zillow in my market, years before their current pay model was in place. From June of 2006 through the end of that year, I closed on 29 transactions.
I sold nearly 70 homes myself in 2007. It was a monster year for us. I leased office space, bought a new house, and our youngest son Mark was born. We had 4 children under 6, a thriving business, a new house, and stars in our eyes about the future.
2008 was different. My son Gregory was not progressing for his age and was diagnosed with autism. The Great Recession started. And even though I sold over 50 houses that year, my dollar volume was significantly lower and the overhead monster I built out of enthusiasm and great expectations for the future created some serious financial strain. Moreover, we were devastated by the ramifications of our son's autism and all of the work entailed in getting him treatment and services from the school district.
I started blogging on Active Rain for therapeutic purposes, and it helped me get noticed. I started getting interviewed by the media, and I even appeared on ABC World News in a short piece on the real estate market. But by 2010 the housing crash was taking its toll. We had to modify our mortgage, the renters of our old house moved out and we couldn't sell it, and it began to take a toll on my marriage. Despite pivoting quite successfully into being one of the biggest short sale brokers of the time, by 2014 I was separated. That wasn't even the worst part: my oldest son Luke was also diagnosed on the Spectrum along with several other learning disabilities like Dyslexia and ADHD.
It was a bifurcated existence. I was elected to the MLS board in 2010 and served as MLS president in 2014. I was selected to be in Zillow's Agent Advisory Board in 2012. My company was growing, and the brand's reputation, stature and market share were expanding by leaps and bounds. Despite all that, I was burned out, stressed, and miserable! My divorce forced me to take one 1-2 days off per week, and a funny thing happened: I discovered that a rested me was a better me.
My divorce agreement was unique. We had a shared custody agreement where I saw my children daily. By 2015 we had $100 million in annual sold volume in sight, and in 2016, after I completed the T3 Fellowship for Independent Brokers, J. Philip Real Estate was the top-selling independent brokerage in Westchester and Putnam county by closed units. By 2021 the company had 3 offices, and nearly 100 associates.
In 2023 I decided to join Howard Hanna Rand Realty. It gave me the time to focus more on my training and writing. I had been a columnist for both Inman and Real Estate News and I also won a National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) award for one of my columns for REN. All told, I have trained over 300 agents, brokered over $1 billion in closed volume, and sold over 600 units personally. I have authored nearly 1500 blog posts, dozens of pieces for industry platforms, presented at many conferences as a speaker or panelist, and have developed a year's worth of what I have coined as Offbeat Real Estate Training, a unique approach to training that compliments rather than competes with most training platforms out there.
I'm very proud of the fact that dozens of independent brokers have picked my brain over the years. Some were considering hanging their own shingle. Some were already established in business but still sought my advice or insight. And silly as it sounds, I am proud of the handful of agents who left my brand to start their own, several with significant success.
But none of that matters if I'm not of some value to those I meet. If you are looking for someone whose journey has not been a straight line up and can relate to real life adversity, I might be in your tribe.
If you ever want to throw an idea or question at me, just contact me below.