Mr. Jonathan Carbutti didn’t think he’d ever work in real estate. After majoring in psychology, he spent two years teaching English in Japan. When he returned to the United States, he took a corporate job at manufacturing company, Magnatech, in the purchasing department. However, he found working in a cubicle all day at the behest of the higher-ups frustrating. “I learned a ton, but it wasn’t fulfilling,” he said. So, in 1998, he decided that an office job wasn’t for him, and after some convincing, his father let him join his real estate business, Carbutti & Co. Twelve years later, Mr. Carbutti purchased the business from his father and has been running it ever since.
When Mr. Carbutti took over Carbutti & Co., he was hit with a slew of unforeseen challenges. “The main thing is that there is no manual. I had to figure it out on my own.” He was initially shocked by the amount of “people management” that was required of him. “No one explained to me that when I bought my dad’s business, I was getting into the human resources business.” Another challenge he ran into while running the business was managing the costs of rent, utilities, and fees for their office. In an industry as volatile as real estate, where uncontrollable circumstances such as weather and season often alter the demand for new houses, being consistently profitable is no easy feat. Mr. Carbutti said, “People look at the money coming in, but they don’t see the burden of … having to manage people, manage expectations, and manage expenses.” Still, Mr. Carbutti said he prefers running his own business: “Ultimately, it’s what you make of it.”
Today, Carbutti & Co. has two offices — one in Branford and one in Wallingford — and a total of 61 sales agents, who operate as independent contractors. Mr. Carbutti provides them with support and necessary software, but the sales agents are not salaried; their income depends on the business they bring in. Besides attending a daily company meeting, agents are free to set their own hours and decide their own work schedules. Since they are not given specific tasks to do each day, “they understand that they have to be more disciplined,” said Mr. Carbutti.
This past year has been Mr. Carbutti’s most successful, grossing his highest revenue yet. This is in part due to the Covid-19 induced housing boom experienced in Connecticut as people fled major cities for suburban towns. According to Mr. Carbutti, while many businesses selling consumer products suffered, real estate experienced a boom. The inventory of homes is low and demand for them is high, driving prices up. The boom is also driven by the low-interest loans being offered by banks. At the same time, rent on apartments is very high, often more than the cost of a mortgage on a home, encouraging residents to invest in homes rather than apartment spaces.
Having grown up in Wallingford, Mr. Carbutti feels at home in town. “I didn’t choose Wallingford, Wallingford chose me,” he said. Although his attention is split between two locations, he lives and does most of his work in Wallingford, and he noted the benefits of running a business in the town. For example, Wallingford has relatively low electricity costs, a great Parks and Recreation program, and is within driving distance of New Haven and Hartford. These aspects of town not only make a great home for Mr. Carbutti, but a great location for his business. His work in the town has earned his business the endorsements of multiple radio station personalities in the surrounding area as well as an investment mogul Barbara Corcoran, making him the only realtor in Connecticut with her recognition.
Mr. Carbutti shared some advice for new business owners: have a definite business plan. “It doesn’t have to be 100 pages — it could just be one page. But have a road map for where you’d like your business to go.” He also stressed the importance of having the right people working for you. He said, “You can have all of the technology, all of the systems, all of the guidelines, but if you don’t have the right people to execute the plan, it doesn’t matter.” Reflecting on his particular path into real estate, he offered, “Life never goes as you plan, just go where it takes you.”
