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It has been a tumultuous time in the industry, to say the least, and many agents and their firms have struggled to transition as home sale figures have tanked to their lowest levels in a decade, moderator Clelia Peters pointed out to a panel of brokerage CEOs during an Inman Connect Las Vegas session entitled, “The World As We Know It” on Wednesday.
Matt Widdows | HomeSmart
But those CEOs from RealtyONE, HomeSmart and LPT Realty have somehow managed to grow their businesses during this time. Peters wanted to know how.
“It’s getting back to the basics of what you did before it got easy,” Matt Widdows of HomeSmart explained, referring to the times before the pandemic boom that sent the housing market soaring. “I don’t think [newer agents] realize that it’s not always like that, so it’s a rude awakening right now.”
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“Ours is just expansion,” Robert Palmer of LPT Realty explained.
Robert Palmer | LPT Realty
LPT Realty first began as a listing marketing product. Its leaders ultimately decided to create a brokerage instead and use their proprietary technology for the firm’s agents. The firm has been in existence for two years now.
“We’ve seen agents grow even in these tough times,” Palmer added.
Kuba Jewgieniew of RealtyONE attributed his firm’s growth to its stellar leadership team.
“I’m grateful that we’ve assembled a dream team of leaders, and leaders set the tone for everyone,” the RealtyONE CEO said. “Over the past few years, this market has been changing and we all know as Realtors and entrepreneurs, we’re resilient and we adapt and we lean into each other … and that’s that community or culture.”
Jewgieniew added that the firm has put a lot of financial and other resources into building the best leadership team it can, and it has trickled down into agent satisfaction. “Our retention is just extraordinary,” he said.
Because the three firms tend to provide much of their technology in-house, Peters wondered how they thought about agents’ choices over investing money on tools outside of the firm.
Kuba Jewgieniew | Realty One Group
Jewgieniew said that at RealtyONE, the firm customizes its tools based on where the office is located and its own agents’ preferences.
“I think there’s an overwhelming amount of tools out there,” he said. “So our philosophy from day one was, and core values that we live every day through action, is our ONE belief is everyone matters and our ONE belief is that everyone has a voice.
“What works in Las Vegas, where it all started for us, may not work in Omaha, Nebraska, or Spain or Italy, so we listen,” he added.
Similarly, Palmer said that LPT Realty assesses where the agent need is greatest and then acts to provide solutions based on that need. The firm actually allows agents to choose from a variety of transaction platforms, since they realize that one size does not fit all.
Clelia Peters | Era Ventures
LPT Realty also owns its own in-house print shop, which is popular among agents even if it may seem a little old-school, and is working on developing its own social network.
In terms of supporting agents as the Aug. 17 deadline for industry changes based on the NAR settlement approaches, the CEOs largely echoed the customized approaches they already take elsewhere in their business.
“We’re working on our own forms at the most generic level to address the buyer-broker agreement,” Palmer said, adding that the firm will supplement those with state-provided forms. The firm is also working to translate a lot of its seller agent tools and resources to be applicable to buyer agents, too.
Palmer added that he feels like now agents have to “earn” a buyer’s business, whereas before the settlement, they were just happy to work with a buyer agent in order to get in to see a house.
Widdows said HomeSmart’s goal is to create customized forms for the firm’s different regions, as it does for its in-house tech, which is adapted based on market preferences or a particular team’s preferences.
For now, the firm has been taking a look at what others are doing and deciding exactly how they want their version to shake out.
“So we’re going to create our own forms, but also make it super easy so that agents can do it on mobile,” Widdows said.
With so many changes coming down the pike, Peters wondered which firms the CEOs thought would be the winners and which the losers, years from now.
“The winners are on the stage,” Widdows said, as Jewgieniew raised his hand high.
“I believe I may be a little biased, but I think all of us believe we have a winning model,” Jewgieniew said. “And it’s all about providing value.”
He added that he believed this period of transition would result in significant consolidation over the next six to 12 months.
“Is that something you would take advantage of?” Peters wondered.
“Absolutely,” Jewgieniew replied. “A lot of independent brokerages are door-knocking to us.” He added that the firm would be making a big announcement with the addition of a significant number of agents in upcoming weeks.
“It’s never a good time to play the victim, so just don’t do it,” Jewgieniew added. “We’re going to figure it out together … If your leader is nervous, change the leader.
“You want to wake up to win. Surround yourself with those people,” he concluded.
Email Lillian Dickerson