After establishing a downtown office and with plans to open a Studio City operation in the coming weeks, John Aaroe knows the key to setting up shop in a new neighborhood.
“It’s not difficult if you’ve hired the right manager,” said the owner of luxury brokerage John Aaroe Group.
When selecting a manager to open a new office the brokerage ensures the individual is from the local marketplace. In short, someone who has lived and worked in that neighborhood for a number of years, often a local of the city or neighborhood.
“Someone who knows the most popular public schools (and) what streets are more desirable. Information you can’t learn through technology,” Aaroe said.
Although not a brokerage “ideally suited to bring in a lot of new agents,” John Aaroe Group will add individuals this year. Again, the office manager will play a key role.
“The manager knows the brokerage community and knows who the people are you’d be proud to have with your firm,” he added.
John Aaroe Group’s office count will reach double digits this year, as the opening of a Silver Lake office is likely. The brokerage is also targeting possible offices in various beach communities along with lower San Marino.
Office and agent growth this year is expected to push the brokerage’s total transaction volume to $2.7 billion. Last year the firm closed more than $2.3 billion of sales spread between nearly 3,000 transactions.
Trends affecting Los Angeles’ brokerage community
Aaroe forecasts that the advent of “large” agent teams will become a much bigger component of the brokerage moving forward.
Currently, the brokerage has a 15-member team, along with number of three to seven-member teams operating under the John Aaroe Group name.
“The leader (of a team) is an entrepreneur. They want to build something for themselves but within the confines of a known brand,” he said.
Shifting gears to technology, the community-based traffic app Waze is impacting some of Los Angeles’ luxury markets and listings.
“It’s changing the desirability of certain streets,” he said.
The app allows drivers to connect with one another and share traffic jam and time-saving route information.
Some of these time-saving routes require drivers to frequent streets not intended to carrying heavy traffic, especially from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
“It has made streets that were highly desirable looked upon differently,” he added.
