After losing out on an affluent listing, Ben Hirsh made lemonade by transforming his business into a media company.
In the wake of shrinking office spaces, Chuck and Angela Fazio said “that’s not us” and poured $8 million into an exquisite 20,000 square-foot premises.
Sean Becker offers continuing education classes in his area, offering up his knowledge to competitors in hopes they’ll do business there.
Special Report: Indie Brokerage Strengths and Threats
To visit the website of Cody Derrick’s cityhomeCollective is to enter a world of design and architecture you never knew existed in Salt Lake City.
Elegran’s Michael Rossi likes to run his business at a slight arm’s length so he can see problems — and solutions — more clearly.
Vanessa Bergmark of Red Oak Realty isn’t shy about giving her talented people an extra push to take on their next challenge.
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Path & Posts’ Becky Babcock’s WordPress-based knowledge database helps her agents handle a myriad of odd situations — and other brokerages have offered to pay good money for her secrets.
What these leaders all have in common is that they are at the helm of successful independent brokerages in the real estate industry, and though they represent just a sliver of the talent out there, they give credence to a key finding from Inman’s 2017 Special Report on indie brokerage strengths and threats: The no. 1 driver of success for these firms is a visionary leader.
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It’s not just crazy cool office digs and koozie culture at these maverick firms — the creative perks may draw attention at the surface, but agents gravitate toward indies seeking local control over branding and technology, which gives them a greater sense of ownership.
The entrepreneurial founders of these firms believe they will be the ones to set the direction of the real estate industry, with the flexibility to try new things and change strategy on a dime. But they must do so without the national exposure, brand recognition, access to enterprise-scale technology and other perks that come with being part of a large franchise brand.
Read the full report for more on why indies remain a substantial life force in the industry — and what they may fear the most.
