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Broker Spotlight: Chris and Kara Resop, The Agency Naples
Name: Chris and Kara Resop
Title: Managing Partners of The Agency Naples; Founders of The Resop Team
Experience: Kara 17 years | Chris 8 years
Location: Naples, FL
Brokerage full name: The Agency Naples
Team size: The Resop Team consists of Chris and Kara Resop; The Agency launched in Naples in April of 2022 and so far has 13 agents in this office.
Transaction sides: The Resop Team has had over 200 transactions
Sales volume: The Resop team has closed nearly $700 million in just eight years; In 2021, they closed $180 million and have closed $100 million to date this year. The agents within the new The Agency Naples closed approximately $520 million in 2021.
Awards: The Resop Team consistently ranks each year on RealTrends as one of the top small teams in the country.
Background: Kara and Chris Resop, Managing Partners of The Agency Naples, brings a wealth of local insight and an extraordinary work ethic to the brokerage. In 2015, the two founded The Resop Team. At the heart of their work is the mission to help buyers and sellers find properties that best fit their lifestyle or investment needs.
Born and raised in Naples, Kara had the fortunate opportunity to grow up in a beautiful community that offers a rare lifestyle seldom found anywhere else in the world. She obtained her real estate license while pursuing her degree and joined Coldwell Banker, where she helped manage a top-producing sales team and became highly skilled in bringing deals together.
Chris has been involved in real estate from an early age, having grown up in a family of agents and developers, but began his own professional career in baseball. Drafted by the Marlins after high school, he lived out his sports career to its fullest potential, pitching for six major league teams before setting down roots in Naples so he and his wife could raise their family.
In April of 2022, they launched The Agency Naples, led with esteemed luxury real estate agent professionals and Managing Partners, Blair Chang, LeAnne Thrasher-Chang, Glenn Shimkus, and Shantel Shimkus.
What are three things you’d like readers to know about you and your brokerage?
The Agency is a unique kind of real estate company, defined by our strength of character, rebellious spirit, and passion for reinvention. We achieve this with our boutique approach, creative marketing, unwavering professionalism, cutting-edge technology and an unforgettable service experience.
The Agency takes a unique approach to real estate by fostering a culture of collaboration, where our agents share their knowledge and expertise. Capitalizing on each other’s strengths empowers our agents and allows us to provide much more than a traditional brokerage. Our approach has enhanced client representation and forever altered the industry to create a better experience for agents and clients.
How did you get your start in real estate?
Kara- As a child, I watched my parents work average jobs; they would save and sacrifice what they earned to invest in real estate and get ahead financially. I witnessed countless real estate transactions of all kinds throughout my life and had a front-row seat and asked many questions while watching my parents slowly but surely gain financial freedom.
They would never have had this independence if it weren’t for their real estate investments. This was an inspiration for me. As I got older, I realized what my parents sacrificed for many years. It wasn’t a glamorous way to grow up, yet it greatly impacted me.
I wanted my own financial independence and freedom, and I knew real estate could take me there if I were willing to make good choices and put in the time. With that in mind, I got my real estate license in 2005 (while still in college) and immediately went to work.
Chris- My parents both had their real estate licenses, my mom is a real estate paralegal, and my uncles owned and operated a real estate brokerage in St. Petersburg, Florida and Boseman, Montana. Real estate was something I grew up around.
My grandfather, a military Midwesterner, moved to St. Pete Beach in 1956 with my grandmother and their five boys. At that time, he had never been to Florida and knew no one. What he knew was ambition. My grandfather was a developer in Minnesota and decided to move to Florida because he was tired of the cold climate.
Upon his arrival, he opened his own brokerage, Resop Realty. He was responsible for developing a portion of St. Pete Beach, developing condos, apartments, retirement communities, and strip malls. My adult cousins, Aunts and Uncles were mainly all realtors, and that family trend continues today.
I can remember discussions of real estate were always a popular topic and was always something I found interesting. When I retired from my Major League Baseball career in 2014, it was natural for me to transition into real estate; it felt familiar. The part that intrigued me most was that real estate has no ceiling.
I have the freedom and ability to take my career as far as I want to. The competitor in me honored and respected this notion. I turned off my baseball career overnight and turned on my real estate career like a light switch.
How did you choose your brokerage?
Kara – We partnered with The Agency because we were searching for a brokerage that aligned with who we are on a “soul” level and where we could envision the forward projection for our career trajectory from both a brand and business perspective.
From the moment we had our initial conversations with The Agency’s founder and CEO, Mauricio Umansky, it just felt right. I often honor and evaluate my feelings when making significant decisions. I believe feelings are truth-tellers and you should always trust your instincts.
For us, it was a big decision to leave our previous brokerage and partner with The Agency. We had a comfortable position and were doing excellent business yearly. But something was missing. Something didn’t feel good and we think that is because we weren’t honoring who we really are at our core.
We thrive in smaller, more intimate atmospheres; we like to surround ourselves with people who are inspiring, dynamic and authentic. This was something we loved and were accustomed to with Chris’s previous career in MLB. It was a brotherhood and sisterhood that was strong and supportive.
We would attract ourselves like magnets to the other incredible players and their wives and families and lift each other up and inspire one another. We were craving this kind of culture and we didn’t think it could be found within a brokerage.
So we sought out to partner with a brokerage firm whose values are based on these core principles and partnered with The Agency. We wanted to create a place in our hometown of Naples where our agents felt like they were welcomed and that they could go on to perform at the highest level.
We also wanted to create a community where colleagues and clients would know they are surrounded by professionals who hold themselves to the highest standard, have good morals and seek to provide a white-glove type service just as The Resop Team always has. There were such undeniable synchronicities as we launched The Agency Naples and we knew from the start the stars were aligning for a reason.
What do you wish more people knew about working in real estate?
Chris – The saying patience is a virtue is an understatement. I ended my baseball career in July 2014 and two weeks later, I was a licensed realtor. I hit the ground running, as I often do when I take on a new endeavor, but I was expecting immediate results.
I was under the misconception that my career and connections in baseball would somehow help me. That wasn’t the case; if anything, at first, it felt like it hindered me. No one took me, the “rookie” realtor, seriously. I was labeled an athlete, a ball player, not a businessman. It took me a couple of years to prove my expertise, value and knowledge of the industry.
In just eight years, I took my business from zero to now having sold nearly $700 million in sales. I’ve never been afraid of hard work; it’s a character trait I’m fortunate to have, and people entering the industry must be aware of the time and effort it takes to succeed.
Greatness isn’t achieved overnight and there’s no quick trick to success; it takes time and patience. Just as it did when I was fostering my baseball career, I put in the work, honing my skill to the highest level I could attain.
I often remind myself every day, we move inches, and eventually, those inches turn into miles. While I’ve had great success in my journey in a relatively short time, I still have tremendous goals and continue to remind myself to have patience and appreciate where I am presently and continue to get excited about where my career will be in the future. Having this mindset will help real estate professionals tackle any hurdle along the way.
What are five things you’d like readers to know about you and your brokerage?
Kara – We are creators, we are deliberate thinkers, we move through life with intention. We are serious about the company we keep and we believe in dreaming big. Answering these questions reminds us of where we come from, where we are today and where we know we’re going. It’s remarkable how far we’ve come in eight years.
It’s amazing how the dots have connected and taken us full circle. When I got my real estate license back in 2005, I never imagined working alongside my then-aspiring MLB boyfriend to eventually go on to sell real estate as a husband and wife team. We were running on fear in the beginning of the transition into real estate and honestly, that served us.
It wasn’t fun, but it brought us to the present and our current opportunity to launch and grow The Agency Naples is a blessing. Today, we don’t run on fear, we run on vision. We deliberately choose to believe and feel good as often as we can, and when we’re “off,” we do our best to move towards a better thought or feeling.
Most mornings, I rise with the sun and set my intentions, and what I mean by that is I use my imagination to see my day at its highest and best and whatever outcome. No dream is too big. It’s incredible how powerful our thoughts and visions can be. Our partnership with The Agency was a dream of mine not long ago, and here we are. It’s easy to say life is happening to us, but the reality is we create it.
What’s your top prediction for 2022?
Chris- I feel that prices overall will stabilize this year and may even slightly climb, albeit at a slower pace. I do think the number of transactions will decrease, but with the demand that is still out there to buy and sell real estate, it’s difficult for numbers to really drop too much. This is a healthier market than we have been experiencing in the past year or two. More properties on the market mean more options for buyers, some of which have been frustrated with the bidding wars that have taken place over the past 12 months. This market will make it easier for buyers to find their desired property and easier to try to get under contract with less competition.
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