Broker Spotlight: Lyles Geer, William Means Real Estate
Name: Lyles Geer
Title: President and Broker-in-Charge
Experience: 16 years in real estate: 13 years in residential sales, 3 years in real estate finance
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Brokerage full name: William Means Real Estate
Rankings: No. 2 boutique firm in Charleston in 2022; No. 21 agent in all of Charleston in 2022
Team size: 1
Transaction sides: 168 total career sides; 21 sides in 2022
Sales volume: $225 million in career sales with an average sale price of $1.3 million.
Awards: Christie’s International Real Estate Masters Circle
How did you get your start in real estate?
I am fortunate to have been raised in a real estate family. My mother is a celebrated Realtor in our community. During my childhood, she would pick me up from school and speak to clients over her speaker phone (I remember she was the first Realtor in Charleston to get a car phone back in the early 90s), allowing me to soak up valuable lessons early on about how to communicate with clients and get real estate sold.
Real estate is all I have ever wanted to do. I started as an agent fresh out of college in 2006 and recently purchased the business from my mother. Sharing my knowledge and expertise about Charleston homes with clients and fellow agents is my passion. It’s an extraordinary business where each day is different, and you are constantly learning new things and meeting new people.
What’s your top prediction for 2023?
I sense a return to normalcy in which we have space to think, without the pressure and high stress that we experienced over the past two years. Buyers will have more time to make an offer, negotiate a deal, and sort through due diligence.
I predict that sellers will not be in as strong of a position as they have been, but they will still be able to capitalize on the rapid two-year appreciation. Inventory will continue to climb as buyer demand softens due to the interest rate hike. It’s all about perspective, however: Inventory is still low compared to before 2019, and interest rates are as high as they were in the early 2000s.
What’s your top tip for freshly licensed brokers?
It is all about the long game. It takes time to build a book of business, but if you consistently show up to do the work with energy and authenticity, the sales will come. You will start establishing lasting relationships, which will organically grow into more and more.
What makes a good leader?
Hard work and authenticity. I am a firm believer that the only way to lead is by example, which means showing up every day and putting in the work to be a standout agent, while always being yourself. This is a face-to-face business that’s about building trust. If there is any sense of inauthenticity, that foundation of trust goes out the window. That’s why, good or bad, I always speak from the heart.
What’s one thing you wish every agent knew?
Open communication is a must across the board from speaking with clients, agents, tradespeople, employees and everyone in between. As Realtors, we are at the helm of the transaction and by being open and direct with everyone involved, we can steer the deal in the direction it needs to go.
Deals can quickly go sideways as soon as any communication gets lost or shielded. Pick up the phone calls, respond to the texts and reply to the emails.
Know someone who should be featured in an upcoming Broker Spotlight? Nominations, please, to brokeredge@inman.com.
Christy Murdock is a Realtor, freelance writer, coach and consultant and the owner of Writing Real Estate. She is also the creator of the online course Crafting the Property Description: The Step-by-Step Formula for Reluctant Real Estate Writers. Follow Writing Real Estate on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
