A third residential brokerage is expanding its footprint in the Mid-Atlantic region.
The Real Brokerage announces expansion into Delaware, expanding operations in the Washington, DC and Baltimore areas. The company, this is one of them fastest growing broker domestic, has joined New York City-based Serhant and Douglas Elliman in targeting redion in recent months.
Real hired Ray Petkevis, former CEO of Keller Williams Realty Wilmington, to lead its Delaware operations. In Baltimore and the District of Columbia, it added two previously independent firms: Garner + Co. and Kilner & Kirk Group.
Announced in Ryan Serhant’s company Expansion to six East Coast markets, including Pennsylvania. The founder said he’s targeting feeder markets in New York City and those with a strong referral network with the city, including the Carolinas.
Douglas Elliman ventured into the region in November, when it opened three offices in the nation’s capital.
“The way we open up in the market is a little bit different than those who just go out and buy other companies,” Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber said on his company’s third-quarter earnings call.
Founded in 2014, Real Brokerage now operates in 46 states, growing its brokerage base from 1,000 in 2020 to more than 9,000 this year.
The company lost more than $20 million last year, even though overhead is low thanks to a back-end platform that automates most staff positions and allows brokers to run their businesses digitally, allowing the company to have zero offices.
Following the loss, the company announced in March Raise fees charged to agents Because it strives to be profitable.
Real is raising the entry fee from $149 to $249 and the annual fee it charges agents from $500 to $750. It also began charging agents who participate in its revenue-sharing an annual fee of $175 plus a 1.2 percent revenue-sharing payment.
Several other fees were also increased, which Poleg said was done to prevent the firm from raising its $12,000 commission cap or increasing its 85/15 commission split ratio: Once a broker pays the firm $12,000 a year, they keep all commissions.
“We don’t want to hit the commission distribution, we don’t want to hit the cap,” Poleg previously told TRD“We’ll never want to touch them again.”
