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If ever national real estate brands, regional brokerages and
agents wonder how United Real Estate manages to keep growing bigger and
stronger year after year even as the industry experiences choppy seas, the
answer is a simple, timeworn phrase—they don’t rest on their laurels.
Indeed, while many brokerages across the land seek saviors
to avoid sinking under the weight of new legal rules and regulations, mortgage
rate fluctuations and inventory issues, United has time and again gone against
the grain, taking in thrilled-to-join businesses and their working
professionals.
Why? Because boots-on-the-ground agents and their brokerage
leaders know a good thing when they see it.
Now with over 22,000 agents and 170 offices in 35 states,
Dallas-headquartered United closed 73,000-plus transactions in 2024, with a
sales volume of $26.3 billion. Inc. 5000 calls United the No. 1 fastest-growing
real estate brokerage by revenue, as well as one of the fastest-growing
privately-held U.S. companies for the eighth straight year.
CEO Dan Duffy, a former tech titan, knew 10 years ago when
deciding to align with what was then United Country Real Estate that he wasn’t
much interested in a slow and steady pace of growth.
“We intentionally built something that wasn’t an incremental improvement on the status quo,” he says. “We wanted to create something that had resilience and the absolute, most efficient delivery of services and products so that our agents and brokers could win.”
They do so via a 100%-commission model that allows agents to
keep all of their gross commission earnings. In exchange, United charges a flat
fee to provide agents with marketing, training and development, full-service
support and technology resources instead of the traditional broker/agent
revenue split. The benefits promote a fierce loyalty that United President Rick
Haase acknowledges.
“We have a very rare, carefully curated assemblage of talent
that goes to work every day within their discipline, and the mosaic that it
brings together in terms of the organization is incredible,” he says. “Because
of our proprietary tech stack, we’re able to add agents, control costs and make
sure they get the tools, services and support without damaging our ability to
continuously flow that gross commission income into brokers’ and agents’ bank
accounts. By doing this, we are able to stay on our mission of improving the
financial trajectory of our brokers’ and agents’ careers, vision and lives.”
Duffy seconds that, with a tongue-in-cheek nod to the
fallout from the Burnett case.
“We’re not only weathering the storm, but doing incredibly
well,” he says, referring to the aftermath of the National Association of
REALTORS®’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement. “We should send the lawyers a
thank-you. It made our business stronger.”
The jewel of United’s tech offerings is its proprietary
cloud-based Bullseye™ Agent & Broker Productivity Platform, which gets
30,000 agent logins each month.
“We really focused on the agents, their branding and their
websites,” says Chief Technology Officer David Dickey. The one-stop shop
platform offers CRM, marketing, lead generation, SEO-optimized websites and
more, all at no additional cost.
Laying the foundation for long-term financial
stability
Phillip Cantrell is United’s executive vice president,
strategy. He explains that Dave Ramsey’s SmartDollar, a workplace financial
wellness program, is accessed for United agents and staff through Bullseye, and
is more vital than ever in today’s uncertain market.
“SmartDollar is part of a formal program called our
Financial Wellness Program,” he says. “Most everyone is dealing with financial
stress, and agents especially experience that due to the irregular income or
variable income with the structure of how they make money.
“This resource provides them access to financial literacy
tools, including coaching. They can do one-on-one coaching, group coaching,
utilize educational resources and courses and budgeting tools while learning
what steps to take to help them get out of debt, handle emergencies, build a
financial foundation for their future and have really healthy financial habits
moving forward.”
Since launching a year ago, SmartDollar has had a
significant impact, helping agents eliminate a collective $1.9 million in debt
and add $2.6 million in savings—that’s a gross financial turnaround of $4.5
million for the 1,700 participants in just a little over 12 months. Cantrell
notes that it’s rewarding to have agents reach out to say how they appreciate
the offering, in many cases, using the description of the program as
“life-changing.”
“It’s incredible to hear them saying thank you for investing
in this program,” he says. “They do not have to pay to enroll in it, and it’s
not just for the agent, but for their spouse and family. Eliminating debt or
adding savings is really a family process, and everybody needs to be on board,
so their family members have access to it as well. This is just the beginning
of the program, but the impact and the success we’ve seen thus far makes it
worth it and allows us to deliver on our mission at a high level.”
United continues to innovate and invest in its network even
when the market presents challenges. Its commitment is evidenced by the many
resources it has produced to care for its agents’ holistic needs, expand their
income opportunities and further enhance the value of the agent-broker
relationship.
A proven lead-generation platform
While SmartDollar focuses on an agent’s family finances,
LeadBoostTM
—another United exclusive—gets to the heart of the professional matter:
increasing opportunities for income. It gives agents access to brand-building
and lead-generating programs by using pre-made, hyper-targeted, customized
campaigns to reach buyers and sellers on social media and other digital outlets
without the need for their own listing inventory.
LeadBoost has generated over 37 million impressions and
25,000 referral-fee-free leads, enhancing agents’ competitiveness by
eliminating the need for expensive contracts and enabling proactive marketing
strategies.
“A major benefit of LeadBoost is that an agent doesn’t need
to have their own inventory to participate,” says Vice President of Marketing
& Communications Amanda Cline. “So if I’m a new agent entering the market
and haven’t had my first listing, I have the ability to use LeadBoost as a
lead-generation source to kick off my business and also focus on a particular
target area. It simplifies the marketing experience for the agent with the
lowest possible cost to obtain leads from the market.
“We’re seeing leads come through for under $3 on average,
which is an exceptionally low lead-acquisition cost. And the other benefit is
that traditional lead sources tend to require long contracts and large budgets,
with limited input from an agent perspective on scope. The great thing about
LeadBoost is there are no contracts. Agents can choose their budget, their
campaign duration and their target area, allowing them to build their brands
and build trust with the clients and the areas they serve.”
Cline adds that all leads generated belong to the agent, and
are integrated with United’s Bullseye Productivity Platform. Thus, agents don’t
have to import those leads anywhere and can utilize United’s marketing
campaigns and other follow-up programs that are offered as well. It all plays
into making agents more competitive and successful.
“The competitive part comes into play where agents don’t
have to be nailed down by these big, expensive, long-term contracts,” she says.
“As the market ebbs and flows, LeadBoost allows our agents to be both
competitive and proactive. A lot of traditional lead-generation platforms
require consumers to come to those sites and fill out information. The
consumers themselves are doing the active searching versus LeadBoost putting
those properties where the consumers are.
“LeadBoost is a much more proactive approach, especially
when you’re working with a seller. Agents are proactively going out to find
those target buyers for your property, so we’re meeting consumers where they
spend their time.”
United agents have reported that when using the LeadBoost
program, the showings on those properties are tripling or quadrupling what they
would typically get if they weren’t using it.
“In a market that’s challenging, the platform allows our
agents to make every opportunity and transaction count,” says Cline. “Under $3
per lead on average lets them maximize their reach and advertising dollars, and
reach interested parties in an efficient manner.”
Meanwhile, Haase and the leadership team are doing what they
do best: asking the right questions, listening and coming up with
cost-effective solutions. Haase is bullish on United’s future, and that’s
mirrored in the optimism he’s hearing from brokerage leaders who have a renewed
sense of joy and fulfillment at work again.
“Some of them come to us saying, ‘I’m going to be out in six
months or a year. Can you take my company?’” Haase says. “And literally every
one of them (except one) has come back and said, ‘This is fun again. I’m here
for the duration,’ and we couldn’t be happier to have these leaders in the
company and put their considerable talents to use across the nation.”
Duffy is also proud of how United has evolved, confirming
his opinion that it was correct to align with the company over a decade ago.
“There was this consistent theme within the brokerage and
the company that it was more than how much volume we do and how much money we
make,” he recalls. “There are people who are part of United that are
fifth-generation partners. You don’t see that in business these days.
“Here we see things differently—that you lead with culture
and follow with purpose.”
For more information, please visit https://www.GrowWithUnited.com.