The Agency’s rapid growth — including eight new locations the first quarter of this year — as a luxury real estate brokerage is showing no signs of slowing down. The Beverly Hills-based juggernaut has used unscripted TV programming and a global partnership model to build up its client base during a tough time in the homebuying market.
Television viewers may know the company and its co-founder, Mauricio Umansky, from appearances on popular reality programs. Umansky’s wife, Kyle Richards, is a longtime cast member of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” and Umansky appears on the Netflix show “Buying Beverly Hills.” The brokerage’s name recognition from TV and its reputation in the industry have spurred its expansion from one office in Beverly Hills in 2011 to more than 85 offices in 10 countries and almost 2,000 agents today.
The Agency has grown largely by franchising the brand in different markets through its global partnership program. It launched its first franchise office in Los Cabos, Mexico, in 2016.
The company opened eight new offices in the first quarter of this year, with more to debut in the coming months. New locations in the United States were in Boise, Idaho; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Nashville, Tennessee. Canadian locations in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta; Mallorca, Spain; and Lisbon, Portugal opened as well.“We really do approach the concept of franchising in a different way than you see in most industries, particularly in real estate,” said Rainy Hake Austin, president at The Agency. “We’ve grown with the intention of making sure that we are expanding our international network to accomplish our goal of being the most sought-after global luxury real estate company.”
Against the grain
The Agency, which covers residential, new development, resort real estate, luxury leasing and vacation rentals, says it breaks from the traditional brokerage model by taking a more “collaborative approach.” Agents and clients have shared resources, including in-house creative, public relations and technology divisions.
The Agency has closed more than $57 billion in real estate transactions since 2011 by targeting markets where the company says the brand resonates, ensuring that each office has the “right people representing the right properties.”
“We do go into markets and look at the best people and the best opportunities even when somebody reaches out to us just to make sure that we’re always partnering with the best,” said Austin. “We always do market research even if it’s an inquiry coming into us.”
Austin said the company finds its partners via a combination of business development outreach and incoming requests.
When The Agency considers new markets, Austin said her team looks at average price points, market size and saturation. The Agency also looks at emerging and growing markets where large companies like Amazon.com Inc. and Google are expanding their footprint and bringing with them wealth and capital.
“With newer markets, we look at them in a slightly different lens than an experienced or traditionally established luxury market,” said Austin. “How much is being transacted at what price points? How many agents are in that market? How many different brokerages are there? Are there any other creative brokerages that are innovative? Are there any other luxury brokerages? What is our competitive advantage?”
For Michael Smith, an Agency global partner located in North Shore, New York, collaborating with The Agency made sense.
“I found out about (The Agency expansion) through a friend. I reached out for the opportunity,” said Smith. He started with a small brokerage of just over a dozen agents and expects to have eight to 10 offices in the next 18 months with 250 to 300 agents. He credits The Agency’s luxury reputation, in addition to its brand awareness from marketing and television, for its rapid growth.
“I think what the brand gives you is a luxury, boutique brand, whether you’re a first-time home buyer or downsizing from a multimillion-dollar property.”
The overall housing market has been somewhat sluggish this spring due to a combination of increasing mortgage interest rates, declining home sales and issues with bank failures, worries about the economy, available inventory and overall housing affordability. According to the National Association of Realtors, total existing home sales dropped 22% nationally from a year ago.However, luxury real estate appears to be less affected by market trends. Luxury single-family homes were on the market an average of nine days in April, according to a report from the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. A luxury home threshold price was defined as $950,000 and the median luxury home sales price was about $1.3 million.
Scaling up
In May 2022, The Agency acquired technology firm Triplemint. The Agency is using the acquisition to support its customer experience with Tripplemint’s predictive analytics, fully integrated search platform, machine learning and real-time alerts.
“You can’t stay in this business long term if you don’t adapt to the changes,” said Michael Nourmand, president of Beverly Hills-based Nourmand & Associates. The brokerage maintains three offices and has almost 200 agents. While Nourmand’s focus is primarily on the Los Angeles market, he can see the upside and the potential in franchising the real estate model.
“I think it is scalable,” Nourmand said. “They have to find the right partners. They’ve definitely opened up in a lot of markets; I think it’s a very good business model.”
Austin noted that the company is investing in growth strategically while being fiscally responsible.
“We see the opportunity to actually double down on our growth, not by making it faster, but by continuing it,” said Austin. “We’re one of the few luxury brokerages that are still growing during what most people are calling a real estate recession.”
