Since founding Beverly Hills-based residential real estate brokerage The Agency in 2011, Mauricio Umansky has had his eye on growth – in the number of locations, types of properties being sold, auxiliary offerings and more.

And Umansky, the company’s chief executive, said he sees opportunity in current changes in the marketplace.

“Lots of consolidation has been happening in the real estate business and because of that, we’ve been seeing some opportunities where we can become the last global luxury brand remaining that is not part of the same company,” he said. “There’s an opportunity right now to really differentiate ourselves.”

While the brokerage has grown rapidly to  3,302 agents spread across over 165 offices in 15 countries, Umansky said he aims to have The Agency feel like “a true boutique” with close to 25 people per office.

Most of The Agency’s locations are franchises or “global partners,” as Umansky likes to call them. He said this approach allows each outpost to be part of the community it is in and adapt to what’s needed in that marketplace.

This model has also allowed The Agency to rapidly scale up: “We’re able to open a lot quicker… and obviously I need less capital for a franchise,” Umansky said of the benefits of the franchise model over growing solely through company-owned locations.

Creating efficiencies

Beyond using the franchise model to grow, Umansky said The Agency is also “really tech forward,” which helps both agents and clients.

The company is currently investing in artificial intelligence and marketing technology to make templates and other necessities for its agents.

As part of that move, the company in May announced a partnership with Vancouver-based real estate services firm known for its data insights, Rennie, on a platform for developers to work on strategy, branding, marketing and sales of their properties.

“This partnership is built on a clear foundation of experience and execution,” Greg Zayadi, president of Rennie, said in a statement at the time.

With more than five decades of experience in sales and marketing, Zayadi said that his firm has “honed a disciplined approach” that’s rooted in data, systems and market insights. That methodology enabled the firm to not only be best positioned to sell homes, “but (also) to actively manage risk for our partners from developers to banks and pension funds,” he said. “When you combine that with The Agency’s global reach and brand platform, it creates a uniquely powerful engine to bring developments to market with clarity, confidence, and performance.”

Umansky called the partnership “very important” to The Agency’s growth, adding that “new development sales is a very important part of real estate.”

Together, the two can work on large and small projects, such as luxury condo buildings and mixed-use projects, he said.

The two are leading the sales and marketing on a number of developments, including the Kaliʻu Ala Moana in Honolulu. The project, developed by ProsPac Holdings and designed by Olson Kundig, has 285 residences.

Commercial expansion

In addition to the residential real estate sales, Umansky said The Agency has a growing commercial division. That arm of the company has worked on a number of hotel sales, including a $130 million transaction in Beverly Hills. It has also done office and retail leasing.

Currently, there is a commercial division at roughly 25 of The Agency’s locations and Umansky said he is hoping to expand it to all of the brokerage’s outposts.

“It gives you a completely different sector to be competing in and grow in,” he said.

Commercial accounts for about 10% of The Agency’s revenue. Umansky said he’s aiming to grow it to 30% of the company’s revenue in the future.

Getting in the art game

One other area where Umansky sees the potential for growth is art. Last year, the brokerage partnered with art collector Arushi Kapoor to launch The Agency Art House, an international art advisory company.

“The Agency Art House in itself is a very unique model,” Kapoor told the Business Journal at the time of the announcement. “It blends the real estate world and the art world together. The real estate and the art clientele often have a very similar mindset.”

And The Agency Art House has been growing, including in Mexico City. Umansky said it was also doing art staging for housing.

“Often, the asset is collected by people that have liquidity income,” Kapoor previously told the Business Journal. “The idea with The Agency Art House was, since art has historically had such high barriers to entry, to make art collection and the process of collecting art available to people more easily.”

Umansky, an avid art collector, said the service can be offered at any of The Agency’s brokerage locations and doesn’t need to be tied to a physical location, which keeps expenses down.

Going forward, Umansky said he plans to expand his firm nationally and overseas, including its commercial division and The Agency Art House. What’s more, The Agency’s size was a huge advantage when thinking of future growth.

When you “think of the future, you need to continue to be extremely innovative, and I think our advantage is that we are still small, right?” Umansky said. “We are small, even though we have a tremendous global reach. We’re nimble. I’m excited about it. We just keep growing.”