Realty ONE continues ‘disciplined and strategic’ growth
A shifting housing market hasn't deterred the company's growth plans, which include international expansion and seeking out "best fit" franchise partners.
Key points:
- Realty ONE Group, the eighth-largest franchisor by sales volume, has continued to expand in 2022.
- The company is ‘doubling and tripling down’ on business coaching during this period.
- Now in nine countries, Realty ONE recently opened offices in Spain, Costa Rica and Portugal, and plans to open an office in Bolivia.
Looking at Realty ONE's growth in 2022, you'd never know the housing market was in the midst of a slowdown.
Realty ONE Group, headquartered in California, has continued to expand in the third quarter, including adding international offices.
According to a news release, the company has sold more than 66 franchises and opened 67 new locations in 2022, an expansion of 22%. Realty ONE will soon be operating in nine countries after announcing plans to open an office in Bolivia. All told, the company now represents more than 18,000 real estate professionals across 400+ offices.
"While others are feeling defeated during troubling times, we're doubling and tripling down on business coaching for our real estate professionals to navigate their careers and uncover opportunities for success," said Kuba Jewgieniew, CEO and founder of Realty ONE Group. "Beyond our world-class, top-of-class and best-in-class offering, we're building out a network of elite leaders and agents who wake up every day with the right mindset — to succeed no matter what."
In an email, Jewgieniew said the company is able to continue expanding during this slowdown period because their established practices, including proprietary business coaching and technology, provide a strong foundation for growth. It also is leaning into "COOLture," a term the company uses to incorporate unity and having fun.
"Our biggest growth challenge is to stay disciplined to our strategic and managed growth trajectory of 100 new franchises per year," Jewgieniew said, adding that they choose prospects that best fit the company's culture. Last year the company received interest from over 1,200 qualified franchise prospects; less than 10% were invited to join the Realty ONE network.
The company settled on this level of growth during the pandemic in anticipation of economic uncertainty, which Jewgieniew expects will continue through 2023. Starting in 2024, the company plans to quicken the pace of openings to more than 200 a year.
The family-owned company, founded in 2005, also plans on continuing to expand internationally and is looking at more areas in Europe, South America and the Caribbean. The company has also been busy creating partnerships, most recently with the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), in order to strategically grow and expand its diverse, global network.
Promoting itself as the "UNBrokerage," the company uses a flat-fee brokerage model and had more than $47.2 billion in total sales volume in 2021, ranking eighth among all U.S. franchisors according to T3 Sixty's Real Estate Almanac. (Note: T3 Sixty founder Stefan Swanepoel also founded Real Estate News.)
The company has also garnered some accolades: The Franchise Business Review ranked Realty ONE among its top recession-proof and most innovative franchises in 2022, and the company claimed the No.1 spot for real estate franchisors on Entrepreneur's 2022 Franchise 500 List.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated a sales volume of $47.2 million. The actual sales volume was $47.2 billion in 2021.