The Ten: Real’s dynamic president, and the firm’s stellar year 

Editor's note: In this year of evolution — much of it mandated by legal challenges — a handful of people and themes have emerged as defining forces. Real Estate News has selected the top newsmakers of 2024, based on their industry impact and influence. They are The Ten.

While brokerage leaders spent much of 2024 on the front lines navigating lawsuits, sluggish sales and industry practice changes, they never stopped competing with one another for productive agents and market share. 

Some firms lost ground as agent counts and sales declined; others were able to maintain their footing and eke out small gains. And a few — like The Real Brokerage — boomed. 

Real, a relative newcomer that frames itself as both a brokerage brand and a tech platform, managed to have a breakout year despite all of the turbulence. And at the helm of Real's brokerage operations is the company's president, Sharran Srivatsaa, whose mix of ambition and empathy has helped drive growth while fostering loyalty among the firm's agents. 

Real's remarkable growth

The brokerage, which marked its 10th anniversary this year, has been reporting numbers that would be purely aspiration for most companies — and it has done so during one of the biggest real estate slowdowns in decades. 

Take agent count: Real had 13,650 agents at the start of the year; in early December, that figure topped 23,000. And it's not a one-off — between November 2022 and November 2023, the brokerage's agent count nearly doubled. Transactions and revenue have followed, both rising around 75% over the past year. 

Investors have taken notice: As of mid-December, Real's stock price was up 225% year-to-date, far exceeding the stock gains of any other public real estate company this year. Wall Street analyst John Campbell put it succinctly: "They're just doing everything right."

Srivatsaa's parallel path

Just as Real has maintained an upward trajectory, so too has its president. Before getting into real estate, the 44-year-old worked in finance at banking heavyweights Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. After entering real estate during the recession years, Srivatsaa quickly leveled up to top executive positions in various firms, including California's Teles Properties, which he grew to a multibillion dollar brokerage before selling the company to Douglas Elliman. 

Two years ago, he joined Real as president, a newly created role at the company. His directive? To drive growth, particularly in the form of agent recruitment and education. At the time, the brokerage had around 7,000 agents — a number that has increased by more than 200% since Srivatsaa came on board. 

As for education, Srivatsaa thinks it is more essential than ever. Although he is a frequent public speaker and social media influencer — he has 360,000 followers on Instagram alone — success in business, he says, isn't about how well you present yourself, it's about skill development. Leaders need to do more in that area, he said on a podcast in September, to move real estate from being a "charisma-focused industry to a skill-focused industry."

He has put that philosophy to work at Real, attributing the company's smooth transition following the Aug. 17 rule changes to the brokerage's "comprehensive training programs," which, he said, helped Real's agents adapt more easily. "Our focus has been on preparing agents to handle these changes confidently, and we believe it's working," he said in November. 

He also talked about the importance of empathy during that time, encouraging Real's agents to "lead with grace" when interacting with other real estate professionals, and emphasizing "kindness" and "collaboration" — words not often heard from leaders in competitive industries.

Thinking beyond the model: 'There's so much more to do'

Real's cloud-based, revenue share model isn't unique. But during Srivatsaa's tenure, the company has set itself apart from industry trailblazers such as eXp, a brokerage it has often been compared to. Real has hit its stride with agent attraction, a deep bench in training, and new product launches and proprietary tech offerings. And Srivatsaa — a hands-on, self-described "servant leader" who emphasizes agent morale — has helped set the brand's tone and culture. 

The combination of those elements, Srivatsaa said, has enabled the company to stand out among its competitors and drive growth. 

"I believe that you're going to see a lot more cloud-based revenue share models come up, because it has been proven that they work and they solve a couple of big problems that the traditional firms did not," Srivatsaa told Real Estate News during a recent conversation. "But you just can't slap a revenue share model on and then say, 'Yeah, I got it going on!' There's so much more to do, and we have to keep innovating."

Without innovation, there's a risk of "commoditization," Srivatsaa warns, where the model is too easily duplicated and any competitive advantage is a wash. As Real continues to grow, Srivatsaa expects the biggest innovations will be "on the platform side and not on the model side," and the company will remain committed to fostering a positive culture that will help "people stay longer."

"As long as it feels like it's a good opportunity for agents and it works economically for the company, we want to keep it going."