Editor’s Note: RISMedia recently released a special advanced look at the Top 100 firms ranked in RISMedia’s 35th Annual Power Broker Report, exclusively for RISMedia Premier Members. The Top 500 Power Broker firms was also released in advance to Premier Members, and the Top 1,000 firms was released April 5.
Through the paradoxical real estate year of 2022, @properties co-CEO Thad Wong says it was the first full year as owners of the Christie’s International Real Estate brand that made the most impact on their impressive results last year. That, combined with prioritizing and making greater investments in their agents while others have scaled back are also what’s shaping the greatest opportunities to come, Wong says.
In this exclusive interview with RISMedia for its 35th Annual Power Broker Report, Wong shares insights into the firm’s acquisition of the luxury real estate network and the biggest achievements for the company that kept them successful through a shifting market.
@properties
No. 7 Sales Volume
Thad Wong
Co-CEO
What was the biggest contributor–positive and/or negative–to your results in 2022?
In our first full year as owners of the Christie’s International Real Estate brand, the addition of the luxury real estate network had the most tangible impact on our 2022 results. 2022 was an exciting year for us as we launched the network in over 20 new markets and began rolling out our technology to affiliates around the country. We’re thrilled with the progress we’ve made with Christie’s International Real Estate, and look forward to more great things happening for the brand in 2023.
How are you keeping agents motivated and productive in the shifting market?
Regardless of what’s happening in the marketplace, we have always prioritized coaching and training, with classes, videos and events to keep our agents and affiliates motivated and inspired. Currently, we’re offering a slate of programming designed to help agents articulate the value of their personal brand and our brand, gain market share and more.
What are the biggest opportunities for growth ahead?
As our competitors reduce their investment in the agent experience and client experience, we see tremendous opportunity. I feel that independently owned brokerages like @properties and our Christie’s International Real Estate affiliates are in the best spot to increase market share as more buyers, sellers and agents look for the personal touch and culture that the larger, publicly-traded brokerages can’t provide when they’re trying to cut their overhead by hundreds of millions of dollars.
If you had to pick your biggest achievement from 2022, what would it be?
Since we acquired the Christie’s International Real Estate network, we have been focused on bringing @properties’ technology–specifically, our proprietary end-to-end tech solution, pl@tform™–to our Christie’s affiliates. Over the past year, we have worked diligently to roll out pl@tform, and now have onboarded several affiliates who are already using the technology and loving it, which is extremely rewarding.
