Above: Jillian Young
VITALS:
Premiere Plus Realty
Years in business: 22
Size: 6 offices, 1,427 agents
Regions served: Southwest Florida, Naples, Marco Island, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Bonita Springs
2024 Transactions: 4,439
2024 Sales Volume: $3,013,756,282
https://www.premiereplusrealty.com
Early in her career, Jillian Young saw small business owners, nonprofits and real estate agents struggling to grow without the right systems or strategy. It was a gap she couldn’t ignore.
“Without effective tools or leadership, these individuals were stuck—missing opportunities, losing momentum and unable to compete in a tough market,” she says. “It frustrated me to see unrealized potential. That drove me deeper into real estate brokerage, where every agent is a small business owner.”
Starting with her own business, Young served those very groups, and in April 2018 joined Premiere Plus Realty as marketing director, where she tackled inefficiencies head-on, building marketing strategies and support systems with owner Eric Gallus’ trust.
The result? Explosive growth and market influence. That success propelled Young to executive vice president, then president and broker of the company.
How did your market fare in 2024, and what did you see in the first quarter of 2025?
Jillian Young: In 2024, Southwest Florida’s housing market faced a storm of challenges—rising insurance costs, shifting interest rates, a divisive election, inflation, lawsuits, hurricanes and new buyer-broker rules. It was a recipe for chaos. These pressures could have derailed us. Homing in on the Naples area for context, our firm’s primary market, sales dipped slightly while inventory spiked 35%. Median prices were up 84% since 2019, but growth slowed to just 1.7% from 2023. A truly puzzling market. Without clear guidance, clients risked confusion, stalled decisions and missed opportunities in a market teetering between boom and correction. Sellers remained married to their dream net amount, and buyers just wanted—needed—a deal. It was difficult to obtain a win-win for both parties without skillful negotiations.
And yet, resilience won out. We held strong, only 2% off 2019’s pre-pandemic pace, proving our market’s backbone. We’re now seeing a normalizing trend—more inventory, price adjustments and a need for sharp expertise. As real estate leaders, we’re stepping up: educating clients, decoding the shifts and steering them to smart, confident moves in a changing game.
How do you stay informed about current real estate market trends, and how do you use this information to guide your business strategy?
JY: The real estate market moves fast, and staying ahead means sifting through a flood of data—trade articles, local economic reports, MLS stats and contracts—every single day. The real hurdle is making sense of it all. When I get it wrong, I’m blindsided—misreading trends, losing agent trust and making costly operational mistakes with our budget. It happens to all of us, but with experience and help, I now tackle it head-on and much more accurately: mornings spent reading RISMedia and local updates, Rick Haase’s market insights from United Real Estate, talking to our lender and title partners and digging into monthly data through my board committee role. The best insight comes from talking to our agents about what buyers and sellers are saying, as those conversations are the best leading indicators of the local market.
As a woman in a leadership position, what unique perspectives do you believe women bring to the table in real estate, and how can these perspectives influence team dynamics and decision-making?
JY: Leadership in real estate can get stuck in a transactional rut—competitive, disconnected and short-sighted—leaving employee teams fractured and decisions uneven. Without an intentional shift, you risk weak collaboration, burned-out employees and agents who feel like numbers, not people. In a shifting market with rising competition, that’s a fast track to falling behind. I don’t want to generalize, but women like me bring empathy, fairness and a knack for organizational communication and team collaboration. Studies tie these to higher productivity and team dedication, which we have experienced. At Premiere Plus Realty, our female leaders, both staff and agent team leaders, model this: fostering unity, resilience and personal growth. It’s why our 1,500 agents thrive, clients stick around and we outpace the competition.
How would you describe your leadership style, and how do you inspire and motivate your team?
JY: As I’ve grown professionally, I’ve adopted a transformational leadership style as opposed to a colder transactional style. We implemented the Entrepreneurial Operating System across leadership and departmental teams, which balances setting clear objectives while granting autonomy, allowing team members to innovate within a supportive framework. We provide access to watch the Global Leadership Summit each year, and I share what I’m learning in leadership books. It’s extremely important that I admit when I’m wrong, when I’ve dropped a ball, and take radical ownership of any negative outcome.
What is your firm’s unique value proposition in your market?
JY: Agents in today’s real estate market face steep fees, thin support and clunky tech, while clients demand more value for less—most brokerages can’t keep up. High splits drain GCI, outdated systems waste time and lack of guidance leaves agents scrambling. Clients suffer, too—listings languish and deals fall apart. Premiere Plus Realty flips the script. With 22 years as a Southwest Florida powerhouse—top three in sales and transactions—we pair local dominance with United Real Estate’s national muscle, boosting client exposure. Agents get a low-fee, 100%-commission model, cutting-edge tech for leads and marketing and hands-on broker support. From training to daily ops, we slash friction, empowering our agents to max out earnings and handle business with confidence.
