Louis and Christine Parrish
Broker/Owners
United Real Estate
Specialists – Southern Arizona
www.UnitedRealEstateSouthernArizona.com
United Real Estate
Specialists – Scottsdale
www.UnitedRealEstateSpecialists.com
Region served: Metro Tucson and Scottsdale
Years in real estate: Louis: 26; Christine: 13
Number of offices: 2
Number of agents: 75
Paige Tepping: Tell us about how you got into real estate.
Louis Parrish: Christine grew up in a real estate family, however, I didn’t get my license until 1995. While I had no training or real estate skills when I started, I was able to learn fast and do really well. Early on, I was taught how to treat people right, the importance of admitting to mistakes early so that they could be fixed and how to write a contract—all of which provided the foundation I needed to succeed.
PT: Why did you decide to transition to brokerage?
LP: We were operating a successful real estate team and realized that we found great joy in our passion for building people and seeing the results in the person, their families and our community. Opening a real estate brokerage is our path to do the same thing on a much greater scale.
PT: What attracted you to United Real Estate?
Christine Parrish: Louis was spending a lot of time working on systems and processes and researching technology, but every time we launched new tech-enabled marketing and support, it was outdated by the time it was implemented. We agreed that it was time to look for a broker support organization with systems and processes in place so we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. Louis was attending a class and noticed United’s logo in his materials. He looked them up and sent me a video outlining their core values—they were almost identical to ours.
LP: We left no stone unturned when shopping for a franchise that would give us the freedom to work our business in a way that would fit our market. With United, we did the right thing in that we focused on the alignment of values prior to looking at their tech/marketing stack and other tools they offered. And while United’s tools are fantastic, one of the main reasons we joined is because we finally found our people.
PT: You’re celebrating a milestone this year. To what do you attribute your success?
LP: We celebrated our third birthday this past spring, which is a big milestone for us. Our 2020 sales also brought us into a Top 10 category in our primary market. It’s fun to see our name at the top of the charts, and other brokers and agents watch those numbers, too.
CP: Now that we’re established and thriving, agents are calling us and having conversations about moving their license. We attribute this success to the tools and support United offers us, which, in turn, allows us to provide our agents with what they need to be successful.
PT: How do you work together to run your company?
LP: We’re fiercely competitive, yet we have some very complementary skill sets. Now that the company is growing, there’s enough space for us to do our own thing in parallel with one another.
CP: We learned early on that working together required a sense of humor and a level of grace. We have a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses too, so we hire where we’re weakest to round out the company’s abilities.
PT: What else should people know about growing a business?
CP: The most important piece of the puzzle is the people you choose to work with. When interviewing agents, I enjoy getting to know them and understanding their goals.
LP: Real estate is a relationship business, so it’s important to determine who you want to be in a relationship with.
For more information, please visit www.GrowWithUnited.com.
Paige Tepping is RISMedia’s managing editor. Email her your real estate news ideas to paige@rismedia.com.
