Above, Denise and Paul Knighton
Paul and Denise Knighton
Founders
MORE® Realty
Portland, Oregon
https://www.MORErealty.com
Region served: Oregon, Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho
Years in real estate (combined): 33
Number of offices: 12
Number of agents: 900
Since founding MORE® Realty 10 years ago, you’ve grown to 900 agents and are now the largest Oregon-based brokerage, with offices in five states. What factors have contributed to this success?
Paul Knighton: First and foremost, it’s all about putting the agents first and ourselves second. When we first started, we wanted to create an environment where we and the agents could practice real estate and not worry about some of the drama that can exist in a brokerage.
We wanted our agents to have the freedom to run their business their way—without heavy pressure from the firm—and to keep as much of their hard-earned commissions as possible.
For us, the focus has always been on keeping expenses low and operations efficient so we can deliver best-in-class service, assuring the agents can take home more of what they work so hard to earn, while still getting the support they need to grow their business.
We also wanted an environment where all agents are equal. We came from an environment where the brokerage’s top producers were often those who were really valued. The reality is that top producers account for a relatively small percentage of agents. We wanted to appeal to everybody, so that’s why we have always had a cap on our fees; everything is very reasonable. The agent who does 60 transactions has the same value to us as someone who does one. We find agents really appreciate that mindset from us.
Another key to the level of success we’ve achieved at MORE® is our incredible staff. There’s no way we did this alone. While we shouldered much of the day-to-day operations in the first year or so, we can’t overlook the amazing team we have had.
You joined United Real Estate in a major brokerage affiliation earlier this year. What solutions were you seeking, and why was United the best fit as a partner for you and MORE® Realty?
PK: We didn’t know what we were looking for until it came along, to be honest. But when we sat down with the United leadership team, we realized what they could bring to the table for us, which were things that we couldn’t do on our own. With an agent count numbering roughly 900—and the United network totaling nearly 25,000—their buying power and the resources they have on hand to do things far surpasses ours. To be able to tuck into that environment and benefit from everything they bring to the table elevated our offerings overnight.
Denise Knighton: The people we met at United and the camaraderie we had with them all aligned with the things we wanted and what they were working toward. To that end, I’m particularly excited about United’s Bullseye cloud-based productivity platform. It offers a seamless, single-login experience for agents and staff to access all the tools they need, saving valuable time and simplifying workflows. The National Referral Network is another incredible asset, as it will connect clients referred out of state with trusted agents across the country. The referral department handles all the work to match clients with agents and manage the transaction, freeing our team up to focus on what they do best. We also look forward to the collaboration within United’s Broker Network and tapping into the ideas of other owners across the country.
Your company is helping to fuel United’s westward expansion to the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern U.S. What excites you most about your growing footprint?
PK: For years, we’ve been expanding at our own pace. It’s fun to grow, and if you’re not growing, you’re shrinking. There’s no staying static. We’ve expanded into Idaho, Las Vegas and Albuquerque—and with the United affiliation, we can leapfrog years down the road with our ability to perform and accelerate in these other markets and areas. What excites me personally about that is the fact that we don’t have to grow organically on our own, which can be a very time-consuming and expensive proposition.
DK: The ability to have like-minded people with different ideas, resources and viewpoints to talk through things and bounce ideas off of—that’s something I appreciate about United. They have a lot of information that we’ve always wanted to access but never had the opportunity to before.
You recently expanded to Boise, Idaho. What plans do you have for this market and others?
PK: While we’ve always been very strong in Oregon and Southwestern Washington, there’s an element of having most of your eggs in too few baskets, so part of the United affiliation—and part of expanding in other areas, most recently into Boise—was having more baskets with eggs in order to reduce some of the market risk factors. When you look at Boise, although it’s a smaller market, it’s a boom town. There’s construction everywhere, and it’s growing fast. I’m excited about seeing what we can do here, kind of like what we did in Oregon. We have many agents in Oregon, and it would be exciting if we could match that success in the Boise market.
Tell us about some of the most notable observations among you and your agents since affiliating with United Real Estate.
PK: We’ve found good people that we can trust in United. Their talent, collaboration and resources will enable us to work toward something greater together than we could on our own. Our company ownership, name, identity and culture remain intact, and we now have even more resources to help our agents thrive. It’s all about caring for people and providing the best possible support.
We’ve enjoyed the experience thus far, from our initial talks with the United team to getting to where we are today working with them—and their willingness to help us articulate things while providing resources and opportunities that we didn’t think might be available. Their willingness to do anything they can to help us is hard to put into words. It’s something you have to experience.
For more information, please visit https://www.GrowWithUnited.com.
