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After launching a boutique brokerage in 2013, co-CEOs Eric Walstrom and Alex Irrer joined @properties Christie’s International Real Estate REMI in 2021. Since then, they’ve increased their sales volume tenfold, opening eight offices in the state of Michigan. In the process, they’ve focused on maintaining their boutique brokerage culture and high level of service to both agents and clients.
According to the broker-owners, the industry is headed in the direction of agent quality over transaction-based service. Find out how they combine rapid organizational growth with a commitment to exceptional agent performance.
Name: Eric Walstrom and Alex Irrer
Title: Co-CEOs
Experience: 19 years (Walstrom), 14 years (Irrer)
Location: Michigan
Brokerage name: @properties Christie’s International Real Estate REMI
Rankings: No. 6 brokerage in Michigan on sales volume
Team size: 189 agents
Transaction sides: 1,920
Sales volume: $1,100,000,000
How did you choose your brokerage?
We chose @properties Christie’s after two years of meeting with every single brokerage in the state of Michigan and a few outside the state, to understand each brokerage’s value proposition and how they would fuel our agent and brokerage growth. Most brokerage’s “value” was a better deal, their size/market share, or established brand.
The offering from @properties Christie’s was different right from the first meeting. They focused on the agent and client experience above all else. Their “value” of technology, marketing and culture were tools an agent and our brokerage could actually use to help grow their business.
Finally, it was the amazing people in leadership that swayed our final decision. This business is all about people/relationships and we felt a very genuine comfort in the people who were leading the brand.
What do you wish more people knew about working in real estate?
We wish more people knew the courage and risk it takes to become a full-time real estate agent. There are not many current professions that are 100 percent commission where you have to earn the business every single day.
What’s your top prediction for the future?
We believe the brokerage industry will separate into something that resembles the current mortgage industry. There will be a large acquisition/merger by one of the portals (Zillow, Realtor, Redfin, Homes.com) of a large, nationwide brokerage franchise. When that happens, you will have a clear distinction between the “portal agent” and a local brick-and-mortar agent in terms of level and cost of service.
Tell us about an epic fail you’ve experienced since you’ve been a broker
Shortly after we created the company, we recruited an agent who did not fit our core values but was a top-performing agent in the market. Our failure was not removing the agent from the brokerage sooner than we did.
The top agent stunted our growth and ability to attract other high-performing agents. Once we finally decided to remove the agent, a flood of growth occurred. We learned to protect our core values and culture above production and rankings.
What makes a good leader?
A good leader is an exceptional listener, understands change creates opportunity and remains calm throughout significant change.