MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
PRweb | March 29, 2023
Global real estate brokerage The Agency proudly announces the launch of its first franchise office in Ontario’s York Region. The new locale, which will be known as The Agency York Region, is the firm’s 16th office in Canada, joining the brokerage’s growing network of more than 75 offices in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. The York Region office will be led by industry veterans Katia and Steve Bailey, and Niusha Walker who will serve as Managing Partners, and Adolphe Khouri who will serve as Managing Director.
“Our brand new office in Ontario’s York Region is an exciting next chapter for The Agency as our brand continues to expand throughout sought-after regions in Canada,” said Mauricio Umansky, CEO and Founder of The Agency. “We’re delighted to partner again with Katia and Steve Bailey, as well as Niusha Walker and Adolphe Khouri, who are all well-respected leaders and innovators in our industry.”
The Agency has rapidly expanded its presence across the globe throughout the past year, making it one of the fastest-growing luxury boutique brokerages in the world. The Agency’s independent-owned brokerages are referred to and integrated as true global partners. Every Managing Partner, from both corporate or independently-owned offices, operates cohesively as one true global network. Rather than simply using brand likeness in their marketing, The Agency’s global partners enjoy the same access to leadership, marketing, public relations, training, tools, and technology as our corporate offices. In Q1 of 2023 alone, The Agency has launched seven new offices, including the new office in the York Region, with more on the horizon in the coming months.
“Our strategic expansion in Canada has been exceptional as we continue to seek like-minded partners who embody The Agency brand,” said Jim Ramsay, Executive Vice President of Franchise Sales at The Agency. “We’re thrilled to continue our work with Katia and Steve Bailey, as well as Niusha Walker and Adolphe Khouri as we debut our new office in the York Region, bringing our world-class offerings to buyers and sellers throughout the area.”
Katia Bailey serves as Broker of Record and Managing Partner of several of The Agency's Canadian offices including Waterloo Region, Oakville, Muskoka, Brantford, Toronto West, and now York Region, bringing a true passion for real estate and an authentic, people-forward approach to running the brokerage. Since launching her career in real estate operations and marketing over 17 years ago, she has successfully managed a team that has produced more than $1 billion in sales. Katia’s accessibility to her agents and their clients, expedient work ethic, keen attention to detail and love for the nuanced processes that take place behind the scenes of every transaction make her an essential resource. Katia’s passion lies in making genuine connections and creating and delivering cutting-edge and strategic marketing. As the former Operations Manager for The Bailey Team, she helped her husband and business partner, Steve Bailey, grow the team to more than 20 agents and multiple administrators. The Bailey Team ranked #9 in Canada and #21 in the world for RE/MAX before launching at The Agency, overseeing more than a billion in sales and thousands of transactions.
Steve Bailey, Broker and Managing Partner of multiple Agency offices, including Waterloo Region, Oakville, Muskoka, Brantford, Toronto West, and now York Region, is a seasoned real estate professional who has achieved more than $1 billion in sales over his decade-and-a-half-long career. Steve’s diligence, forthrightness and authenticity have made him an in-demand real estate advisor for clients throughout Canada. Prior to joining The Agency, Steve earned numerous awards for sales achievements and career excellence during his tenure at Re/MAX. A skilled communicator and world-aware market expert, Steve has a degree in Business from Wilfrid Laurier University. Though Steve has a broad-reaching knowledge of the local real estate landscape and can serve a range of clients, he is particularly passionate about luxury real estate and guiding clients through the sale of their homes.
“With each Agency office we open, we’re reminded of the brand’s dominance and the burgeoning demand for it throughout Canada - our new office in the York Region is no exception,” said Katia and Steve Bailey. “We’re looking forward to ushering in a new era of real estate to the area with The Agency’s groundbreaking offerings, blue-chip service, and incomparable marketing power.”
An award-winning real estate professional with nearly a decade of experience in property investing, Niusha Walker holds a vital leadership role at The Agency York Region, where she serves as Managing Partner. Specializing in assisting buyers, sellers, and investors within the Greater Toronto Area. Niusha adeptly provides highly personalized, white glove service to her clients while closing record-setting sales with poise and ease. In addition to achieving more than $40 million in sales in her first two years as an agent, Niusha has been presented with the Diamond Elite and Ruby Elite Awards from her previous brokerage, Engel & Völkers, which awarded agents who reached a specific gross commission income. Niusha is also a Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist and Certified International Property Specialist. Raised in Richmond Hill, Ontario, which is located in the York Region, where she still resides, Niusha is deeply familiar with the area’s unique neighborhoods and stays up-to-date on its ever-evolving market trends. Among Niusha’s many talents are her meticulous attention to detail, her ability to use thoughtful cross-market strategies to showcase exceptional homes to exclusive audiences, and negotiating powerfully to best serve her clients.
“The Agency is making its mark across prominent destinations throughout Canada, and our office in the York Region will further differentiate the brand from other renowned brokerages in the area,” said Niusha Walker. “As a long-time resident of the York Region, I am thrilled to be leading a team in one of the most special markets in Ontario.”
As Managing Director of The Agency York Region, Adolphe Khouri effectively and compassionately mentors teammates and guides clients through every aspect of today’s real estate market, leading with enthusiasm and confidence rooted in more than nine years of extensive industry experience. A highly respected top producer, Adolphe was named a Rising Star by The Agency in 2020 and is co-founder of WA Monteiro Group, a real estate group within The Agency that he founded alongside his life partner Woodrow Monteiro. Adolphe is passionate about every aspect of the home buying and selling process. Known for his unflappable work ethic and professional demeanor, Adolphe first entered the real estate realm as a manager of a more than 75-unit luxury corporate rental building in Downtown Toronto. Raised in Windsor, Ontario, Adolphe attended the University of Windsor and graduated with a dual degree in sociology and communications studies.
With solid infrastructure, The Agency has a renowned brand that is featured on international television shows including Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and Buying Beverly Hills, which debuted on Netflix on November 4, 2022. The Agency has grown to more than 70 corporately owned and franchise offices across the globe, making it one of the fastest-growing luxury boutique brokerages in the world. Poised for further expansion with like-minded partners in strategic markets, The Agency is noted by The Financial Times as one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies and has ranked among Inc. 5000’s list of fastest-growing private companies in the country for six consecutive years. Recently, The Agency ranked 21st on the 2022 RealTrends 500 list, and led the top 50 firms in average sales price by sides with a $2.5 million average sales price. In August 2022, Inman named The Agency Luxury Brokerage of the year.
The Agency
The Agency is an agent-first, tech-driven boutique luxury global brokerage representing clients worldwide in a broad spectrum of classes, including residential, new development, resort real estate, luxury leasing and vacation rentals. Breaking away from the traditional brokerage model, The Agency takes a collaborative approach to the business, fostering a culture of partnership in which all clients and listings are represented in a collaborative environment. Agents and clients benefit from the shared resources and networks of the entire global team, including in-house creative, public relations and cutting-edge technology divisions. The Agency has closed more than $57 billion real estate transactions since 2011, comprising over 70 offices in ten countries, and counting, as one of the fastest-growing boutique, luxury real estate brands in the world. Watch The Agency on Buying Beverly Hills, a new real estate occu-soap highlighting the high-stakes world of luxury real estate in Los Angeles, currently streaming on Netflix.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, AGENT
Businesswire | March 27, 2023
Cloze, an AI-based intelligence provider focused on the real estate market, announced today that Brown Harris Stevens (BHS), the premier privately held real estate brokerage, has successfully rolled out Cloze CRM as part of its market-leading BHSOne initiative. Within just six weeks, adoption of Cloze CRM has overachieved its initial targets, driven initially by a highly successful internal marketing campaign that itself used Cloze, and fueled further by agent-to-agent recommendations from early adopters.
“We looked at many different CRMs, and Cloze gave us three clear reasons why it was the only partner for us,” said Matthew Leone, chief marketing officer at Brown Harris Stevens. “First, there was no barrier to entry. We were amazed at how easy it was to log in, create an account, and get onboarded. Second, you can access all of its functionality through its mobile application—our agents are in front of their phones 100% of the time. And finally, the integration of artificial intelligence was a game changer. We’ve seen how it can as a virtual assistant suggest the proper prospecting steps and touchpoints with everyone in their sphere of influence leading to a higher engagement rate.”
In contrast to typical CRMs that expect agents to constantly update and log their activities and contacts into the system, Cloze silently manages that busywork in the background without disrupting an agent’s daily workflows. Through the insights extracted from agent communications, Cloze CRM flags action items and due dates and recommends how, when, and why to reach out to new and previous clients, highlighting special events, birthdays, or anniversaries, for example, or bubbling up contacts that could benefit from outreach.
“Cloze is by far the best CRM I have ever used,” described Holly Smith, an agent affiliated with BHS’ Palm Beach office. “The AI features are amazing. It reminds you each morning who you need to follow up with, logs and attaches all calls and emails to a contact, and even writes emails for you with AI.”
As part of an internal use case, BHS’ marketing team used Cloze to increase email engagement rates from 10-20% to 80-100% by delivering customized, relevant content to each of the brokerage’s 2,500+ agents. Such customization was made possible because Cloze combines a robust template library with automated processes and AI-generated insights, making it simple to provide highly customized content relevant to each recipient and to do so at scale. The result has been the ability to reach more people in less time with more authenticity.
“Our goal was to provide a tool that would make our agents and managers more efficient in communicating while helping them keep on top of tasks, even as they’re managing multiple deals at different points in the home-buying process,” explained BHS CTO Chris Reyes. “Cloze not only met those expectations, but exceeded them.”
For more information on how BHS agents are deriving value from Cloze CRM, check out the case study and video interview at https://blog.cloze.com/cloze-crm/cloze-the-ai-driven-game-changer-for-brown-harris-stevens/.
About Cloze
Cloze’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered real estate platform translates everyday communications into actionable insights that brokerages and their agents use to close more deals, drive higher revenue, and increase profitability. Cloze achieves this by strengthening relationships, reducing manual work, driving a more consistent lead-to-close experience, and improving both marketing ROI and overall closure rates.
Cloze’s full suite of real estate solutions includes Cloze CRM, Cloze Marketing, Cloze Leads, and Cloze AI Insights. To learn more, visit cloze.com.
About Brown Harris Stevens
Brown Harris Stevens (BHS) is one of the most prominent privately-held real estate firms in the world. Established in 1873, BHS has historically dominated the luxury, high-end market. With more than 2,500 agents across the East Coast, the company oversees the sale of marquee properties worldwide, including property management and new development marketing, from its headquarters in New York City and its offices throughout the Tristate area, Palm Beach, and Miami. Learn more at www.bhsusa.com.
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MORTGAGE AND LENDING, BUYING/SELLING
PRnewswire | April 28, 2023
Best Egg, a financial platform that offers simple solutions to help people with limited savings confidently navigate their everyday financial life, has announced a strategic partnership with AppFolio, Inc., a leading provider of cloud business management solutions for the real estate industry.
Best Egg, which is owned by Marlette Holdings, Inc. will be integrating its Flexible Rent solution into the AppFolio Property Manager resident portal. This integration will provide more than seven million renters across the U.S. with a flexible and personalized rent payment option without the need to leave their resident portal.
"Our partnership with AppFolio is a critical step in making Flexible Rent available to more renters throughout the U.S.," said David Sullivan, Managing Director of Flexible Rent at Best Egg. "With this partnership, Best Egg and AppFolio are paving the way for a more flexible and personalized future of rent payments, making it easier for renters to manage their finances and live with greater financial confidence."
Starting in the second quarter of this year, residents whose property manager uses AppFolio Property Manager can choose Best Egg Flexible Rent as a payment option directly from the resident portal.
Flexible Rent enhances both the renter and the property manager experience. At no additional cost to property managers, Flexible Rent gives property managers peace of mind that rents are received on time. Additionally, Flexible Rent offers property managers an innovative and diversified approach to receiving rents that is appealing to renters valuing financial flexibility.
This convenient payment solution provides renters with the flexibility to divide their rental payments into smaller, more manageable amounts that can be paid throughout the month. With this option, renters can easily take charge of their finances and reduce the financial strain associated with paying one of their most significant recurring expenses.
"We are excited to partner with an outstanding team of accomplished innovators at AppFolio to offer renters and multifamily property managers a seamless and innovative payment solution," said Brady Nolan, Chief Business Officer of Flexible Rent at Best Egg. "AppFolio and Best Egg share a commitment to leading the industry forward. Together, we expect to revolutionize the rent payment experience for millions of renters, promoting greater financial balance each month."
About Best Egg
Owned by Marlette Holdings, Inc., Best Egg is the leading financial confidence platform that provides flexible solutions to help people with limited savings confidently navigate their everyday financial lives. Best Egg supports customers through a growing suite of personal loan, credit card, flexible rent, and financial health tools. Leveraging real-time customer insights and data engineering, Best Egg gives more people access to the resources they need to be money confident. For more information, visit www.bestegg.com.
About AppFolio, Inc.
AppFolio, Inc. is a leading provider of cloud business management solutions for the real estate industry. Our solutions enable our customers to digitally transform their businesses, address critical business operations and deliver a better customer experience. For more information about AppFolio, visit www.appfolioinc.com.
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