www.rismedia.com

L-R Michael Marshall, CFO; Cameron Merage, Founding President & CEO; Mark

Hughes, COO; Terry LeClair, SVP SalesFirst Team Real Estate

RREIN Member

New

Commitment to Service and Innovation Lead to Sustained Success for First Team Real Estate

Page 48

Years40

by Barbara Pronin

RISMedia’s REAL ESTATE

Commitment to Service and Innovation Lead to Sustained Success for First Team Real Estate

Years New40

Mark HughesCOO

First Team Real EstateRREIN Member

RISMedia’s REAL ESTATE

Barbara Pronin: What a special time in the history of First Team Real Estate, Mark. I know you are excited to join Cameron and the Merage family in commemorat-ing this 40th anniversary.Mark Hughes: Absolutely. It’s a time to focus on our history of ac-complishment, and we’re planning a series of events and recognitions to thank our people and make the mile-stone special for everyone. At the same time, we see this as a great time to look ahead, to strategize and gear up for new successes in our next 40 years.

BP: How would you characterize the company’s current position-ing in your marketplace?MH: Our primary market remains in and around Orange County, where we are an established market lead-er—No. 1 in sales units and volume for the past 10 years or more. We’ve expanded our footprint into parts of Los Angeles and Riverside counties, and the most recent RISMedia Pow-er Broker Report ranked us 14th in the nation in sales, but we are best known here, in the region that has made us their brokerage of choice.

BP: How has the company evolved over the years to adapt to changes in the marketplace?MH: We are proud to be the origi-nal Orange County-based real estate

company. When Cameron opened his first office in Huntington Beach in 1976, this was a young, desir-able and fast-growing region with great weather and miles of coast-line, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. Now, it is more than ever a place where many people from around the world want to live, and we have been able to grow with the region, both as a full-service re-source and a trusted advisor to our clients.

BP: What would you point to as your competitive differentiation? MH: We are the local market expert. Nobody knows the local market like we do, and nobody provides better service. As a result, we have earned both name recognition and a reputa-tion for outstanding customer care. We are a one-stop shop, providing mortgage, title, escrow and other an-cillary services, and we maintain a distinct global presence through our exclusive associations with Chris-tie’s International and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®— an important advantage in our high-

end market areas. While we tend to have a higher price point than some competitors, we are acknowledged experts in pricing and value creation for both buyers and sellers in all markets. And while we capitalize on digital and social media outreach opportunities, we also utilize print media to reach a more traditional demographic. Also, at a time when many competitors are shrinking their office space in favor of virtual workplaces, we are the antithesis of that. We still have relaxing and newly remodeled Starbucks-like working spaces that make life easier and more pleasant for our agents as well as our clients.

BP: What are today’s buyers and sellers most concerned with when it comes to buying and selling real estate?MH: Sales are brisk, and we ap-pear to be back in a normalizing market, although inventory still lags demand. But we live in a changing environment because millennials, who make up about a third of today’s buyers, have different needs and

“Our goal at First Team is to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving real estate market with the innovation, professionalism, and local market knowledge that gives our clients an edge.”

-CAMERON MERAGE, Founding President & CEO, First Team Real Estate

S wiftly approaching its 40th anniversary, First Team Real Estate, with 25 offices and more than 1,700 agents, is the largest independent real estate firm in California. Last year, the Orange County-based company was ranked

11th among the largest privately held firms in the nation. That’s an enviable growth curve for a company that was founded by President and CEO Cameron Merage with just five agents in a single office in 1976. “But our phenomenal growth is only part of the story,” notes COO Mark Hughes. “We take pride in being as technically proficient as any firm in the industry. But what sets us apart is our commitment to serving as the full-service equation in an ever more virtual environment.” In this exclusive interview, Hughes discusses First Team’s full-service philosophy—and its continuing promise to exceed the expectations of every agent and client.

RISMedia’s REAL ESTATE

expectations than the generations that preceded them. They want a comfortable “nook” instead of a Mc-Mansion—a home that is “greener,” more efficient, easier to manage, and close to good schools, shopping and restaurants.

BP: How are your sales associates meeting these changing consum-er needs?MH: We understand that we are no longer keepers of the housing data. Consumers today have access to massive amounts of market informa-tion. What they don’t have is the expe-rience or expertise to analyze all that data and make it work to their advan-tage. So we see ourselves as a “real estate and lifestyle concierge”—a one-stop resource able to help them match expectations with market reali-ties. Our long experience and unique knowledge of the local market helps us to do that best.

BP: What is the company doing in terms of training to keep its sales-force equipped to succeed?MH: We believe in daily coaching and lifetime learning. After our new agents go through licensing school, they attend a three-week “Power-Curve” course at our Irvine head-quarters to get their careers ignited. Then they attend weekly training in technology, marketing, lead genera-tion, follow-up, transaction manage-ment and all things related to real estate. Once they are up and run-

ning, we offer mastery classes three weeks out of every four in specifics like Google apps, negotiation, social media marketing, and other topics designed to put them—and keep them—ahead of the industry curve.

BP: How are you recruiting and retaining top agents?MH: We maintain a presence on so-cial media, but we also have the lux-ury of our local standing, so for the most part, people call us, and our agents are typically our best recruit-

RISMedia’s REAL ESTATE

ers. We just tell our story, and our value proposition, and it’s a draw for both new and experienced agents. We have developed a roadmap to a career-oriented agent model that can help our agents build predict-able, dependable and sustainable careers. By and large, this is a 24/7 business, but we know the impor-tance of life balance, and our goal is to help improve the quality of life for every one of our agents by helping them work smarter, not harder. We strive to provide all the tools, strate-gies, training and support they need to perform at their very best, in ad-dition to all the recognition, cultural support and information-sharing that helps keep them at the top of their game.

BP: How has your technology evolved to meet the demands of agents and consumers?MH: Our goal is to marry ingenuity and creativity with technical innova-tion. We have a strong IT department and cutting-edge proprietary soft-ware, and while we do utilize some great third-party apps, we take great pride in creating our own solutions. We believe in thoughtful contact management, and we consistently push breaking market information to our agents so that they are able to execute faster than anyone else.

BP: How have your marketing and promotional strategies evolved to better connect with today’s con-sumers?MH: As I mentioned earlier, we re-main heavy into print media to keep us front and center, but we combine that with incisive digital media and mobile marketing to improve the consumer’s overall experience. We use our own in-house marketing department for creating yard signs, flyers, custom agent collateral tem-plates and other promotional mate-rials, which enables us to be both fast and market-forward. Also, the Merage family is a philanthropic pil-lar of Orange County and many of

our agents are leaders in their own communities, dedicating a lot of time and energy to helping people in need. For 40 years, we have sup-ported local organizations ranging from Orangewood Children’s Home and the Irvine Public Schools Foun-dation to the Salvation Army, Second Harvest Food Bank, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Music For a Cure. We know that we owe much of our success to the support of our clients in all the communities we serve. Through our charitable giving, we are able to help improve the quality of life in Orange County and express our gratitude for that support. BP: In your opinion, what do to-day’s agents need to succeed?MH: A combination of personal dedication and accountability, su-perior market knowledge, and great organizational support. That’s what enables them to drive the best ex-periences for every buyer and seller. And doing that is what helps them build long, productive and rewarding

careers.

BP: Again, congratulations on 40 years of success. What are your plans for continuing to grow the company?MH: The Orange County community continues to grow, and while we will expand our footprint over time, our immediate goal is to double our over-all marketshare in the next three to five years. We have increased mar-ketshare in the luxury market by double digits in the last few years, and we believe that this increase, plus our full service and interna-tional reach, are just a few of the factors that will help us reach that goal. Cameron had a long-term stra-tegic vision when he founded First Team Real Estate—an unwavering commitment to client service, value creation and unmatched knowledge of the local market. That’s the vision that still inspires us, and it’s what we all aspire to. RE

For more information, please visit www.firstteam.com.

“Giving back to the communities in which our agents live, work and play is ingrained in the First Team culture.”

-CAMERON MERAGE, Founding President & CEO, First Team Real Estate