Let the luxury real estate wars begin.
A California-based brokerage firm set up shop in Las Vegas, adopted some of the leading talent from other companies, and vowed to be the agency’s # 1 in volume, or at least in the top 3, within 18 months.
Corcoran Global Living, the very first franchise subsidiary of The Corcoran Group – all offices were previously nationally owned – said it already has 110 agents in Las Vegas, including the city’s # 1 broker for dollar volume in Kristen Routh-Silberman, formerly from Synergy Sotheby’s International. Corcoran Global has also welcomed a merger with Windermere Prestige Properties and its employees, led by owners Robyn Yates-Gajjar and Sid Gajjar.
It now has offices with luxury real estate in Henderson, including MacDonald Highlands, Summerlin and Lake Las Vegas. Since its launch in California in February 2020, the company now has 66 offices in both states with 2,200 agents and sales of $ 8.2 billion in the past 12 months. It was ranked 18th nationwide in terms of transaction volume in dollars in 2020, with offices from Northern California, San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley to Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. It also has an office in the Lake Tahoe area of northern Nevada.
Corcoran Global Living CEO and Founder Michael Mahon put the gauntlet down Wednesday when he spoke to the new group of agents during a meeting at the Green Valley Ranch Resort.
“We’re going on the offensive and the other brokers won’t be happy with this announcement.”
Mahon told the brokers. “This is a game changer folks. The market in Las Vegas won’t be the same after today. “
Berkshire Hathaway ranked first in 2020 with $ 2.6 billion in transactions. Corcoran is aiming for this within the next 18 months. Mahon called the Gajjars and Routh-Silberman “luxury real estate icons” in Las Vegas who will help make this happen.
“By uniting and empowering the leading independent brokerage firms, top teams and top independent sales professionals to come together as one brand and brokerage firm, we are unstoppable in what we can achieve together,” said Mahon.
It’s part of the real estate industry reorganization in Las Vegas. Effective July 1, HomeServices of America Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, Americana Holdings, acquired the Las Vegas-based brokerage franchise from CEO Mark Stark. His franchise was called Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nevada Properties, California Properties and Arizona Properties.
“I’ve had the glove put down so many times,” said Stark. “Write it down on your calendar and in 18 months you will interview him. You’re not even on the map now. They are (The Corcoran Group) a big company in New York City. They’re doing decent in New York, and we’ll see what they do in Las Vegas. I’m not worried about that at all. Not to be rude, but they don’t even do a business. Today it’s so small. They won’t be on my radar until what they say is true and their production increases. But they still have a long way to go. “
In 2020, Synergy Sotheby’s International in Southern Nevada came under new ownership. In August, the company named Randy Char of Char Luxury Real Estate as president and announced that its entire team had moved to Sotheby’s, which has just been renamed Las Vegas Sotheby’s International Realty.
“We welcome it,” said Char of the new competition. “The customer expects high-quality service and he will coordinate with whom. You can’t do the status quo and expect to deliver the same product in this day and age. What sets you apart is your service, your marketing and your brand. There’s been a lot of brand consolidation, and the bigger global brands have more credit. Their range is harder to compete with. I loved having my own boutique brokerage, but I think we can do this with Sotheby’s behind us. “
Char named Sotheby’s the # 1 global luxury real estate brand in the world and the largest franchise within their network, which includes Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Palms Springs and Lake Tahoe.
“Las Vegas is an important market for us in a company with global reach,” said Char. “I believe in the brand. There are some great steps ahead that will put the brand in the spotlight. “
Corcoran Global Living
Robyn Yates-Gajjar joins the company as Partner and President of the Nevada and California Sierra Region. Sid Gajjar joins the company as vice president of the vacation rentals division for the Nevada and California Sierra area.
Their Windermere Prestige Properties had offices in Henderson and Lake Las Vegas and employed approximately 100 people, including 92 agents. Robyn Yates-Gajjar has been with her company in Las Vegas for 17 years but said she saw the merger as an opportunity. The Corcoran Group is part of the international Realogy Brokerage Group.
“It’s about this idea of working with other entrepreneurs under one company,” she said. “There is this amazing support system with the synergy of being part of something bigger, including a marketing team, legal team, a PR team, and an I-Buyer team.”
Robyn Yates-Gajjar said it won’t be long before her company is number 1 in handling transactions of around $ 1 million and up and attracting top luxury agents because of its marketing and branding itself.
“I think it will provide a wonderful choice for consumers to market their property and represent them in a purchase,” said Robyn Yates-Gajjar. “We have a huge international network so the recommendations for people who come to this market will be great for Las Vegas.”
Routh-Silberman is coming to the region as a partner and team leader and will work from her office in MacDonald Highlands. Routh-Silberman, the # 1 luxury real estate agent in Las Vegas as an individual conducting transactions, said she never dreamed of the opportunity.
“It’s a whole new brokerage model,” said Routh-Silberman. “It’s a partnership between the agent and the brokerage company. Forty-nine percent owned by agents and 51 percent by the brokerage firm. It is much more agent-centered, agent-centered and person-centered and, above all, customer-centered. “
Routh-Silberman, who previously served as the director of marketing in Silicon Valley before becoming a luxury broker in 2007, said Las Vegas needed a firm like this one with a number of luxury brokers to compete with other tax-free states across the country for people who were after relocate.
“It will take more than one agent to get Las Vegas on the map and this is a fantastic opportunity to meet Robyn Yates – one of the leaders in our industry – along with everyone I bring from Sotheby’s, will create one. “The largest broker in Las Vegas,” said Routh-Silberman.
Corcoran, which opened an office in Downtown Summerlin about 45 days ago, will move its headquarters from San Francisco to Las Vegas, Mahon said.
“If there was ever a great time starting a business, it was February 2020,” Mahon said. “We started with a few offices on Lake Tahoe and quickly merged an organization in San Francisco.”
Mahon, former president of First Team Real Estate in Southern California, said his strategy was to bring together and re-bundle the leading independent brokerage firms in the California and Nevada market, as well as the best sales teams and professionals. For example, the Gajjars, Routh-Silberman, and others are equity partners.
“The magazines talk about us,” said Mahon. “We started in February 2020 and by the end of the year had over 1,500 salespeople and sales of $ 6.1 billion. We went from a startup in February to the 26th largest closed sales brokers in the United States. “
Mahon said the new team represented $ 1 billion in completed sales over the past 12 months.
“That puts us in the top 10 from entering the market,” said Mahon.
Mahon said it offers a “lifestyle brand” and a “different culture and vibe” than other real estate firms. As people near retirement, the company will buy out their ledger and feed that into an exit strategy, he said.
Mahon said there will be synergies between the offices. You have received more than 2,700 recommendations for 2021. That will drive Californians to buy homes in Las Vegas, he said.
“There aren’t many brokers who are very luxury focused, and that’s exactly what we do,” Mahon said. “Our population group tends to be at the upper end of the market and has more luxury appeal.
“We are represented in many of these different publications. Where we set up our offices – we don’t want to be in every church. We’re not looking for a lot of sales people. What we are looking for are top performers in the market and in the target communities. “
Mahon said that with a third of the brokers, they can be the top brokerage in sales volume because they have top performers.
“From our point of view, we have no competition,” said Mahon. “You have your way
Do business and we have ours. “
Mahon said he is excited about the record breaking luxury market in Las Vegas and expects it to continue growing in 2021 and 2022. There is a lot of catching up to do on the part of buyers and he assumes that more stocks will go online.
“A lot of things will happen in this market as far as construction goes,” Mahon said. “We are very excited about the housing stock. I think you will experience a building boom. “
Clarification: Robyn Yates-Gajjar, her agents and employees from her former company Windermere Prestige Properties have joined Corcoran Global Living. The two national brands are not merged. This has no impact on the other Windermere franchises in the Las Vegas Valley.
