United Real Estate takes the lead on proprietary technological innovation
Becoming acquainted with innovation is no easy feat, especially within real estate, an industry that’s continuously being reshaped by technology and disruptive business models. So, how do brokerages keep afloat within the swirling seas of change? For United Real Estate, the answer is simple—innovate first, and be ready and willing to continuously adapt and transform.
Dan Duffy, chief executive officer of United Real Estate Group, saw a pressing need in real estate for a firm that not only had a passion for professional services and great culture, but also understood that a home is the consumer’s most important asset.
Out of this need, United Real Estate’s central focus was born: to implement change and innovate from within the industry—a rarity during the company’s launch in 2011, as most national real estate firms sought out third-party vendors for business development and technological advancement.
“This was an opportunity to innovate from within the industry instead of being an interloper with agents and brokers, and we saw a huge opportunity to take our team’s experience and positively impact the market,” says Duffy. “We knew we had to create a one-stop productivity platform that was less expensive and highly functional, as well as easier for agents to use.”
United Real Estate has prioritized technological progression from day one. Since then, Duffy has recognized a stark contrast between his own firm’s buoyancy and other national brands’ attempt to survive in this rapidly changing industry, where the tools and strategies implemented could be the difference between sinking and swimming.
“Larger international and national real estate brands, as well as regional players, were and are leveraging technology that was at least a decade or two old,” says Duffy, emphasizing that United Real Estate is acutely aware of the changing technological tides. This is why it took nearly a decade to perfect their streamlined platform to ensure it would be flexible enough to endure the coming years of change.
The streamlined process has proved fruitful for agents, as they don’t want to be solicited by five different real estate-technology solution providers. According to Duffy, “They don’t want to sort through all of that.”
Perhaps the most notable benefit is in the value these tools provide. Third-party services typically demand astronomical fees. Instead, United Real Estate’s internally-developed platform allows not only the firm and brokers to save, but also passes on those savings to its agents in the form of a 100-percent commission structure and an extremely low baseline affiliation fee.
“Our agents now have increased listing power, marketing reach and productivity tools—such as core CRM, listing aggregation, enhanced SEO and SEM, incredible agent websites, artificial intelligence, etc.—all at their fingertips and within their free United-provided platform, instead of having to depend on third-party vendors, which can be prohibitively expensive,” says Duffy, adding that the platform is designed to ensure maximum income for his agents. “At United Real Estate, we pass along the efficiencies to the agents so that they can keep more of what they earned.”
As a result, the firm, its members and its clients are thriving—and its office and agent count is climbing at a blistering pace. Duffy says innovating from within has also driven up agent commission income and transactions, as well as productivity across its full-service support platform.
What does the future hold for United? Growth—currently at a brisk but controlled pace to maintain high affiliate satisfaction. In addition, the company remains nimble and able to respond to changes in consumer expectations, technology and shifting market dynamics.
“We’re going to see and lead with a lot more innovation, such as artificial intelligence that’s able to mine and enrich data so that we can have more agent and consumer insights to market more precisely,” says Duffy, who is committed to constant innovation to stay ahead of the competition.
“At United Real Estate, we’re rolling out and building platforms that will stand strong for the coming decades, during which intense changes will occur in regard to how real estate is bought and sold, along with how real estate professionals deliver services to their clients.”
For more information, please visit www.GrowWithUnited.com.
Liz Dominguez is RISMedia’s associate content editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at ldominguez@rismedia.com. For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
