On this week’s episode of the RealTrending podcast, Tracey Velt talks with David Keener, CEO of Premiere Group at The Real Brokerage.
In just eight years, Premiere has grown to nearly 300 agents in 27 states and recently joined Real.
Keener explains how the group’s member-owned teamerage model drives retention and shared success, as well as why shifting to a C corporation strengthens agent involvement and shareholder value.
He also shares how Real’s API tools, business intelligence and ancillary services like mortgage and title are creating new opportunities for agents.
The following conversation excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.
Velt: I want to talk a little bit about your teamerage. You describe Premiere as a member-owned, agent-centric teamerage and you’re with Real. Tell me a little bit about your team and the culture.
Keener: We’ve been with Real for about a year and eight months now. We actually span across 27 different states, just shy of 300 agents. Most of that growth occurred over the last four years. We were at about, I think, 1,750 to 2,000 transactions a year. We just hit over $1 billion in volume. It’s been a pretty exciting time, to say the least.
Velt: OK, go into a little more detail about how you’re structuring it and how that works.
Keener: Yeah, so it is probably the No. 1 question I get — how is it that we have such a high retention rate? Because this is real estate after all, right? Every two years, an agent starts getting a little itchy and looking at the grass on the other side. I’ve been in business, building businesses for about 30 years. Prior to the real estate industry, it was in technology.
Keener explained that his experience with stock options in the tech world inspired the model for Premier.
Keener: During the course of building those businesses, these were W-2 employees. One of the things that we were able to do with those employees that were helping me build these businesses was stock options in lieu of a full salary. Because let’s face it, money is very important, very tight when you’re starting out. So we equipped them with stock options — in other words, a vested interest in our collective success.
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