While other US brokerages have been cutting back amid a widespread market slowdown, celebrity agent Ryan Serhant has been busy expanding.
SERHANT. moved into six new markets along the East Coast including Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, North Carolina and South Carolina in recent weeks and has added 49 new agents.
The two-year-old brokerage added three new offices in Florida, two in Miami and one in Palm Beach County.
Serhant said the rapid growth is just the beginning.
“We’re just getting started,” Serhant told The Real Deal.
“We’re just now learning how to run in the market, and the fact that this market is correcting all around us makes it even more exciting.”
Serhant grew his team more than 150 per cent last year, while the brokerage nearly doubled its sell-side revenue to US$542 million according to The Real Deal.
SERHANT. Initially started expanding out of New York City into the Hamptons in July 2022, following the opening of SERHANT. House New York in Soho in 2021.
Despite the rapid growth, Serhant said the company was still profitable.
“We’ve been EBITDA positive from day one,” he said.
“We knew the market was going to start correcting … you’ll never see me doing a press release being like ‘the surprise of the market’. All you have to do is read.”
One of the hallmarks of SERHANT. is its focus on helping brokers build their own brands, with the help of the firm’s in-house production studio.
Serhant also said new brokers and teams can keep whatever CRM they’re comfortable with and his firm will work to integrate it into the rest of the company.
“SERHANT. is built by agents for agents, and our goal has always been to revolutionise the real estate industry and bring the business into the future,” Serhant told Inman.
“We are a firm that is empowered by media, committed to best-in-class education and tools, and motivated by forward-looking agents that believe in and exemplify our vision.
“Expanding our presence nationwide was a natural next step and embodies our entrepreneurial spirit.”
SERHANT’S new locations are all tied to New York City feeder and luxury markets.
He said education and referral platforms have also been a key to recruiting some of the top talent he has been able to attract, but didn’t specify what other locations the company will be looking to take on.
