With a record growth year and two major acquisitions, United Real Estate Group jumped 134 spots to No. 10 by transaction sides in the RealTrends 500. CEO Dan Duffy talks to RealTrends about their evolving business strategy, building profitable core services and more.
Today’s RealTrending features an interview with Dan Duffy, CEO of United Real Estate Group. Dan joined United in 2006 to secure growth capital to support growth and repositioning of the United system. Clearly, his vision is coming to life.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Duffy. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Tracey Velt: I wanted to talk to you first about some of the M&A work that United Real Estate Group has been doing and your growth strategy. You’ve obviously jumped pretty high in the rankings, and you’ve had some key acquisitions with Benchmark in Nashville and Virtual Properties in Atlanta. So, tell me about your strategy going forward. Will you continue with M&A or are you looking to transition to more of an organic growth strategy or still combine the two like you’ve been doing?
Dan Duffy: Yes, it’s definitely a combination strategy. I think that every time you have an opportunity to welcome an incredible operator to the team like we did with Benchmark and VPR, you’re creating the network effect. So, you have a bigger system on which to grow organically. So, we’re equally focused. If there was organic growth printed on one wall in my office and then mergers and acquisition, or tuck-ins on the other, I’m equally positioned to see both walls, and so is the rest of the team, including our offices. I think that having a two-pronged strategy for growth allows you not to be overly dependent on either one. Our organic growth is strong, north of 20%, and that’s solid organic growth — agent count, transaction count. But equally important, we see opportunities with entrepreneurs that have done amazing things in their geographic area, where we don’t have a presence and they have similar models to ours.
REAL Trending features the brightest minds in real estate. Twice a month, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Victoria Wickham.