“I’m really excited to be going to Gathering of Eagles because, in my humble opinion, the real estate industry has not changed much in 20 or 30 years. Compensation models have changed, brands have changed, but how the business operates has not materially changed,” said Scott Brady.
Scott Brady is the owner, broker and president of Progressive Property Management. Brady will take the stage on June 20 for the panel, “Preparing Your Brokerage for Future Prosperity.” Below, Brady answers some questions about his professional experience and gives an inside look at some of the topics this panel will cover.
RealTrends: What is one key thing you do, and would recommend, to help future-proof a business?
Scott Brady: Our company not only allows our agents to do both residential property management and association management, but we actually provide them with the properties for them to manage. There are many agents who are trying to make a living, not a killing, in the industry. They like the idea of earning a stable monthly income and retaining the lifestyle of a Realtor — not having to work out of a cubicle and working flexible hours. The unknown in real estate, of course, is that there are too many agents chasing too few deals. The big agents are getting bigger, the teams are getting bigger, so this company is the only place for agents to go if they want a stable monthly income and the option to sell real estate in the marketplace.
RT: What would you define as your important strengths and opportunities in this market?
SB: Our real strength is our business model. We promote the fact that we have real estate agents who are also property managers and association managers. The strength is that these individuals who work from home can cover a large area of Southern California, and that is a real strength for them to provide a higher level of service to these communities. In California, it is becoming increasingly difficult for someone who owns a rental property to self-manage. It used to be that 80% of people would self-manage — which is hundreds of thousands of people. Now, that number is dropping. It could be like Australia, where only 30% self-manage.
The same thing holds true for associations. Every new construction has an association, so that is always growing. More importantly, with the laws in California, it is incredibly convoluted, so that boards are no longer choosing to self-manage. They are hiring a professional association management company. We can offer the same story to those individuals that we have licensed agents, who are experts in this field and who can provide a higher level of service to these communities. Our strength dovetails with the opportunities and that is why we are growing so quickly.
RT: What is one trend or metric that you are watching closely when it comes to prepping for the future?
SB: Certainly in California, we are looking closely at the laws that are being passed. Many of those laws are addressing the home affordability crisis in California. For example, in Orange County, only 15% of households can afford to buy a median-priced home. All kinds of laws are being passed both locally and at the state level to protect tenants. These tenant protection laws make it really difficult for somebody — particularly a small investor — to manage their own properties.
One wrong step can cost an investor thousands of dollars, so they are increasingly hiring professional property management companies. If this trend holds true, then there may be hundreds of thousands of properties that need managing, and we are in a great position to handle that because we cover a wide geographic area.
I want to share the fact that I think the future of real estate — certainly my future in real estate — is allowing real estate agents to earn multiple streams of income and allowing brokerages to profit from multiple streams of income. If that message resonates with a few people in the crowd, then that is great.
Gathering of Eagles
To register for Gathering of Eagles 2023, click here. HW+ members receive special deals on conference registrations. And, don’t forget to lock in the exclusive Gathering of Eagles room rate by May 18. This conference is the must-attend event of 2023 for real estate presidents, senior leaders, and broker-owners. Brady will be taking the stage along with other housing industry leaders like Christine Hansen, Gary Keller and others.