Gary Keller Named The Most Powerful Person In Real Estate

It has been almost 4 a long time since Gary Keller co-founded Keller Williams. However in all these years as an actual property firebrand his affect stays so robust that, on Tuesday morning, he managed to nab the highest spot on the most recent Swanepoel Energy 200 rating of trade leaders.

The rankings, shared completely upfront with Inman, are an annual tradition from consulting agency T3 Sixty and are named for the agency’s chairman and CEO Stefan Swanepoel. A press release notes that whereas there’s some subjectivity inherent within the rankings, they purpose to replicate “an evaluation of who within the trade wields essentially the most energy — not simply by the scale of the corporate, however their connections throughout the trade, the sources they need to carry to bear on efforts, their monitor report with additional weight given to the previous 12 months and their perceived prospects for the next 12 months.”

T3 Sixty finally spent about 500 hours contemplating hundreds of executives because it compiled the record. This 12 months’s rankings are supposed to replicate the true property trade because it existed on Dec. 31, 2021.

That is not the first time Keller has taken the crown and in reality he has remained within the high 5 yearly for the reason that rankings debuted in 2014. Nevertheless, final 12 months Zillow co-founder and CEO Rich Barton scored the number one spot within the rankings. Barton fell to sixth place this 12 months.

Regardless of Barton’s fall, Zillow President Susan Daimler made her debut within the rankings this 12 months and finally nabbed the twenty eighth spot. Different new additions embody Facet co-founder and CEO Guy Gal, at 47, REX Actual Property CEO Jack Ryan, at 75, HomeLight founder and CEO Drew Uher, at 85, and Rocket Properties Actual Property CEO Doug Seabolt, at 100.

A number of leaders additionally made important jumps within the rankings. Most notable amongst them was CoStar CEO Andy Florance, who rose from the one centesimal spot final 12 months to quantity 15 this time round. T3 Sixty’s assertion notes that Florance rose because of “his firm’s continued large trade strikes, most notably its acquisition of Properties.com in 2021.” The truth that Florance repeatedly fanned the flames of a rivalry with Zillow additionally most likely didn’t damage his standing, provided that it usually raised his profile and earned him many new followers within the agent neighborhood.

Different leaders who rose within the rankings embody eXp Realty CEO Jason Gesing, who climbed from 43 to 31, and Carl Liebert, CEO of Keller Williams holding firm kwx, who rose from 154 to 103.

Talking of the rankings, Swanepoel famous in Tuesday’s assertion that that is “actually some of the dynamic and thrilling occasions to be a frontrunner in residential actual property.”

The rankings are a mark of status for many who land on the record, however are additionally a gauge of each what has occurred within the trade and what would possibly come sooner or later. It’s doubtless no coincidence that Barton dropped a number of slots, for instance, shortly after his firm abandoned its iBuying efforts. And Liebert’s star rose, in line with the assertion, as his firm prepares “for a attainable public offering” — one thing that occurs to be among the many most watched tales within the trade.

Within the assertion, T3 Sixty government editor Paul Hagey finally concluded that the rankings present “a precious mirror for the trade by figuring out the leaders most importantly guiding it.”

Listed here are the total rankings:

1. Gary Keller, Keller Williams

Gary Keller

Keller co-founded Keller Williams within the early Eighties and each his work and his writing has at this level influenced a number of generations of actual property brokers. Extra just lately he has additionally pivoted to turn Keller Williams right into a know-how firm, amongst different issues. Neither he nor different executives at Keller Willams have confirmed that an preliminary public providing is coming, although many outdoors observers anticipate that it’s. Keller has additionally just lately taken stands on quite a lot of different matters, together with urging agents to get vaccinated for the coronavirus pandemic.

T3 Sixty’s assertion notes that Keller regained the highest spot this 12 months because of his “steadfast management amid a turbulent 12 months.”

Keller at the moment serves as the chief chairman of kwx.

2. Glenn Sanford, eXp World Holdings

Glenn Sanford

Glenn Sanford based eXp greater than 12 years in the past after a interval at Keller Williams, the place he was a mega agent and workforce chief. At eXp, nonetheless, Sanford didn’t simply replicate his outdated firm’s enterprise mannequin. As a substitute, he created one thing fully new that features a digital world, an absence of brick-and-mortar infrastructure, and innovative stock-based compensation. The end result has to date been one among actual property’s most outstanding success tales, with the corporate just lately passing 65,000 brokers.

Sanford expects that number to keep rising, and T3 Sixty’s assertion notes that eXp “exploded in 2020 and 2021,” including that only a few corporations have pulled off comparable development.

Sanford at the moment serves because the CEO of eXp Realty dad or mum firm eXp World Holdings.

3. Ryan Schneider, Realogy

Ryan Schneider

Ryan Schneider joined Realogy as CEO greater than 4 years in the past, and has consequently been on the helm throughout main moments such because the reorganization and rebranding of Realogy-owned Coldwell Banker. During the last 12 months, as many publicly traded real estate companies’ stock prices were withering, Realogy managed to buck the pattern and noticed its worth rise.

Realogy nabbed fewer headlines than another corporations in 2021, however T3 Sixty’s assertion notes that the corporate’s “stabilization is likely one of the underreported and under-appreciated tales in actual property over the previous 12 months and Schneider, who took the helm of the corporate in 2018, is basically accountable for turning the corporate round from close to catastrophe.”

4. Gino Blefari, HomeServices of America

Gino Blefari

Gino Blefari based California’s Intero Actual Property Providers twenty years in the past, then ended up at HomeServices of America when it acquired his firm in 2014. He has held a variety of roles since, however for the final three years has served as CEO of HomeServices of America. Blefari’s appointment to the highest spot got here at a time when HomeServices of America — which is the own-side brokerage subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway — was present process immense development.

In March, HomeServices of America nabbed the top spot on the RealTrends 500 list, which ranks corporations in line with transaction sides. It was the third straight 12 months the corporate topped that rating.

5. Robert Reffkin, Compass

Robert Reffkin

Robert Reffkin is likely one of the best-known leaders in actual property immediately, thanks largely to the speedy development of his firm Compass. He serves as the corporate’s CEO. The brokerage has centered on making a tech ecosystem, and has aggressively pursued top-performing brokers and groups — a practice that has incited the ire of many rivals.

Compass went public in 2021, although it has additionally been amongst a gaggle of corporations that experienced stock price declines over the previous a number of months. Nonetheless, Reffkin has remained the face of the corporate and a vocal champion for its imaginative and prescient of actual property.

6. Wealthy Barton, Zillow

Wealthy Barton

Wealthy Barton co-founded Zillow again in 2004 and served as the corporate’s CEO for a number of years earlier than departing to work on different ventures. He returned in 2019 and over the following years steered the corporate throughout its Zillow 2.0 challenge — which amongst different issues included a prominent experiment with iBuying. That experiment failed, although 2021 wasn’t a complete wash; earlier within the 12 months Zillow purchased displaying administration firm ShowingTime, which was one of the biggest stories of the final 12 months.

Barton’s most up-to-date tenure at Zillow hasn’t progressed with out bumps, however he has made it clear that the portal will evolve.

7. Eric Wu, Opendoor

Eric Wu

Eric Wu began iBuyer Opendoor again in 2014, and he stays its CEO immediately. The corporate has since grown to change into the most important devoted iBuyer out there, and it stays vastly bigger than rivals resembling Offerpad and Redfin. Up till late 2021, Opendoor’s greatest rival was Zillow, and the demise of the portal’s iBuying program meant that in the interim Wu’s firm gained the battle for supremacy.

Opendoor remains to be chasing profitability, and within the wake of Zillow’s stumble it has been on the heart of a debate about iBuying’s viability. However the firm insists that it’s on agency footing and its latest earnings experiences show growing revenues.

8. Glenn Kelman, Redfin

Glenn Kelman | Picture credit score: Redfin

Glenn Kelman joined Redfin on the firm’s president and CEO in 2005, and he stays in that place immediately. Through the years, Redfin has change into identified for taking a slower and more conservative approach to development than rivals resembling Zillow. Which means the corporate generates fewer headlines and fireworks than another corporations, but additionally that it has managed to keep away from pitfalls akin to what occurred to Zillow’s iBuying.

In 2021, Redfin acquired RentPath for $608 million. Kelman himself has additionally change into some of the outspoken advocates for change in the true property trade to handle lingering issues resembling discrimination and unequal entry to housing.

9. Adam Contos, RE/MAX

Adam Contos

Adam Contos started his profession with RE/MAX in 2004. He initially served in a regional function and step by step labored his approach up into senior administration. He turned the corporate’s sole CEO in early 2018.

RE/MAX has long been known for its franchise-based enterprise mannequin, and for its relative stability in comparison with different large names within the trade. Final summer time, RE/MAX made its largest acquisition ever when it bought RE/MAX Integra. That deal rapidly paid off, with RE/MAX’s 2021 third quarter earnings hitting all-time report highs.

10. Hoddy, Helen and Hoby Hanna, Howard Hanna Actual Property

Helen Hanna

Three members of the family and leaders of Howard Hanna Actual Property share the ultimate spot on the Swanepoel Energy 200: Chairman Hoddy Hanna, CEO Helen Hanna Casey, and President Hoby Hanna. Collectively, the trio steers what their web site describes because the “largest personal actual property firm in the USA.”

In 2021, Howard Hanna expanded its attain by buying a stake in one among Indiana’s greatest brokerages, and it picked a bone with Compass over recruiting ways. The corporate, and the three executives, also weathered tragedy when firm founder Howard Hanna Jr. — father to Hoddy and Helen and grandfather to Hoby — died at 101.

Email Jim Dalrymple II