The purchase of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s by Peerage Realty Partners of Canada, is the freshest deal in town and holds great significance for the DFW real estate industry.
Of the top 10 largest producing brokers in North Texas, all but one are either owned by franchise brands or have major franchise affiliations. There is only one —1 — independent broker remaining in the top ten: Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate.
Healy, 41, worked as a newer agent at Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Real Estate 19 years ago. By 2011 he was representing celebrity clients.
RHA consistently ranks near the top 10 for sales volume. In 2020, Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate brought in $564.14 million in sales volume. It’ll be well over $1 billion in 2021, he says.
- Keller Williams Realty Go of Arlington, led the sales pack with $7.96 billion.
- Ebby Halliday Companies (Ebby Halliday, Dave Perry-Miller, and Williams Trew) are practically a tie at $7.94 billion.
- Compass ($4.86 billion)
- Coldwell Banker Apex of Richardson ($3.15 billion)
- Allie Beth Allman & Associates ($2.70 billion the firm has already sold $3 billion this year-to-date)
- Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty ($2.39 billion)
- Coldwell Banker Realty of Flower Mound, ($2.33 billion)
- Century 21 Judge Fite Company ($1.68 billion)
- HomesUSA.com ($1.66 billion)
- ReMaxDFW of Coppell ($1.46 billion)
Further, there are new players in town with deep national pockets and deep history: Douglas Elliman, originally out of New York City, is quickly growing in DFW.
Broker competition for agents and listings has never been more fierce in DFW: our market is so highly valued everyone wants in, everyone wants a piece, and you can bet this won’t be the last such sale. Will RHA be next?
Healy says he has been approached many times over the past 16 years, but his response is the same: the firm is not for sale. It’s doing too well, and it’s his legacy. He has expanded his office four times this year, added a commercial RE division with more than 55 producing people, and continued adding youthful, eager agents who love the RHA vibe and mission to change the world.
“I feel like every month there is another company that forms,” says Healy. “If you can pick a trendy word and spell it wrong, or maybe even uniquely, you can call it a real estate company. That’s what’s happening now. It’s trendy.”
Healy says that though he has more than 20 years of experience under his belt, he remains a unique breed of broker and leader.
“I understood business before I understood being a Realtor” says Healy. “Most Realtors who try to start a real estate company don’t make it because they don’t understand business, and then on the flip side some firms bring in a business person to run it who doesn’t understand real estate.”
Being a 100 percent owner of a company means you can move nimbly, quickly, he says, which came in very handy during the pandemic-drenched last eighteen months.
What RHA offers is unique, he says, the stuff money cannot buy: culture and collaboration. Not that he is taking a swipe at any other brokerages but…
“You can buy a shiny new toy but in order to sell it, you have to first know the product,” says Healy. “You cannot buy your way into legitimacy. Once your boosted Instagram posts and fancy parties fade away… it’s up to you to show the world you know what you’re doing.”
In the end, agents are independent contractors, he says. They have no obligation to stay with one broker if they perceive a better deal elsewhere.
“That is why I spend my every waking moment working for my agents. It’s about keeping my team happy and being a great leader. The right agents always find a way to us, and they’re the ones that take emotional equity in what we’re doing. We go to war every single day in real estate, and our soldiers are the ones that keep us in business,” says Healy.
And again, no swipes at others, but Healy, who married his wife Abby in Sept. 2020, tries to stay as humble as possible.
“If you come from humble beginnings, and you are suddenly thrown into something that makes you money and fans’ notoriety, it can ruin you without the right attitude,” he says. “But if you take the kind and respectful route, you will be a magnet for like people. Then all of a sudden, you are an ARMY of good people. GOOD people that know how to SELL….and not sell OUT.”
His goal, says Healy, is to always be authentic as he takes his company through the next 15 years. Will he always be independent?
“Being a broker and manager of personalities is one of the hardest positions on earth,” says Healy. “But I think I’ve got it down. And I honestly could not imagine doing, or being, anyone else. This is what God made me to do.”
