Notes

Side is live in Massachusetts. Boston independent broker/owner Justin Rollo has officially re-launched his company, Signal Real Estate, on the Side platform.

Side is up and running in Arizona. Maricopa County top producer Tracy van Ravensway is now operating her company, Collective Real Estate Collection, on the Side platform.

Real estate runs in Leslie Guiley’s blood. While her family drew her to the industry, what’s kept her committed for over 15 years is her love for supporting agents and local communities.

Side is officially live in Ohio and Kentucky. Heather Herr, who consistently ranks among the top 1% of Cincinnati agents, has partnered with Side to launch Private Real Estate Collection, a members-only network that will scale $15 million teams into $100 million businesses.

We are extraordinarily proud to share that nearly 200 Side partner companies — around half of all companies on the Side platform — made this year’s list of America’s Best Agents.

Side is proud to announce the launch of OFFICIAL — a premier luxury real estate firm co-founded by brothers Tal and Oren Alexander — our very first partnership in New York.

Leslie Johnson has loved cities since before he ever set foot in one. Growing up on a farm, he didn’t have many opportunities to test drive big-city living.

When asked what he does for a living, Scott Dickinson has a simple answer: “I help solve problems.”

Side is officially live in Colorado. Industry leaders Bret Weinstein and Andrew Adams have partnered with Side to launch Guide (formerly BSW Real Estate), a company dedicated to reshaping the real escape landscape through value and transparency.

Casey McLoed got licensed in 2008 — not the easiest year to break into real estate. But Casey, who had always loved the industry, was not to be deterred by a down market.

Stephen Merkle grew up in the real estate industry — quite literally. As the son of a broker, he began working in his father’s office when he was just seven years old.

Your ideal business might seem out of reach right now, but that’s no reason to give up on it.

Side is officially open for business in Georgia, partnering with local agents, teams, and independents to create and grow their own businesses.

Geo-farming works. With the right outreach strategy — and a healthy amount of patience — you can become the go-to agent for a niche segment of your neighborhood.

In 2021, Side helped over 160 top-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages create their own boutique brands.

Hilary Saunders knows exactly how hard it is to grow a real estate business without the proper support.

With a record number of agents competing for inventory, it’s more important than ever to stand out from the crowd.

Just one week after announcing our first partnership in Washington, D.C., we have more news to share: Side is officially partnering with Pacific Northwest agents to create and grow their own businesses.

John Wollberg has a photographic memory — he can draw the floorplan of almost every property he has ever seen.

In 2017, Side started providing world-class technology and support services to top-tier agents in California.

Will Wiard, Side’s managing broker for the DMV region (D.C., Maryland & Virginia), has an impressive background.

At Side, we like to be first.

So many consumers assume buying or selling a home is a miserable process.

Are you planning to start or expand your team in 2022? Take time now to plot out your strategy.

Danielle Fountain did not follow the typical path into real estate.

Each year, Inman News honors companies that increase productivity, efficiency and transparency for consumers and real estate professionals.

As an agent, you don’t have the luxury of taking a step back over the holidays to plan for the year ahead

Luxury clients want more from their agent than fantastic service at a high price point — that’s just the baseline.

Now that many markets across the country are stabilizing and inventory is beginning to improve, investor activity could be poised to tick back up.

Please join us in welcoming our newest Side partners!

The highest producers out there aren’t just expert real estate agents — they’re expert communicators.

If you’re not using video in your marketing, now’s a great time to hop on the bandwagon. That’s because:

Alissa Custer and Jess Waggoner, partners at the MAJ Realtors team, had a ridiculously successful year in 2020.

On August 24 – 25, 2021, market-leading agents from around the country gathered in Napa, California for Side REunite to connect and share best practices with each other.

Inman recently interviewed three Side business managers who work one-on-one with some of the nation’s top producers.

Women outnumber men in the real estate industry … except when it comes to leadership.

What’s stopping you from taking your business to the next level?

The coronavirus pandemic prompted a new wave of migration nationwide. Millions of Americans have relocated since March 2020.

Guy Gal, co-founder and CEO of Side, recently sat down with Tracy Velt, managing editor of RealTrends, to talk about Side’s recent $2.5 billion valuation and where the company and industry are headed.

When you’re representing a buyer in a multiple-offer situation, a savvy strategy can make all the difference. Here are some expert-approved dos and don’ts for helping your buyers come out on top.

It’s time to celebrate the incredible agent-owned boutique brands that partnered with Side in Q2 2021.

At a recent Side Masterclass, top-producing agents shared their go-to tactics for warming up leads on cold calls. Here’s what they had to say:

On June 28, just three months after our Series D round, we announced an additional $50 million in fundraising that more than doubles Side’s valuation to $2.5 billion.

Keep the following fundamental best practices in mind when designing your social strategy. For more concrete and platform-specific tips, download the guide.

Over 100 Side Partners Named to RealTrends List of America’s Best Agents.

We’ll go ahead and say it: There are too many real estate agents out there.

When your team’s personal dynamics are in sync, clients get a better overall experience. So when you’re hiring to expand your team, you have to consider more than just their numbers.

At a recent Real Talk event in Austin, three top-producing agents shared their strategies for success in an incredibly fast-paced market.

At Inman Connect Now, Guy Gal, co-founder and CEO of Side, and Michelle Kim, Side partner and founder of Mosaik Real Estate, took the main stage to share how Side transforms top-producing agents and teams into boutique real estate brands.

Think of your business website as a digital storefront: It has to draw clients in if it’s going to generate predictable growth.

We’ve pulled together some of the top buyer and seller priorities that are reshaping client engagement. Learn what small changes you can make to stay on trend.

We want to extend a warm welcome to the newest Side Founding Partners and their amazing teams.

The success of our one-of-a-kind approach is proven.

By now you’ve heard the news. In just 4 short years, Side has grown into a company worth $1 billion.

Side was thrilled to have the Executive Vice President of Marketing at RealtyTrac, Rick Sharga, sit down with us at our Side x Side Virtual Forum to discuss his specialties: real estate, mortgages, and foreclosures.

The Side X Side 2021 virtual forum brought us a wealth of incredible speakers, panels, and actionable insights to help us grow and thrive in 2021.

At the Side x Side virtual forum, real estate experts discussed today’s most pressing market trends and how they’re impacting buyers and sellers.

At the beginning of a new year, we can feel a lot of pressure to make big changes. In the real estate space, it seems everyone welcomes the new year as a fresh opportunity to cultivate success.

We love to celebrate Side Partner’s successes, so today we want to welcome these amazing agents to the Side family and highlight a few of their businesses.

2020 has proven to be one of the most challenging years many of us have faced in our lifetime. But, as 2020 comes to a close, we’re reflecting and feeling so incredibly grateful for the Side community.

In this Side View, Kofi chats with five agents focused on high-end listings, who do a collective $5 billion+ in business each year, to uncover what luxury clients want.

Whether you’re a mentor or mentee, there are a few key steps you should take to make sure you’re getting the most value out of your advisor relationship.

Remember open houses, pop-by’s, and regular face-to-face meetings? Pre-pandemic, these channels might have accounted for 25% of your leads. But the new normal has underscored the importance of diversified lead sources, in particular, online leads.

First you fight them for business, then you fight them in the negotiation. But is the other agent in the room really your enemy? In fact, collaboration underpins every transaction in real estate.

Few owners of independent brokerages get in the business because they enjoy back office operations or risk management; but they relish the freedom from franchise fees, and independent decision-making on culture, branding, location, and operations.

If you’re growing your team, you know the importance of conveying intangible factors like culture and value proposition when persuading top talent to come on board.

Every successful team leader and business owner has proven strategies for recruiting and retaining today’s top agents. From effectively identifying and evaluating candidates, to remaining laser-focused on what the business needs, mastering the art of recruiting usually involves some hard-earned lessons.

With work-from-home as the new norm, many potential buyers and sellers are looking for knowledgeable agents to help them traverse the new landscape, whether they may wish to trade-up to a larger home, or trade-down to a newer area or a better cost of living.

“The current state of the internet is social media,” says world-renowned serial entrepreneur, investor, and influencer Gary Vaynerchuk. Unlike any other time in history, we have an unparalleled opportunity to build our personal and business brands, and our success here is directly related to our ability to adopt and optimize our use of these channels.

How has COVID-19 changed the trajectory of real estate? PropTech insiders Clelia Peters, President of Warburg Realty and Venture Partner at Bain Capital; and Patricia Nakache, Managing Partner of Trinity Ventures, share their investment perspective.

Women’s Equality Day gives us the opportunity to celebrate all agent boss women in real estate, who are not only juggling roles as full-time moms, bosses, realtors (and part-time teachers) during this crisis, but are doing so with incredible grace.

Unlike any other business, in real estate, you are your brand. In this Side Evolution panel, Side’s Brand Strategist Dre Koval discusses the challenges of maintaining an authentic real estate brand with three expert brand builders.

Side partner Alex Wang sat down with Gary Vaynerchuk on Tea with GaryVee to ask what top agents can do to work together to disrupt and elevate the real estate industry.

REAL Trends – the trusted source of residential brokerage news, analysis, and information – compiles data every year and honors the best real estate agents and agent teams in America. To be recognized as an America’s Best agent, teams and individuals must be ranked in the top 1.5% of all 1.4 million licensed real estate professionals in the US.

Recently, Side joined forces with social media expert Katie Lance to present a series of webinars focused on the hottest social media best practices for real estate.

After eight years with my prior brokerage, I made a big decision that will have a lot of impact on my future and my long-term success. Today, I want to share why I left my prior brokerage and partnered with Side to re-launch Rainmaker Real Estate.

Diversity and inclusion have taken the spotlight in the past few months. At Side, we embrace diversity and believe that our differences are what make us dynamic and powerful. Take a look at how Side’s incredible community represented our many dimensions at Inman Connect Now.

Investor, advisor, and real estate and technology expert, Paul Levine, has had an impressive career. The former leader of Yahoo Real Estate, Levine also served as the President of Trulia and is currently the Managing Director at Sapphire Ventures. He’s also a Side Board Member and early investor.

Ashley Bledsoe, Side’s Marketing Director, brought some of our most socially savvy partner agents together to explain how they’re using social media to serve as a community advocate, and to support their friends, family, prospects, and clients in these trying times.

We were privileged to have Sara Sutachan, C.A.R.’s VP of Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, join us for a weekly webinar to talk about Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

In this Side Talk, Anthony Navarro, founder of Harper Real Estate, offers his perspective on the matter. He talks about how recessions have impacted housing in the past, discusses what kind of impact the next recession is likely to have on housing, and explains how to talk to your clients about all of the above.

Last week, real estate agents from all over the country flocked to Vegas for an action-packed week at Inman Connect 2019, and Side was there to join in on the fun. Days were packed with keynote speakers, controversial debates, breakout sessions, and learning labs. Powerful knowledge was shared and important industry relationships were made. Side even got a few brag worthy shout outs from well-known panel participants! Here are the top 10 highlights from Inman Connect 2019.

With all of the acquisitions and movement in the industry, are you sitting on the side lines as the big brokerages take your power away? You’re one of the very best agents in your market, so you have the power to be your own brand. At the end of the day, people hire you for you.

If you’re not continually spring cleaning the low value activities off your day, you’ll be left in the dust by your competition.