Mauricio Umansky is juggling plenty these days.
The co-founder and CEO of The Agency has his hands full opening offices at a rate of roughly 30 a year. That’s flanked by a number of other projects that have placed the brokerage’s and Umanksy’s brands in many other verticals, including fine art, EdTech and some of the industry’s weightiest topics.
“We’re trying to grow what I call a boutique business,” Umansky said from his office in the brokerage’s Beverly Hills headquarters. “Every other company is counting heads. Even when I get questions from reporters, it’s, ‘How’s your recruiting going? How many heads and how many people and how many agents?’ I’m like, ‘Who cares?’ That’s not my KPI. That’s not what I’m measuring.”
Efficient market share growth is what he wants, he said. Umansky used the example of 10 agents selling $2 million in business. If he can get them to $5 million, he just grew by $30 million without expanding headcount.
All that said, The Agency is undoubtedly in expansion mode by the numbers, opening office doors at a rapid clip, funded with its own capital. In fact, the company has only obtained outside capital once in its 13-year history, in 2022 when it announced a $35 million raise alongside its opening of an East Coast headquarters and the acquisition of tech-based brokerage Triplemint. The privately held company did not disclose how much it paid for the business.
“Thirty [offices annually] is just the number that we feel that we can support and give a great experience to all of the agents,” said Umansky, who is also founder of the American Real Estate Association trade group.
The office growth rate pencils out to two-and-a-half doors per month, which he said gives him about two weeks to provide personal attention to each new office and its agents.
The Agency now counts over 130 offices in 12 countries, with some of the most recent openings in Orlando, Fla.; Marblehead, Mass.; and Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Diversification
Fueling the business’ expansion into other services plays into The Agency’s business culture since its founding in 2011.
“The Agency is really more of an advisor than an agent,” Umansky said. “We like to call ourselves real estate advisors and give really high-end experiences to our customers.”
The most recent of those experiences would be The Agency Art House, which launched this week. The brokerage partnered with art collector and advisor Arushi Kapoor on the new endeavor, which advises clients on fine art purchases and sales.
In September Umansky rolled out his namesake EdTech platform aimed at real estate coaching and mentorship. The Mauricio Umansky Network charges $20 a month for those billed annually, or $30 for those paying monthly.
There are also a suite of core services The Agency touts partnerships with other firms including mortgage lending, moving and private wealth management.
Umansky said he’s never been one to hold his tongue. That’s largely what pushed him in everything from starting up a coaching platform to being outspoken on industry issues, including NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy. He’s of the opinion it strips sellers’ of their freedom to choose how their properties are marketed.
“I’m opinionated and since people are willing to listen, I’m going to state my opinion and I’m going to try and give back and improve an industry that gave me so much, gave me money, gave me so much love,” he said. “I feel the need to help improve it and take it into the next era.”
Back to the balance sheet,diversification of revenue streams helps at a time when overall home-selling has been down. The past two-and-half years have been pressured in comparison to the highs seen during the homebuying frenzy of the pandemic.
“It’s been shitty for two-and-a-half years,” Umansky said. “We’ve been in a very difficult downturn and survival has been paramount. I think any company, any real estate brokerage that is telling you different is lying. Period.”
Overlooking “anomalies”
The market reset is in addition to what Umansky called “other forces” that haven’t necessarily helped the business.
At the national level, that includes commission settlements paid out by many larger brokerages in relation to the Sitzer-Burnett class action lawsuit in Missouri federal court. The litigation against the National Association of Realtors raised concerns about agent commissions and transparency, spurring new rules that went into effect in August.
In Los Angeles, Umansky pointed to factors such as Measure ULA.
The transfer tax, which went into effect in April 2023, applies to residential and commercial property sales, levying a 4 percent tax on sales starting at $5.15 million and a 5.5 percent tax on those $10.3 million or more.
Although there are still some clients that seek loopholes to bypass ULA — Umansky’s heard of no one successfully doing so to date — he said many have adjusted to the tax.
As the end of 2024 nears, the CEO is upbeat on the new year and the release of more inventory.
“I do think 2025 is going to be a much stronger year,” he said. “I think it’ll be more reminiscent of something like 2019. I think that we as real estate agents have to forget the years of 2020 and 2021. Those were anomalies.”
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