For United Real Estate in 2025, the mission is in focus
In a year full of noise, President Rick Haase somehow managed to stay focused. Some of that attention comes from the messages written on the tri-colored rubber bands that adorn her wrist.
First, it says “Go through life with gratitude.” The second is called United Real Estate: Better Together. Third, the gift of the United franchise in Richmond, “only the strong will survive in 2025.”
“It might be a little soft and fuzzy, but those three pieces of rubber on my wrist really encapsulate how we operate as a company,” Haase said. “We work with a high degree of gratitude and focus on keeping the glass half full. And then we know that if you want to succeed, you have to persevere in the face of adversity, and we know that together we can make it all happen.”
For Haase, these messages act as a guide as he fulfills United's mission to “improve the financial trajectory of the careers and lives of our agents and brokers.”
“We look at everything we do through the lens of, 'Is it on task?'” Haase said.
This applies to everything from decisions about products and services to decisions to enter new markets.
Focusing on this mission is one of the reasons why United, the foundation, uses a flat-fee, or transaction fee, model with no commission split for agents. Instead, they pay the broker a fixed fee per transaction. While Haase believes United's transaction fee model has always been attractive to agents, since it allows for higher commissions than the traditional model, he notes that current market and business practice conditions have led to price increases. Interest in United.
“When there's a change in the market or concerns it might cause because there's a 300% increase in the market, agents worry about how many sales there are going to be and how much money they can get. Check out these sales. Our model becomes more attractive and it brings us more benefits,” said Haase. “We're seeing an atypical number of brokers and agents who want to join us because they get the tools, services and support they're used to, but they get to keep as much money as they can on each sale.
“The changes have not been easy, but we thank the real estate gods for focusing on this model, which we feel can be the most financially successful agents. The need for this model is now clearer than before.”
United will focus on growth in 2025.
“We have very defined growth goals, but the way we're going to get there is to focus 100% on our mission and be really good at it, and then get big, the scaling takes care of itself,” Haase said. “We have been experiencing this since the company was founded.
“As the Zig Zigs quote goes: 'You can have anything you want in life if you just help others get what they want.' The way we get the scale we want is to keep our agents and brokers as our North Star.”
As United looks to scale, Haase said the brokerage is leaning on its proprietary stack to efficiently add new agents and brokers.
“We could add 20,000 or 30,000 more agents with very, very little additional overhead,” Haase said. “This allows us to scale without increasing our operating costs. It's really the cornerstone of our ability to grow without compromising our mission and our budget.”
But while Haase is excited to continue growing United's footprint in the new year, he wants to make sure the company does so responsibly.
“We accept the companies and . We really curate those companies so they understand the mission and are really in the company,” Haase said.
He also noted that United does not want to break companies that fit its mold. Rather, they want to work with industry professionals who share similar values and goals so they can form a deal or franchise that serves the needs of all parties involved.
While Haase hopes 2025 will be a better year, he said United will focus on helping its agents and brokers achieve their individual goals.
“If someone is early in their career, they have certain goals to make this year the best year for their business. But if someone is later in their career and wants to spend more time with their grandchildren or stop and smell the roses, we need to find a way to facilitate both,” Haase said.
“As people move through the maturity curve of their business, everything we focus on — technology, training, education, financial development, network development — all focus on different groups of agents in our organization, no matter where they are, and welcome them there with great success. And that's what we really focus on.”
But at the end of the day, it all comes back to United's mission. And that, according to Haase, will continue to be a top priority for brokerages in 2025 and beyond.
