Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
The recent downturn in the economic outlook has real estate markets across the United States on the verge of upheaval. In Florida, in particular, the trend seems to be about smaller firms being acquired by large operators like Keyes Company. It's fair to say that only the best of the best will manage to survive what seems dreadfully close to a housing bubble crash. With this ominous possibility in mind, now seems to be a good time to spotlight a few of the most resilient and successful agents in the region.
Whenever I see an agent with over 400 perfect reviews on either Google or Zillow, I am impressed. What does it take to keep ahead of every conceivable thing that can go wrong in a real estate transaction? Well, Desare Kohn-Laski has over 800 five-point-O reviews on Zillow to go along with 153 sales in the last 12 months. Even having left Facebook unattended for half a year, and with a website bordering on the train wreck category, her Sky Louis Realty gets the job done. But the mystery is solved. Sky Lewis was acquired in 2019 by the Keyes Company.
The Zillow Premier Agent still works as an agent with Keyes, according to the news. Keyes, Florida’s largest independent real estate firm, is lucky to have professionals like Kohn-Laski, and this is probably how the firm got where it is. Apparently, there’s some transitioning still going on since the Sky Louis social effort is still up. I leave you with the pertinent connections before the acquisition. Readers may inquire about Keyes here.
Marcy F. Javor is the dynamo behind Signature ONE Luxury Estates. With nearly 5,000 friends on Facebook and meaningful engagement across social media, she’s also one of the top 1,000 agents in America, according to the WSJ. Looking through all her news, profiles, and successful sales, it’s pretty easy to see why. No wonder she’s consistently in the top five in the region. According to Zillow, she’s made 49 sales of luxury properties over the past year.
The Zillow 5-star agent partnered with Signature Real Estate Companies to form up Signature One, which offers some of Florida’s most luxurious properties. The company website is a stunner, though very low in search, with an SEO score of only 58. Even so, Signature One’s 1.78K Youtube subscribers enjoy that Javor understands the power of video for selling homes. It’s among the best real estate channels we’ve seen out of thousands. Javor LinkedIn connections, her press engagement, and experience put her at the top of today’s list.
Steve Gabay’s Florida's Best Realty Services has a perfect 900 plus reviews on Zillow. As I’ve said before, this is no small feat. The agency he and his partner Marshall Sklar started managed almost 150 sales in the past year, and they’re obviously keeping clients happy. As for their social effort, marketing, and SEO for their website. Let’s just say this area leaves room for big improvements and increased leads in the future. 144 Facebook followers is not burning up the digital landscape.
All that said, success is not always about knowing it all. Successful business executives don’t know everything, but almost all of them know someone who does know. This seems to be the case with Gabay’s operation. Take Christopher Tapia, who runs Tapia Group by Florida's Best Realty. This newcomer seems to be that go-getter who is getting it done for Florida’s Best, along with some other superstars.
Sandra Rathe sells more properties than just about anybody in this region of Florida, the Keller Williams Legacy broker/agent turned had 162 sales in the last 12 months, according to Zillow. She also garnered 523 perfect reviews in doing so. Rathe does not seem very focused on digital marketing, and she chose to use the Keller Williams cookie-cutter website, but her track record puts her ahead of the scores of agents in Boca Raton. She’s also one of the top 20 in the entire state, so something is working well for her. The team has both Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube accounts, but they are all three fiercely underutilized. I had to Google her name and Instagram to find the latter marketing/branding channel.
Rathe also has 179 perfect Google reviews, another indicator that she’s getting it done for her clients. Think how difficult it is to literally please everybody, that’s what high numbers of Zillow and Google 5.0 ratings indicate. Since I could find out little about her marketing efforts via social, traditional media (where she does have some mentions), and other means, I dropped back to Homelight to find her impressive sales numbers. 2,310 transactions with an average value of $462k punctuate what Zillow and other sources confirm. I can only imagine this broker atop every list if her marketing efforts in digital and traditional media were boosted.
