- 1 hour ago
In this episode of the RealTrending Podcast, Tracey Velt sits down with Gerry Liguori, co-founder of Premier Estate Properties, to discuss how the independent luxury brokerage has remained competitive for more than 30 years in an increasingly consolidated real estate industry. Liguori explains why the company built its business around ultra-luxury specialization, personalized client service and a commitment to remaining independent rather than joining a larger franchise.
With eight offices spanning South Florida's luxury markets, approximately 60 agents and more than $2 billion in anticipated sales this year, Premier has built its competitive advantage around agility, targeted marketing and agent support rather than sheer scale. Liguori shares how technology and AI are transforming brokerage operations, why tracking marketing ROI is essential, and how he believes broad listing exposure ultimately serves sellers better than restrictive private listing strategies.
He also discusses the shifting dynamics of South Florida's luxury market, the importance of specialization over trying to serve everyone, and why maintaining relationships with past clients remains one of the most overlooked opportunities for long-term brokerage growth.
Related to this episode:
Tracey Velt’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyvelt/
Gerry Liguori's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerard-liguori-72902517/
Premier Estate Properties
https://premierestateproperties.com/
Want more from Tracey? Don’t forget to subscribe to Real Estate Daily.
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
With eight offices spanning South Florida's luxury markets, approximately 60 agents and more than $2 billion in anticipated sales this year, Premier has built its competitive advantage around agility, targeted marketing and agent support rather than sheer scale. Liguori shares how technology and AI are transforming brokerage operations, why tracking marketing ROI is essential, and how he believes broad listing exposure ultimately serves sellers better than restrictive private listing strategies.
He also discusses the shifting dynamics of South Florida's luxury market, the importance of specialization over trying to serve everyone, and why maintaining relationships with past clients remains one of the most overlooked opportunities for long-term brokerage growth.
Related to this episode:
Tracey Velt’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyvelt/
Gerry Liguori's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerard-liguori-72902517/
Premier Estate Properties
https://premierestateproperties.com/
Want more from Tracey? Don’t forget to subscribe to Real Estate Daily.
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
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NewsTranscript
00:00In 1993, Jerry Liguori founded with two of his co-founders, Premier Estate Properties and Boca Raton.
00:07At the time, they decided to specialize in high-end properties and he continues to do that to this day.
00:15He's a Realtrends Verified brokerage and with the leading RE affiliate.
00:19And he talks all about specialization and how he works with his agents on productivity as well as serving that
00:31niche.
00:31He has some great advice for anyone looking to specialize in a very specific niche or price band and enjoy
00:39the podcast.
00:40Thanks.
00:52Jerry, welcome to the Realtrending Podcast.
00:55Thank you for having me this morning.
00:58Yeah, yeah. Excited to talk to you.
01:00So I want to start with your story.
01:02You founded Premier Estate Properties with a couple of co-founders in 1993 and you've remained independent for more than
01:1130 years.
01:12So what was your original vision for the company and how has that evolved as the industry has changed?
01:20It's interesting because the three of us actually met.
01:24One of them, of course, is my twin brother, but our other partner we met at actually real estate school.
01:30And so that was kind of ironic.
01:33But so what happened was we were friends and then we developed into coming together.
01:40It was probably in the late 80s, early 90s that we became more corporately business in line.
01:49And we wanted to create, carve out a niche for ourselves.
01:53And we thought, you know, what hasn't been done before?
01:57And we really felt like that ultra luxury is where we wanted to go with our platform.
02:03And at that time, a million dollars plus was, I would say, 80% of the market was under the
02:10million dollar mark.
02:11The average luxury home was between, like, say, 500 to 750.
02:16That was like, whoa, that was the higher market.
02:18Then over a million was, you know, you're in a different stratosphere.
02:22How, wow, it's amazing how things have changed.
02:24I mean, you can't even get land for a million dollars now.
02:27But back then, it was a different story.
02:30And a lot of people felt like, you know, you're cutting off such a majority of the market and you're
02:34crazy for doing this.
02:35But we just had this vision to really create something different to a higher standard and to be the trusted
02:42advisors for this marketplace.
02:44And it ended up being really cropping up the issue.
02:48It was really something that worked to our benefit because we were so specific and specialized.
02:53That was sort of one of the things that a lot of people liked is that we were so focused
02:58in that market that we didn't have to market to or spend advertising in markets that didn't have any effect
03:07with the high-end market.
03:08So we were really fortunate in that respect.
03:11It's amazing, though, how things have changed.
03:13But, I mean, of course, it was the Internet.
03:15Oh, wow, that was so amazing.
03:18But really, real estate has become really a technology and marketing company.
03:23It's not so much real estate anymore because technology really drives it now with artificial intelligence and all that we're
03:30doing with that.
03:31We're really on the cutting edge.
03:32We've got some amazing people that work for us in the technology field.
03:38And so we're very fortunate to have them on board.
03:41And they always keep us on the cutting edge of new technology.
03:45And AI has been revolutionary as far as the marketing, the exposure.
03:51It plays a part in almost all parts of the real estate industry.
03:54So we're very fortunate to be in these times.
03:58Instead of having peepers, we're now with the AI, which is everything that's more automated.
04:05So it's just incredible speed of the transition.
04:08So why don't you tell the audience what market you're in and how many agents you have?
04:15So we go from Fort Lauderdale.
04:17So we have eight offices, one in Fort Lauderdale, two in Boca Raton, two in Delray Beach, two in Palm
04:24Beach, and one in Vero.
04:26So we have that stretch.
04:28And it's interesting how it evolved.
04:31And it was really, we started in Boca Raton.
04:33We branched out west.
04:34Then we branched out south.
04:35And then to the north was Vero Beach.
04:39And last was Palm Beach, where we've done extremely well.
04:42We have sold some of the record-breaking sales in Palm Beach over several of them have been over the
04:48$100 million mark.
04:50So that's a whole market into itself.
04:53Yeah, absolutely.
04:54Yeah.
04:55Yeah.
04:56So we've seen significant consolidation across the brokerage industry, and the national players are getting even bigger.
05:04But you've chosen to remain independent.
05:07Was there ever a time where you seriously considered franchising or selling or merging with another brokerage?
05:15You know what?
05:16We're a very hands-on, Bo-speak, Bo-spoke concierge service.
05:22And we were very driven with the service.
05:24And every time we tried to look into it, what happened would be that we were controlled by the regulations
05:36of the different affiliations or franchises.
05:40And it really was a disservice to our clients.
05:42And I have to say our mission is this.
05:45It's very simple.
05:46We look out for the best interests of our clients, not self-interest, but solely on their interests, and achieving
05:55their best results.
05:56And if you do that, everything else falls into play.
05:59And there's no gray area.
06:02It's either what's right or wrong.
06:03So we have about 60 agents.
06:07In the height of the epidemic, we did about $4.2 billion in listings and sales that year, which was
06:16record-breaking.
06:17This year, we'll break over the $2 billion mark.
06:22So we've done more this year than considerably more than last year.
06:26So it's been a very good year for our firm.
06:31Yeah.
06:31And so let's talk about the economics of running an independent brokerage.
06:35Where do you feel you have the advantage over larger competitors?
06:38And where does being smaller kind of create real financial and operational challenges?
06:44I will say agility, agility, agility.
06:49I mean, that is really the essence because we have the agility to move because markets shift.
06:55You know, you see where maybe a good example is this coming election.
07:00Depending on what happens there, there may be an influx of that feeder market becoming more of a stronger field
07:07of buyers coming in.
07:08So we're very agile and we're nimble enough to move to where the market is telling us things are changing
07:16to.
07:16So by the time the other franchise or larger conglomerates, by the time they go through the red tape and
07:26the bureaucracy, the market might have already shifted to somewhere else.
07:29We're able to move very quickly and stay ahead of the competition.
07:34And that's something I have to say is very much in our favor.
07:39I will say, though, that as far as the economics, because we only have 60 agents versus some of them
07:46have maybe almost 6,000 agents, the spreading of that over 60 agents, it is high.
07:54But it's interesting because we've been involved in what are called unified platforms.
08:00And what that is, is that you share a platform with other vendors, so your costs are way down.
08:05And it's very advantageous in that respect.
08:08But it's so restricted for search engine optimization and customization that what we wanted to do, we couldn't do because
08:18we were kind of pegged into a platform that was cheaper,
08:25but it was not as flexible and able to meet the challenges or the demands that our clients.
08:32So it's a blessing and a curse in the same way.
08:37So cost-wise, it's more, but because we're able to search engine optimizations following new algorithms,
08:47algorithms always are changing with the search engines.
08:51And so we have that flexibility to move much more quicker than if we were on a unified platform.
08:57And I think that, for instance, Compass and anywhere, what happens with that is that you have brands that are
09:06competing with one another that are on the same level.
09:10Then you're competing against like Sotheby's and Cobble Banker and ERA and Cobble Banker.
09:16It's just like there's – and each one of them, brand has a different specific need.
09:22And what happens is that one platform that you're on, it can't meet the expectations or the needs of all
09:29those brands.
09:30And I think that what happens in that situation, it kind of almost deludes the brands, the high-end brands.
09:37It just brings them down to a lower threshold.
09:40And that's been to our advantage, I think, in many respects, that being all things to all people, it doesn't
09:48work.
09:49And I think that when anywhere does that, or Compass, I think that it helps us because we stay focused
09:55in our niche.
09:57And they're in a different – they're there, but they play in a different – like 50% of their
10:03market for Christie's and Sotheby's is under the million-dollar mark.
10:07So 50% of their marketing budget is under the main, which doesn't even affect the sellers, where 100%
10:15of our money is in that multimillion-dollar marketplace.
10:19So that plays a little bit of a benefit in that respect.
10:23So agent recruitment, retention, all major battlegrounds, especially as brokers compete on commission splits, rev share, technology.
10:32So how do you attract and retain productive agents without getting caught in the compensation kind of arms race?
10:41It's interesting that you say that because we are one of the lowest as far as paid-out commission percentage
10:48-wise.
10:49And the reason why that is is that we pay for everything because we feel like we need to stay
10:55in control.
10:56And there's a certain caliber of level of how we do our marketing, our photography, our cinematic videos, our descriptive
11:05copy, our website, all that plays a part.
11:08So what we do is we encompass more of the expenses, but what happens is the agents understand this, that
11:19if they can grow their business, our platform is really to grow.
11:23Like we have more million-dollar-plus annual sale agents than most other companies, I know for sure, for most
11:30other companies.
11:31Some make two and three and four and five million dollars a year.
11:36So they understand that maybe it's a difference of commission, but to grow your business and that at the end
11:42result is a much higher salary than they understand, or income, I should say, not salary, income, because they're independent
11:49sales agents.
11:51But you see that that is definitely to their advantage.
11:56I will say that, for instance, I don't know if you know Posh Properties, but they were a thriving luxury
12:03farm.
12:04But the owner decided, you know what, she was spending so much time on managing and doing the marketing and
12:11that she could not, and then managing all the agents, she just was, it consumed her, her business was going,
12:18her personal business, as you say, was going down.
12:21So she said, you know what, I'm going to fold into Premier Estate Properties, and I think she's only been
12:27with us less than a year.
12:28And her, our market, because of the infrastructure that we have, the support that we have, she has really, she's
12:36so thrilled because she's able to do what she wants to do and the love of not managing and doing
12:41all the SEO and the marketing and all that.
12:44And she just loves to listen and sell, and that's what she's doing extremely well with, and her agents are
12:49thriving as well, because most of the agents went with her as well.
12:53So that's a testament to show that, even though you don't have to give the highest, but it's all in
13:00what you provide.
13:01The support that you provide your agents is critically important, I think more so than the percentage that's higher.
13:09Yeah. And so you've built your business around specialization. Obviously, your niche is high-end properties.
13:16So what can brokerage leaders operating in a more, in more traditional price points learn from your niche strategy?
13:24Like, is there an argument for specialization over scale?
13:29I think that's really what it's all about, because what happens with us is that we market and focus on
13:37price range versus specific communities.
13:41And I think that that really provides us the edge, because when you specialize in a community, it limits yourself
13:48for finding buyers and all that.
13:50We have more of a broad stroke coming in from Fort Lauderdale to Vero, the siphoning of the funnel is
13:58wide in the top, and then it funnels down.
14:01And I think that that's something that's really important for people to understand, is that whatever you do, you have
14:07to specialize.
14:09I think what we did was we specialized in price range, and I think that that was to our advantage
14:13of then going with a specialty to an individual community.
14:17Because although you specialize in that community, overall, it may limit you in your sphere of getting more buyers into
14:29that funnel.
14:31But I would say whatever you do, carve out a niche, whatever that niche may be.
14:36And I think that it's hard to be everything to all people.
14:40Just kind of dilute what you're doing.
14:43Some people can do that, but that was not the approach that we took.
14:48It was more quality over quantity.
14:51That was kind of weird.
14:52And some people do the quantity over quality.
14:54So that may work too.
14:56But for us, that wasn't our mission, our focus.
15:01What are you seeing in your specific markets?
15:05Are you finding that any of the feeder markets are changing for you?
15:10Or I know business, you know, from what I've seen in the data, has slowed some in those areas.
15:17Of course, good agents are going to thrive no matter what.
15:21But are you seeing a difference in the buyers coming to the areas that you specialize in?
15:28There was a little bit of a slowdown.
15:30Yeah, it's funny because it's like the one market's down, the other market's up.
15:36It's weird how that works.
15:37But like the Delray market has been very strong.
15:41The Palm Beach market has been very strong.
15:44The river was slow, but now it's picking up.
15:46And so Fort Lauderdale was high.
15:48Now it's a little bit slow.
15:48So they kind of balance each other out.
15:52But I think that the elections today are going to play an enormous part because those high-tech states are
16:01really what are really driving it.
16:03I mean, we never saw people coming from California.
16:06Never, never, ever.
16:07And now within the last five years, you're seeing more and more of that coming our way.
16:14And a lot of financial institutions are leaving New York, and they're either going to West Palm or Miami.
16:22That seems rare.
16:24Stephen Ross is just throwing a major development in Boca Raton.
16:29I think like 1,000 acres is the old IBM site.
16:33So you're seeing that type of infrastructure starting to come in because of those Peter Martin's jibs said earlier.
16:43So I think that this little action cycle is going to be very important to us.
16:48So we'll see how it ends up.
16:50No one really can say what way it's going to go.
16:53No.
16:54You hear predictions, and they never end up the same way they predict.
16:59Those balls sometimes don't come out the way that they say that they will.
17:06So let's talk technology and AI.
17:10You kind of touched on it a little bit earlier, but it's changing what brokerages can offer agents and consumers.
17:17So how do you determine which investments are essential and which are simply just adding costs without the benefit?
17:26And that, I have to say, Tracy, is really vitally important.
17:30That was a very good question in the sense that you have to stay lean and nimble in the sense
17:37that you've got to know what – so we know every dollar what it does.
17:41So we have a system that it took us basically – and this is where technology comes in – probably
17:47about two years ago.
17:50And what it does is it shows, for instance, Zillow and realo.com and our affiliates and our mailings.
18:00And so everything comes onto this platform, and they have different formats.
18:04So it was hard to get – Zillow was different than Real Trends and the different other kinds of websites
18:12like realo.com.
18:14So we were able to put them all feed into this one – we call it our lead generation platform.
18:22So now we know, okay, what is working?
18:26It tells us, okay, that mailer was a winner.
18:30That mailer was what worked with that e-blast or the premier for the – that would be for Zillow.
18:41Zillow has their Zillow showcase, and that was something – does that work?
18:45Does that – is it a waste of money?
18:47So we're able to really justify through tracking.
18:52Tracking is the key.
18:54And so then we know, you know what, this didn't work so well.
18:58It's just – it's not working.
18:59Like, we thought that the – there's one that's called where you focus in on an area like the private
19:08airports.
19:08And so what we did is we kind of struggled around it and we thought, okay, if we target this
19:12– but it just didn't bring the – we would have thought that that would have been a way to
19:19get more people to our website.
19:21But it just was a waste, and that was a major investment.
19:25But it was one that we quickly got into and out of because we could see the return wasn't there.
19:30So, yeah, it's really going through and just figuring out what works best and where's your return on investment.
19:37And that's – you have to have that infrastructure or the capability of somehow, some way tracking it.
19:43And because of the technology, we have that technology to track that.
19:48Okay, I'm going to totally veer off here because I just thought you were actually in the market where the
19:54Learjet crashed.
19:56You're in Boca, but I know it was in – it was near Mar-a-Lago, I believe, in Palm
20:01Beach.
20:01Right, yes, yes.
20:02Yeah.
20:04Has that impacted anybody that you know?
20:07You know what?
20:08I mean, there was somebody that I knew that had – you knew somebody that was on that Learjet.
20:14I mean, it was very sad to see that I think that there was an anomaly.
20:20But, I mean, what happens in Armac, which is interesting that you mentioned that because a lot of our areas
20:31have private airports.
20:33Like, Boca has theirs, Barrow Beach has theirs, Palm Beach does, and so does Fort Lauderdale.
20:39But that is a common practice, and it was very, I mean, shocking and very, very tragic.
20:48And our thoughts and prayers are to those people that have passed.
20:52And it was one whole family that had passed, which is just devastating.
20:56So, but I think that people will still continue to travel privately, and so I think it really had much
21:10of an impact in that respect.
21:15Yeah.
21:16So, you're in a high-end market, so I'm sure you have done private listings, you know, because of the
21:23people that you serve.
21:24But, obviously, the whole discussion around private listings, private listing networks is really changing from what the old private listing
21:37would have been.
21:38And so, do you view a balance between a broker's competitive advantage and the industry's, you know, traditional model of
21:47cooperation?
21:47How are you dealing with the private listing?
21:50We feel that there's, I don't know if you know what IDX is.
21:54IDX is where everyone shares the listings.
21:58And so, there were some people that said, I'm not going to go on IDX because I want to keep
22:03my listings for myself, and I don't want to go on that.
22:06Or there's other companies that are now doing their own exclusive network.
22:11And when they do that, they're forbidden to go on Zillow.
22:14So, you can be on your private or Zillow.
22:17So, what happens is, our feeling is this.
22:20The more exposure you can get your clients, the better off you're going to be.
22:23So, to keep a listing on your own, like on just our knockout IDX, we thought about it and we
22:33said, no, let's throw it into service to the client because you never know where that fire is going to
22:39be coming from.
22:39So, I would say, my feeling is, the more exposure you can get your clients, the better.
22:44To put it on exclusive, I think it may sound good, but in essence, it's talking to several because you're
22:51cutting off a lot of the other buyer segment, and I don't think that's a good thing.
22:56I mean, every once in a while, there will be an off market, but we tell them, you know what,
23:01you can try it, but we really encourage you to get on the main market as soon as possible.
23:06So, that's, you know what, something that's interesting, too, is that our firm, what we do is that when a
23:15new listing comes on the market, so what some people like to do is I like to sell their own
23:21listing, which is a valid point.
23:24But what we do is we hold all showings to a specific day because I could have sold a home
23:32on Sunday at the open houses on a Thursday, and so these items go, you can't tell me that you
23:40don't want to show your property until Thursday.
23:42They say, I just want you to understand that I could have sold this on Sunday, but I really wanted
23:47to give you a fair share of it, and then they appreciate it.
23:50It's like, everyone has a fair share, and that's one thing that, you know, we like to, again, it's, again,
23:56what is in the best interest of our seller or client, and that's where a lot of agents, they don't
24:04discuss that they have a buyer when they have a buyer, and it's, they feed their buyer into there and
24:11try to manipulate things so that their buyer gets ahead.
24:14But we never, we never, that's one thing that, you know, all of our reputation in the real estate industry
24:22is that we have a strong reputation, especially with other peers in our, in our industry.
24:30I mean, they really respect us because we are more than fair, we never play those gray kind of self
24:37-serving ideas.
24:39So, in that respect, we're, that's another thing that we're very, work in very much harmony with our, our, our
24:49peers.
24:50Yeah. So, looking ahead five years or so, do you think there's still room for successful independent brokerages, or do
24:57you think consolidation will make it increasingly difficult to compete?
25:02You know what, it's interesting, in our niche, now, maybe different other niches that, that, that may not be, but
25:09in our niche, the high end, the, the high net worth individual, they want that exclusivity, they want that catered,
25:18and I think that for, for that market, it will always be, because people do not want to do this
25:24general, generic kind of approach.
25:28It's not, that's not, that's not them. I mean, they just, they want something very tailored, very specific to their
25:34needs, and that's why I, I don't think, if you're an independent, in this market segment, I think that you're
25:41always well protected in that, in that regard.
25:44Okay. My last question is just, if you were starting a brokerage from scratch today, what's the first thing you'd
25:51do differently?
25:53I think one of the things that I would do is that have a connector with, we're doing it now,
26:03but I wish I would have done it early on, is to always build that rapport with past clients, because
26:10they become new clients.
26:13It's just, and in Florida, the cycle is, I mean, where I grew up, it was like every 10, 15,
26:1820 years, somebody would move out of their home, but down here, it's every five years, you can bet that
26:23someone, they're going to move just for different change of lifestyle, or the family dynamics changes, or whatever.
26:32But you, you see that, that, that I change cycle, and I wish that I would have done more with
26:39the connecting with the people that I had worked with in the past, that's changed, but I would say that
26:45that was one of the things that always cater to your clients, present, past, and future.
26:50I mean, that's, that would be my, you know, thing that I would suggest, is that you really have to
26:55keep in tight with that, that group thing, because you've built that rapport, you never want to lose it, you
27:01work too hard on it.
27:02And so, that would be one of my advice to someone starting out, is to definitely nurture that, that present,
27:11present, future client.
27:13Well, Jerry, thanks so much for joining the podcast today, it was a pleasure speaking with you.
27:18Oh my gosh, it was a pleasure, Tracy.
27:18Yeah.
27:20Thanks.
27:20Thank you, bye-bye.
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