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Photo by Cathy Pinsky
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For Houlihan Lawrence CEO Stephen Meyers, success in real estate isn’t entirely about location, location, location. For him, it’s people, people, people. The company has 1,000 licensed agents, mostly in Westchester, and about 80 people on the corporate staff. Together, they sold $3.2 billion in residential properties last year. Meyers says this makes the firm the largest residential broker in the county in terms of market share, which he pegs at 35 percent.
“Just five years ago, we were in the mid 20s,” he says. “As the market has contracted, we’ve grown, so we’re getting a larger slice of a shrinking pie.” While many factors contribute to the company’s success, Meyers points out that people are key: “We’ve attracted tremendous talent from competing firms. When we’re aware of talent, we reach out to it. We see if we can’t get them to join us. We do the same thing with our corporate staff.”
The company’s brand attracts high performers, he believes, as does technology that goes far, far beyond a snazzy public website. “We have an agent platform that enables them to manage their business,” he explains. “It’s contact management, it’s transaction management, it’s market statistics that enable agents and managers to organize data in ways that allow them to develop a real good picture of the market today.”
In addition to providing support, Meyers says, “I try to be as visible as I can be to the troops slugging it out in the trenches every day. I have to let them know how much we appreciate what they do.” He works closely with his brother, Chris Meyers, COO, and two sales managers who oversee groups of offices. “We’re not so stratified,” Meyers says. “There’s a lot of cross-fertilization and communication between the agents, branch managers, the administrative staff, corporate staff, and our marketing and technology people.”
