State of J. Philip Real Estate 2015 Edition

A year ago at this time I was happy to share how 2014 had been, by far, the best year in the history of the firm. We had opened 3 new branch offices, expanded our team to almost 70 agents, and set records for sales production. It would be a tough act to follow. 

Our New Putnam Market Center location, opening January 2016

2015 did not see us open any new offices (although one is in the process of relocating to better digs), and our roster still has not cracked 70 agents. 

But what we did do was significant.

I am ecstatic to report that our closed transaction total skyrocketed from 110 in 2014 to 175 in 2015, and our closed dollar volume went from $34 million to $54 million. That is a 59% increase in closed transactions for our clients and a 59% increase in closed dollar volume. 

59%. 

2015 also saw 14 of our professional team exceed $1 million in personal sales. Prior to this year, we never had more than 7 million dollar producers. 

Overall, out of over 1000 firms in our marketplace, J Philip Real Estate ranked 33rd in closed transactions. Moreover, no Westchester or Putnam based independent firm outsold us. We are no longer a mom and pop or boutique. We are a growing, medium sized independent that is gaining market share month by month. For me as the broker, 2015 was about managing the growth, training, implementing better systems and giving my team the best tools possible to serve the clients. This caused some growing pains and technological challenges, but overall I am immensely proud of the commitment, agility and focus that the J. Philip family of producers demonstrated.

Typically, I have a shout out to the award winners among our ranks, but this year’s annual party is January 14th, so I’ll release that list in two weeks. Suffice to say we had some fantastic achievements by our associates in 2015. 

Personally, I sold over $11.4 million worth of property, a $2.5 million increase over 2014, and I was selected as Realtor of the Year by the Revamp organization, a local concern committed to agent education. I made my share of media appearances, including a radio interview on WFAS on the “Real Estate RIValution” program. My travel schedule was intense at times, as I was still active on the Hudson Gateway MLS executive board, the Zillow Agent Advisory Board, and I bopped between 4 offices (including a very productive trip to Buffalo in the summer). 

Going into 2016, we have close to 80 transactions under contract as I type this. I have hired two specialized consultants to assist me in managing our growth properly, for the best interests of our growing clientèle and to give our agents the best resources possible to do their jobs with excellence. I have every reason to believe that we can do 250 transactions in 2016, and exceed $100 million in closed sales volume. For the first time ever, I will institute an active campaign to attract more and better professionals to join our firm. I have set a few other goals, some of which will be revealed on these very pages going forward, and among them will be to improve our value to the consumer; I want our clients to have the very best professional experience possible. Looking at the team of amazing people in this brokerage, I feel very good about that happening.