Emile L'Eplattenier

2 weeks ago | housingwire.com | Emile L'Eplattenier |Gina Baker

Over the last decade, I’ve interviewed dozens of the country’s most successful real estate agents. All of them, from Ryan Serhant to Glennda Baker to Ricky Carruth, had one thing in common: They found their ikigai early in their career and never looked back. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that says you will only find true success if your professional niche is right in the middle of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs and what you can get paid for. Simple, but not easy.

2 weeks ago | housingwire.com | Emile L'Eplattenier |Gina Baker

Servant leadership is more than a lazy LinkedIn buzzword cooked up by corporate PR teams. It’s a crucial reason why new school brokerages like The Agency and Real outsold Keller Williams last year. If you want to scale your team or brokerage in 2025, lead by example, or get left behind. Not convinced? Mauricio Umanasky, founder and CEO of The Agency, the second fastest growing brokerage in the country in 2024 according to RealTrends, is still taking listings.

2 weeks ago | housingwire.com | Emile L'Eplattenier |Gina Baker

Can you put a price tag on good vibes? In the rarified world of Los Angeles real estate, the answer is a resounding yes. It’s how Claire and Sam O’Connor, two sisters who founded the O’Connor Estates team in Pacific Palisades, built their mini real estate empire. They find aesthetically challenged homes in coveted LA neighborhoods, crunch the numbers, hire interior designers to renovate them so they look good on Instagram and then list and sell them for a tidy profit.

1 month ago | housingwire.com | Emile L'Eplattenier |Gina Baker

Struggling to find a lucrative listings niche in 2025? You’re not alone. Listings (of any kind) seem even more out of reach for newer agents this year. Inventory is rising, sure, but sales are still sluggish. Then there’s the economy. We went from facing mild headwinds for the real estate market to a category five crossfire hurricane, seemingly overnight.

1 month ago | housingwire.com | Emile L'Eplattenier |Gina Baker

Are you nervous about your real estate business surviving 2025? Glennda Baker isn’t. She showed up to our Zoom interview decked out in full celebrity Realtor drip: Gucci jacket, Van Cleef earrings and a diamond-studded Rolex that sparkled every time she gestured with her left hand, which she did a lot. She runs a highly successful team, has close to a million followers on TikTok and keynotes major real estate conferences. I could go on.