To help you understand where I'm coming from, and why I post these results every year, I want to share a short story. Twenty-six years ago, I'd already been a commercial broker for 14 years. Rhonda and I just had our son Jason, and we were looking for a larger home. This was all before the Internet, so the way to find a home was by attending open houses or driving neighborhoods looking for a tube with a flyer inside.
Two things stuck out to me about that experience. First, why would any seller allow agents to place those terrible quality black-and-white copies of flyers in front of their beautiful homes? I didn't know a thing about residential real estate at the time, but I knew I could come up with a better idea than that. That level of marketing would never fly in the professional commercial world I lived.
The second thing related to a flyer I pulled out of one of those tubes. The wording at the top said: "The #1 Selling Agent in such and such area" That impressed me. If she really was the top agent, she must be committed to the area and know it inside and out. I wanted her working for us and protecting our interests. But what confused me was how she knew she was the top agent. Other agents might be saying the same thing and everyone can't be number one.
On the commercial side, which I'd committed 14 years to, there is no MLS, at least not like what you see on the residential side. It's a shared database but only used for available properties and, to a lesser extent, sale comparables. Most building sales and leases are never reported because commercial agents prefer keeping their information close to the vest. It's always been that way and probably always will be. In all my years as a commercial broker, I never once heard or saw an agent claim that they were #1 in their specialty area. You couldn't just go to a source and find out who was doing the majority of the deals.
However, when I made the move from commercial to residential, my jaw dropped the first time I was able to explore our MLS. It included every sale of every agent, in any area whether they represented the buyer or seller. For the first time, I could actually see who my competition was and what kind of numbers I needed to be #1. It was "game on".
I certainly understand always referring to ones self as the #1 agent can come across as "braggy", but if I don't get the word out about it, no-one's going to do it for me, certainly not my competition. I have to think if my they could accumulate the numbers I have, they'd be doing exactly the same thing.
Now that that's been said, I'm proud to announce I've just wrapped up my 24th consecutive year at #1 in Fairview, Lucas, and Parker (FLP) with twice the sales volume of the second-place agent. There have been years when I've tripled that spread. I've done it with large teams, small teams, and no teams at all. I was a "one-man shop". I've been through too many up and down real estate cycles to remember and have always maintained the lead.
If you're wondering why I always group Fairview, Lucas, and Parker together even though Parker is not within the same area of the MLS as Lucas and Fairview, there are good reasons. This is a small, but complex area. The towns are similar in size (within 2,000 people plus or minus of 10,000 depending on who you talk to), they touch one another, but there are six different school systems in play. Even more than that, the majority of homes are on at least one acre lots and have septic systems rather than public sewer. That adds another unique dynamic.
I've helped thousands of people move into and out of homes in all price points out here, but what really sets The Grisak Group apart is our reputation for selling the highest-level of luxury and estate properties. Here's what we've accomplished in this regard over the past 24 years ...
- Fairview - Sold the highest reported home sale price ever. The home is at 970 Twin Oaks and was listed at $4.15 million. We also sold the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 10th highest recorded home sales ever.
- Lucas - Sold the 2nd highest reported home sale price ever. 935 Vaquero Way was listed at $3.89 million. We also sold the 3rd and 8th highest recorded home sale price ever.
- Parker - Sold the highest reported home sale price ever. 3901 Saddle Trail was listed at $4.125 million.
We've set the bar on pricing for so many years I've quit counting. If you'd like to see some of these gorgeous homes, here's a link to our notable sales page.
Not one of these transactions would ever have taken place with us if our clients hadn't believed in and trusted us to help them with their largest asset. That's an awesome responsibility which we take very seriously and we're always deeply appreciative to those who choose us because there are lots of options out there.
And finally, to our wonderful team, thank all of you for your hard work this past year! You may not be aware but I always pull in an agent on our team for all of my listings and assignments. They have all performed flawlessly in their role and I trust their skills completely.
This will probably be my last year in production anyway. Twenty five years is a long run and as much as I still enjoy the competition, it's time to let them completely run with the ball.
What will 2025 bring in the way of real estate sales? It's impossible to know but my instincts tell me it's going to be another great year for Collin County. As far as we're concerned, we already have $4.5 million closed and in title in FLP on this, the fourth day of January, so that's pretty encouraging.
We have some great listings already signed that we can't announce quite yet but we're excited to show them to you. I hope you'll visit our site periodically and please let us know if we can help you buy or sell a home. I promise, we'll take great care of you.
