Berkshire Hathaway leader talks brokerage growth plans, NAR policy changes

On a recent episode of the RealTrending podcast, host Tracey Velt has a tantalizing conversation with Luis Carrion, CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. Carrion was recently chosen as a 2024 RealTrends GameChanger based on his company’s five-year growth rate in transaction sides.

Carrion also leads the firm’s office sales and investment advisory group. Before acquiring the firm two years ago from his predecessor’s family, Carrion served as the CEO of Coldwell Banker Alliance Realty in California. Much of his experience lies in commercial real estate development and management. 

The conversation covers his growth plans with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices (BHHS), challenges he faced while taking the reins from the company’s prior CEO, and lessons learned from leading the company thus far.

Velt starts the conversation by asking Carrion for background on his purchase of the brokerage. Carrion traces the process back to five years ago, following the death of Bruce Mulhearn, the firm’s previous owner and CEO. He also praises the company for undergoing tremendous growth in 2022 and 2023 after his restructuring efforts.

Velt asks Carrion about what he hoped to gain by restructuring the company in such a major way, to which Carrion responds with a passionate argument for uniformity toward a common goal. 

Carrion said he sought to unify the company — including all agents, managers and marketers — toward better customer service that would help homebuyers purchase the properties they truly want. Before that, BHHS agents and managers operated in different capacities, all pointed in different directions.

He also added more agents, managers and relevant talent to the fold, which bolstered the firm’s efforts. Carrion said he evaluates each manager on their capabilities and puts them in the best position to succeed. He offers direct support to agents and managers by hosting meetings, and team members can call his cell phone for any needs, wants or concerns. Carrion said he is more than happy to listen.

The conversation shifts to explore some of the challenges that Carrion faced as the new CEO of BHHS and how he overcame them. The first challenge was the fact that his new staff lacked familiarity and faith in his experience as a salesperson.

“I’m actually a transactional person because I’ve done a lot of sales myself, so I can help with commercial sales, luxury sales, residential investment, or luxury branding,” Carrion explained. “That was the No. 1 thing, was proving myself to them.” 

Among many lessons Carrion learned during the takeover process, he identified the firm’s compliance department as the most concerning area. He believes that agents were not properly using compliance forms in transactions, which is why he pushed them so hard. Some agents didn’t agree with his approach, but Carrion urged them to embrace the enhanced compliance efforts and ultimately save trouble on the back end.

Aside from compliance changes, Carrion carefully studied the profit-and-loss parts of the business without micromanaging every department. Instead, he gave managers the authority to make decisions that were in the best interest of the company and their individual departments.

Velt asks a key question on the business practice changes resulting from the commission lawsuit settlement by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and how they may impact the company in the future. Following the Aug. 17 implementation deadline, BHHS agents and managers were required to attend classes and weekly training sessions on the new policies surrounding the commission forms. 

Velt and Carrion agreed that the industry will recover from the policy changes once agents learn to adjust and present themselves in a better way.

“Real estate is not going to stop. There’s just a new way of doing things, and I think when you change the channel and get with the new protocol, you get people to understand that scheme,” Carrion said. 

To end the conversation, Carrion shares his three steps for growing BHHS over time. He plans to focus on M&A efforts with other brokerages, day-to-day sales, and the recruiting of new agents and other professionals to keep the momentum going.