The past year may have been a turbulent one for HomeServices of America, but according to executive vice president Chris Kelly, this just means the company is in an even better position heading into 2025.
“When I look back on this year, for me and I think for HomeServices too, it emphasized something I think we all inherently learn over time, which is that you can always hope for the best, but you need to prepare for the worst, and that really kind of defined us over the past year,” Kelly said.
As an example, Kelly said he and his team had a variety of contingency plans in place to handle Judge Stephen R. Bough’s ruling on the company’s commission lawsuit settlement agreement.
“We did our best to communicate with our company leaders, with our agents, with our employees throughout the entire process about, ‘Here are things that could happen, here is what we are working on and what could lie ahead,’“ Kelly said.
“By thinking strategically ahead about these different options, it allowed us, even when curveballs were thrown, to be prepared for them and have a plan of action. This has really helped us over the past year, when so much was out of our control, to not feel like we were being completely reactionary to everything, because we took the time to prepare.”
While Kelly is hoping 2025 has fewer surprises than 2024, he said this way of thinking and preparing is something that HomeServices of America plans to carry into the new year.
“It makes working with our team so much better,” he said. “It allows them to feel confident and comfortable enough to continue focusing on what they need to on a daily basis to ensure the company keeps running smoothly.”
When looking ahead to 2025, the challenges Kelly is anticipating having to prepare for include slow housing market conditions and potential regulatory or legal challenges. The latter concerns stem from the Department of Justice’s recent statement of interest on the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement.
“We are not going not going to head into 2025 in a full market recovery. There are still those cyclical market challenges ahead of us. Whether it be rates, inventory, those challenges are going to persist,” Kelly said. “But whether it is the market, regulatory challenges, legal challenges, whatever it is, there is not too much more you can throw at us that we don’t feel confident in addressing and working our way through.”
As HomeServices prepares to navigate the year ahead, Kelly said the company is trying to get back to its “original DNA.”
“We were originally founded with the idea of having anything you need as a buyer or a seller transacting real estate all under one roof. That has always been a part of who we are, but over the last few years, we have had to focus on some other things,” Kelly said.
In 2025, this will mean working toward a goal of simplifying the home buying and selling experience for consumers. Kelly said HomeServices’ ability to control all aspects of the transaction through ownership of its title and mortgage divisions gives it a clear path to take on the challenges.
“We’ve mastered the end-to-end experience from a physical standpoint — all of the companies, all of the people involved, all of that is already integrated into one team,” Kelly said. “So, where we are looking to put our resources is into the digitization of that process, which would allow for all of these things to be lined up from a digital standpoint, so I can see them on my desktop or in a mobile app as I am transacting.
“That’s really the next evolution of our business model.”
But while some brokerages are looking to achieve this goal while trying to be a firm for every type of agent, Kelly said HomeServices will continue to focus on the types of agents it has always served best.
“There are lots of different types of real estate professionals and consumers out there, and there is room and home for all of these different types of agents. Some agents are looking for the cheapest place to hang their license, and there is a model for them,” Kelly said. “For the agents that feel the need for support, education, camaraderie and culture, that is our model.
“I think that there’s a danger when you see a new model come in, and you feel like you have to distort your DNA and culturally who you are because there may be some percentage of agents or consumers who are drawn to that new model,” Kelly added. ”When that happens, you lose sight of the people who are thriving under your own model.”
