THE VISIONARY JAY PHILLIP PARKER
“CLOSING THE TRANSACTION is just the beginning of the relationship,” says Jay Phillip Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Florida Brokerage, a mantra behind his goal to change how brokers deal with their clients, and also with one another. Jay’s mission to remold the industry has already produced one of Elliman’s most profitable offices, creating a future model for the residential sector of the property industry. Parker started his career as an attorney in Miami who seized 102 QUEST
upon the void that existed for broker support systems in residential real estate. “I was privileged to be working with the best agents, and I became painfully aware of the lack of structured support for realtors. Unfortunately, I was not in a position to help at the time.” Four years ago, Elliman’s owner and chairman, Howard Lorber, approached Parker with a visionary new concept. Together, they identified the chance to powerfully connect agents around the country, as well as to reestablish the significant role that brokers can play in their clients’ lives. “Douglas Elliman was fortunate to have identified Jay Parker to lead our Florida expansion; his vision, determination, and steadfast commitment to professionalism have significantly contributed towards our firm’s explosive expansion throughout South Florida,” says Lorber. Parker explains, “This was an opportunity to rebuild the industry.” Agents are trained to set as their ultimate goal a valuable connection with the client. “We focus on long-term associations built on trust,” Parker emphasizes. Imagine a relationship with your realtor that was similar to that of a financial advisor or a doctor—a trusted professional who stands by you throughout the evolving stages of your lifetime. This is Parker’s vision, one he executes with frequent touch points, such as encouraging agents to issue quarterly reports for clients to follow how the market is faring. Says Parker: “Once our client has a connection to an agent, that association extends to the entire Elliman group across the country; and, thanks to a recent partnership with Knight Frank, that relationship now extends around the globe!” His second goal is to have agents who are better educated, more knowledgeable and have the training to deploy the Elliman network throughout the continent—a proprietary advantage that franchised realtors lack. This data-driven web of global agents has the ability to help Elliman clients identify appropriate properties in all markets, anywhere in the world. “We provide fertile ground for agents to interact,” Parker says. “The weakness with existing realtor franchises is that making a referral is not vital or incentivized; and that’s where Elliman shines. Our referral business is equally as important as the initial sale.” Thanks to the platform Parker has developed, a team
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