Inman

Keller Williams adds 141st expansion team for U.S. markets

Keller Williams is one step closer to meeting a 150-team milestone for its expansion team count, with the addition of Texas-based commercial real estate team Corner Realty.

Founded this year as the real estate arm of energy firm Corner Capital, Corner Realty’s four offices in Texas, California, Connecticut and Arizona have already completed $1 billion in convenience retail and energy-related transactions.

“Everything in business begins and ends with great relationships,” Corner Realty Managing Director Mike Bohnert said in a statement. “And we’re very honored to align with KW to scale our services across the U.S.”

“A truly entrepreneurial culture, we were first highly attracted to the can-do attitude of KW agents,” he added. “Yet, KW’s strong commitment to providing best-in-class processes and services for agents to serve clients matches our own; and was a key deciding factor to partner with KW.”

With the partnership, Corner Realty will be able to scale nationally through the Keller Williams Expansion Network, and in turn, other network members will be able to leverage Corner Realty’s operations to serve commercial clients.

Stacey Onnen | Credit: eXp

“We’re excited to collaborate with the Corner Realty team as we continue to broaden the services within our commercial real estate division to enable our entrepreneurial agents to thrive,” KW Head of Operations and Service Stacey Onnen said.

As the network celebrates its one-year anniversary, Onnen said it’s poised to be licensed in all 50 states by the end of 2022.  Keller William’s expansion agent (5,150) and team count (141) is also experiencing robust growth with both segments increasing 30 percent and 22 percent year-over-year, respectively.

“We’ve been patient with the pace of our national rollout of KWEN to ensure we’re building a strong foundation for success and maintaining the hyperlocal experience provided by our market centers today,” she said.

Onnen told Inman that Keller Williams is continually exploring ways to optimize the network, which enables members to continue using the mentorship, technology and other resources of their original team and offer streamlined commission splits.

“I think it’s really significant,” KW President Marc King said of the simplified commission structure that requires teams only to pay their local market center. “And I think what you’re seeing is teams growing at an unprecedented rate.”

Once the network reaches all 50 states, Onnen said they’ll be able to pick up the pace with recruitment.

“Through KWEN, we continue to retain and attract more and more of our industry’s top real estate expansion teams to Keller Williams,” she said.