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Mentoring has been important to Dana Point, California, broker Phil Immel, and he’s passing his passion for education on to consumers and up-and-coming agents. After trademarking the brand “Real Estate Guru” two decades ago, Immel now answers his followers’ real estate questions through television appearances, online content and a branded app.
Immel maintains a family team culture while serving high-net-worth clients in his coastal enclave. He recently represented the seller on a transaction that featured the highest sale price ever recorded in his market at $33 million.
Find out how this highly sought-after real estate expert and media personality continues to break records while guiding the next generation of real estate superstars.
Name: Phil Immel
Title: Real estate broker
Experience: Licensed 50 years. Majored in real estate in college. Corporate executive at Coldwell Banker for 10 years. No. 8 in the United States with Prudential Real Estate for more than 60,000 agents and continue to be the top agent in Orange County, California.
Location: Dana Point, California – Orange County (Coastal)
Brokerage name: Pacific Sotheby’s International
Rankings: Top 1 percent of all agents nationally
Team size: 4
Transaction sides: 12
Sales volume: $50-130 million
How did you get your start in real estate?
After growing up in Chicago and being the last of five kids, my parents moved to San Diego to semi-retire. I did not know anybody in San Diego when I came back from college break.
When I was 18 years old, I saw an advertisement for getting a real estate license, and I signed up. I had the best teacher on the planet that I’ve ever had in my entire adult life. I sat for the real estate salesperson’s license in California at 19 years old and passed.
Being responsible for financially paying my way through college, I was majoring in real estate at San Diego State University and getting qualified to take my broker’s exam, which I went on to achieve a couple of years later.
When Century 21 started as a company, I joined them as one of their first agents. Not having a clue what I was doing, I was highly motivated to make money and serve clients.
What do you wish more people knew about working in real estate?
I wish people in real estate understood the importance of educating themselves about both the sales and technical sides of doing transactions. Many people come into real estate as a second or third career. As a result, they might be good at a skillset that is excellent in either sales or technical knowledge; however, to be truly successful, agents must master both categories.
A smart agent should learn something new every day related to the industry. Additionally, I wish agents knew how to be well-capitalized to get into the business and stay in the business financially.
What’s something you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
How important it is to be a student of the business and related businesses every day. To not only have a hyperlocal understanding of the market, but to understand worldwide economic policies and how they affect real estate.
Real estate is typically the most expensive asset that Americans buy, and as representatives for them, we should be the smartest people in the room.
Tell us about a high point in your brokerage career
A recent high point in my career was when I listed and sold 63 Monarch Bay Drive, Dana Point, California – shattering the Dana Point record sales price at $33 million. It was an honor to be a part of this sale, representing the seller.
Name 3 people you admire
The three people that I admire the most and have had the most pivotal impact on my career are Joe Hanauer, Steve Jobs, and Harry Cooper.
Joe Hanauer was the Chairman of the Board of Coldwell Banker, and I worked directly for him as Vice President. He was, and still is, an incredible mentor and taught me the most about the business itself. We are still very close friends to this day and regularly stay in touch. He is also a multi-time client.
Steve Jobs has always had a profound impact on me because of the visionary that he was. Steve continued to challenge the status quo and evolve his industry to a new standard. I believe we have a lot of similar traits and the same way of thinking.
Harry Cooper is a wealthy technology entrepreneur and personal/business mentor from La Jolla, California. As an aside, his brother, Wyatt Cooper, was married to Gloria Vanderbilt.
