December 31, 2020 –
Dear PLACE,
It was less than a year ago that we came together as a new family, with a new vision, meeting new friends, and wearing a new logo and new name. Little did we know at the time just how important that name would become.
Never before in history has having a PLACE been so important.
It’s safe to say that no one entered 2020 expecting it to unfold the way that it has. It has not been easy. And we acknowledge and applaud each of you for digging in and showing up and taking it on in the best way that you could. We acknowledge and applaud you for showing up as mothers and fathers. As grandparents and uncles and aunts. As brothers and sisters. As children and as friends and neighbors. As we look around the organization today, without fail, every single one of you showed up and did what you had to do and what the world needed you to do. Some showed up as teachers. Some showed up as caregivers and nurses and doctors. Some showed up as providers. We all showed up as winners.
While the world around us talks about everything we lost this year, we continue to focus on what we won. There is no doubt that this year many of us lost weddings, and graduations, and anniversaries, and funerals. We lost parties, and concerts, and sporting events. We even lost people.
But this year we won as well. We won time with our families. We won waking up with our children at home and going to bed with them still there. We won new relationships and we repaired others. We won perspective and reflection. We won quiet and balance. We won new habits and foundations laid.
This year we won each other, and we won PLACE.
Every human needs a PLACE of safety, and security, and shelter. We need a PLACE of community, and connectedness, and collaboration. We need a PLACE of acceptance, and affirmation, and approval. We need a PLACE of identity, and fulfillment, and growth.
This PLACE is all of that, for all of us.
PLACE is not just a name.
Whisper to yourself the name of your mother, or your father, maybe a grandparent, your own child, or a close friend. Maybe you still have that person with you. Or perhaps you lost them many years ago. Maybe it was just this year that they left your side. Either way, that name has meaning. That name has emotion. That name reminds you of everything that person stands for, everything that person has done for you, but also reminds you who you want to be for that person as well. PLACE is not a company.
PLACE is a movement. It’s a movement towards delivering the dream of homeownership everywhere while building experiential lives together and for our communities. When anyone within the industry whispers your name, it has meaning. That meaning will live well beyond all of us. The industry understands the type of real estate agent and broker that is part of PLACE. The consumer understands the level of service they will receive when working with PLACE. When your name is whispered it has emotion. It reminds everyone what we stand for.
And we certainly weren’t whispering this year. While many froze in uncertainty, we all laced up our boots and tightened our belts and got to work building our future. We hit new peaks and broke new records in literally every metric our business and the real estate industry can track: Number of homes sold, total volume closed, gross revenue generated, net profit earned, number of agents added and retained. Ultimately this led to our helping over 6000 families with a real estate related transaction in 2020. The dream of homeownership became reality for so many of our customers – many of those purchasing their first home, second home, or even tenth home.
This year was a year of firsts. Most of us have never lived through a worldwide pandemic. Most of us have never experienced such widespread unrest and political turmoil. Most of us have never witnessed such polarization.
But amidst that, it was a year of firsts for PLACE as well. For the first time we will have the pleasure of delivering revenue sharing checks across the country. For the first time we will have peace of mind knowing there is a path for every single one of our agents and their families to have health care. For the first time many of our partners took massive steps along our new Opportunity Model. In one of the most difficult economic years in our country’s history, for the first time, many of you broke the ceiling of grossing a million, many broke the ceiling of netting a million, and collectively we gave a million.
As we look ahead to 2021, expect another year of firsts. We are excited that this will be the first full year of partnership here at PLACE for so many of you. We look forward to rolling out some firsts not only for PLACE but for the entire industry. We will compliment our current offerings with services like financial planning, stock options, opportunities with ancillary services, state of the art technology, training & coaching curriculums, just to name a few.
And we can let you in on a little secret. After 9 months of negotiations we as a company have acquired PLACE.com. One of the largest and most expensive domain purchases in history, and well worth every penny. This will become our PLACE online. This will become the premiere PLACE for consumers to search for real estate and to get access to everything home – real estate services, mortgage, insurance, title and escrow, just the beginning…
We will all continue to build a PLACE driven by our mission – delivering the dream of homeownership everywhere while building experiential lives. We will continue to win in business, make money, and give to others while we live experientially.
We all need a PLACE to call home.
We are proud to call PLACE our home.
And we are glad this is your PLACE as well.
We thank you for your commitment, your loyalty, and your trust.
With appreciation, respect, and humility,