Meet Kevin Palmer of PalmerHouse Properties

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Palmer.

Kevin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
PalmerHouse Properties is a high-energy real estate firm that creates opportunities for real estate entrepreneurs. Since our beginning in 2006, our goal has remained the same — to foster the success and prosperity of the entrepreneurial real estate professional, it’s through our transparent commission plans and flexible business model that we have been so successful.

PalmerHouse Properties is now comprised of over 1,650 Associated Brokers and Agents and was ranked the 10th largest Georgia real estate brokerage in 2016 closing over $1.32 Billion.

For five consecutive years, PalmerHouse Properties was honored with the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s PaceSetter Award. The Pacesetter Award recognizes those companies that are determined to be the fastest growing, private companies in Atlanta.

For four consecutive years, PalmerHouse was the recipient of the Inc. Magazine Inc. 500 Award, recognized as one of the fastest growing, private companies in the United States. We believe the growth of our company is because of our mission and vision to put our Agents/REALTORS® first.

Finally, for four consecutive years, PalmerHouse was recognized as one of the Best Places To Work In Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. This is no small accomplishment. Each year, more than 550 companies and organizations are nominated and more than 25,000 employees are surveyed. Only 100 companies are recognized as being one of the Best Places To Work. In September 2016, PalmerHouse was awarded No 1 Best Places To Work In Atlanta for small business.

Has it been a smooth road?
As with any new business venture, there are always challenges and opportunities. Believe it or not, I think our biggest “challenge” – if you want to call it that – was being too cautious with expansion. We operated PalmerHouse Properties out of the basement of our home for the first 3 years. Then we selected an office that we thought would support us for 3 years – and we outgrew it in 9 months.

We then moved to a new office space 4-times the size of our first – thinking that it would support us for 3 years – but we outgrew it in less than a year. So, we started expanding with satellite offices. While we still have our corporate office in Buckhead, we now have 6 satellite offices and 9 team offices throughout Georgia; a corporate office in Sarasota, Florida and 3 team offices; as well as offices in St. Louis, Missouri and Charlotte, North Carolina.

However, I never wanted to put the company at risk financially so we were very cautious about managing our expenses without reducing the support and service levels to our Agents.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with PalmerHouse Properties – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
PalmerHouse Properties is a leading residential and commercial, full-service real estate brokerage.

What makes us unique? Most real estate brokerages consider the end user – the buyer or the seller – as the client. We take a very different approach. Our client is our Agent. We believe that the Agent is the one with the relationship with the buyers and sellers – not PalmerHouse Properties. So, we do whatever we can to support the success and prosperity of our Agents, which in turn allows our Agents to better serve their clients.

Every business decision that is made at PalmerHouse Properties is based on what is BEST for the Agent – not what is BEST for PalmerHouse. It is true that we could up-charge our Agents on marketing collateral, signs, lockboxes, errors and omissions (E&O) insurance coverage, and the list goes on and one, but in the end, that isn’t what is best for our Agents. PalmerHouse Properties is in the real estate business and that is where we make our money — not on overcharging our agents on everything else.

I am very fortunate to have a leadership team that is like-minded. We all believe – and practice – the idea that when we do the right thing – all the time – and approach our jobs with an attitude of service towards our Agents – then the money will come. We see that demonstrated in our business every single day.

We operate under the motto: Respect People – Have Fun – Make Money.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Because we operate in so many cities across Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Missouri, it’s really impossible to say what we like best or least about a city. Each community, town, and city that we services has positives and negatives. However, our goal is to service and support our agents so that they can do the best job possible for their clients.