Pleasanton, CA— July 5, 2015 —NextHome is proud to announce our newest addition to the franchise, NextHome Advisors.
Owned and operated by business partners, Jason Jakus and Rebecca Krueger, this Pine Island-based brokerage will provide residential real estate sales to the areas of Cape Coral, the barrier islands and surrounding areas.
After seeing an increase of over 53% in sales at their Fort Myers location since joining the NextHome franchise, Jakus and Krueger made the decision to expand their business into Cape Coral.
“Our REALTOR® members are achieving record sales, and our office is seeing increased market share as we continue to grow. The NextHome platform allows our REALTORS® to work remotely and more efficiently, and the world class marketing platform has increased our conversion on listing appointments from 50% to 90%. In our first year with NextHome, we have taken on 48% more listings then last year,” said Jakus.
The growth of NextHome Advisors has been incredible and measurable. With increased productivity, the agents are doing on average seven transactions per year. Exceptional numbers compared to the local Multiple Listing System average of two transactions per agent, per year.
Both Jakus and Krueger indicated that this has been a direct reflection of the NextHome systems, marketing, and training, as well as the unique culture of support and collaboration within the NextHome Advisor’s office.
NextHome Advisors currently has 32 REALTORS® servicing all of Lee County Florida.
Krueger began her real estate career in 2006 as a member of Leisure American Realty in Ft. Myers Beach, FL. Her sales career took off immediately due to her commitment to excellent client services, which she honed in her previous career as the Director of Operations of a resort company.
“I was fortunate to have been connected with Leisure American Realty because it allowed me to gain sales experience with traditional sales, as well as new home construction, and resort and second home lifestyles,” said Krueger.
In 2009, Jakus joined Krueger at the firm and began his career in a similar fashion. His high sales numbers were fueled by great client services and skills he gained during his former career as a business consultant and coach for Chicos clothing company.
Shortly after working together at the company, Krueger and Jakus partnered to form an exceptional team, which they grew to 11 agents.
“We were fortunate that our hard work paid off in building a great team,” adds Jakus. “As we grew, we continued to add services to help our agents be productive. We found these independently through various sources.”
While content at their brokerage, they knew they were essentially running their team as a brokerage within their brokerage.
“We enjoyed our time at the company, but we were not branding ourselves and we were often purchasing products our company didn’t provide,” said Krueger. “We knew it was time to really consider opening our own real estate company.”
In 2013, Jakus and Krueger opened Platinum Elite Realty and grew their brokerage to 20 agents. The results were exceptional.
They grew to one of the top producing brokerages in the area – consistently selling over $11 million in sales volume annually. In 2015, the brokerage was on pace to sell in excess of $16 million.
While operating as a successful independent brokerage, the partners always kept open to the possibility of joining a franchise. Two colleagues who joined NextHome in 2015 – Anand Patel of NextHome Discovery and Vicky Santana of NextHome Santana Real Estate, introduced them to the NextHome franchise.
“After checking out NextHome.com, I was definitely interested in finding out more,” said Krueger. “Everything from the short-term entry option, affordable fee structure, single sign-on (SSO) Intranet, and the crisp, modern look… all of it contributed to Jason and I knowing NextHome was for us.”
“To add a second location in just over a year says a lot about the vision and follow through of its leaders,” said NextHome’s VP of Business Development, Imran Poladi. “Rebecca and Jason have been an integral part of the growth of our company and we are so happy to see them continue their success.”
While both Jakus and Krueger are committed to working in the community, both have very different roles.
Krueger oversees the details within the brokerage, helping maintain the high integrity and value of the brokerage for their agents. Pushing productivity and keeping agents focused on their goals are her strengths.
Jakus dedicates many hours to the real estate industry through leadership. In 2014, he served as the Chair for the Florida REALTORS® Business Trends and Technology committee. Last year, he served as the President of the Greater Ft. Myers & The Beach Association of REALTORS®.
Jakus currently serves as the Vice President for District 5 for the Florida REALTORS®.
We are proud to have Jason, Rebecca and the rest of the team at NextHome Advisors as part of the NextHome family!
Interested in being a part of the NextHome Real Estate Franchise? Contact VP of Sales Charis Moreno at Charis@NextHome.com.
Each office is an independently owned and operated business.