It takes a special kind of agent to sell a sprawling multimillion-dollar mansion complete with celebrity claims to fame. It takes a special kind of agent to walk a buyer through this kind of transaction, too.
But when Krista McGowen listed former Texans defensive end Mario Williams’ $7+ million home, she had a hunch it would go to someone she knew, and that she would be that “special agent” to see it through.
Her instincts proved to be correct: Last month she represented both parties in the sale of 701 W. Friar Tuck Lane in the Memorial area of Houston — a win for her, but also a win for her boutique brokerage, NextGen Real Estate, which recently launched a luxury division dedicated to buying and selling precisely this type of home.
Changing the way the game is played
NextGen Luxe is positioned as the black label of the brokerage’s signature brand, fine-tuned for the future of luxury real estate. And this is perhaps what is most interesting about NextGen’s recent play in this space. There has been no dramatic overhaul of their core business model; simply a refinement of everything people have known and loved about this start-up all along.
It turns out that creative content, authentic relationships, and innovative marketing have their place in the luxury market, too. “What we do — what we have always done — works exceptionally well in this niche,” confirms NextGen CEO and broker Julia Wang.
“No one has been surprised by the launch of NextGen Luxe,” she reflects. “Except perhaps our competitors, who still seem to have a hard time taking us seriously despite our track record in selling epic properties such as this one, and the high caliber of luxury agents joining our ranks every day.”
One explanation could be that NextGen has captured a whole new demographic of luxury buyers in Texas.
The sports professional, the Silicon Valley transplant, the serial entrepreneur looking for a business-friendly base for their latest venture — these trends were in motion before the pandemic hit the property market, but gathered momentum as remote working exploded and word got around that Texas, and especially Houston, represented comparatively affordable luxury.
As a tech-driven product of this unprecedented time, NextGen (founded in 2020) has emerged as uniquely placed to serve this new generation of luxury buyers and sellers.
Work hard, play hard, live Luxe
McGowen would have to agree: “My clients are almost entirely from the realm of sports and entertainment. They have the buying power. What they do not have is the respect of the big-box brokerages, whose luxury marketing is still geared toward a demographic that isn’t them.”
It’s true: The buttoned-up experience offered by legacy brokerages does not befit the modern luxury buyer, either demographically or experientially. This is where NextGen swoops in with their egalitarian approach and an altogether different tagline: "work hard, play hard, live Luxe."
NextGen’s life-affirming way of doing business has proven immensely popular among the new luxury real estate clientele. Left to NextGen Luxe, broker open houses have become spectacular industry-renowned events — an influential women's social, a fine wine tasting, an exotic car rally — all catered by luxury brands with whom they partner, and captured in a range of shareable content.
As such, the reach and appeal of a NextGen Luxe property is amplified across a broad network of agents and buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors, 99 percent of millennials — currently the most active buying demographic — go online or turn to social media to narrow their search.
“Social media might be where we begin,” suggests NextGen’s powerhouse director of sales, Christy Huckaby. “But selling luxury is where we end up. One hundred percent of our agents have grown their business since making the switch to NextGen, many of them by moving into the luxury market.”
Free agent
Huckaby, herself a luxury broker, joined NextGen earlier this year after calling time on the exploitative practices of the industry’s big players. For her, the answer was agents first, brokerage second — the kind of next-generational thinking she saw in spades at NextGen Real Estate.
“Happy agents make happy clients” is an oft-stated maxim among the leadership team. Their focus is less on how much the agents can produce for the brokerage, and more on how the brokerage can make the agents feel supported and empowered to produce. Success follows for all key stakeholders — including clients. It’s classic abundance philosophy, reconfigured as corporate strategy.
Fun events and surprise giveaways are one thing, but where the buck stops — literally — is what matters most in the current real estate market. For producers of high value homes, NextGen’s commission plans make particular sense: 80/20 with a $20,000 cap, plus a range of brokerage-sponsored marketing collateral for every listing over $750,000.
“You know what I would do,” Huckaby is known for musing to her social media following, before launching into a compelling take on the world as she sees it. “I would run, not walk, to a brokerage that repays my investment in them — that makes me feel valued, celebrated, and inspired — and that reflects this in the commission structure.”
She is of course referring to NextGen, the fastest-growing independent brokerage in Texas with a retention rate in the high nineties, percentage-wise.
Niche down to level up
And McGowen is living proof that these principles yield impressive results. An early recruit to the NextGen team, she made the move so that she could build the business she wanted.
“It just made sense — for me and my clients especially," she says. "I knew that sports and entertainment was my niche. I had the connections and the experience. But my previous brokerage wasn’t aligned with having such a singular vision. At NextGen, I was given the freedom to flourish and the tools I needed to optimize my brand, my way … and here we are!”
Asked what her strategy was for selling a $7M+ home in such a tumultuous market, she describes a combination of grit and endurance not unfamiliar to the football field. Each and every time an athlete announced a move to Houston, she would reach out to them or their agents, planting seeds that this stunning property might be the home for them.
Eventually one such seed sprouted into an all-cash offer with a 20-day close. An out-of-state buyer from within McGowen’s network had seen the listing, at one point saving pictures of the property to his phone. He finally pulled the trigger when a family member called him, raving about its extraordinary, million-dollar resort pool. “It was always going to be about that pool!” McGowen laughs.
Dive into luxury
Meanwhile, everything is going swimmingly at NextGen HQ. The brokerage’s new, custom-designed office on I-10 is a hive of next-generational thinking, with plans in the coming year to expand deeper into the Dallas and Austin markets. “We have a lot to be thankful for, and even more to be excited about,” reveals Wang, who has a special message for luxury agents in particular.
“We know your worth, and so should you," she says. "We reward our big hitters with even bigger incentives. The #nextgentakeover is real and we would love for you to join us."
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NextGen Luxe is currently recruiting. If you are an agent with five or more $750k+ properties in production this year, reach out to Christy Huckaby at 281-224-5022. All enquiries will be handled in confidence.
Photo courtesy of NextGen Real Estate
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