Cameron Merage

First Team Real Estate

Early in his career as a top agent, Cameron Merage personally completed hundreds of transactions involving millions of dollars of sales volume during his five years in home sales. It is this hands-on experience that Merage drew upon to create the long-term strategic vision for Orange County, California’s First Team Real Estate, which he founded upon the principles of an unwavering commitment to client service, value creation and unmatched knowledge of the local market. Starting the firm in 1976 after succeeding as a top-producing agent since 1971 in Newport Beach, Calif., Merage quickly became a leading real estate force in Southern California. An entrepreneur at heart, to this day, Merage embraces new challenges that arise by harnessing innovation and creativity.

In addition to his role at the helm of First Team, Merage is known as a philanthropic pillar of Orange County with a long history of diverse humanitarian, academic and cultural giving. He continuously gives back to the community through “First in Our Hearts”, a charitable foundation he created to “build on and focus First Team Real Estate’s long tradition of working to make life better in the communities we serve,” he explains.

Amid the pandemic, Merage shifted his team to a remote work environment and guided his agents to success by creating targeted digital marketing campaigns and improving internal communication to increase productivity. He also launched the Helping Community Heroes program, offering a free 1/4 percent interest rate reduction for essential workers.

Because of these innovative strategies and Merage’s leadership, First Team represented more buyers and sellers during the first three months of quarantine than any other brokerage in the county. Additionally, in August 2020, the company set the record for the highest closed units and sales volume in 15 years.