Dan Elsea

Real Estate One

Dan Elsea, president of Brokerage Services for the Real Estate One Family of Companies, and his brother Stuart are equal partners, splitting operational duties at the family business founded by their grandfather in 1929.

While Dan Elsea oversees the brokerage side of the business, including all 45 company-owned offices and 2,100 sales associates, Stuart oversees the operations, affiliated businesses, franchising, corporate relocation, property management, etc.

One of Elsea’s major accomplishments this past year, while not yet completed, is shifting the firm’s agents to adjust to a new market pace and, longer term, a new communication environment based on social media. This has been done through a combination of education, enhanced technology platforms and some new tools, including remote EMD deposits.

“All brokers and sales associates face an opportunity/challenge of deciding where they want their business model to fall between a facilitator vs. counselor. Those that stand still or move slowly will become facilitators by default, providing a low-cost, low-service model. It’ll take extra energy, creativity and using the advantages of technology to remain a true real estate counselor,” says Elsea, who takes pride in being fast to market on economic and technology changes and opportunities.

Elsea also serves as the current chairman of Upstream, a comprehensive data-management project for the benefit of the real estate industry. An easy-to-use data-management platform, Upstream helps brokerages—regardless of size—collect, manage and distribute brokerage information quickly. Having officially rolled out in 2018, Upstream is about protecting data through deliberate distribution, creating efficiencies and inspiring innovation.