Jason Mitchell Group, the U.S.’s third-fastest-growing brokerage, has an innovative business-to-business lead referral model that could catapult it into one of the nation’s largest companies.

The Scottsdale, Arizona-based firm’s $3.4 billion in 2022 sales volume was up 53.5% from 2021, the third-highest percentage gain in annual sales volume among the nation’s 1,000 largest companies included in the 2023 Mega 1000.

U.S.’s Fastest-Growing Brokerages

Jason Mitchell founded the company in 2006, which now has 500 agents and operates in 22 states and more than 80 markets. The company rose in the Mega 1000 leaderboard from No. 220 in 2021 to No.191 in 2022 and landed at No.86 in 2023.

Jason Mitchell Group Growth

JMG reports that 90% of its business comes from its referral partners, which include mortgage companies like Rocket Mortgage, Zillow Home Loans and Veterans United, and alternative finance companies like Opendoor and Offerpad.

The JMG Model

In his early 40s, Mitchell began as an agent, and early in his career recognized that massive companies, particularly mortgage firms and their lead generation arms (such as Zillow Home Loans), would increasingly win the attention of, and build relationships with real estate consumers.

By serving as a trusted partner that could take real estate consumer leads and pair them with real estate agents while focusing on helping the mortgage referral partner win those consumers’ mortgage business, Mitchell saw a promising formula and developed it into JMG.

The company offers different tracks for agents.

In JMG’s Network Certified Agent program, agents receive leads from referral partners  JMG pays a 35% referral fee to the partner and shares the commission with agents on a 60-40 split, with the company receiving the bulk. Agents who generate their own business get higher splits.

The company makes this program available to agents who prove themselves, aiming to maintain a productive relationship with its partners. It claims to close 20- to 40% of the referrals it sends agents.

To incentivize consumers to use the mortgage services from the partner who refers them to JMG, JMG offers 1% of the purchase price as cash at the close when they transact with JMG and use the referral partner’s services. See JMG’s landing page for Zillow as an example of this messaging and offer.

JMG also offers traditional agent services with aggressive splits with a team option.

The firm provides technology, coaching and services to all its agents. They receive CINC CRM and IDX websites and access to the firm’s back-office system.

JMG also has a revenue-sharing model that other fast-growing brokerages such as eXp Realty and The Real Brokerage have leveraged for organic growth. For every agent recruit, agents earn 5% of every commission of every deal they do with the firm for as long as they are with the company.

To facilitate more referrals and to own more of the lead-generation business, JMG’s parent company JMG Holding Partners acquired HomeAdvantage, a real estate company servicing more than 120 credit unions across the U.S., in December 2022.

Takeaway

Developing and winning real estate business is increasingly becoming the domain of large firms with billions of dollars to invest in marketing and systems. Innovative models, like the one deployed by JMG, help leverage this scale by efficiently tying agents in. Given its growth and success, and the ongoing scale of online lead gen, this model provides a compelling opportunity for brokerages and teams.

Additional reporting by Daniel Talamantes