Above, Chris Trapani
VITALS:
Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno
Years in business: 34
Size: 19 offices, 650-plus agents
Regions Served: San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Wine
Country, Lake Tahoe, Sierra Foothills
2023 Sales Volume: $5B-plus
2023 Transactions: 2,965
https://www.sereno.com
Real estate is in Chris Trapani’s blood. In the 1940s, his grandfather ran a brokerage—Trapani Realty—along “The Avenue” in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California.
The Trapani family spent many weekends viewing properties together, while young Chris learned the value in acquiring, improving and holding real estate for the long run.
So, after graduating from Cal Poly in 1990, Trapani followed in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps. He started at Contempo Realty in 1990, switching to CENTURY 21 when the company merged in 1997. Another merger, this time with Coldwell Banker/NRT in 2001, saw Trapani rise to sales manager for a pair of Coldwell Banker Los Gatos offices, managing a team of 200 and seeing more than $1 billion in sales.
Today, Trapani is CEO and co-founder of Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno, one of the Bay Area’s largest and most productive locally owned and operated real estate firms.
As we reach the end of 2024, how would you characterize your market this past year?
Chris Trapani: A great deal of buyer capacity in Silicon Valley with too little quality supply. The Silicon Valley ASP (average sales price) has mirrored the NASDAQ for the past 25 years due to the fact that employees of tech companies make up a large segment of the buyer population and tend to convert their increasing stock values into residential real estate. We have been in a unit-constrained dynamic due to relatively short supply, which is why real estate values continued to climb despite high interest rates.
How do you foresee 2025 unfolding?
CT: I believe there are pent-up sellers who have waited for a variety of reasons—such as low interest rates on their existing homes—but who cannot indefinitely suspend life decisions. Over the long run, real estate cycles tend to follow the law that for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. Therefore, sales units will tend to normalize over the long run, and I expect this to really begin to take shape in 2025 in the San Francisco Bay Area with increasing supply meeting up with strong buyer demand and capacity.
How do you stay informed about current real estate market trends to guide your business strategy?
CT: I have been a student of market dynamics for over 25 years, particularly tracking month’s supply of inventory, percent of available homes under contract and days on market, to name a few. I scan several news feeds multiple times daily (Bloomberg, WSJ, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch) to get a cross section of news, trends and opinions. I have also become addicted to the Acquired Podcast, which covers a wide span of topics. I speak to many of our agents daily who provide me with real-time information and anecdotes, and I find this incredibly helpful to get a true sense of the market.
How do you provide an exceptional customer experience to your clients?
CT: We constantly emphasize “the Sereno way”—that a for-profit company can make a profit and not lose its soul. That it does so by striving for the highest professional standards, including respectful dealing with clients, other agents and giving back to our local communities.
What is your training philosophy?
CT: We provide different styles of training, all with agent development and systems in mind. Lorna Hines, Ninja Selling and Accelerate are all examples of different styles but similar ideologies. We raise the level of service with each agent to provide a luxury sales experience.
How would you describe your leadership style?
CT: I have always aspired to be a servant leader. My philosophy is that I work for our agents and people. A few key things I have learned about leadership—mostly through suffering over the years—are: Asking others for help is not a sign of weakness; earning respect is more important than being liked; and there are always going to be people who are smarter than you and from whom you can learn. If and when you do find success, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you did it all on your own.
How do you stay engaged with the communities where you operate, and why is this important for your business?
CT: Through our 1% for Good Charitable Foundation, we have a pulse on the needs of each community we serve. We’ve had more than $6 million donated to 400-plus local charities chosen by our agents, and we encourage our agents to get engaged locally with volunteerism and leadership in various community organizations. We have a spirit of volunteerism in the organization that also extends to organized real estate. We have multiple association leaders in our organization, including two presidents of the larger local associations and incoming presidents, so we are visible as leaders in our local real estate communities.
