There is no doubt that Sherry Chris is a real estate industry veteran. In the early 1980s, Chris began her career as a real estate agent, and in 1987, joined Royal LePage as a branch manager. Over the next 16 years at Royal LePage, Chris climbed the corporate ranks, eventually becoming the firm’s executive vice president.
In 2006, Chris joined Realogy, now known as Anywhere, as the chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker. A year later she was tasked with launching a franchise brokerage new brand, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHGRE), serving as the brand’s CEO and president. Since 2019, Chris has been the CEO of Anywhere Expansion Brands, which includes BHGRE and ERA Real Estate.
RealTrends recently caught up with Chris to discuss her career, healthy risk taking and how the industry has changed since the 1980s.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Brooklee Han: You started your career in real estate as an agent before transitioning to the management side. But what first prompted your interest in having a career in the real estate industry?
Sherry Chris: As a young woman, I bought my first home, and I thought that it was an interesting process, and that I could probably do a better job at it. So, I got my real estate license, left my career in finance and started selling real estate.
BH: Can you tell me about the transition from your career in finance to the real estate industry?
Chris: Having a background in finance really allowed me to understand the mortgage process and to also understand the value of owning a home as a long-term investment and as a vehicle to build wealth for homeowners and their families. Then, of course, there is also the emotional part of it as well.
BH: After working as an agent for a few years, you then transitioned over to the brokerage management side. What inspired you to make this switch?
Chris: I think that most people realize in their career journey where the best potential use of their skill set lies, and I realized that helping people buy and sell real estate was the best use of my skill set. So, I moved into management and started training and helping agents and broker-owners. Again, my finance background absolutely helped with that. Helping brokers build a valuable asset is, to me, very rewarding, just as it is for agents to help consumers build a valuable asset in their personal real estate holdings.
BH: What are some of the biggest lessons you have learned about yourself throughout your career?
Chris: As you go through the journey of your career, you are growing as a person and you take on more opportunities that then push you further. I would encourage everyone to stretch themselves and do things that are different and unexpected.
One of the opportunities I gladly accepted was starting Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate in 2007 during the financial crisis. The last thing I though brokers would be interested in was joining a new brand, but there is always a way to make a difference, and always a way to build a value proposition that is unique.
I have realized that I like to take calculated risks — I identify potential upside and the downside, and that helps me determine whether I am willing to take that risk or not, and that is true for both my personal and professional life. Not everyone is prepared to take as many risks. It really is a personal call, but I encourage people to step outside their comfort zone and be prepared for the downside to happen as well as for the potential for a tremendous upside.
BH: What do you feel is one of the biggest risks you have taken in your career and how did it turn out?
Chris: Joining Realogy in 2006. I started by career in Canada — as I am Canadian — and I now have dual citizenship. But I took a leap of faith and left my Canadian career, started my American career and ended up at Realogy. It was exactly where I wanted to be: at the largest real estate company in the world, as I knew it would provide a lot of great opportunities and it certainly has.
When I think about that, back then, it was a risk, but I knew that there could be a tremendous potential upside, and today I oversee two brands with close to 50,000 agents in over 30 counties — and that never would have been possible if I had stayed in Canada.
BH: As you mentioned, you started BHGRE at the height of the Great Recession. Today we are in another time of economic uncertainty. What are some lessons you learned through your experience in 2007 and 2008 that you feel are applicable today?
Chris: One of the things is that you don’t always have to have money to be successful. Creativity is more important than having a lot of money and not spending it wisely, at least from a business perspective.
Back at the launch of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, we looked at how to do things differently. The CEO of Realogy at that time told me not to launch the brand if it was the same as our other five brands, and to find a unique gap in the market and fill it. So when we licensed the name Better Homes and Gardens from the publishing company Meredith, we were back to launch a lifestyle brand that had more of a direct reach to the end consumer.
When I look at the various successful brands today, both inside and outside of Anywhere, I don’t see any that reaches out to the end consumer in a way that is experiential and allows for consumers to dream about the next phase of their lives through design — and ultimately by a dream home that they can grow in.
BH: What are some of the biggest changes you have seen within the industry over the course of your career?
Chris: The industry is very much the same today as it was when I started back in the 1980s, where agents and consumers have a strong relationship, and the agents’ roles is just as important today as it was back then. There have been some evolutions though, of course.
Banks in the 1980s, the brokers and broker-owners controlled the industry, and the agents didn’t have the same flexibility and freedom as they do today. Now I feel agents and large teams are more the predominant force in the industry, but there are so many different business models out there now that facilitate the needs of the individual agents. These agents today have a lot more choice, and for the broker-owners, that means that they need to pick their swim lane, as I like to call it, and build a value proposition in that lane.
Technology has also taken on a much larger role in our industry. It can be used very effectively to create efficiencies that allow agents to do what they do best and have more face-to-face contact with consumers and really act as the human being that is there to guide and advise them in the transaction.
But technology has also made the agents’ jobs harder because they have to sort through all the clutter of technology, and all the information the consumer is coming to them with that they now have access to, and help them figure out what is pertinent to their current situation so they can make the best choice for themselves.
