How Becoming a Zillow Premier Agent Partner Helped Turn This Solo Career into a Thriving Team

When Sarita Dua got her real estate license in 2003, she looked at it as the first chapter in a new career — and a license to learn.

Nineteen years later, Dua is still learning, only now she also coaches other real estate agents, speaks at real estate conferences and events, and runs a small team of agents at Keller Williams Realty Professionals in Portland, Oregon.

“I’ve learned a lot,’’ says Dua, who left a career in high tech sales and marketing for real estate, drawn in by the prospect of being her own boss and working from home while she and her husband raised two children.

Dua credits her success to hands-on engagement, a customer-first mindset that has produced a steady stream of repeat customers and referrals, and what she describes as the consistent flow of high-intent buyer leads that come from being a Zillow Premier Agent partner. 

“Consumers do their homework, and they’re on Zillow,’’ says Dua. “That is the place for information about real estate.”

As the market begins to cool from the white-hot sellers’ market of the past two years, Dua says she is looking to Zillow to provide a consistent flow of leads for her and her team of three agents.

“Just like consumers do their homework, I do my homework, too,’’ she says. “I’ve looked at other competitors to Zillow, and I’ve looked at other resources that I have that aren’t internet-based. High-intent, ready-to-purchase, knowledgeable buyers are coming from Zillow, so I want to be there.” 

Hitting a sales ceiling as a solo agent

Dua started her real estate career as a solo agent, focusing on Portland and the surrounding suburbs.

With her husband working a corporate job and their families living back on the East Coast, real estate seemed like a good lifestyle fit. For one, the cost of entry was low, and her compensation would be 100% tied to the results she produced. Plus, she could work and learn at her own pace while also caring for her daughter and son.

“I’m definitely a go-getter,’’ she said. “It probably took me a little longer to figure it all out as a single agent, but I definitely needed that flexibility.“

Dua learned by doing, she says. She wrote her first offer two weeks into the job, held open houses and shadowed other agents. Her first year, she sold $7 million. Then it was $16 million the following two years and $20 million consistently for several years after that, she says.

“The challenge, before starting my team, was that I hit this watermark of 50 deals a year,’’ she says. “I sort of felt that unless I had more time or more days in a week or more time per day, I couldn’t break through that ceiling I hit every year for eight years in a row.”

She began to get leads off the internet, but it was only when she became a Zillow Premier Agent partner that she was finally able to break through that ceiling.

Dua says Zillow’s Premier Agent program provided a consistent source of leads to balance out the less predictable flow from the referrals and repeat customers that make up 85% of her business. And they raised her profile among active buyers looking in a particular zip code.

Learn more about becoming a Zillow Premier Agent partner and start connecting with buyers and sellers.

“I love the combination of the organic presence I already have with my reviews and my sales, coupled with the fact that people are seeing me, they’re seeing my listings, and I have a presence where I want to do business and where people are looking,’’ she says. “For me, nobody does it better than Zillow.”

Growing into a team

The boost in business eventually led Dua to create a team, which now consists of three other agents and two administrators.

“When you have Zillow leads, you’ve got to respond to them right away,’’ she says. “Being a single agent, you might be in a listing appointment or out of the area or whatever. If you don’t call that lead right away, you’ve really reduced the chance of connecting with that person.” 

With a team, she can maintain the personal connection that is key to her brand, she says. Keeping the flow of business going for the team as market conditions change is her latest challenge, one she says she will use Zillow to address.

“The market is definitely shifting. You can feel it,’’ she says. “It started early May. Things are taking a little longer to sell, things aren’t quite going pending in a weekend. Inflation and mortgage rate increases are definitely putting a pinch on affordability, especially at the lower price levels.”

Her message to prepared buyers sidelined by multiple offers and astronomical over-asking prices in super-competitive markets is “Let’s talk!’’ For sellers, her message is to get the house on the market now before interest rates rise further.

In addition to having targeted, specific conversations with buyers and sellers on her lists, Dua says she’s also making surgical choices about where to spend her marketing dollars.

“I’m looking to double down on Zillow because I think Zillow still provides the highest intent buyers, and we might need more buyers and sellers overall to maintain (or grow)the results that we want,’’ she says.

Finding a supportive community

In addition to growing her business, Dua has found friendship and community among other Zillow Premier Agents she’s met over the years at events like Unlock or Premier Agent Forum. Those connections have become a great client referral source and helped her sort out compensation, benefits, vacation policies and other issues that come with running a small business.

For new agents, having experienced people to call — especially during times of change — can be a lifesaver, she says.

“Zillow is a community,’’ says Dua, “and I urge people to lean into it, now more than ever. This is not the time to not go it alone and try to figure this out by yourself.”