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When Robert Palmer launched LPT Realty in March 2022, he didn’t just set out to build another real estate brokerage. He wanted to redefine what a brokerage could be.
In just three years, the Florida-headquartered firm cracked the top 10 of the RealTrends Verified Brokerage Rankings, No. 10 in transaction sides and No. 14 by sales volume.
If you ask Palmer, the secret to LPT’s growth, it isn’t just in its tech or culture, it’s in its refusal to follow in the footsteps of other top brokerage firms.
“I do not believe single-entity national brokerages should get involved in mortgage or title,” Palmer told HousingWire in an exclusive interview. “It’s a localized business. The agent should have that great local mortgage broker that I was 20 years ago. No call center loan officer is ever going to drive an hour to get a water sample for a well test, and that’s what agents and their clients need.” Palmer still owns RP Funding, a completely separate entity, which does refinancing and mortgage servicing primarily in Florida.
Palmer’s rejection of the common strategy — brokerages propping up profitability through mortgage and title owned firms or joint ventures — isn’t just philosophical. It’s central to how LPT positions itself to agents. “Our model works because of scale,” he says. “You put 100,000 agents on a single platform, you do not have a revenue problem. You do not have a profit problem on the brokerage side.”
Building a brokerage for life
What, then, is the LPT formula? In a word: choice.
At the heart of LPT’s meteoric rise is its multi-compensation model, designed to meet agents wherever they are in their careers. Palmer’s core belief is that agents are entrepreneurs, thus they desire a structure where they can choose their ideal model: a 100% commission plan, a revenue-share model akin to eXp or Keller Williams, or a luxury-branded platform soon to be embodied in LPT’s sister company, Aperture.
“Most brokerage models serve one agent avatar,” Palmer explains. “But what if one brokerage could serve all of them? That’s what we built. We call it a ‘brokerage for life.’ Wherever an agent is in their life cycle, we have a model for them.”
LPT agents can attract others into the platform, even across comp plans. The idea that a 100% agent can be in the downline of a revenue-share agent is a structural breakthrough that Palmer believes will help LPT do what other firms have struggled with: grow without high attrition.
A tech-driven machine
While Palmer is bullish on tech. “We built our own platform, LPT Connect, from the ground up,” he says. But, he’s just as passionate about people. Every Monday, he hosts a company-wide Zoom with LPT’s agents — a ritual he hasn’t missed since the firm’s inception.
“Agents need freedom, flexibility and support. They need to define success on their own terms,” says Palmer. “That’s why we’ve built a brokerage model with no walls — physically or philosophically.”
The idea is resonating. LPT is now in all 50 states and three Canadian provinces. It’s quietly gaining traction even among agents burned out by the promise of revenue share elsewhere. “Most don’t make the kind of rev share they hoped for,” Palmer says bluntly. “They end up overpaying on their cap and feeling stuck.”
By offering a diversified agent value proposition, Palmer believes LPT can do what others have failed to: continue scaling past the attrition plateau that’s historically capped brokerage growth. “Our attrition is very low,” he notes. “And that’s the game. Everyone can attract, but how many can keep?”
Aperture and the dual-market strategy
Palmer’s next big swing is Aperture, a high-end, brand-driven firm designed to compete directly with Compass and Sotheby’s.
“The goal is for LPT Holdings to be No. 1 in both volume and transaction count [on the RealTrends Verified Brokerage Rankings],” he says. “Two brokerages, two models, but one unified backbone. That’s what a single-entity platform unlocks.”
This dual strategy mirrors the segmentation Palmer sees in today’s agent population. Some want autonomy. Others want a premium brand and structure. LPT Holdings aims to offer bothwithout forcing agents into a one-size-fits-all mold.
IPO on the horizon
Remarkably, Palmer has self-funded LPT Realty to this point. “I’ve had plenty of people offer me capital. I won’t take it,” he says. “I believe in this too much.”
That resolve will be tested soon. LPT plans to IPO in 2026, and Palmer says the firm is building everything, from software to compliance, to support a national scale.
Still, Palmer remains adamant about what LPT won’t be. “We’re not here to get into agents’ mortgage relationships. We’re not here to ‘make it up on title.’ We’re here to build the best brokerage platform agents have ever seen. That’s it.”
With an agile model, a multi-brand strategy and a firm stance on agent choice, LPT Realty is reshaping what it means to grow in modern real estate. And if Palmer’s bet pays off, he won’t just have built a big brokerage — he’ll have built the next great one.
