Sometimes opportunities come in places where you least expect them. For Troy Palmquist, the founder and broker of DOORA Properties in Southern California, that moment came when he sat on a panel at Inman Connect Las Vegas alongside Michael Valdes, Chief Growth Officer for eXp Realty.
The two connected and found that they shared many of the same values and philosophies. That mutual connection soon turned into a business proposition. Not only did Palmquist decide to move his 30-agent DOORA team to eXp Realty, but he was also named Director of Growth in California for eXp Realty.
“We were in a panel discussion at Inman Connect and we really aligned. The discussion was about attraction vs. recruiting and how the agents are really the customers of a brokerage. If you start losing track of who your customer is, it starts falling apart. We were just really connected,” said Palmquist
Troy’s DOORA Properties team is comprised of 30 agents – almost all of whom plan on joining him at eXp Realty.
“Joining a new brokerage company can be both an exhilarating and nerve-wracking experience, but, it’s precisely this sense of venturing into the unknown that I’m excited about. Our skills, commitment to growth, and eagerness to embrace fresh opportunities and carry them into a new environment bring with them the promise of greater success and professional fulfillment for me, my DOORA agents, and eXp,” Palmquist said.
Palmquist’s involvement as Director of Growth for California is to bring awareness about eXp, while supporting agents with attraction and growth and helping to develop eXp Luxury’s foothold in the state.
“I’m more of a relationship builder in my career,” Palmquist said. “My wife actually found that shirt that I was wearing on the Inman panel that said, ‘Always a we, never a me.’ That’s definitely indicative of my professional philosophy.”
Palmquist has spent more than 20 years in real estate, starting at a small mom-and-pop boutique firm where he learned the ropes and got deeply involved in the real estate industry. He went on to work at RE/MAX in the Marina Del Ray office, learning the luxury market there before joining the first Engel & Völkers on the West Coast, in Santa Monica.
Subsequently, Palmquist became a senior asset manager with Wedgewood Enterprise Corporation where he served buyers and sellers of distressed homes across the Greater Los Angeles area, Las Vegas, Nevada, and the Utah and Idaho markets. His creative approach led to thousands of sold properties and the development of Wedgewood’s iBuyer program.
An entrepreneurial drive and the desire to get back to his real estate roots led Palmquist to start The Address, a brokerage in Ventura, California, which he led for nearly five years before its sale and starting DOORA Properties in 2022. The brokerage has since grown to 30 agents, generating hundreds of millions in real estate volume.
“The sense of adventure and the electric buzz of this partnership creates an energy that fuels my motivation and fosters a sense of belonging to something greater. As I step into this new role, I hope that sense of excitement will be my driving force, and that I can share that excitement with new and existing agents throughout eXp California,” Palmquist said.
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