Success in the current real estate market requires fresh thinking, innovative  technology, and collaborative partnerships between agents and clients. Amanda Alejandro, who owns The Realty Shop with her husband Jay Steinback, says the company keeps these principles in mind during all stages of buying and selling a home.

Alejandro’s 15 years in real estate and Steinback’s business expertise as the former CEO and owner of Rothman Furniture form the foundation of their three-year-old agency. They have been actively hiring knowledgeable team members, with about 40 agents now on board, and there are plans to expand to 100 by the end of the year. In fact, the company’s new, technologically advanced Creve Coeur headquarters is designed to house up to 300 agents, Steinback says.

According to Alejandro, The Realty Shop is a thriving example of women driving business success, and she is glad to serve as a model for female entrepreneurship. “Our staff does a great job of keeping the company moving and growing, but we also know how to delegate when appropriate,” she explains. “Our COO, Erin Irby, is a great example of this. She is married and has a family, but she also is amazing in her roles at the agency. Our staff members know how to strike a balance between being leaders and leaning on each other, and the client always benefits from that.”

Alejandro says her own workday starts and stops with organizational skills, and that helps her keep multiple business units on track, including the real estate brokerage, a photography and video company called Realty Shots that works in 23 states, and Realty Ready, a program that buys as-is homes for cash. “I do everything with the help of checklists,” she says. “I wake up every morning knowing what I need to accomplish, and I end every evening with tasks set for the next day.”

An agency-wide commitment to efficiency allows team members to respect clients’ time and keep their best interests at the forefront. “I always put myself in other people’s shoes and think about the kind of service I would want to receive,” Alejandro says. “Our clients in other fields would take care of me from start to finish if I were using their services, so I want to offer them the same kind of turnkey experience.”

Steinback says the couple recently moved into a new home themselves, and they know how daunting it can seem, so they strive to ease the transition for clients. “Our buyers and sellers enjoy real peace of mind knowing they can move their families in or out of a home with minimum stress,” he says.

At the end of the day, the focus is always on serving clients’ needs with modern technology, a shared sense of purpose and a careful personal touch. “I pride myself on being a knowledgeable businessperson and an expert on the market, both locally and nationally,” Alejandro says. “In the past, it often was difficult for women to be taken seriously as leaders in business and real estate, but that has continued to change through the years. We are helping to change it.”

The Realty Shop is a full-service, Creve Coeur-based real estate brokerage that provides photography, videography, virtual reality scanning and ‘as is’ home purchasing services. It is ranked by MARIS as the No. 5 agency in Missouri in terms of sales volume. Pictured on the cover: Owners Amanda Alejandro and Jay Steinback. For more information, call 314.310.4110 or visit realtyshopstl.com.

Cover design by Julie Streiler
Cover photo courtesy of The Realty Shop

Pictured at top: Amanda Alejandro, Jay Steinback and Erin Irby
Photo courtesy of The Realty Shop