About First Team First Team Real Estate, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, is the # 1 independent real estate company in southern California and has sold more homes in Orange County than any other brokerage in the last 10 years. Founded by President and CEO Cameron Merage with five agents in one office in 1976, today, First Team boasts a staff of over 2,000 real estate agents and employees operating in 65 offices across the southern California region. First Team wins market share in any economic climate through innovation and proprietary marketing tools such as Market TrendsSM and HOT BUYS® and targets the luxury market with First Team Estates' "Live Beautifully" concept. First Team Estates is headquartered in Newport Beach, California and represents buyers and sellers in the $2 million and up property value range servicing ultra-exclusive areas such as Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Emerald Bay, Yorba Linda, Coto de Caza and specific surrounding areas. First Team's latest consumer and agent concept, The NEW Rules of Real EstateSM, Strategies for Savvy Homebuyers and Sellers, was launched in summer 2008 and provides a set of practical, real-world solutions and rules based on consumer research and real estate market experience to assist buyers and sellers during the current and challenging market. First Team family of companies include; First Team Commercial Real Estate, Western Resource Title, Coast Cities Escrow, Hallmark Escrow, and Bristol 1031 Exchange. First Team maintains property listing and business relationships with Yahoo! Real Estate, REALTOR.com, Google Base, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Trulia.com, Zillow.com, Frontdoor.com, and Cyberhomes.com among others. First Team offers Bankers Funding® mortgages through Wells Fargo Bank®. The company's "First in our Hearts" Foundation is known for its generosity to the Southern California community.
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Your Resources
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ABOUT FIRST TEAM
About First Team First Team Real Estate, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, is the # 1 independent real estate company in southern California and has sold more homes in Orange County than any other brokerage in the last 10 years. Founded by President and CEO Cameron Merage with five agents in one office in 1976, today, First Team boasts a staff of over 2,000 real estate agents and employees operating in 65 offices across the southern California region. First Team wins market share in any economic climate through innovation and proprietary marketing tools such as Market TrendsSM and HOT BUYS® and targets the luxury market with First Team Estates' "Live Beautifully" concept. First Team Estates is headquartered in Newport Beach, California and represents buyers and sellers in the $2 million and up property value range servicing ultra-exclusive areas such as Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Emerald Bay, Yorba Linda, Coto de Caza and specific surrounding areas. First Team's latest consumer and agent concept, The NEW Rules of Real EstateSM, Strategies for Savvy Homebuyers and Sellers, was launched in summer 2008 and provides a set of practical, real-world solutions and rules based on consumer research and real estate market experience to assist buyers and sellers during the current and challenging market. First Team family of companies include; First Team Commercial Real Estate, Western Resource Title, Coast Cities Escrow, Hallmark Escrow, and Bristol 1031 Exchange. First Team maintains property listing and business relationships with Yahoo! Real Estate, REALTOR.com, Google Base, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Trulia.com, Zillow.com, Frontdoor.com, and Cyberhomes.com among others. First Team offers Bankers Funding® mortgages through Wells Fargo Bank®. The company's "First in our Hearts" Foundation is known for its generosity to the Southern California community.
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Our History
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Today First Team employs nearly 2,000 sales consultants in 37 offices throughout Orange County, Riverside, Los Angeles, and the desert area. With over 13,000 transactions and sales exceeding $7.7 billion in 2005, First Team is statistically the number one independent real estate company in the state and #11 in the nation.
Milestones in Our History |
2005: |
First Team introduces Market Trends™, a sophisticated and invaluable market prognostication tool. |
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First Team debuts Sneak Preview™, the nation’s first program to allow homebuyers to view homes online prior to inclusion on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), giving them the unique advantage of viewing new properties prior to public listing. |
1995: |
In an intense buyer’s market, First Team develops Hot Buys™, a system in which the hottest buys in the marketplace are selected by agents and incorporated into a matrix for buyers. |
1990: |
First Team becomes #1 in Orange County. |
1976: |
First Team is founded with one office and four sales professionals in Huntington Beach, and quickly rises to the top-of-the-market in the city. |
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What We Believe
At First Team, we understand that the business of real estate is cyclical. Where others might see this as a negative, we actually see it as a positive. A cyclical market creates new problems, and as a result, new opportunities that come from solving these challenges. Our company was founded on the premise of innovation and creative problem solving. We are motivated by the opportunity to solve real estate problems, and create solutions that others cannot. Our company continually strives to meet customer’s needs by developing unique products and services to handle the challenges of any given market. These products and services are specially designed to empower our clients and help them make informed decisions, thereby leveraging the current market to their maximum advantage. Many sellers and buyers think that all agents are the same, with the same information. Nothing could be further from the truth. At First Team, we have more local knowledge, statistics and data than anyone else. Above all else, it is crucial to understand that real estate is a very local business. Cyclical changes do not occur equally across Southern California. Markets vary from region-to-region and from neighborhood-to-neighborhood. You have to know where your particular market is heading at any given time. At First Team, we continually monitor the size of market inventory, whether it is growing or shrinking, how long properties are staying on the market, whether that duration is increasing or decreasing, the gap between asking versus selling prices, in addition to other important factors. We can’t control the market, but we can control the depth and timeliness of knowledge we provide to our clients, giving them a tremendous advantage in a constantly shifting market. In addition to our culture of innovation and creative problem solving, First Team offers other important advantages to the consumer. Real estate is a highly competitive and fragmented industry. Not only do many companies not share knowledge or information, there are actually adversarial relationships within those companies, with many agents simply looking out for their own best interest. At First Team, our culture is one of information sharing. Our agents share within each office, and our offices share with each other, and can provide solutions on a collaborative basis. Our company is aligned at many levels, with agents and managers consistent in cooperation and mutual support. The end result is the sheer power of teamwork, which we leverage for powerful and positive results. First Team’s independent status ensures that we’ll never have to answer to the corporate hierarchy of an impersonal national conglomerate. As a result, our clients always receive extremely personal attention and responsive service from creative, local decision makers. We believe that successful real estate transactions begin with strong personal relationships with our clients. We know that every real estate situation is unique, and that there are no cookie-cutter solutions. The best way for us to provide peerless performance for you is to fully understand and react to your unique real estate needs. To find out what First Team can do for you, call a First Team agent today. The NEW Rules of Real EstateSM - "Strategies for Savvy Home Buyers and Sellers"
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Executive Team
About Cameron Merage Cameron Merage's front-line experiences as a top agent perfected his precise skills, nurtured his unrivalled understanding of consumers' needs and gained him the professional resources necessary for success in the real estate industry. Early in his career, Mr. Merage personally completed several billion dollars in transactions during his five years in home sales. He parlayed his hands-on experience into a long-term strategic vision for First Team, based on an unwavering commitment to client service, value creation and unmatched knowledge of the local market. |
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Following his graduation with a B.S. degree in Business and Marketing from Sacramento State University, Mr. Merage began his career in 1971 in Huntington Beach, California, and consistently achieved top sales records with a leading real estate corporation. An innovator by nature, he founded First Team Real Estate in 1976 and rapidly established his reputation as one of the top-producing real estate professionals in Southern California.
The Merage family is a philanthropic pillar of Orange County, with a long history of diverse humanitarian, academic and cultural giving that has left an indelible mark on the community. Cameron Merage has remained true to his philanthropic roots, founding and personally overseeing "First in Our Hearts," a charitable foundation that, he explained, "exists to build on and focus First Team's long tradition of working to make life better in the communities we serve."
A brilliant entrepreneur, Mr. Merage enjoys meeting the new challenges that arise in a constantly evolving real estate industry. His passion for harnessing innovation and creativity have helped to increase First Team's market share and position his company at the top of its industry.
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First in Our Hearts
| When caring hearts team, miracles are born. Because our work brings us close to homes, families, and neighborhoods, we at First Team share a deeply-held tradition of giving back to the community. Now, through the creation of the First in Our Hearts Foundation, our impact is greater than ever.
|  | | Member groups of the First in Our Hearts Foundation |
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First Team Family of Companies
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News and Insights
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Careers @ First Team Real Estate
 | | A remarkable history -Over 30 years of growth and success Founded in 1976 by Cameron Merage in Huntington Beach we have grown from 5 agents in 1 office to over 2,000 sales associates in over 37 offices. As an independent, First Team has a 'Main Street' focus rather than the 'Wall Street' mentality of conglomerates. Ultimately we are accountable to our customers not stockholders. - Cameron Merage Founder, President & CEO Our primary focus is to deliver high-level services to our associates so they can drive unsurpassed value to their customers. This gives First Team agents the competitive edge in the marketplace, making First Team agents the Realtor of choice. | | Interested in a Career at First Team Real Estate? For Experienced Agents For New Agents Other Employment Opportunities | | Statistically the #1 Selling Real Estate Company in Southern California |
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