about us
Who is topCOREagent?
Stephanie Zais
Managing Partner
REALTOR®
Managing Partner
RealTech Solutions, LLC
– topCOREagent.com
– MyRealEstateContent.com
REALTOR®, LEAD SPECIALIST, kvCORE® Nerd
Stephanie is passionate about helping agents and brokers succeed in a world with ever-changing technology. With previous positions such as Director of Web Services , VP of Technology, and VP of Strategic Solutions, Stephanie has 30+ years of a rich background in real estate and technology. When combined with the business operations and marketing acumen acquired from being a former Broker/Owner of a private real estate brokerage, the ability to develop and implement winning strategies and solutions is unmatched.
Whether it’s in the power of websites and social media, lead management, relocation and referrals, or transaction management, Stephanie effortlessly distills the complicated technical landscape into easily understandable concepts that get amazing results.
Browse through the years of real estate technology and marketing experience, or take a further look on Linkedin.
Vice-President, Strategic development
Genstone Realty
As a startup brokerage that needed systems and processes to help it grow to over 30 states, Stephanie was instrumental in implementing:
- Relocation and referral systems and processes;
- A new web site presence;
- kvCORE® for agent websites & CRM;
- Broker Sumo for back office & accounting.
As part of the senior management team, Stephanie was also deeply involved with the strategic direction and overall growth of the company.
Relocation
Stephanie was pivotal in consolidating 5 relocation and referral centers nationwide to 2 centers, servicing over 68,000 relocation referrals annually. This was made possible through a deep audit and discovery of all relocation centers and their business practices to create a unified and streamlined process on the framework of a common platform. The result was a more effective work product and reduction in unnecessary staff.
Centralized Commissions
After the centralization and unification of relocation, Stephanie worked with others across the nation to bring all transaction and commission processing to 2 centers servicing the entire nation. Instead of relying upon 1400+ distributed Office Administrators to close transactions and process checks, the workload was re-allocated to approximately 250 staff members centrally located in 2 processing centers so that local staff could focus on better servicing agents.
Vice-President, Technology
NRT / REALOGY
With a reputation for getting things done and an uncanny knowledge of both technology and real estate operations, this position was a perfect match. Stephanie was instrumental in successfully leading nearly 700+ real estate offices with 68,000+ agents and 1400+ office administrators across the nation in going paperless.
Not only did Stephanie gather, convey, and prioritize all requirements of a custom-built transaction management system from across multiple states with very different legal requirements and real estate practices, she helped train all offices and staff to use the new platform.
What resulted was an annual savings of multi-millions of operational dollars in reduced or eliminated paper storage, courier expenses, printers and toner, and file cabinets. The entire effort took years to implement, but operations and office practices, staff, and physical spaces were significantly streamlined.
Director, Web Services
NRT / Realogy (*Anywhere)
Stephanie started, managed, and grew a team of professional website developers and database specialists to create and support most of NRT’s 26 metropolitan websites under the Coldwell Banker and ERA brands.
With over 60 full-time employees and contractors, Stephanie and her team was responsible for:
- 600+ daily data and photo feeds from MLSes across the nation;
- aggregated data & photo feeds to national websites like REALTOR.com, ColdwellBanker.com, ERA.com, and more;
- Integrations with other systems requiring MLS data (intranets, lead management, etc)
Broker/Owner, Castle Homes, REALTORs®
While finishing her undergraduate degree in Physics and Mathematics, Stephanie joined forces with former REALTOR®, current university student, and future husband Michael to start a private real estate brokerage.
Mike, having been a REALTOR® in California in the late 1970’s, became the broker and took care of sales while Stephanie focused on the office activities including marketing and technology. It was at this time that Stephanie acquired the domain name OpenHouse.com and began building a website for the brokerage to showcase listings.
It was also during this time that Castle Homes, REALTORS® negotiated with the local cable company to take advantage of dead air time on a prime channel from 6-10pm that continuously aired listings and real estate content to the local television viewers.
Carter Knapp
Partner
Licensed Agent
RealTech Solutions, LLC
– topCOREagent.com
– MyRealEstateContent.com
Partner, Trainer, Licensed Agent
With over 40 years of real estate experience including sales, management, operations, training, technology, and marketing, there’s not much Carter hasn’t done. With titles and roles including Director, VP, Sr. VP and owner for both regional and national real estate brokerages, Carter deeply understands what it takes to succeed in this industry.
With that kind of experience under his belt, becoming an owner-partner of RealTech Solutions, LLC was an obvious next step. With both topCOREagent.com and MyRealEstateContent.com, Carter’s role is a blend of his past experience with today’s technology.
Browse through the years of real estate technology and marketing experience, or take a further look on Linkedin.
2010: Director, Information Technology
Realogy
Handled training, deployment, support, and facilitation of a real estate transaction management platform, called HomeBase, for 700+ Realogy company-owned offices throughout the country.
1999: Executive Vice-President
Real Estate Federation
Co-founded this technology firm providing advanced real estate website services for 50 large brokerages throughout the U.S. that captured online leads and, with a lead procurement team, scrubbed leads to refer to agents, significantly increasing closings.
2020: Director, Professional Development
GenStone Realty
Developed a new online training program and coached 140 experienced and new agents across 15 states, including how to best use the kvCORE® platform to generate, manage, and convert leads.
2008: Regional Vice-President, Education
NRT / Realogy
Led the (agent & broker) education department for eight major operating Coldwell Banker multi-office companies in two Northeast regions. Also managed the local education leaders in each of the 8 local areas, supporting 315 offices and 12,000 agents.
2004: Vice-President, Education
NRT: Mid-Atlantic Region
Developed and directed education courses for 75 offices and 4,000+ agents with a full-time staff of seven and a part-time staff of 18.
1996: Senior Vice-President
Coldwell Banker Premier Realty
Oversaw marketing, relocation, training, recruiting, and public relations for this regional brokerage firm that had 900 agents and 24 offices in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.
1993: Broker/Owner
Pacific Rim Realty
1989: Vice-President, Marketing
Help-U-Sell
Directed the marketing, national advertising, public relations, and sales of regional and individual real estate franchises for this 600-broker national franchisor.
1983: Vice-President, Member Services
Handled member services, broker consultation, management, and agent training, office computerization, national conferences, the national relocation office, and the home warranty company for this 1,500-office national franchisor.