Lpt Launches International Luxury Brand Aperture Global

LPT Holdings, the parent company of fast-growing firm LPT Realty, is looking to make its mark in the luxury real estate space. On Thursday, the firm announced the launch of Aperture Global Real Estate, LPT’s new independent global luxury brand. 

“Inside of LPT we already have two agent compensation models with the transaction fee model and a split-cap revenue share model. And now with Aperture, we have added an additional brand for agents to choose from, and we are furthering our commitment to meeting agents at their individual definitions of success,” said Robert Palmer, the founder and CEO of LPT Holdings. 

Global presence

The brokerage currently operates in 15 states and four international locations (Sint Maarten, Toronto, London and Lisbon), with an additional 20 offices across the globe debuting in the coming months. 

“Aperture is coming into luxury cities around the world — not every place is a luxury city and that allows us to focus on these key cities,” said Michael Valdes, the former global vice president of Sotheby’s International Real Estate who will serve as the president of Aperture Global in addition to his current role as CEO of LPT International.

“When you start thinking about it from a consumer point of view, the fact that they can actually now conduct business around the world with one brand, one company, that isn’t a franchise, which guarantees them the same quality of service around the world, we feel that is a big differentiator for us,” he added. 

In addition to Palmer and Valdes, Aperture Global’s leadership team also includes Mercedes Saewitz, a former principal broker and founding agent of Compass. Saewitz will serve as the firm’s senior vice president of operations.

While Valdes and Palmer view LPT Realty as an agent-centric brand that allows agents to put their personal brand front and center, they see Aperture Global as more of a brokerage brand.

“Aperture is there for agents who want that stronger brand, those more rigorous brand guidelines and standards, because we know for a lot of agents, that is more conducive to their individual definition of success,” Palmer said. “On the LPT side, I’ve seen our logo in hot pink camouflage — it is the period at the end of their personal brand.”

Recruiting tactics

According to the company’s announcement, Aperture Global is launching with commitments from more than 100 top brokers who represent $1 billion in annual sales. Aperture Global said that while some agents are coming from LPT Realty, many others are coming from top luxury firms such as Sotheby’s, Brown Harris Stevens, Douglas Elliman, eXp Realty, Compass and Keller Williams.

“We do have qualification for agents coming into the Aperture brand because we’ve seen a lot of the other luxury brands allow anyone to enter their brand and it becomes a bit diluted. But we have two different brands now with LPT and Aperture, so agents can come into the company and we can figure out what the best fit is for them,” Valdes said. 

With the addition of Aperture Global to the LPT ecosystem, Palmer and Valdes feel the company is now better positioned to meet each agent wherever they are in their careers.

“The whole idea of our platform across these different brands and models is to meet agents where they are, and then if that changes in the future, they can make the change they need but still stay a part of our platform,” Palmer said.

“But we don’t view Aperture as the finish line; we view it all as a circle. We may have an agent who is at Aperture for so long that their personal brand has eclipsed the Aperture brand and then they may decide to move to LPT because they want their brand to become the focus. But we also have what we call a ‘path to Aperture’ program inside of LPT for agents who aspire to break into that luxury space.”

As LPT looks to the future with Aperture Global, executives feel the luxury brand is poised for success. 

“I think the big thing is that it was created for today’s market,” Palmer said. “The newest luxury brand before us was Compass, which came in pre-pandemic, but I think just being able to see and understand the habits of the post-COVID consumer, and understanding the global purchasing patterns of the ultra-high net worth individuals, will help us.

“Also, it comes from this foundation of success, being built on a battle-tested, performance-driven platform, which gives us the ability to scale and maintain operational efficiencies from day one.” 

Register today to attend The Gathering in Colorado Springs June 8-11. This conference is designed to bring housing leaders, executives and rising stars together to make connections, learn together and explore solutions to the housing industry’s most critical challenges and promising opportunities. Hear from LPT International CEO, Michael Valdes and fellow executives, as they take the stage at The Broadmoor this summer.