About 1 Percent Lists
This is Our Story
The seeds were planted for 1 Percent Lists when two newlyweds had to sell a home. Grant Clayton had purchased the home about a year earlier and after marrying Kelly, the new couple decided to move. Grant had purchased the home but had never sold one and they decided to interview two agents....
It All Started With a Bad Commission
The story of 1 Percent Lists really begins back when my wife, Kelly, and I were newlyweds. I was a basketball coach and substitute teacher, and Kelly, a Navy veteran, was studying to be a nurse. We had just gotten married and decided to sell a home I’d bought a year earlier.
Neither of us had ever sold a home before, so we did what you're "supposed" to do: we interviewed a couple of local agents.
The first agent charged 5%. She seemed nice enough.
The second agent was a "top producer" in our area, recommended by family. She charged 6%. We asked her why she cost more. Her answer was basically a threat: “If you pay me less, I will do less marketing.”
Her answer was.... “If you pay me less, I will do less marketing.”
We felt the family pressure and caved, hiring the more expensive 6% agent. The experience was awful. Fast forward a bit, and I (the homeowner!) had to convince our own agent to please just show the home to a client she didn't think would like it. Guess what? That client bought the house.
We left the closing with a terrible taste in our mouths. I had practically sold the house myself, yet our agent—who had threatened us with "less marketing"—walked away with both sides of a 6% commission, doubling her payday on our dime. We felt completely unappreciated.
We Figured We Could Do It Better
We were living in a new area where we didn't know a soul. But like a lot of entrepreneurs, we saw a problem and wanted to fix it. So, in 2011, Kelly and I decided to get our real estate licenses.
We quickly learned the system was just as broken from the inside.
On our very first transaction, we convinced the seller to pay 7%. We thought we’d hit a home run. But then the referral company took 40% off the top. Then our broker took 50% of what was left. When the dust settled, we made less than 1% on the entire sale.
We hated encouraging sellers to pay bloated fees, and we hated seeing "middlemen" soak up all the commission for doing nothing. We looked at the "top producers" around us and realized they were just like the agent who had left us feeling so ripped off. We were being encouraged to become the very thing we disliked.
The "Aha!" Moment
Despite all that, we learned one crucial lesson: the path to success in real estate is listing more homes. Period.
We had a crazy idea. What if, instead of fighting for a few high-commission deals, we charged a fairer fee and focused on volume? We figured more listings, even at a lower fee, would act like billboards, generating more leads and creating a more stable business.
So we tried it. We started by offering a 4.5% commission.
We started by offering a 4.5% commission.
It worked like a charm. Our business exploded overnight. Builders, investors, and the general public all wanted the same thing: a great agent who would do a great job without taking an outrageous cut.
This, as you can imagine, made us very unpopular with our peers.
We started hearing the little daggers: "You should know your value." "This is bad for the industry." "You aren't being a team player."
These comments got me thinking. If this new model was great for my family (which had just added our kids, William and Emily)... and it was great for my clients (who were saving thousands)... then why on earth was I keeping it a secret?
1 Percent Lists Was Born
In late 2015, we decided to stop hiding and start shouting.
We crunched the numbers again and realized we could go even lower. We stopped charging 2% to list homes and officially became 1 Percent Lists.
The model was simple: a 1% listing fee for full service, including professional photography. We would still offer a competitive commission to the buyer's agent, but our side of the work would be done for a fair, flat 1%.
We weren't a "discount" brokerage. We were an efficient one.
We looked at companies like Amazon and Netflix. They were winning by leveraging technology, keeping overhead low, and focusing obsessively on customer satisfaction. We decided to be the first to apply that same common-sense logic to real estate.
The early days were messy. Our website changed a dozen times. We tried a million different marketing strategies. But through it all, our volume just kept growing. We doubled our sales every single year.
From a Local Idea to a National Movement
By 2020, brokers and agents from around the country started calling us, wanting to know how we did it. So, we launched our franchise model with the exact same philosophy.
We offer a turnkey franchise for a low entry cost and a simple 5% royalty with no hidden fees. Why? Because we want our franchise owners to have the same path to financial freedom and career happiness that we built for ourselves.
Today, 1 Percent Lists is spreading nationwide, with new agents joining us every day.
Our mindset is simple: If we focus on delivering maximum value to our clients where they appreciate it most—their bottom line—our growth and profitability will take care of itself.
It's been a wild ride, and we're just getting started.
