Ingram’s January 2023

KA-CHING! The region’s power plays of 2022

Stronger United | Scott DeNeve, founder of Platinum Realty, left, and Dan Duffy of the mammoth United Real Estate Group

In real estate, health care, high-tech manufacturing, financial services and more, these executives and companies stood out in the past year.

Dan Duffy and Scott DeNeve High-interest rates, low inventory, buyers priced out of the market by soaring home values. America’s housing market was in shambles throughout 2022. Except for . . . Platinum Realty and United Real Estate Group, which sent a tremor through the nation’s realty sector with its April announcement that the two had merged. That marriage brought together one of the region’s most consistent fast growth companies, Platinum, with one of the biggest players in real estate. Under the United umbrella, with an army of real estate agents more than 20,000 strong. It was a natural fit for both Platinum founder Scott DeNeve, and Dan Duffy, United’s CEO. DeNeve was painting a rental house when he conceived the idea of a real estate company that didn’t gouge its agents by gobbling up the lion’s share of sales commissions. If not an overnight success, it was the closest thing to one. “There were no competitors to copy when I started the company,” DeNeve said. “The way it had always been done allowed me to find my niche within a niche. You hear people say the blue ocean vs. red ocean, and how sharks feed in the red because nobody is in the blue yet? This was our blue.” By aligning with another 100-percent commission firm, the stage is set for Platinum to scale nationally. And more than sharing a philosophy on agent commis sions, it taps into Duffy’s vision of being a real estate tech company with huge upside growth possibilities.

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I n g r a m ’ s

Kansas City’s Business Media

January 2023