Mark Spain, founder of the namesake firm Mark Spain Real Estate based in Atlanta, Ga., has been honored as a 2019 REAL Trends Game Changer. He is the only member of the inaugural 50-person list based in Georgia.

Founded in 1987, REAL Trends is an industry leader in news, analysis and information on the residential brokerage industry. Among its many real estate industry contributions is sponsoring and compiling an annual, national awards ranking list, The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals. Mark Spain and his team have annually appeared somewhere in the top 10 of this top producers list for several years. In 2018, Spain earned the No. 1 team ranking for closed transactions when Mark Spain Real Estate achieved 2,318 transactions and $550 million in 2017 gross sales. Only one other real estate team in the country broke the 2,000-sale mark along with the Mark Spain team.

““I’m honored to be on this list of industry game changers! To be in the company of these real estate titans and world-class leaders is an affirmation that my passion for this industry and innovative business practices are a winning combination,” stated Chairman and CEO Mark Spain. “The real estate industry has experienced major changes in recent years and I'm extremely fortunate to be on the leading edge of this change. I am so excited to continue to scale our real estate team across the Southeast. Being considered the ‘Team Pace Setter’ is the ultimate compliment!”

The REAL Trends selection process was, by the firm’s own admission, subjective as no nominations were accepted to be on the Game Changers list. A comprehensive list of 125 industry professionals was gathered, before a multi-step paring down process was undertaken to reach the 50 names on this year’s Game Changers list. The REAL Trends team asked questions such as: Is this person a thought leader in the industry? Is this person doing something in 2019 that could impact the real estate industry? Is this company or person doing something unique, innovative or interesting? And will others benefit from what this person is doing?

An affirmative answer was needed to all questions to earn a spot on the Game Changers list. Spain is in good company on the list. Other honorees include Gary Keller, co-founder and CEO of Keller Williams International, long-time and well-known industry trainers Brian Buffini and Tom Ferry, as well as the CEOs of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, RE/MAX International, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Zillow, Coldwell Banker, Realogy Holdings Corp., Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies, and HomeServices of America.

“When we look at what’s happening in our industry, it occurred to our team that there are a fairly small group of people who, because of their position, products or services, are currently playing a hot hand or have the real ability to change the game,” explained REAL Trends Inc. President Steve Murray. “This impactful group changes and shifts all the time. None of us know how much they will change the business, but our bet is these few will have outside impact. “

Mark Spain Real Estate has four offices strategically placed around metro Atlanta, an office in Athens, Ga., locations in Charlotte and Raleigh, NC, as well as a Nashville office, with continued expansion in the Southeast planned. For more information on Mark Spain Real Estate or these markets, visit markspain.com or call 855-299-SOLD.

About Mark Spain Real Estate (MSRE)
Mark Spain Real Estate is an industry-leading residential real estate firm with offices throughout the Southeast. Prior to forming his own independent firm in January 2016, Mark Spain and his team were annually the No. 1 ranked large team for sales production with the Atlanta Realtors Association for more than 10 consecutive years and recently achieved the No. 1 team rank on the REAL Trends/Wall Street Journal list of America’s top 1,000 agents and teams. Mark Spain Real Estate is also the No. 1 most reviewed real estate company on Zillow in the entire United States.

MSRE has been honored in 2017 and 2018 as one of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Top Places to Work. It has also earned Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter Award honors the last two years, for being one of 100 metro Atlanta’s top fastest-growing privately held companies. In September 2018, Inc. Magazine ranked MSRE No. 1,676 on its annual Inc. 5000 List, marking the third straight year it has been included on this national list of fastest-growing firms. In 2018, MSRE was named to the Bulldog 100 Award List, debuting at No. 16 as one of the fastest-growing 100 University of Georgia (UGA) alumni-owned companies. MSRE was also honored with two Agents’ Choice Awards by Atlanta Agent Magazine. Voted on by industry peers who read the trade magazine, awards included Best Team in metro Atlanta real estate and Mark Spain was chosen for the Charitable Service Award. MSRE made its debut in 2018 on Atlanta’s Top 25 Real Estate Companies annual list, compiled by Atlanta Business Chronicle, and based on verified gross residential sales volume for the previous year.