2026 RealTrends Verified: James Harris focuses on quality over quantity to unlock top ranking

For James Harris, the leader and founder of Harris & Partners, a top-producing large team based in Beverly Hills, California, the key to his team’s success is its size and tight-knit culture. 

“I’ve always run a very lean and mean team,” Harris said. “I don’t want 50 agents because with a team that large it is hard to incentivize and support everyone.” 

Harris said the smaller size of his team, allows him to easily host a weekly Monday meeting with the entire team where everyone discusses the deals they are working on or challenges they may be having with a buyer or seller, which he said fosters a collaborative culture and incentivizes the agents to make sure they aren’t the only one turning up to the meeting with no projects going on. 

This approach helped Harris and his Carolwood Estates-brokered team close 83 transaction sides totaling $938.0 million in sales volume in 2025, earning the team the No. 2 rank in the country for sales volume among large team, according to the 2026 RealTrends Verified The Thousand rankings. 

Harris says he values quality over quantity

“I would rather have 10 superb agents than 100 where the vast majority are mediocre,” he said. “If I have a smaller team, it helps with camaraderie, but it also allows me to be more hands-on in an individual way with each of those team members and ensuring that I am doing everything I can as a team lead to support each of them. But most importantly, it allows me to work alongside each of my team members, who I really consider partners.” 

Harris said he finds it incredibly rewarding to watch the agents grow and evolve into better versions of themselves. Having started in real estate at just 15-years-old, Harris said he thinks it is very important for him to give back to and support the younger generations of agents entering the business in the same way he was mentored and supported in the early days of his career. 

A focus on retention

Right now, Harris said he is thrilled with the current make up of his team and he is not looking to recruit, but he would not pass up any perfect opportunities that presented themselves. However, due to this his primary focus as a team leader is on agent retention.

“For me, it is really about how do I focus my attention and time towards the people that I already have to ensure that they’re becoming the best version of themselves?” he said. “If I have someone great, I want to do everything in my power to never lose them.”

According to Harris, this means making sure that he is incentivizing agents, building them up and collaborating on deals with them. He added that this desire to support his agents and help them better serve their clients is what inspired him to create Breezy, an AI operating system tool. 

It is with tools like Breezy as well as the collaborative culture he has built, that Harris hopes will enable his team to close over $1 billion in sales volume in 2026. 

“I am feeling more and more confident that we can do it,” Harris said. “But we are always looking ahead of us and thinking about how we can beat last year, but more importantly, how I can enable every agent to achieve to the best of their ability.”