All the mergers…
As the owner of a small, independent brokerage, I’ve been watching the headlines about mergers and acquisitions — most notably the acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate by Compass — and I’ve had a lot of clients ask what this means for us.
The short answer?
Nothing.
And that was always the intention.
Our brokerage was created independently — to serve people, not shareholders. While other companies consolidate to gain scale, control market share, or answer to Wall Street, we built this business with a different philosophy.
Because the #1 commodity in real estate is not the property.
It’s the client.
That’s why Zillow has been such a disruptor in our industry. When you click “more information” or tap one of their call-to-action buttons, they don’t connect you with the listing agent or the best agent. They sell your information — not to one agent, but to as many agents as are willing to pay for it. Could you get lucky and get a great agent? sure! but it would be luck.
Cost to acquire the lead? $0.
You entered your information voluntarily.
Profit? Significant.
They built the most-used home search platform in the country, and as a result, they’ve created a business model with enormous upside — and no guarantee for the consumer about who is actually calling them and no guarantee for the agent if the lead is good.
As a company, we are currently not customers of any search engine.
Not because it doesn’t work. It clearly does.
But quite frankly, we don’t have to be.
Our clients come to us organically — through relationships, referrals, repeat business, and real connections. That was the goal from the beginning. Would we ever consider being a client of one of these sites? I would not rule out anything that could connect us to people who can use our services but we are happy with our current model.
Right now, the industry is flooded with agents who sell fewer than one home a year. Inventory remains lower than normal. Interest rates are higher. AI is changing workflows daily. It’s no surprise that larger companies are merging in order to maintain control, preserve margins, and protect market position.
But here’s what concerns me.
In all of this — the mergers, the tech, the consolidation — the expertise can get lost.
And expertise is the #1 reason an agent matters. Especially in markets with unique needs like coastal areas.
You are not hiring someone to unlock a door. You are hiring someone to guide you through one of the largest financial decisions of your life. Strategy, negotiation, valuation, contract knowledge, risk management — those things don’t merge. They are earned.
We are grateful that we don’t have to split our time and energy navigating franchise restructures, corporate integrations, or multi-layer marketing models. We get to stay focused on what we’ve always focused on:
Our clients.
Nothing has changed over here — except we’ve gotten a bit busier.
And we’re grateful for that.
