Three ways to compete
When it comes to recruiting agents, many in the industry believe that there are three primary ways that brokers can compete with each other for agents: splits, resources including technology, support and legal resources, and culture. With Compass’ vocal support of its private listing network and advertising of its exclusive inventory, many in the industry believe the company will use its private listing network as an additional resource to potentially attract agents to the brokerage.
“The Compass managing broker can now call the number 1 agent for the local population [Keller Williams] office that Compass would never have considered at all, and would pitch them at the size of their [private listing network],” wrote Rob Hahn, a lawyer and industry analyst in a post in his name Notorious ROB substack. “Caps and low commissions are great, but not when you’re losing deals to Compass agents with their extra buyer-seller stuff.”
For smaller firms or boutique brokerages, Hahn acknowledged that creating an effective internal private listing network would be a challenge, so he believes an effective strategy to compete with Compass in this space would be to leverage a third-party private listing network such as Top Agent Network (BROWN). This is exactly what Shalini Saddaa real estate agent at the Side-mediated Urban real estatehas in mind.
“Private, exclusive inventory is just one of the reasons agents choose to join a brokerage,” says Sadda. “Ultimately, they are looking for well-rounded support that will help them grow and succeed.”
She adds that if an agent is concerned about private listing networks, she is a member of TAN and agents can use that network if they wish.
It’s all about culture
As Sadda and her team look to recruit and retain agents in the San Francisco metropolitan area, one of the markets where Compass-Anywhere has a large market share, she said they are really focusing and relying on the culture they have cultivated at City Real Estate.
“We focus on attracting high-quality agents because fostering a culture of learning and growth is incredibly important to us. While we are all strong at what we do, many of us serve different markets or bring specialized expertise, which creates valuable opportunities to learn from each other. Agents join our team not only because of our success, but also because of our strong reputation for professionalism and work ethic – which is essential in a relationship-driven, sales-oriented business,” says Sadda.
She adds that as a boutique firm, she can also provide agents with an extra layer of support that they might not have access to at a larger firm. City Real Estate will be number 1 in San Francisco in 2025 RealTrends Verified City rankings.
“It’s also incredibly rewarding to be part of a company that is deliberately big – not too big and not too small,” she said. “Agents don’t get lost in the shuffle. For example: Urban real estate offers a dedicated in-house marketing team and support staff, and because we are not a large company with thousands of agents, these resources remain highly accessible and personalized.”
Although certainly larger than Sadda’s team, ate Douglas Elliman CEO Michael Liebowitz says he and his team are also focusing on the company’s boutique culture. Douglas Elliman ranks No. 6 by sales volume in the 2025 RealTrends Verified Brokerage rankings.
“If you take Compass and Anywhere, the merger now has more than 300,000 agents with all different brands and franchises. For the smaller brokers, we are really the alternative to this, because do you really want to be in the middle of a shopping center or a large kiosk, especially if you are a luxury broker or agent?” says Liebowitz. “And we are still a large listed company with an international presence. But we are one brand, so you don’t lose any culture with all those different brands and that makes us an alternative if you don’t want to be in the shopping center or the large supermarket.”
Looking beyond the Compass-Anywhere merger, Liebowitz says Douglas Elliman is also a great place for smaller brokers looking to expand their businesses because his company can offer them the same boutique feel but with more resources and a much larger referral network.
Finances make the difference
While Hahn recognizes that culture and relationships are integral to the real estate industry, he believes that for many agents and brokers, finances make the difference. But this certainly comes with challenges, as margins are already quite tight for many brokers.
Steve Murray, the co-founder of RTC adviceagrees that commission splits are one way companies can try to lure agents, but he is well aware of the potential challenges this route presents.
“You have brokers like Douglas Elliman trying to improve their balance sheets so larger splits would be difficult, and then you have other companies that may not be in a position to do that as they try to recover from the slower housing market that we’ve been experiencing,” Murray said.
Despite Compass’ confidence that it will successfully integrate all six Anywhere brands and its own brokerage operations into one company, Murray remains a bit skeptical. He advises brokers looking for recruiting opportunities to keep an eye out for potential agent or team splits as integration gets underway.
“I think the biggest challenge will be with their existing Compass agents, because for a number of years they felt special because they had access to this platform and this technology that their competitors didn’t have. Now their competitors do have access, and they’re all expected to be one big happy family,” Murray says.
It’s this opportunity that Liebowitz says he and his firm are keeping a close eye on, as it would be a great opportunity for his firm to grow through agent and team splits. But Liebowitz says his recruiting team isn’t targeting agents affected by the merger.
“In situations like this, no one leaves because they’re happy where they are. People keep saying go after those officers, but I say just wait and see where the cuts happen and where those officers go organically,” he says. “I don’t go after agents who are happy with the situation. They are not interested in moving. But if they are dissatisfied, they will call us.”
With the pool of agents shrinking in many of these markets due to the merged company’s large market share, Murray said he expects recruitment efforts to potentially intensify as Compass looks for even greater market share. He cautions independent brokers to examine their own recruitment and retention strategies.
“In a market like New York City, where Compass now owns Coldwell Banker, Corcoran and Sotheby’s – a large chunk of the top 10 firms – they can no longer really compete with each other for agents because they’re just cannibalizing each other. If I’m Douglas Elliman or Brown Harris StevensI would be concerned that they would increase their efforts to recruit from me,” Murray said.
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