Independent Real Estate Agents: Is Your Future Being Bought?

If you’re an independent real estate agent or own a small brokerage, I want to ask you a question. How long will your business remain independent if a handful of enormous corporations eventually control much of the inventory you need to compete?
The Wall Street Journal just published an article titled, “The Fierce Battle to Control How Americans Buy and Sell Their Homes.” It examines the battle between Compass, Zillow, and the MLS over private listings and access to the housing market.
But if you’re an agent or an independent broker, I think you need to look beyond the immediate dispute. Because this battle could have enormous consequences for your future.
Compass completed its merger with Anywhere Real Estate earlier this year. That brought some of the most recognized brokerage brands in America under one corporate parent, including Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Corcoran, and Sotheby’s International Realty.
Compass is also developing an enormous technology and property distribution network. Its private-listing strategy gives participating agents and buyers early access to properties before those listings are broadly distributed through the MLS and other public websites.
Now, Compass says it wants to empower agents. And there are benefits to being part of a large brokerage network. Technology, marketing, training, brand recognition, and access to inventory can all have value.
But I want you to look at this from another perspective.
What happens when the company providing those benefits also controls an increasingly important part of the marketplace?
Imagine the real estate industry ten years from now. Instead of thousands of independent brokerages competing through a broadly shared inventory system, suppose three or four enormous corporations dominate the business.
Where does that leave you?
If you own a small brokerage, will your agents have equal access to properties being marketed inside those private networks?
Will you be able to advertise those listings? Will your buyers be able to see them? Will you have to negotiate access with the very companies you’re competing against?
Compass has said it is willing to share certain private listings with outside brokerages under conditions. That’s a positive step. But who establishes those conditions? And what happens if the conditions change?
Today, an independent brokerage can compete by offering better service, better local knowledge, or a more attractive arrangement for its agents.
But what if inventory access itself becomes a competitive advantage available primarily through a handful of large corporations?
Your biggest competitor could also become one of the companies determining how you access the marketplace.
And to the individual agent, I have another question.
What happens to your commission split when you have fewer attractive brokerage companies to choose from?
What happens to the fees you pay? The technology you’re required to use? The rules governing how you market your listings?
What happens if a brokerage decides to change your compensation arrangement?
Today, many real estate agents work as independent contractors. Could large brokerage companies eventually experiment with broader salaried-agent models? Certainly. That doesn’t mean Compass has announced such a plan. It hasn’t.
But think about your negotiating position if leaving the company also means losing access to an important inventory network.
And I especially want to ask the agents working at Compass something.
Is this the real estate industry you want to help build?
Do you want an industry where three or four enormous brokerage corporations control a substantial portion of the inventory, technology, and consumer relationships?
You may be very happy with Compass today. You may have excellent support, a favorable commission arrangement, and valuable technology. I understand that.
But your current arrangement isn’t the same thing as long-term independence.
What happens if the company changes its business model? What happens if you want to leave? How much of what you’ve built can you take with you?
Your personal reputation may belong to you. But the technology, the private listing network, and the distribution rules belong to the company.
And this is where history should make agents think.
For decades, the MLS has held enormous power because agents keep contributing the inventory. Then the portals used that inventory to develop powerful consumer businesses.
Now large brokerage companies are building networks around that same inventory.
The question is, how many times will agents help build someone else’s marketplace before they decide to build one that gives them more control?
I’m not suggesting we eliminate brokerages. I’m a real estate broker myself. And I’m not suggesting agents shouldn’t be compensated for providing professional services.
I’m suggesting that access to the marketplace shouldn’t require an agent to surrender their identity or become dependent on a particular corporate brokerage network.
That’s one of the reasons I created Rethink Open House.
On Rethink Open House, your property listing can be a branded online experience. Your name, your professional identity, your personal introduction video, your contact information, and a direct connection to your profile can all be part of that experience.
And buyers can connect directly with the participating professionals without Rethink Open House creating another paid referral between them.
You don’t have to work for Compass. You don’t have to join a national brokerage brand. And you don’t have to abandon the MLS to get started.
Independent agents and small brokerages can use Rethink Open House today.
Now, I want to be clear about something. Rethink Open House doesn’t yet have the inventory of the established MLS system. That’s what we’re working to change.
But the only way to build a marketplace that serves independent professionals is for independent professionals to participate.
The big brokerages aren’t waiting for you. They’re building their networks, their technology, and their distribution systems right now.
So if you own a small brokerage, what are you doing to ensure your business can compete five or ten years from now?
And if you’re an independent agent, what are you doing to protect your personal brand and your relationship with the people you serve?
You can wait until the industry determines your future.
Or you can begin helping build a different one.
Put your next listing on Rethink Open House. Show your clients what a branded property experience can look like. Show buyers who you are and how to contact you directly.
Control your listing. Control your brand. Control your leads.
The industry’s biggest companies are building their future.
Isn’t it time you started building yours?
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