Update: Compass decided to terminate the agreement with Leading Edge, a company spokesperson confirmed to Inman. The deal between Compass and Leading Edge fell apart after Compass agents reportedly expressed fear that the company was giving away its technology, according to an internal memo obtained by Inman. In a statement, Compass said it has, “received interest from over 30 brokerages where there’s is no geographic overlap” with its current offices.
Real estate brokerages across the country will soon have the ability to equip agents with the full suite of Compass technology without being acquired outright by the growing giant.
“Powered by Compass,” a new program from the technology-focused NYC brokerage that seeks to cater to other boutique brokerages, will launch first with Leading Edge Real Estate Group, a brokerage with 200 agents and 9 locations in Massachusetts that recently split from Re/Max.
“More entrepreneurs can now build their business on Compass,” said Ori Allon, Compass co-founder and chairman, in a statement to Inman. “This new venture allows us to power a larger part of the real estate ecosystem and provides an additional revenue source beyond our core business, which is on track to double in size this year.”
Compass said it won’t be taking the new program to its core markets — although Leading Edge does have a Boston office, where Compass has operated since 2015 — as to avoid conflict with its own rapidly-growing brokerage network.
Through Powered by Compass, brokerages will get access to four key parts of Compass’ technology: its search tools, marketing center, collections and insights.
- The search tool was built on Compass’ listing database and can help agents quickly find homes for buyers and also generate real-time, client-ready comparables for sellers, the company said.
- Compass’ marketing center features a digital design studio with a library of designs that will agents to customize print, social and email marketing campaigns with just a few clicks.
- The collections program is a visual client collaboration tool where agents can organize homes, centralize client discussions and monitor the market through status and price updates.
- The insights tool is a personalized dashboard of key data points including audience and traffic information and new lead generation opportunity.
“Locally owned boutique brokerages play a special role in their neighborhoods across America, and we’re committed to empowering them with the technology their agents need,” said Compass co-founder and CEO Robert Reffkin in a statement. “We see a future where all real estate entrepreneurs have the opportunity to take advantage of Compass technology and improve their quality of life.”
Reffkin added that, in the future, he hopes to extend the Compass technology to all real estate professionals, including photographers, stagers, mortgage brokers, contractors, interior designers and more.
For Leading Edge, the move comes just a month after it split from Re/Max over a contract dispute and decided to become an independent brokerage.
“We feel very strongly about being an independent, our core leadership and ability to support our agent, and the service we provide them, but adding this incredible technology platform with Compass just makes us complete,” Paul Mydelski, the chairman and founder of Leading Edge Real Estate, told Inman.
“We had a big box brand and prior to leaving that brand we obviously encouraged our agents to use the support of the tools of Re/Max,” he added. “And we feel that now our alignment with Compass is such a better tool.”
Mydelski said he went down and met with Reffkin a couple weeks ago at Compass’ headquarters in New York City and Reffkin offered him the chance to collaborate. He and his company were blown away by the technology.
“It’s a very sleek looking technology platform,” Christine George, the president of marketing and business development at Leading Edge Real Estate told Inman, “[It’s] very professional, very sophisticated.”
Mydelski declined to tell Inman how much Powered by Compass cost.
