As Compass looks ahead to 2025, Gorod said the housing industry should expect to see more M&A action going forward. Largest company in Japan By sales quantity.
“We are actively working to grow all aspects of our business, including bringing in great partners to grow our current operations organically,” Gorod said. said. “We’re not only looking to attract and hire top agents, but we’re also looking for great loan officers in the mortgage department and great title and escrow officers. , we are also looking at acquiring other companies in the market that allow us to enter that space.”
M&A activity isn’t the only way Compass hopes to expand in the coming years. Through the acquisition of Christie’s International, Compass also acquired the Christie’s affiliate network, with more than 100 partnerships in 50 countries and territories.
Compass has said it plans to keep the Christie’s name on its affiliate network, but this will give the company the option of franchising. This was something Mr. Levkin first expressed interest in while building the company. Announcement of financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022.
“This acquisition is probably much more transformative than a typical acquisition because it really accelerates the opportunity for us to look at different business models,” Gorod said.
“We can now launch affiliates through Christie’s to empower independent broker owners long-term. This will accelerate as we don’t have to build the infrastructure from scratch to do so. It’s not easy, so we brought in a partner who has experience and knows how to do it.”
While expansion and growth for Compass is certainly on the horizon in 2025, Gorod said this time will be different than Compass’s early days.
“One of the lessons we really learned this year is how important it is to operate a business with really strong financial discipline,” Gorod said. “Many people in the industry thought that by mid-to-late 2024, interest rates would start to be lowered quite aggressively and that 2025 would be a very strong year with a very big rebound. It’s possible, but it’s not certain at this point.
“So what gives us strength as a company right now is our ability to operate in line with the environment that we’re in, and we’re still generating significant EBITDA and that’s helped us with these acquisitions. Now we can do some things.”
Gorod said Compass plans to continue operating in a conservative manner, even if it no longer needs to do so, to ensure it can continue to expand through M&A activity.
“When you start to lose sight of that and start predicting where the market is going to go, it’s hard to base your business strategy on that because those things can change,” Gorod said. “When the market really starts to recover and interest rates come down and volumes increase, I think we will all learn those lessons and be better for running our companies this way.”
In addition to its 2025 growth target, Compass plans to continue to push forward. National Association of Realtors (NAR) over its clear cooperation policy (CCP). This policy requires listing agents to submit properties to the MLS within 24 hours of selling the property.
Earlier this year, Mr. Levkin voiced strong opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, arguing that its policies were harmful to home sellers. That’s a message the company plans to continue spreading in 2025, Gorod said.
“Ultimately, our focus has always been how to secure and provide our sellers with the best tools and resources, and ultimately work with our agents and their customers to , to create a company that better serves sellers and homeowners,” Gorod said.
In Gorod’s view, the current home sales system puts sellers at a disadvantage.
“The most popular real estate websites have built their business at the expense of homeowners by displaying negative information on property information, such as days on market, price declines, and value estimates. What we’re trying to do is level the playing field and bring the same strategies and best practices that real estate developers and professional home builders are already using and already benefiting from into private homes. We will provide it to the owner,” Gorod said.
“When a system does not give homeowners autonomy or the ability to do what they want with regard to listing their property, effectively forcing them to act against their will, it is a great impediment to long-term success.” It’s not a recipe. That’s why we do it.” We insist on this. ”
To give sellers more choice, Compass has launched a private, exclusive internal network. Gorod said the company has seen an increase in its use of internal listing platforms and expects that trend to continue.
“This provides tools to help agents find the best way to market a property to sellers. They can test price and increase expectations and interest in the property,” Gorod said. spoke.
“We will continue to focus on how we can leverage our systems to help agents better serve homeowners as customers, and that is how homeowners can better serve homeowners as customers. It’s also a platform for realizing what you want to do in terms of how you sell and market your products.
