To all the agents in the house,
Unless it involves an egg, poaching sounds bad!
Besides "illegal hunting," the Oxford dictionary defines poaching as "to take or acquire in an unfair or clandestine way," and there are various other poaching definitions involving elephants or cows trampling fallow fields.
Where this unbecoming behavior comes into real estate is accusations about shady recruiting tactics that have translated into a handful of lawsuits the last few years.
The most prominent of these that I'm aware of seems to be Douglas Elliman winning a $5 million dollar judgment against William Raveis in 2017, after Raveis allegedly tried to "decimate" an Elliman suburban New York City branch with aggressive recruiting.
More recently, Zillow, Realogy, and Howard Hanna have all filed separate lawsuits against Compass. The Zillow case was settled, and there's been no outcome in the Realogy and Howard Hanna disputes.
I'm curious to hear when you think brokerages cross the line between recruiting and into poaching. Here are some brokerage behaviors that I've repeatedly heard about:
- Calling an agent at firm X, and offering him a better commission split if she joins firm Y
- Firm Y instructing an agent at Firm X to only communicate with them through private email.
- Firm Y asking an agent about how much their old firm spent on marketing and other overhead.
Which, of any of these behaviors, are unethical by firm Y, versus just being everyday recruiting tactics?
Please email your thoughts at mblake@housingwire.com. Your anonymity is presumed.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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