To all the agents in the house,
The brokerage conglomerate formerly known as Realogy is getting way more ambitious.
My colleague Brooklee Han reported last week that Realogy is changing its name to Anywhere, which should take effect by June 30. Anywhere's press release on the name change was a bit over the top. The brokerage, for example, described an asterisk accompanying the name change as, "symbolic of depth, connectivity and amplification." The asterisk's upper three strokes, "form the arc of the sun, rising above the home, conveying the potential that comes with a new day."
But it really might be a new day for Anywhere. The rebranding itself is notable because "Realogy" takes a back seat to its half-dozen consumer-facing brands, including Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and Better Homes & Gardens.
The bigger indication of change, though, was the May 12 investor presentation that dovetailed with the name change. In it, Anywhere claimed a financial target of $11.5 billion in revenue by 2026 and a 20% share of the U.S. residential real estate market.
The revenue target seems reasonable enough. Anywhere did achieve $8 billion in 2021 revenue, though 2021 was an extraordinarily strong home sale year.
The market share goal, though, is aspirational. Realogy competes with Compass right now for the biggest market share in the country, according to RealTrends numbers. But in the exceedingly fragmented brokerage market, that is presently about a 5% share, though Anywhere counts its extensive franchise network toward that share.
Twenty-percent market share in four years sounds like Anywhere CEO Ryan Schneider is channeling the pronouncements of Compass CEO Robert Reffkin or Zillow head Rich Barton. These sky's-the-limit goals can dazzle investors in the short-term but may end with them losing a lot of money.
Schneider aims not only to make Anywhere bigger, but different in focus. "What I'm trying to lay out is the long-term commitment of our company to do more with the consumer," he told Inman News.
The focus on the consumer, as opposed to the agent – which Compass, eXp and other national brokerages stress publicly, is echoed in Realogy's court filings in antitrust litigation. There, the brokerage argued the buyer-brokerage commission structure should be just one option for the consumer, and that the only National Association of Realtors' tenet Realogy agents must abide by is the code of ethics.
Agents, do you see the company formerly known as Realogy changing its approach? And, if so, might it affect the agent's relationship with the company?
Please send your thoughts along anonymously. I can be reached at mblake@hwmedia.com.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
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