Podcast: Big Changes From Realogy

Changes at the Top at Realogy

This morning, Realogy announced several changes at the top of their organization. Long-term leaders at NRT, Inc., and Cartus stepped down from those roles. A new Chief Technology Officer and a change of reporting for the Sotheby’s owned brokerage firms were also announced.

As we said in an earlier article in REAL Trends, after 20 years of remarkably consistent CEOs, changes were coming. The first was the change at Realogy. Now, that same company has announced these changes at the top of the organization. This is not unusual. Often, new CEOs want to build their own teams to reflect changes in direction that the new CEO wants to pursue.  This has already happened in years’ past when there were changes in the CEO roles at Keller Williams and RE/MAX. Ryan Schneider, the new CEO of Realogy, is making changes that are not unexpected.

What comes next is the larger question. What are the larger changes coming in the direction and investment policy of Realogy? Do they double down on brokerage acquisitions? Do they consolidate brands? Do they acquire other brands? Any and all of these are likely the strategic considerations facing Realogy. But those same strategic issues are facing RE/MAX, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Keller Williams and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. In the age of Amazon, with RedFin, Compass, Open Door, Purple Bricks and others, every incumbent is in the mode of examining their futures.

Bruce Zipf, the outgoing CEO of NRT, Inc. and Kevin Kelleher, CEO of Cartus, have been outstanding leaders with whom we have enjoyed long-term personal and professional relationships, and we look forward to working with them in future in their new roles with Realogy.