The Swanepoel Power 200 ranks the most powerful leaders in the residential real estate brokerage industry as 2024 kicks off. Criteria used to rank leaders include the scope and power of leaders’ positions, the financial resources they have at their disposal, whether they have equity stake in their company, their trajectory and much more. For a detailed description of the careful methodology T3 Sixty used to determine the rankings, please see the methodology here.
The SP 200 reflects the relative power of leaders in the industry and is not a company ranking. Size and sales volume listed in bios provide framing and, while used to determine ranking, were just part of the data considered. Note that the numbers used in many of the bios reflect full-year 2022 data, as those are the only available across the board for all companies. Most companies have not completed their 2023 financials. When they do this spring, T3 Sixty will publish its annual ranking of the industry’s largest brokerages, brands and enterprises.
1
Schneider jumps to No. 1 for the first time ever on the SP 200 in 2024 based on his strong leadership at the nation’s largest real estate enterprise, which has over 195,000 U.S. agents at company-owned and franchised offices who do over $636 billion in annual sales. He reorganized the firm, streamlined its leadership structure and, through the first nine months of 2023, achieved a net profit of $10 million. He also orchestrated a nationwide settlement related to the compensation-related class-action antitrust lawsuits for $83.5 million, limiting exposure for the company and providing an operational runway clear of that challenge in 2024.
2
Keller spent much of 2023 back at the helm of Keller Williams Realty, overseeing the nation’s largest franchise brand based on agent count (169,266), transaction sides (1.04 million) and sales volume ($439 billion). In 2023, he brought back Mark Willis, a key lieutenant who played a vital role in the company’s ascension in the mid-2000s as CEO. While the company battled the high-profile compensation lawsuits, Keller is widely viewed as having performed well on the stand at trial.
3
As CEO of HomeServices of America, Blefari leads the nation’s third largest brokerage with an agent count of more than 44,500 who do nearly $166 billion in annual sales. He is also the chairman of the company’s large real estate brand, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. In 2023, the company faced compensation conspiracy allegations in court, in which Blefari played a strong role from the stand. Through the first nine months of 2023, the company contributed $25 million in net earnings to parent company Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
4
Sanford’s real estate empire, which continued to grow in 2023, posted $12.2 million in net income through the first nine months. In 2023, the firm launched eXp Exclusives, which provides eXp Realty agents exclusive access to on- and off-market properties in the U.S. and Canada and expanded its new luxury division eXp Luxury.
5
Barton has steadied the Zillow Group ship over the last two years, as it has adapted its end-to-end transaction vision from iBuying to a more asset-light approach. To effect this transition in 2023, he led the rollout of ShowingTime+, a suite of sophisticated listing tools and services for agents, and acquired one of the industry’s most popular technologies for real estate teams in Follow Up Boss. The company posted a net loss of $85 million in 2023 through the third quarter, but has solidified its position and direction, and is poised to leverage its portal dominance in the years ahead.
6
As he continued to work to steady the Compass ship in 2023, Reffkin further solidifies his position as one of the industry’s most powerful leaders. The company still lost money in 2023, reporting a net loss of $236.3 million through the first nine months of the year, but that represents about a 50% drop in losses from the same period a year before. The firm maintained its position as the U.S.’s largest brokerage in 2023, with over 28,000 agents who do over $227 billion in annual sales and got larger with the acquisition of large Texas brokerage Realty Austin.
7
As president and CEO of Anywhere Brands, Yannaccone oversees the largest cadre of real estate brokerage brands in the world, including Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s International Realty, Century 21, ERA, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and Corcoran Group. She has become the strong No. 2 at the nation’s largest real estate enterprise, which has over 195,000 U.S. agents at company-owned and franchised offices who do over $636 billion in annual sales. With Schneider, she has helped the firm trim expenses and tighten operations, which resulted in a $10 million net profit through the first nine months in 2023.
8
In 2023, Florance stepped on the gas in his relatively recent entrance into the residential real estate space with a revamped Homes.com. CoStar Group, which he founded in 1987 and has run since as CEO, has aggressively grown and developed Homes.com, and increased its traffic significantly since acquiring the portal in 2021. As he has demonstrated in other verticals, notably commercial real estate and rentals, he is hunting dominance in the real estate sales space with a “My Listing, My Lead” strategy. CoStar is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful players in the space and Florance is leading that charge.
9
Second-generation Howard Hanna leader Casey and third-generation leader Hoby Hanna continue to guide Howard Hanna with strong, competent hands as the nation’s largest family-owned company. The brokerage, which operates in 13 states, ranks as the nation’s seventh largest firm, with nearly 12,000 agents who do over $37 billion in annual sales. In 2023, Hoby became CEO of the company as he begins to take a more prominent role in the firm his grandparents co-founded in 1957.
10
Bailey, entering his third year as CEO of Re/Max, enters the top 10 of the SP 200 for the first time in 2024. As head of one of the U.S.’s third largest franchise brand, which has over 58,000 U.S. agents who do over $291 billion in annual sales, he is responsible for growing and maintaining a robust brand. He showed leadership in 2023 by coordinating a $55 million settlement for the compensation lawsuits in which Re/Max was a defendant. However, through the third quarter in 2023, the company lost $80.1 million (a big chunk attributed to the settlement) and continued to lose U.S. agents.
11
Willis, who as CEO, played a vital role in Keller Williams Realty’s explosive growth from 2005 to 2015, rejoined the firm and stepped back into his leadership position in 2023. After flirting with joining eXp Realty as an executive, Willis returned to the company where he established and grew his career. The Austin-based company currently has more than 1,100 offices and 187,000 agents, but Willis wants to grow agent count to between 250,000 and 300,000.
12
Redfin’s CEO since 2005, Kelman has navigated a challenging year for the nation’s sixth largest brokerage, as it makes a big push for profitability. The company successfully integrated its relatively new rental network, RentPath, into its business in 2023 with $136 million in revenue through the first three quarters, but, overall reported a net loss of $103 million in that period. In 2023, the company introduced pilot agent compensation plans that mirror traditional plans and announced it would operate more as a marketplace.
13
Soper runs Canada’s largest real estate brokerage enterprise, Bridgemarq Real Estate Services, which owns and operates the brands Royal LePage, Via Capitale and Johnston & Daniel, collectively consisting of over 20,000 agents in approximately 670 company-owned and franchised offices. He has run the company with consistency and balance since assuming the CEO role in 2003.
14
Siblings OB Jacobi and Jill Jacobi Wood and Wood’s husband Geoff run this nearly five-decade-old, family-owned company. Based in Seattle, the company operates brokerages and a franchise brand in 10 western states. At the firm’s company-owned and franchised offices, more than 6,500 agents do over $43 billion in annual sales.
15
Golden and Wong oversee At World, a holding company that owns the brokerage they began in 2000 and the Christie’s International Real Estate franchise. Along with its core Chicagoland-based @properties, At World owns Georgia-based Ansley Real Estate and California-based Sereno among other large US brokerages. With over 5,300 U.S. agents who do over $29 billion in annual sales, At World ranks as the nation’s 14th largest real estate enterprise.
16
Widdows runs Scottsdale, Arizona-based HomeSmart, which he founded in 2000 and operates as a fee-based brokerage model in which agents pay transaction and membership fees and keep 100% of their commissions. The company, which has 24,000 agents in 38 states at franchised and company-owned locations, does approximately $37 billion in annual sales. The company once had plans to go public but has recently been quiet on that front. In 2023, HomeSmart acquired Atlanta-based, 2,000-agent brokerage Solid Source Real Estate Cos.
17
Jewgieniew founded and leads Realty One Group, the nation’s 10th largest real estate enterprise with over 18,000 agents at franchised and company-owned offices who do over $40 billion in annual sales. Founded in 2005, the firm, which has a presence in 49 states and 16 countries, operates a fee-based brokerage model and has sold over 400 franchises, 70 in 2023. The 4,800 agents at Realty One Group’s company-owned offices do over $10.3 billion in annual sales.
18
White Jr. oversees the day-to-day operation of the almost 1,000 company-owned and franchised offices within Anywhere Real Estate’s highly regarded luxury brand, Sotheby’s International Realty, which ranks as the nation’s fourth largest real estate brand. White became chief operating officer in 2004, CEO of the affiliate network in 2013 and added the company-owned stores to his leadership portfolio in 2019.
19
Duffy leads the large real estate network United Real Estate, which operates residential, country, and auctioneering divisions. Its residential division operates with a fee-based business model with both company-owned and franchised offices. In 2023, the firm introduced group healthcare and financial wellness programs as well as a Lead Boost initiative. United Real Estate, which further expanded its reach in 2023 with acquisitions of brokerages in Texas and Alabama, ranks as the nation’s 12th largest brokerage with over 14,000 agents at company-owned offices who do approximately $21 billion in annual sales.
20
Kelly has become the clear No. 2 to HomeServices of America President and CEO Gino Blefari, and the heir apparent for the nation’s fourth largest real estate enterprise and its third largest brokerage. He plays a leadership role in HSA brokerage Ebby Halliday Companies as executive chairman. Before joining the Ebby Halliday Companies in 2018, he served as senior counsel for HomeServices of America, where he supported the company’s acquisitions and technology initiatives.
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