“We just launched a new consumer site that lets our agents collaborate with their clients,” says Compass founder and CEO Robert Reffkin. “It has features such as AI-driven recommendations exactly for the buyer. Based on everything that they’re searching it makes recommendations. It has another feature called Collections, which is a visual workplace. It allows the agent and their client to collaborate, discuss, and monitor the market in real-time.”

Robert Reffkin, CEO of Compass, discusses their new AI-driven recommendations website and says that an “IPO is likely in their future” in an interview on CNBC:

Compass Launches Consumer Site With AI-Driven Recommendations

We’re building a platform to power all real estate decisions for advisors, sellers, and buyers. Agents come to grow their business, sellers come to sell their home for more money and less time, and buyers come to find the best listings. We just launched a new consumer site that lets our agents collaborate with their clients. It has features such as AI-driven recommendations exactly for the buyer. Based on everything that they’re searching it makes recommendations. It has another feature called Collections, which is a visual workplace. It allows the agent and their client to collaborate, discuss, and monitor the market in real-time.

There are technology companies that focus on agents but not the consumer and there are technology companies that focus on the consumer but not the agent. We’re unique in that we’re focusing on both and really allowing them to collaborate together. What makes us a technology company is we have scale effects, we have network effects, flywheel effects, we have defensible IP technology and are asset-light. Our core flywheel is really an inventory based flywheel where we hire agents that bring inventory. With our new site, we create a great buyer experience which brings more traffic for agents. Then we build tools for our sellers to sell their homes for more money and in less time which allows them to bring even more inventory.

An IPO Is Likely In Our Future

An IPO is likely in our future. But I don’t go to sleep at night thinking about an IPO. I go to sleep and I think about how we can help our agents grow their business and better serve their clients. I look at all the companies that go public (including WeWork) to take lessons from them on what you can or cannot do. Real estate is a very large segment of our global economy. I think it’s the largest. However, (unlike WeWork) we’re not a landlord, we’re a very different type of business. 

There’s excess inventory (in the New York market) on one hand but with low-interest rates, there has never been a low-interest-rate environment that hasn’t been good for real estate. So I think it’s a good time to be a buyer. Whether it’s the mansion tax, the transfer tax, or SALT, I think the real challenge there is the perception of taxes. When there’s a perception that taxes are going to increase that’s not good for real estate. Markets where there are a lot of software companies doing great such as Seattle, San Francisco, Austin, Boulder, and Nashville (are hot for real estate) but in any market, there are buying opportunities. I think just have to find the right agent to help you identify those.