A New York company that pairs real estate agents with technology to change the way people buy, rent or sell homes is adding Pittsburgh to its platform.
Agents from around Pittsburgh have joined Compass, including the RSY Team of Michael Reed, John Shutey and Joe Yost; Eileen Allan and Shannon Assad (known as The Sisters); the Jordan Jankowski Team; and agents Jen Crouse, Leah George, Liz Fecko and Bill Jacoby. Together, these agents and teams made sales totaling more than $233 million last year.
As a national network of local experts, Compass has become a leading real estate technology company and one of the largest groups of small business owners in the country. Agents utilize its end-to-end platform to help improve their productivity and manage their business.
Jeff Bedard, regional president for Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey, says Compass is proud to call Greater Pittsburgh its newest home.
“The city is rich with history and has grown into its reputation as a world-class cultural center and beacon of innovation,” says Bedard. “In such a strong real estate market, we look forward to bringing our tech-forward support to agents throughout Allegheny County.”
Founded in 2012 in Manhattan, Compass provides technology and services that help real estate agents grow their businesses and better serve their clients. The company now has more than 18,000 agents across the United States and is still led by its founders — CEO Robert Reffkin and Chief Strategist Ori Allon.
In the Pittsburgh region, Compass has already hired a number of people for agent support roles. John Bilek, broker of record for Compass Greater Philadelphia, will expand his role to cover all of Pennsylvania.
In a joint statement about why they joined, Shutey and Yost say the RSY Team was looking to improve services and stay ahead of trends. They consider Compass to be “a progressive brokerage with core values that aligned perfectly with ours.”
“When the call came announcing the company’s intent to launch here, it was a feeling that made us beyond happy for our team, but more importantly, ecstatic for Pittsburgh as a whole,” they say.
Allan, the founding agent of The Sisters, says her team likes the Compass concierge program because it provides sellers interest-free money upfront to make improvements — such as staging, painting or minor repairs — before selling their home. Compass collects its payment after the home sells.
“We will help to guide our clients with what improvements get the largest return, which will result in earning them more money closing,” she says, noting that Compass is the only broker offering this type of selling advantage.
Compass also offers a bridge loan service, which can be helpful to people if their former home doesn’t sell as quickly as they had hoped. The company’s in-house marketing and advertising is data-driven and often results in listings spending less time on the market than the industry average, according to its website.
