As large national brokerages and franchisors consolidate, two regional independent firms, the West Coast-based FirstTeam Real Estate and the East Coast-based Brown Harris Stevens, are teaming up to show that there is a way for independents to compete more aggressively while maintaining their independence.
On Tuesday, the two companies announced a strategic multi-year marketing partnership, which they said creates new opportunities for cross-marketing initiatives, advertising, public relations, networking and shared insights designed to expand exposure for agents, clients and listings.
“We have a couple of initiatives at play that are going to lead to the widespread exposure of each of our listings in each of our core markets through our websites and social media channels,” Matthew Leone, the chief marketing officer of Brown Harris Stevens, said regarding some of the opportunities the two firms are exploring. “There are so many places we can go with this, but I think the most important part is that to be the best agent, you have to be the most knowledgeable, so I think the idea of us sharing ideas and having panel discussions with thought leaders and the brightest minds from both markets, is just so exciting.”
Together, FirstTeam and Brown Harris Stevens represent over 5,000 agents in over 70 offices across New York, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, California, Arizona and Washington. Both firms are also members of the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World network.
In 2025, Brown Harris Stevens closed 3,470 transaction sides totaling $8.94 billion in sales volume, while FirstTeam closed 5,978 transaction sides totaling $6.12 billion in volume, according to RealTrends Verified Data.
Lauren Henss, the vice president of marketing and strategic initiatives at FirstTeam added that they believe the brokerage’s job is to make sure that its agents are true advisors to their clients and that this partnership gives them the tools and opportunities to strengthen their service and their business.
“We are giving them the tools and opportunities to be there for their clients and help them close more deals in less time,” Henss said. “That is what this is all about — elevating the while experience.”
Taking the connection further
Although their companies were already connected as part of the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World network, Henss and Leone said the idea for this partnership began at an industry conference earlier this year.
“We had an impromptu podcast session at our pop-up podcast studio at the conference and when Lauren and I were talking, we were just aligned on everything at the brokerage level,” Leone said. “We were surrounded by news of consolidations, and we were talking about how to counter that and through that discussion this partnership was formulated.”
When looking for someone to partner with, Henss said there are four questions she asks herself to figure out if a partnership will work:
- Do they have shared values?
- Does their product scale?
- Can we scale the partnership?
- Do we like working together?
For Henss, Leone and the team at Brown Harris Stevens checked all of these boxes, greenlighting the path to this partnership.
“We have some of the brightest minds in marketing between the two firms,” Henss said. “So, not only are we providing an amazing experience for our agents and their clients in terms of service, but we are also providing them with choice. This partnership is also a counterweight to the private listing fragmentation happening right now and we are giving our agents and clients more choice and the ability to partner with someone who elevates you and your business.”
While being a regional independent means that neither firm has access to the same level of capital as the new publicly traded mega-brokerages, Henss said the lack of shareholders to answer to is actually an operational advantage.
“This means that we are always focused on making agent-centric decisions and making decisions that help them grow their business and we are able to do that very quickly and agilely, while some of the others cannot,” Henss said.
Preserving autonomy
This agility and freedom are two of the reasons why Henss and Leone said it is important to them and their companies that they focus on collaboration and not consolidation
“We want to preserve autonomy. We also look at it in the way that like-minded brokerages should be aligning in today’s environment. There is no need to do M&A,” Leone said. “Our approach and FirstTeam’s approach is that we are very successful brokerages that have earned a deep trust form our agents and clients. We have been around for generations and there is no need to whitewash that and become a larger organization. This partnership gives us more reach.”
According to Leone there is already a decent amount of cross traffic of clients between the two firms due to the LeadingRE network, but they are hoping this partnership leads to more referrals between the two firms, helping them both become more competitive in their respective markets.
“All we want is to be strong competitors against these behemoths,” Leone said. “We feel like we can be nimble and lead with these types of partnerships and strategies that preserve autonomy.”
The two marketing leaders said they expect the collaboration between the two companies to grow based on the needs of their agents and while they are open to partnering with other firms, they both noted that it would have to be the right fit.
Building a template for other independents
“Our hope is to build a template for other independents to operate in this fashion,” Loene said. “We want our independents to be thriving and not giving into consolidation because they don’t see another option or feel like they are on an island. This is our way of showing them that they aren’t on an island and that there are companies out there willing to work together and share ideas.”
For Henss, she sees their job as showing other independents that this type of partnership strategy is possible.
“Our whole job is to elevate this and let independents know that we are better together,” Henss said. “Collaboration beats competition all the time. I think this is the future for independents to not only survive, but thrive within their given markets.”
