Chicago indie brokerages merge as national brands close in 

Independent Chicago-based brokerages Baird & Warner and Dream Town today announced plans for the two firms to merge, forming the second-largest brokerage in the region by properties sold in 2024, the companies said. 

The merged operations will boast roughly 3,000 agents, loan officers and staff across more than 30 offices in the Chicago region, including eight within city limits. 

The 170-year-old Baird & Warner became Chicago area's largest independently owned brokerage earlier this year after Compass closed on its acquisition of @properties Christie's International Real Estate, the region's market leader by sales volume. Nationally, Baird & Warner is the 37th-largest brokerage, with $5.2 billion in sales volume last year, while Dream Town brought in just over $1 billion, according to the T3 Sixty Real Estate Almanac. 

Banking on the appeal of independence

Compass' rising stature in the Chicago market — and its status as the leading U.S. brokerage, with $231 billion in sales last year — was just one reason for the merger. 

"At a time of furious consolidation among publicly traded and private equity-backed national brands, the Baird & Warner/Dream Town merger celebrates agents' preference for a fiercely independent and locally owned brokerage that puts people first and is actively invested in their communities," the companies said in a news release.  

Although Baird & Warner didn't name Compass directly in the announcement, consolidation has been a key growth strategy for the New York-based brokerage giant. In addition to At World, the company acquired Tennessee's Parks Real Estate and Latter + Blum in New Orleans last year, giving it significant market share in each region.

Aligned values and 'the long view' of success

Laura Ellis, Baird & Warner's chief strategy officer, EVP and president of residential sales, told Real Estate News that Compass' acquisition of @properties presented a major opportunity for Baird & Warner to become the preeminent local independent brokerage. But the decision to pick up Dream Town wasn't purely opportunistic. 

"Number one: We would have never done this if the values didn't align," Ellis explained. "We're a healthy company of a decent size and a major player in the Chicago market, but bringing the strength of these two companies together that share the same values — which is very agent- and client-centric — is a beautiful match. Steve Baird is putting his own money in to do this deal because he's got the long view." 

Ellis also noted that "both of our companies have been very pro-Clear Cooperation," highlighting Baird & Warner's position as a foil in Compass' effort to gain market dominance through private listings. 

Shared values are important to agents too, Ellis said, because they seek consistency from their broker. She notes that many agents in the Chicago market were "very confused" when Compass announced its acquisition of @properties since the "two companies were fierce competitors and were not known to like each other." Like Baird & Warner, Ellis said @properties had once "prided itself on local ownership."

'More horsepower and more resources'

Yuval Degani, the owner and CEO of Dream Town Realty, will become president of brokerage services, he shared with Real Estate News. Degani did not disclose a timeline for when the merger will wrap, but noted that "the deal is happening." Once the companies merge, no offices will close, Degani said, adding that while the two brokerage brands were "friendly competitors," there is a lot of opportunity for the two to grow together. 

"The fit on business was that it turns out that we're really doing a lot of different things," he explained. "I have a strong CRM that's a front-end for managing business — pipelines, accounting and everything is really in one place — and Steve has a really strong back end and a lot of technology that matches up with ours."

Degani said the merged companies will represent a "fiercely independent brokerage powerhouse" in the Chicago metro area.

"We have a lot more horsepower and more resources between the two of us, and yet the brokers will feel much less change on their day to day — which is always a concern when you're merging two companies. We really found a perfect match here in that sense."