Real has ‘a long runway’ for future growth, says CGO 

It wasn't long ago that The Real Brokerage breached the 30,000-agent threshold — and according to its new growth leader, the company doesn't plan to slow down anytime soon.

Jason Cassity, who was recently tapped to serve as Real's first-ever chief growth officer, brings a unique perspective to the C-suite role after working for years as an agent and team leader.

While his lack of executive experience "is a big advantage for agent attraction," it "could hurt from a credibility angle" — which is, in part, why he's aiming to attend 100 agent events in his first 100 days on the job.

"As of last week, I was just an agent at the company. Now I'm holding a leadership role," he said during a recent interview with Real Estate News. "There is an element of 'prove it' that I'm going to have to do."

The CGO's main objectives — and how he aims to meet them

Net agent growth is Cassity's key initiative. He estimates about 80% of his focus will be on agent attraction and the remaining 20% on retention.

Though Cassity believes an individual without recent real estate sales experience could succeed in the role, his ability to relate to everyday agents is a bonus — especially when advocating at the corporate level for initiatives that will benefit them.

"Having me on the inside to be able to say, 'Agents aren't going to like this — let's do it this way,' or, 'Agents will love this — let's promote this more,' is going to be valuable for the company," he said.

Cassity also thinks his visibility in the industry — as a podcast co-host and video marketing advocate — will work in his favor. "I can speak the language of 'agent' a little bit better, and so I think that it'll strike up a lot more — hopefully — agent conversations that otherwise maybe wouldn't have happened."

Building an agent-centric brokerage

Cassity's appointment follows other recent agent-to-exec moves at Real, seen in the promotion of Ken Pozek to Real's board and Dusty Oglesby to the VP of agent learning and development role.

"The ability to have agent involvement in the current modern brokerage is pretty essential," Cassity said.

"How else are you going to build an agent-centric brokerage if you're not hearing from the agents? You can get out of touch really quick in the business world if you just listen to the C-suites who aren't actually in the trenches," he added.

Maintaining growth — without sacrificing culture

Real Chairman and CEO Tamir Poleg recently said he could imagine the company — already one of the industry's fastest-growing brokerages — tripling its agent count within the next couple of years. But is prolonged rapid growth Real's goal?

"Yeah. It is," Cassity said without hesitation.

"I don't think we've even scratched the surface of where we can go," he said. The U.S. agent population is over 2 million, "and we're at 33,000," he noted. "We have a long, long runway."

Those growth goals are possible in part because of reZEN, the company's proprietary transaction management software. "It makes it a lot easier for us to forecast profitability because we already own the tech, and no other upstart brokerage really has that," Cassity said.

But balancing continued growth with company culture can be tricky. Cassity believes Real's sponsorship integration, in which Real relies on its agent base — not recruiters — to attract new talent, makes a big difference. With all agents "under the same tent," he said, "the people who don't fit the culture kind of attrition themselves out."

The agents Real wants

Many agents are drawn to Real because of its favorable economic model, Cassity said — himself included.

"They can get the full support of a full-service brokerage and save five, six figures in dollars that they can put back into their business and build it however they want to," he explained, adding that the model has been Real's "biggest driver of growth" — and he doesn't "see why that couldn't continue over the next 10 years."

But the brokerage isn't looking for just any agents.

"You can't do much with someone who doesn't want to do the thing," Cassity said. "Ultimately, I'm just looking for engaged people who want to grow their business. I feel like, nine times out of 10, Real is going to be the best platform for them to do it on — so I want those people here."

Investing in 'the best fly trap' — not M&As

The industry is having a consolidation moment, with the Compass-Anywhere merger being the most notable recent example. Cassity was with Compass before joining Real in 2022, and he acknowledged that an M&A-driven approach has "worked well for their growth." 

"At the same time, there is something to be said about an organic groundswell: people who want to be here just to be here. It creates a culture of people who are likeminded and want to see something through to the end."

Real's goal "is to spend that money that we would, potentially, spend on M&A and build the best brokerage we possibly can for those people — build the best fly trap, so to speak."

That doesn't mean acquisitions are out of the question. "As we start to look into the $100 million teams and the 100 person-plus brokerages and indie brokerages and things like that, there probably would be a path where we can start to discuss M&A-type deals," Cassity said.

"But I don't know that we would need to change anything. I think it's been working pretty well for the last three years. There's nothing on my roadmap that says, 'Come in and shake things up.'"