Why MYNY left the franchise ‘box’ to go independent
The agent is at the heart of the business for MYNY, a newly-formed independent brokerage that operated under the Coldwell Banker banner for nearly two decades.
Key points:
- In April, the largest Coldwell Banker affiliate in New York City’s five boroughs transitioned into an independent brokerage model.
- The firm now operating as MYNY is eyeing expansion opportunities in Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida — states where New Yorkers tend to gravitate, noted Joseph Hamdan, principal broker at the agent-focused firm.
- By going independent, MYNY can help its agents improve their bottom line, grow their personal brand and expand their business into new regions, Hamdan told Real Estate News.
After 20 years as a company — 18 of which were spent as a Coldwell Banker affiliate — a New York City-based firm has opted to break free of the big-box brand name.
The company previously known as Coldwell Banker Reliable Real Estate was the brand's largest affiliate across the city's five boroughs. And now? It is operating independently as MYNY.
The firm had outgrown the franchise model, and its leaders felt that they could do better by agents and clients without a franchise's constraints, according to Joseph Hamdan, MYNY's principal broker. In a recent interview with Real Estate News, Hamdan unpacked what that means to the company.
Stepping out of the franchise 'box' — and into growth opportunities
After two decades of growth, Hamdan said the firm reached a point where it was time to try something different — something outside the franchise "box." He and other leaders at the firm began to feel like the franchise brand's support was actually becoming restrictive.
"We didn't want to be in a scenario anymore where opportunity flows from corporate to the office level," Hamdan said. "We wanted it to flow to the agent."
The company is no longer limited on where it can expand its business, Hamdan said. That's important for New York metro-area agents with clients who want to transact beyond the city.
Expanding into New Jersey has long been an interest for the firm because its agents have cultivated a robust referral business in the state, Hamdan said. MYNY also plans to focus on growing pipelines in Staten Island, Connecticut and Florida, and has become a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World — a move that Hamdan said will aid expansion efforts.
MYNY's opportunity 'to differentiate ourselves'
Facing fewer fees, agents' bottom lines have improved since the firm broke from the franchise, Hamdan said. The move has also allowed them to focus more on their personal brands rather than on being part of a large corporation.
"Agents want to be the brand," Hamdan said. "That's important in the business, and it's hard to do that when you're overshadowed or encouraged to not stand out more than the company does."
Coldwell Banker Realty's acquisition by Compass as part of the Anywhere merger didn't bear much weight on MYNY's decision to go independent, Hamdan said. After all, the firm was already accustomed to operating under a parent company.
It can be tough for brokerages and agents to distinguish themselves amid "the sameness that comes with being run by a parent company," Hamdan observed: "You might have a different brand, but you might all be using the same technology. You might all be using the same marketing, but just with a different logo."
When it gets "problematic," he continued, is "when a lot of those brands are also your competitors."
"You're separate in part," he said. "But when you show up with a client and everything looks the same, I think there's opportunity for a company like us — an independent — to differentiate ourselves."
Prioritizing the leadership-agent connection
Going independent has given MYNY's 135 agents more direct support from leadership — and less bureaucracy, Hamdan said. The response, he noted, has been positive.
The firm's overall goal has always been to help each agent build a sustainable business to benefit them and their families, Hamdan said. That goal will remain.
"For us, it's access to leadership — and that's access across all agent levels, whether you're a top producer or a brand-new [agent]," Hamdan said. "You have access to leadership, you have an opportunity to have growth."
Developing agents is "a formula for us to help people grow and help the company grow," he added. Part of that development comes in the form of a 30-day training session specifically focused on new agents and separate training options for those who are more experienced.
As consolidation continues to sweep the industry, Hamdan said brokerages increasingly appear to be making decisions based primarily on what's good for the company. If they instead focused on their agents' best interests, he argued, company success would follow.
"Any decision we make is for [the agents] long term," he said. "What's good for the agent is good for the company."
Hamdan contrasted this approach with the trend of brokerages filing lawsuits against former agents. "That kind of environment I'm not a fan of," Hamdan said. "I think that penalizes people on the basis of corporate greed."