Inman

60-agent Pacific Northwest indie is joining Compass

Zack Lazo, Ian Morell, David Albers, and Jillian Morell

A 60-agent, investment-focused brokerage is joining Compass in the Pacific Northwest. Caliber Group, formerly Caliber Real Estate, bolster’s Compass’ presence in the Kings County, Washington, market while adding real estate investment expertise.

“Our collaborative culture is everything to us, and we’re a young company that is passionate about real estate and our agents,” Zack Lazo, Caliber’s founding partner and designated broker, said in a statement. “By joining an innovator in the industry like Compass, we are excited to be at the forefront of changing the real estate landscape.”

Caliber was founded in 2013, by a group of friends that was flipping homes and building a rental portfolio. It has since grown into a full-service real estate brokerage with an investment-focus.

The 60-agent team closed more than $312.4 million in sales, according to its own data. The firm is led by Lazo, Ian Morell, David Albers, and Jillian Morell

For Compass, the addition of the Caliber team emphasizes that the New York City-founded brokerage is still growing, despite a slowdown in the market due to COVID-19. The addition was not an acquisition, rather the entire Caliber team decided to affiliate with Compass.

The company also added one of Douglas Elliman’s top teams in New York. The Stanton Houch Team, a seven-member team led by Wesley Stanton and Jordan Hoch, which closed more than $85 million in sales in 2019, is joining Compass.

Since the pandemic hit, Compass has been using Enboarder an Australia-based virtual onboarding solution for new agents.

“Enboarder has delivered a terrific onboarding experience to over 4,500 agents across the country and is a perfect tool to help new agents get acquainted with Compass even during social distancing,” Compass CEO Robert Reffkin wrote in an email in March.

“Through a personalized and automated drip campaign, Enboarder reaches three to four times as many agents as a typical email approach would, helping people who are new to Compass feel situated and at home here much more quickly.”

Email Patrick Kearns