In early 2025, we took Spyglass Realty into Real’s Private Label program. At the end of March 2026, we walked back out and became fully independent again.
Owners weighing a platform deal ask me about it often. Here is my honest answer.
What Real’s Private Label got right
I am genuinely grateful for our time at Real. Private Label let us keep the Spyglass brand while plugging into Real’s technology and compensation structure, and we grew fast inside it. We started 2025 with about 130 agents and finished the year with nearly 200. We closed more than 1,000 transactions and over $450 million in volume, and we became Real’s No. 6 mega team.
The biggest lesson was revenue share. Our agents saw the value in building a business within a business, and it changed how I think about recruiting. That is the one piece of the model we brought home. Today we offer revenue share, on our own terms, to agents who bring other agents to Spyglass.
So this is not a story about a bad partner. It is a story about fit.
Why we left
We had operated as an independent since 2008. We have our own culture, our own mission (“Turning good agents into great agents”) and a team that likes to build.
Real’s tech stack was a big draw going in. But over the year we kept replacing tools with software built around how our agents actually work, until we had replaced nearly all of it. At some point I asked a simple question: What are we paying for here?
For many brokers, a platform’s technology, support and revenue share are exactly what they need. For us, most of that value was going unused.
AI changed the math
The technology gap between independents and the big platforms used to be real. It is not anymore.
Over the past year, I built much of our software myself with AI. Our Mission Control platform puts CMA tools, deal pipeline management, MLS data access, performance dashboards and automated client communication in one place. We also built AI-powered tools for contract creation, compliance tracking and voice-based offer intake, plus Deal Hub, our transaction, compliance and CRM platform.
What we built would have cost millions of dollars three years ago. We did it for thousands, and it cut roughly $10,000 a month from our software costs. The bigger win is control. When the tools do not do what our agents need, we change them ourselves instead of waiting on someone else’s roadmap.
You do not need to become a software company. You need curiosity and the discipline to start with the tools your agents use every day.
Consolidation is a recruiting tailwind
The industry keeps consolidating, and many read that as a sign independents should sell while they can. I read it the other way.
Not every agent wants to be part of a big-box brokerage. After I announced our independence in an Instagram reel, we saw more calls from agents interested in joining, specifically because we were no longer part of a larger company. Local ownership still matters to agents and to the clients they serve.
Technology is changing real estate faster than most of us can keep up. November is Proptech Month. We’ll go deep on the startups building what comes next and ask who’s actually shaping the future.
We recruit on culture and value. We offer revenue share on our own terms. When teams and small brokerages talk to us, we see partners, not targets.
We are now in growth mode across Austin, Houston and Corpus Christi, with a goal of about 300 agents by the end of 2026.
Advice for owners weighing a platform deal
- List what you would actually use: If you already have your own stack, you may end up paying twice.
- Separate the model from the parent: Some of what makes a platform attractive, like revenue share, is a model you can adopt on your own terms.
- Price your own build before you sign: Have someone spend real time building a prototype with AI tools.
- Protect your culture: If culture is why agents join and stay, think hard about how a larger brand changes that message.
- Plan the exit before the entry: We planned our move so agents, staff and active transactions would continue without interruption, and our director of operations, Sunny Tracey, led our operations through both transitions.
A platform deal can be right for a firm that needs technology or support it cannot build. But if you have a strong culture and an appetite for building, the tools to compete are within reach. For us, independence wins.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the contributor and separate from the Inman newsroom.
Ryan Rodenbeck is CEO of Spyglass Realty. Get connected on Instagram and YouTube.
