What’s it like to run the only privately held real estate firm in NYC’s top five brokerages? Brown Harris Stevens CEO Bess Freedman shared her perspective in a recent Inman interview on the power of an independent brand in a sea of “sameness.”
As mergers, acquisitions, and public-company pressures continue reshaping residential brokerage, Freedman argued that the industry has become increasingly homogenized, often at the expense of culture, service, and individuality.
“There’s less choice. There’s a lot of sameness,” Freedman said. “That’s what happens with consolidation.”
The conversation arrives at a pivotal time for the industry. The past several years have brought seismic change to residential real estate: rapid expansion by national firms, mounting pressure on independent brokerages, and ongoing debate around transparency, technology, and the future role of the agent. Against that backdrop, BHS has positioned itself not as a company chasing scale for scale’s sake, but as one doubling down on independence, stability, and long-term relationships.
Freedman emphasized that remaining privately held has allowed BHS to stay agile in a rapidly evolving market – free from the bureaucracy and shareholder pressures that often accompany larger corporate structures.
“Being smaller and independent makes us more nimble,” she said. “We can respond to market conditions in real time.”
That flexibility, she suggested, has become increasingly attractive to agents navigating uncertainty elsewhere in the industry. The article notes that BHS recruited agents representing approximately $24 billion in combined career sales volume over the past year, signaling continued momentum for the firm despite a broader market slowdown.
The interview also offered insight into how Freedman views luxury itself — not simply as a price point, but as a service philosophy rooted in trust, discretion, and experience. Drawing a comparison outside the real estate world, she likened Brown Harris Stevens to hospitality entrepreneur Danny Meyer’s approach to business: deeply relationship-driven and intentionally personal.
“We are like the Danny Meyer of real estate,” Freedman said. “That’s different from a big, huge box company.”
At a moment when much of the industry conversation revolves around expansion, market domination, and scale, Freedman’s message cuts in the opposite direction. More and more agents appear to be questioning whether bigger actually means better, particularly when growth comes at the expense of culture, autonomy, and identity. As the industry continues to consolidate, many agents are increasingly seeking something that feels more entrepreneurial, more personal, and more aligned with the way they want to build their businesses. For firms like Brown Harris Stevens, that shift may be less of a challenge than an opportunity.
Read the full Inman article here:
Brown Harris Stevens CEO on staying private in a big box world
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