Ruth Reffkin launches Compass real estate team in NYC

Although she’s no stranger to the real estate industry, Ruth Reffkin, the mother of Compass International Holdings founder and CEO Robert Reffkin, has decided to start her own real estate team. Reffkin announced the launch of her eponymous Ruth Reffkin Team, which will unsurprisingly be brokered by Compass, on Friday, just days ahead of her 81st birthday. 

She is launching the team along side Susan Hirschorn, who will serve as the team’s principal strategist. 

In an email, obtained by HousingWire and sent to other Compass agents and brokers on Friday announcing the launch of the team, Reffkin and Hirschorn said they created to team “to offer expanded support, broader reach and highly personal service to buyers, homeowners, investors, families and seniors navigating important transitions.” 

“With Compass now part of Compass International Holdings, we also have an even stronger national and international network through which to serve our clients and collaborate with colleagues,” they wrote in the email.

After over 27 years in the real estate industry, Reffkin said many people were surprised that this is the first team she has ever started or led. 

“I’ve worked on other people’s teams, but I’ve never had one that was my own, and I’ve realized that this is kind of due to fear or maybe a bit of imposter syndrome,” Reffkin told HousingWire. “I didn’t have the confidence, but now I have a business partner that I can count one and that gives me a lot of confidence.” 

She added that knowing they have the support of the Compass Home Platform to help with backend office support as well as the other logistical challenges of running a team, is another source of confidence as she embarks on this new adventure. 

“Having the Compass platform plus all of the transaction services the firm allows be to contract, that support allows me to have a small team without having to undertake the responsibility of things like payroll and that really allows me to take something like this on,” Reffkin said. 

As of right now, Reffkin said she plans on keeping the team just herself and Hirschorn, however she is open to adding more members in the future. As the former leader of Compass Plus, a division of the brokerage focused on serving the firm’s senior citizen clients, Reffkin said she has a relationships with a lot of Compass agents and she hopes to continue to grow those relationships. 

“We have a lot of people that we already work with, like our senior moving manager, and eventually we can decide if we want to formalize those relationships as part of the team,” Reffkin said. 

For now, the team will serve clients in New York City. 

In a post on LinkedIn on Friday, Robert Reffkin wrote that watching his mom “build this chapter with so much passion, integrity and care has been inspiring.”

“Happy early birthday and congratulations. I couldn’t be prouder,” Robert Refrain’s post read.