Hamilton-based Found Spaces Realty Group will gain “freedom and flexibility” within its operations by joining The Real Brokerage Inc., Found Spaces’ founder and CEO Sandy MacKay said in an interview with RENX Homes.

In a move announced Thursday, Found Spaces’ 12-agent realty team has joined Real, a brokerage based in Miami, Fla. which operates across the U.S. and Canada. 

Also joining Real from Found Spaces' leadership team are: Ana Marin, Found Spaces' director of operations; Mike Johnson, vice president and sales director at Found Spaces; Chris Chopite, founder of real estate coaching company Inspired Co.; and Martin Kuev, co-founder of VIC Capital (a company MacKay help found).

Founded in 2016, Found Spaces’ agents have helped sell over 2,000 homes over the past eight years, transacting on an average of $100 million in volume per year in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area.

A golf professional-turned Realtor, real estate entrepreneur and podcaster, MacKay said Real’s business model offers his team the latitude to “run my world how I want it to be and not have the constraints of a more traditional brokerage model.”

MacKay “brings a strong leadership team and powerful network of top producers who not only strengthen our presence across Ontario, but also expand Real’s leadership in the investment-focused segment of the market,” Tamir Poleg, chairman and CEO of Real, said in the announcement.

Why Found Spaces joined Real

Found Spaces consists of a real estate sales team and property management business for primarily residential and commercial clients in Southern Ontario. Most of its activities revolve around buying, selling and managing investment properties, MacKay said.

The company went by MacKay Realty Network before being renamed in 2024, and previously operated under the Keller Williams Realty brand.

MacKay was attracted to Real because its business model offers agents more ways to grow and generate revenue beyond sales, he said. Those options include stock purchase plans and revenue sharing with fellow agents in a network. Agents can focus more on clients and customers as a result, MacKay added.

“You just have multiple ways to structure agent fees and splits,” he said. “That creates more opportunity to build a model that’s intriguing for other agents to join.”

Another reason MacKay was drawn to Real is because it does not limit agents by geography. In a traditional brokerage model, agents often have to deal with local ownership which can lead to butting heads with others and frustration with bureaucracy, he explained.

At a time when smaller brokerages are merging with bigger brands because of slow housing market activity and access to technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), MacKay said businesses are making the change because it enhances efficiency and scalability. It is a trend Found Spaces is also participating in, with MacKay emphasizing Real’s technological innovation.

Real, for example, offers HeyLeo, an AI-powered consumer search experience. Another product is Real Wallet, an embedded finance platform for residential brokerages. “That doesn’t exist in any other brokerage,” MacKay said about Real Wallet.

As a tech-focused brokerage, MacKay said a third reason he was interested in having Found Spaces join Real is because it will enable the company to collaborate on technologies for the industry.

Hamilton housing market to improve in 2026

A separate network of 50 Ontario agents who have handled $500 million in annual sales have also joined Real. The brokerage will grow its presence in Ontario to over 800 agents with the latest additions, MacKay said, and expand its office footprint.

Real supports over 31,000 agents in Canada and the U.S.

MacKay expects an uptick in market activity in the Hamilton area next year. After the area was burdened by slow sales for the past three years, falling interest rates and prices, plus high inventory, are setting the stage for “an incredible opportunity to get into market — for buyers, investors, young buyers especially,” he said.