How NAR, MLSs and Zillow use market power to serve themselves

by | May 19, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

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“When it comes to selling or buying a home, what you don’t know can hurt you.” That was the opening sentence of our 2012 book, Inside the Sell: Top Agents Reveal Unspoken Secrets and Dangers of Buying and Selling Your Home. 

Back then, our goal was to expose the conflicting incentives, institutional laziness and bad habits baked into residential real estate — and help level the playing field between real estate professionals and prospective buyers and sellers.

Fast forward 13 years, and it’s clear consumers in residential real estate are facing a new wave of bad practices, but this time, the questionable behavior isn’t coming from individual agents — it’s happening at the industry level. “Organized real estate” entities, including the National Association of Realtors (NAR), local Realtor associations, local Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) and powerful listing aggregators like Zillow are instituting rigid new policies to protect their market dominance and economic self-interest.

Under the guise of fairness, transparency and consumer protection, these entities are striving to tighten their grip on real estate data and undermine consumer choice in the process.

What this means for you

The organized real estate entities paint consumers with a broad brush, but in residential real estate transactions, there are two groups of consumers, buyers and sellers (or renters and landlords). What’s “good” for one group may not be, and often is not, “good” for the other and vice versa.

Generally speaking, sellers want the freedom to market their homes in the manner they think will achieve the best result. They want the flexibility to craft custom marketing strategies with their chosen agents, without being forced into a homogenized distribution system that could weaken their bargaining position and ultimately diminish the value of their property.

Buyers, on the other hand, want access to inventory, and the ability to connect with an agent knowledgeable about the particular property, not a random agent who paid Zillow or another portal an advertising fee to intercept the “buyer lead.”

To really understand what’s going on and what your risks are, it’s time we go back “inside the sell” — because once again, what you don’t know can hurt you.

The fight

In 2020, the NAR implemented a new listing policy called the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP), mandating that if a listing is marketed publicly in any way, it must be entered into the MLS within one business day. If a listing agent fails to comply, he may be subject to fines by the MLS (as much as $5,000 per occurrence) and suspension or expulsion from the MLS/NAR.

Following ongoing scrutiny and a reopened investigation by the Department of Justice, NAR has made some modifications to the CCP, although these were not directly mandated by a court order or settlement. In March 2025, the NAR announced a modification to CCP in which it gave listing agents the option to market their listings as a “Delayed Marketing Exempt Listing.”

While the change nominally gave sellers more choice, in reality, the modification ensured that Zillow and other portal websites continued to receive their treasured listing data.

To maintain control of the listing inventory they rely on to profit, local Realtor associations and their affiliated MLS’s require listing agents and brokers to get prospective buyers to sign ridiculously one-sided forms in a blatant attempt to scare/intimidate sellers into using the MLS.

Here’s an example of the form that our local MLS (Bright MLS) requires sellers in our market to sign with the listing paperwork.

In April 2025, Zillow jumped on board, announcing a “CCP-like” policy stating that “when a listing is publicly marketed to consumers — whether through a sign in the yard, an Instagram post or on a brokerage website behind the lure of exclusive inventory behind a consumer login — it must be submitted to a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) within one day and published on Zillow and other sites that receive listing feeds.”

Zillow’s penalty for failure to comply is that the listing would not be published on Zillow. To support its new policy, Zillow cited a 2021 study suggesting that off-market listings sell for approximately 1.5 percent less on average, although the study’s methodology and applicability have been criticized.

Major brokerages, including our broker, Compass, are opposing CCP and Zillow’s policy change, arguing that the NAR, the MLS’s and Zillow are restricting consumer choice to maintain and grow their market dominant positions.

To fully understand what’s happening, let’s look at the players:

The industry players

Salespersons and brokers

To become an agent, a person must obtain a state license and then affiliate with a principal broker (e.g. Compass, RE/MAX, Sotheby’s, Keller Williams, Coldwell Banker, etc.) to legally transact.

There are approximately 2 million real estate agents in the United States, and over 300,000 principal brokers. Approximately, 4 million to 6 million homes are sold every year in the United States.

Needless to say, residential real estate at both the broker and agent level is highly competitive and fragmented. As an example, our broker, Compass, is the largest brokerage by sales volume in the United States, and has about 6 percent market share.

Real estate agents vs. Realtors

Approximately 75 percent of all licensed real estate agents are “Realtors”. To become a Realtor, an agent must join the National Association of Realtors (NAR), pay membership fees and agree to abide by the NAR Code of Ethics.

In most markets, an agent must join and pay the NAR, the state association and the local Realtors association through something called The Three Way Agreement in order to have access to listing information from the respective local MLS data and associated lockbox technology.

MLSs

Approximately 500 local and regional MLSs act as cooperation platforms among participating brokers to share listing information within a specified geographic area. The vast majority of MLSs require any agent who wants access to the MLS to join the NAR and the agent’s local Realtor association.

Because each MLS is formed by a group of cooperating brokers, they almost always have dominant market share in their respective geographic area. Most MLSs operate as nonprofit subsidiaries of Realtor associations, although some have adopted for-profit models or have commercial arms.

Zillow

Zillow Group, Inc. (Zillow), founded in 2006, built a free, consumer search engine by aggregating and homogenizing licensed data from the 500 MLS’s across the country. Zillow and its sister brands, Trulia, Hotpads, StreatEasy and Dotloop, claim to have 66 percent audience market share of unique “real estate” visitors (as defined by Comscore), according to a February 2025 Investor Presentation.

Follow the money

There are three buckets of value in the residential real estate industry:

  • real estate commissions
  • fees/dues extracted from the approximately 2 million real estate agents in the United States
  • real estate data.

Commissions

This bucket usually commands the headlines in residential real estate and was most recently front page news with the 2023 Sitzer | Burnett class action lawsuit decision in which the plaintiffs were awarded $1.8 billion in damages, followed by the NAR settlement with the DOJ in 2024.

Brokers are free to structure their fee schedule anyway they like so there are a range of options from“discount brokers’ such as Redfin, who offer listing and buyer broker services a la carte or for a flat fee, to “full service” brokers who offer a bundled full service in exchange for a commission upon purchase or sale of a property.

Fees/dues

Because of the importance real estate transactions have in our society, every state has its own licensing requirements.

In addition to paying the application fees and annual dues to the agent’s state licensing board, a real estate agent who wants access to the listing data must also join (and pay membership fees to) the NAR, the agent’s local Realtors association and the local MLS. These organizations have all the power and therefore, set the rules and create the payment structures.

Data

While commissions grab the headlines and fees/dues fall under the radar, the true battleground for the future of residential real estate lies in the data. Let us explain.

When a listing agent obtains a seller client, the listing agent typically invests hundreds or even thousands of dollars in marketing collateral, including professional photography, videos, floor plans, marketing copy, features lists, site plans, etc. As a reference point, if each listing agent spends on average $500 per listing to develop this content, then collectively, listing agents spend between $2 billion and $2.5 billion each year creating the content that fuels the industry.

Once the data is created, the listing agent then uploads that information to their local MLS. The MLS maintains a searchable database of listing data from all the listing agents who “cooperate” within the MLS. Each MLS requires all member agents to agree to a non-negotiable “Terms of Service” agreement, which allows the MLS to license the listing agents’ data to third parties, including other brokerages, consumer-based search engines (e.g., Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Homes.com, etc.) and others.

Here is how the industry players are monetizing the listing agents’ data.

NAR and its local affiliates

The NAR is one of the largest and wealthiest trade associations in the United States with over 1.5 million members. The NAR makes money from member dues and therefore has a built-in financial incentive to increase the membership pool. While the NAR does not profit directly from listing agent data, it profits tremendously from the organizational monopolistic structure it has created.

An agent who wants to earn a living helping clients buy/sell real estate will need access to the MLS listings. To join the MLS, the MLS requires membership in NAR, the state association and the local Realtors association through the Three Way Agreement. Effectively, agents have no choice but to join the NAR, state association and the local Realtors affiliate, as well as agree to the non-negotiable Terms of Service of its local MLS.

MLSs

Because each MLS represents a group of brokers in a given geographic area cooperating to share listing data, each MLS is essentially a local monopoly in its respective market. Agents must pay a fee to join the MLS.

When an agent has a listing, he will upload his content to the MLS . The MLS makes additional revenue by licensing the agents’ listing data to third parties (including participating brokers, consumer search aggregators like Zillow, and other third parties).

That’s right, the MLS makes money both ways: the MLS gets paid to collect the data and they get paid to license the data to third parties in perpetuity. It’s an incredibly lucrative business model, and while some monopolies are non-profit consortia, others are highly profitable, for-profit private companies.

The listing agents, on the other hand, retain no residual value in the content they have created. The listing agents’ content is what the industry players are going after. The value of that data is enormous and will only grow with artificial intelligence and its need for data to train the AI models.

Zillow

Zillow aggregates listing agents’ listing data from all the MLSs and consolidates them into one consumer-based search engine that is free to consumers. This begs the question: How does Zillow make money if it’s paying to license the data and then giving it to consumers for free? The answer is Zillow does something incredible – it sells real estate agent data back to real estate agents.

More specifically, Zillow disaggregates the listing information from the listing agent and sells “leads” to real estate agents looking to get clients. The vast majority of listings on Zillow have a large “contact agent” button next to the beautiful pictures of the house. The contact agent button goes to an agent who literally paid to have that affiliation with someone else’s listing.

If a listing agent wants to be exclusively associated with his own listing, Zillow requires the listing agent to pay hundreds to thousands of dollars per listing for that privilege. Zillow makes most of its revenue through advertising and lead-generation tools.

Another way to understand the value of the aggregated data is to consider the market caps of the top 3 publicly traded residential brokers in the United States. Compass, eXp Realty, and Anywhere Real Estate have a combined “market cap” of under $6 billion while Zillow’s “market cap” stands around $14 billion — highlighting the disproportionate value captured by the aggregators. That’s right, Zillow built a $14 billion business off the backs of listing agents’ data.

The argument for Clear Cooperation and Zillow’s new policy

In defense of their new policies, the NAR and Zillow claim that they are a “win for consumers”.The NAR stated, “Brokers and MLSs from across the country asked the NAR to consider policy that will reinforce the consumer benefits of cooperation. The MLS creates an efficient marketplace and reinforces the pro-competitive, pro-consumer benefits that Realtors have long sought to support.”

The core premise under which the NAR, the MLS’s and aggregators like Zillow operate is that mass exposure always benefits the seller. The common refrain goes something like this: “Sellers sell faster and for more money by exposing their homes to the largest possible pool of buyers.” The organized real estate entities make statements like this one as though they are unassailable facts.

As anyone who ever took high school economics knows, the intersection of supply and demand determines price.That being said, the NAR, the MLS’s and Zillow want you to believe that exposure on their platforms is the equivalent of demand.We can tell you that it’s not.

The brokers fight back

So if a listing agent is not going to use the MLS to sell a home, the alternative is known as a “private exclusive” — a property marketed through “private channels” outside of the MLS.

Initially, we were critical of private exclusives because of the risk and temptation for agents/ brokerages to use them in order to increase their chances of double-ending deals (representing both buyer and seller and thereby increasing their compensation).

We outlined these dangers in our book Inside the Sell. Specifically, we highlighted the financial incentive for listing agents to engineer the release of information in a way to maximize the probability of the listing agent’s selling the listing without a cooperating buyer agent/broker or keeping the deal with their own brokerage.

However, over 20+ years, we’ve seen that, when done ethically and strategically, private exclusives can offer significant advantages for sellers:

Control over messaging

The best brands in the world keep tight control of their brand and messaging. Every home is unique, and sellers want the ability to highlight the unique selling features of their home. In real estate, third-party aggregators undermine this control and often strip, reformat, and dilute a listing’s marketing materials.

Even worse, the aggregators often layer additional unverified information and ratings. Zillow, for example, displays unverified and subjective flood risks, climate risks, walk scores, bike scores and the worst of all, the “Zestimate” (Zillow’s algorithm for a property’s fair market value).

Prospective buyers may be passing over properties due to inaccurate/misleading information on a listing that neither the homeowners nor the listing agent may even be aware of and do not have the control to update, correct or remove the data.

Control over distribution channel(s)

Similarly, the best brands tightly control their distribution channel(s) and also ensure that only trained professionals knowledgeable about the product speak to prospective buyers. The aggregators would have you believe differently.

There is a reason you can’t walk into a Target or Walmart to buy a new Rolex. New Rolex watches are exclusively sold by authorized retailers. These jewelers are the official distributors of Rolex watches, ensuring authenticity and quality standards. Selling outside of these channels would cheapen the brand irreparably.

Higher quality buyer interactions

On platforms like Zillow, prospective buyers are intentionally diverted away from the listing agent to other agents willing to pay for a buyer lead. These “pay to play” agents, more often than not, have never seen the home in question, may not be familiar with the home’s community and are certainly not the most qualified person to answer questions about the property.

The objective of these agents is not necessarily to sell the property inquired about but rather to acquire a new client. A common tactic of these agents is to make negative comments about the property in question in an effort to build credibility with the prospective client.

Privacy

Not every seller wants their home publicized across hundreds of websites.

Market testing

Private exclusives allow sellers to conduct price exploration and test positioning strategies before a home is listed on the open market. The top marketing companies in the world test products before a national launch (focus groups, beta tests, limited market rollouts, etc.). Private exclusives are the real estate equivalent.

Days on market

Days on market (DOM) is one of, if not the most, important points of leverage between sellers and buyers. Long DOM is the enemy of the seller because buyers see a long DOM as an opportunity to make lower offers. Said differently, when DOM increases, buyers worry there is an inherent flaw with the property and become concerned about future liquidity when it is their turn to sell.

Why would a seller want to use a platform that displays such a potentially harmful statistic? There’s a reason why dating apps (like Tinder, Hinge, etc.) don’t have “days on market.” If a dating app included a DOM field, we suspect no one would use it.

Scarcity effect

The NAR, the MLS’s and Zillow often make a classic economic argument regarding supply and demand. They suggest that increased exposure of listing information across many websites equates to more demand for a property. Mass distribution doesn’t necessarily create demand.

Behavioral economics suggests that people value information higher when they believe it’s not public. Robert Cialdini, author of the groundbreaking book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, points out that people tend to want more of those things they can have less of.

In other words, not making a property available through the MLS (and the listing aggregators), in and of itself, can drive higher perceived value.

Intentional scarcity is one of the key reasons Hermès can command over $30,000 for its acclaimed Birkin bag.

If the industry players want consumers and agents to use their platform, they should earn it by delivering value — not by rigging the rules, using scare tactics and hiding behind false claims of consumer protectionism.

Because when it comes to buying or selling a home, what you don’t know still can hurt you.

Steve and Hans Wydler are Associate Brokers who lead Wydler Brothers of Compass in the greater Washington, D.C., metro area.

This post was originally published on this site

The Slippery Slope of BRRRR—Is It Still the Best Way to Run Your Landlording Business?

by | Oct 9, 2024 | Investing, News Feed

With median home prices over $430,000 and interest rates hovering around 6%, the concept of BRRRRing your way to financial freedom seems like a real estate strategy from a bygone era. 

The BRRRR strategy (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) is based on finding discounted properties, fixing them up, renting them out, refinancing, and socking away the cash flow with a long-term tenant, and repeating the process until you have amassed a sizable monthly cash flow. In 2024, I largely believe that it’s unrealistic to achieve.

Assuming you can find a discounted home, fix it up using hard money, and get market rent, the issue comes when you have to refinance it, strip the home of its equity, and take on more debt to repeat the process. Now, you are on the hook for the extra loan. 

How much cash flow are you really making? Assuming you want to follow the 1% rule, you would have to charge your tenants over $4,000/month in rent if you purchased your rental below the median market value, adding debt to bring it to the median price when you rehabbed and refinanced. This is not feasible in most markets because the average national U.S. rent is  $1,840.

Low-Cash-Flowing Properties Are Not Worth It

For argument’s sake, let’s assume you have found an investment that meets all the BRRRR criteria and cash flows $300/month after all expenses. It’s time to break the fallacy that you can BRRRR your way to financial freedom by amassing $300 cash-flowing rentals. 

First, in the current market, to find a property that cash flows by $300 and does not cost a fortune, you would have to be in a C or C+ neighborhood—or worse. Having owned many such properties and clocked in more landlord/tenant court hours than some judges, I can attest that the numbers on paper never work out. Repairs and nonpayment of rent/evictions wipe out any perceived cash flow and leave most landlords deeply in the red. Even if you have scaled a few properties generating $300/month in cash flow, one costly repair or eviction could crash your real estate house of cards.

Buying in better neighborhoods costs more money. Are you really going to spend well over half a million dollars to break even, or cash flow $300-$500/month? You would need to be financially free to make such a move and look for a place to park cash or enjoy depreciation while gaining appreciation. Cash flow would not be your primary goal.

Alternative Strategies

Before you throw your hands up in the air in despair, wondering if owning rental real estate is even possible or worth it today, don’t fret. Making money from rentals is still possible, but the BRRRR method using a yearly lease is not the way. You need to be creative. Here are a few alternatives to consider.

Short-term/medium-term/vacation rentals

To cash flow, you need to increase rents. Assuming you cannot convert attics or basements to extra bedrooms, the easiest solution is not to rent your apartment/house on a standard yearly lease but instead convert it to a short-term/medium-term or vacation rental. Much of this depends on whether there is demand for this type of use in your area and whether you are prepared to undertake the additional management and costs this incurs or hire someone who is. 

If you are in a seasonal location, when the rents for 12 months are collated, it might not be worth it. However, it could be a good move if you are in an in-demand college town or tourist area.

Buy a fixer-upper and do the renovation yourself

Sweat equity costs you nothing but time and materials. Assuming you have access to both, and you buy a property cheaply enough, you could circumvent a costly renovation and thus keep the equity in your investment. The end result is greater cash flow.

Rent by the room

The affordability crunch has made by-the-room rentals more popular in recent years. Whether you wish to call them workforce housing or co-living spaces, the concept of having roommates is not new. However, this type of rental can generate far more income than a standard whole-house rental, especially when each room is updated to feel luxurious like a hotel room. 

Save money from your job and make large down payments

This might fly in the face of why many people want to invest in real estate, but the importance and benefits of a good-paying W2 job cannot be overstated. Your job is your first business partner and, as such, will help you scale much faster than risky leveraging, crossing your fingers, and hoping your tenants pay their rents on time. 

If you are not in a position to borrow safely, don’t. Instead, focus on earning as much money as you can from your 9-to-5, limiting your expenses, and buying houses traditionally, never refinancing and stripping equity but ensuring your properties cash flow well by putting enough of a down payment each time.  

Start by flipping houses to build up a sizable nest egg

Flipping houses is easier said than done. If you embark on this venture without a trusted team in place, it can amount to a full-time job. However, when done correctly, it can provide a big chunk of cash, which you can then deploy as a sizable down payment for rental property.

Invest in multifamily housing

If single-family real estate doesn’t cash flow, why should a multiunit be used? Economy of scale. A 20-unit rental, with each unit generating $300 in cash flow, will generate $6,000/month. 

Of course, the multiunit will cost a lot more upfront than a single-family house. However, that can also be an advantage because, generally speaking, the competition is lower amongst buyers for multiunit properties. There is more opportunity to “buy right” (at a price that makes sense economically), especially if the building needs work. You can add value—thus increasing the rental income and asset value. There is also more scope to bring on partners, as there is more cash flow.  

HUD offers programs that apply to small multifamily buildings in multifamily housing projects in urban renewal areas, code enforcement areas, and other areas where local governments have undertaken designated revitalization activities. 

Other types of commercial buildings

Despite the drop in interest rates, commercial real estate will still face a tumultuous 2025, according to analysts. Particularly troubled is office space. Depending on your funding and investment ability, converting offices to housing is ripe for opportunity, with historic state and federal tax credits available for investors. Many states have also changed zoning laws to facilitate the process. 

Final Thoughts

The BRRRR method using a yearly lease strategy had its time, but modern-day economics just don’t support it. It might become fashionable again should interest rates drop precipitously and housing prices and rents align. However, if investors attempt to BRRRR with less-expensive houses by marginal cash flow amounts in today’s market, they could be setting themselves up for financial ruin.

In the best of times, real estate investing is not for the fainthearted. There are many moving parts, each of which could derail you. This is exacerbated when adopting a highly leveraged investment strategy. 

Be sensible. The risk and stress of investing a few hundred dollars in cash flow isn’t worth it. Just because banks might lend you money based on your credit score or the value of your asset doesn’t mean you should take it.

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.

Which companies saw ‘rich and famous’ cash flow in H1 2024?

by | Aug 27, 2024 | Industry, News Feed

Portals remain some of the most profitable businesses in real estate, while brokerage company profitability is more business model-dependent.

This article was shared here with permission from Mike DelPrete for Inman Intel, a data and research arm of Inman offering deep insights and market intelligence on the business of residential real estate and proptech. Subscribe today.

Cash flows are in for the first half of 2024, and some companies are losing money, some are making money, and some are making a lot of money.

Why it matters: Operating cash flows are an accurate measure of business model health, and a data-driven analysis reveals insights around various models and market dynamics.

  • Operating cash flow is a metric that cuts through the hype to measure the actual profitability of the core operating business model: Does it make money?

Dig deeper: eXp Realty, a real estate brokerage, and Zillow, a tech company and portal, both generated the same amount of cash — a surprising result given the very different business models.

Industry incumbent Anywhere has moved away from being a big cash generator, likely a result of the challenging market; its business model is less resilient.

Meanwhile, eXp Realty has grown its cash generation abilities during the same period of time – and in the same market conditions.

Adding real estate portals from around the world — Germany’s Scout24, the U.K.’s Rightmove, and Australia’s REA Group — reveals just how profitable those businesses are.

  • Rightmove and REA Group are the most profitable real estate portals in the world.

Considering market size, as measured by population, when comparing real estate portals reveals a thought-provoking data point.

  • Real estate is similar around the world, but market dynamics and business models are very different, as highlighted by operating cash flow per capita (per capita means “per person”).

REA Group is world-class in its ability to monetize its market – with an operating cash flow per capita 16x higher than Zillow.

  • Australia is the market that CoStar points to when talking about its monetization plans for Homes.com.
  • But the markets are very different: Australia doesn’t have MLSs and has vendor-funded advertising.

The bottom line: The market is tough but it doesn’t mean all businesses are struggling, and real estate portals remain some of the most profitable businesses in real estate.

  • The U.S. market is huge, but market size does not always correlate to profit potential — it has more to do with local dynamics.
  • In the end, there will be winners and losers — companies generating cash and burning cash — which is an accurate reflection of business model efficacy.

Mike DelPrete is a strategic advisor and global expert in real estate tech, including Zavvie, an iBuyer offer aggregator. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Investment firm loses former Trump hotel to foreclosure auction

by | Aug 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed

Miami-based investment firm CGI Merchant Group purchased the luxury hotel in 2022 for $375 million with a $285 million loan from BDT & MSD Partners. By 2023, the firm had defaulted on its debt.

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As the commercial real estate market nears its bottom, another notable property has succumbed to foreclosure: the Washington, D.C., hotel formerly owned by Donald Trump’s family firm.

Miami-based investment firm CGI Merchant Group purchased the luxury hotel in 2022 for $375 million. By 2023, the firm defaulted on its debt, according to BDT & MSD Partners, the bank that first made CGI a $285 million loan with which the firm purchased the property. BDT & MSD then extended the foreclosure by auction date for 45 days, but CGI was unable to cure the default.

On Monday, the bank took over the hotel in a foreclosure auction, The Wall Street Journal reported. The property has been operating as the Waldorf Astoria Washington D.C. since 2022.

“We have actively engaged with CGI in a constructive manner, allowing ample time for them to explore financing and alternative options,” a spokesperson for BDT & MSD told The WSJ. “We have now taken control of the Waldorf Astoria Washington D.C. via foreclosure.”

CGI, which has partnered with former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez on hotel investments, said it is hoping to recoup the property’s long-term lease.

“We are not done fighting for the Waldorf Astoria,” a spokesperson for CGI told The WSJ. “Even though the auction has occurred, we remain in intense discussions with BDT & MSD Partners and still have a finalized capital solution on the table to cure the loan default and recapitalize the asset.”

BDT & MSD said it would be retaining rights to the property. Hilton owns the Waldorf brand and will continue to operate the hotel.

The hotel is housed in the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue, not far from the White House. The Trumps never owned the hotel, but leased it from the federal government. The family outbid a number of other big-name hoteliers, including Marriott International and Hilton, to secure a long-term lease.

While Trump was president, the hotel became a popular meeting place among Republicans, including lobbyists and lawmakers.

Business has reportedly been good at the hotel this year, but CGI has still been hit hard by higher interest rates, like many commercial properties across the country.

Portfolios of foreclosed and seized commercial properties hit $20.5 billion during the second quarter of 2024, according to MSCI Capital Trends. The latest foreclosure figures suggest that the commercial market may be near its bottom, according to economists.

Despite the Waldorf Astoria’s foreclosure auction, Hilton said that the hotel will continue to operate.

“Hilton has a long-term agreement to manage the hotel, and that agreement will continue,” a Hilton spokesperson told The WSJ. “It remains business as usual at the Waldorf Astoria Washington D.C.”

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MaverickRE ushers in the era of AI sales coaching: Tech Review

by | Jul 19, 2024 | Industry, News Feed

MaverickRE is an artificial intelligence solution for helping train and analyze the performance of real estate sales professionals.

At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.

MaverickRE is an AI sales coaching and brokerage performance solution

Platforms: Web
Ideal for: All agents, teams, brokerages

Top selling points:

• AI sales call training
• Call monitoring and grading
• Automated performance analytics
• In-depth lead analysis
• Top-down brokerage reporting

Top concern(s):

Ylopo’s been flying on its own for years with a number of very innovative assets under its banner, and it’s possible its latest product finally leads to its acquisition. Great for the company but, for some reason, fearful for users.

What you should know

MaverickRE is a stand-alone sister company to Ylopo, known for its lead generation and SEO-heavy marketing innovations. The new product is for use by brokerages and teams, and thus the agents within them, to learn how to be better at business.

Using artificial intelligence that tags along on every form of outreach, the application produces granular reports on everything related to creating and doing business. The system listens for keywords, turns of phrase, long pauses, reactions, response times and mixes its opinion of that with the lead’s location preferences, wants, needs, objections, budget and overall sentiment to produce rich analyses of possible success and to provide an ongoing blueprint for how to continually engage the buyer or seller.

Screenshot

It measures the percentage of dead-air per call, the time it took to reach an objection and the subsequent time to hanging up, the rate of appointments set and provides an overall per-call grade.

It extracts 16 metadata fields to populate its call reports, connecting each lead or client to their agent in a sharp, minimalist data experience for any sales manager or broker to quickly peruse. It can offer admin-level views to see how each agent is performing and even uses word clouds to summarize common objections.

Along with typical agent leaderboards and lead source analysis features, all of which can be partitioned by team or brokerage branch, MaverickRE’s other core value proposition is its AI-based sales training.

Ylopo unveiled Raiya, its vocal sales automation, at Inman Connect in January of this year. Technologically, it’s impressive stuff. The underlying model is being put to further use within MaverickRE as a role-player, designed to help new and growing agents with a talkative, realistic sales training partner.

Users can select a scenario, such as pitching a “confused buyer” or a “disinterested seller,” start the player, and respond in real time, live with the bot. Email performance reports are generated after each call and naturally, the AI will get more realistic over time, and as of this writing, there are 60 scenarios included spanning an array of sales challenges specific to divorce, a relocation, a death on the property and the need for a 1031 Exchange.

Its lead routing functionality is pretty innovative. It can dynamically route an incoming call or message to the person best suited for it based on location, budget, need, property type and even the agent’s track record with leads from that specific source.

There’s no question that the industry’s top leaders — brokerage founders, NAR executives, etc. — have been failing their new agents for decades, from allowing them to rely on NAR’s long-standing presence in government to create easy paths to success and perpetuate the assumption that no home can be sold without an agent somewhere in the deal to now leaving them to blister in the heat of a stagnant market while consumers come for their livelihood.

Remember, a license to sell does not equate to the ability to sell.

Brokerages have long relied on self-starters to muddle their way through it or the long-dead in-house mentorship model, blaming the drop-out rate solely on how hard it is to find new business, ignoring their own staggering lack of willingness to invest in who they hire.

The point is, the industry needs to look inward and examine how it handles its new blood. Can an AI training system fix everything? Of course not. But for the forward-thinking brokerage or team leader who considers themselves accountable, MaverickRE is a very worthwhile investment in the future of your people.

You either want your team to succeed, or you don’t.

Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe

Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.