by Verl Workman | Aug 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
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One of the standout aspects of the Inman Connect Las Vegas (ICLV) event was the dynamic array of insights shared by industry leaders, all crafted to guide real estate professionals through an ever-evolving landscape.
The event was nothing short of invigorating — buzzing with energy, fresh perspectives and groundbreaking ideas. It also served as a crucial reminder for real estate agents to stay informed about changes to buyer agency and steer clear of the misinformation often found in popular real estate groups on social media.
Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a champion of consumer empowerment, or a firm believer in the power of personal connections, ICLV had something valuable for everyone.
I had the privilege of handpicking and attending standout sessions with the aim of reinforcing the invaluable takeaways from these impactful discussions. With over two decades of experience in the industry, I deeply understand the importance of placing community at the heart of everything we do. These sessions highlighted the immense value of community and collaboration in driving our industry forward.
1. Navigating the new commission landscape
Ed Zorn, California Regional MLS | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
Adapting to new commission structures is a crucial focus for real estate professionals. Ed Zorn, VP and General Counsel at California MLS, emphasized the importance of staying informed, clearly communicating with clients and adjusting business models to align with the new rules. These changes are part of a broader trend toward transparency and efficiency in real estate transactions.
Key insights:
- Stay informed: Keep up with industry changes and new commission structures.
- Communicate clearly: Ensure clients understand the new processes.
- Adapt practices: Be ready to tweak business models to fit the new rules.
2. Tackling buyer and seller objections effectively
Left to right: James Dwiggins, NextHome; Kendall Bonner, eXp Realty; Ed Zorn, California Regional MLS; Cassie Walker Johnson, Windermere | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
The art of effectively tackling buyer and seller objections requires providing context, encouraging incentives, and educating clients. James Dwiggins, CEO of NextHome, Inc., stressed that by understanding the current market situation and the impact of changes, agents can better manage expectations and facilitate smoother transactions.
Key insights:
- Provide context: Explain the current market situation and how changes impact transactions.
- Encourage incentives: Highlight the benefits of offering commissions as incentives.
- Educate clients: Clear up any misconceptions and ensure clients are informed.
3. The role of real estate agents in an evolving market
Clelia Peters, Frank Martell | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
The enduring value of real estate agents lies in their local expertise and ability to guide buyers through complex transactions. Clelia Peters, Managing Partner at Era Ventures, and Frank Martell, CEO of loanDepot, emphasized that despite technological advancements, the personal touch and deep knowledge that agents bring to the table remain irreplaceable. Understanding the evolving demographics of homebuyers, especially millennials and Gen Z, is crucial for staying relevant.
Key insights:
- Enduring importance of agents: Your knowledge and local expertise are irreplaceable.
- Adapting to demographic changes: Get to know the younger, tech-savvy buyers, learn to interpret their unique language, and lean in to connect through their preferences rather than your own comfort zone.
- Addressing affordability and supply issues: Tackle the big issues head-on, and look for non-traditional solutions to offset the affordability and supply challenges.
4. Maximizing profitability in an ever-changing market
Left to right: Clelia Peters; Joe Skousen, Inside Real Estate; Chris Heller, OJO | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
Let’s face it, financial pressures aren’t going away, so upgrading buyer representation workflows to boost efficiency, support compliance and enhance reporting is essential. Joe Skousen and Chris Heller discussed the importance of streamlining operations and allowing agents to focus on client service. Skousen also predicted that despite the ongoing shifts, he believes that the industry is on the brink of experiencing one of its most profitable years.
Key insights:
- Enhance efficiency: Streamline operations to focus on client service.
- Support compliance: Ensure smoother transactions with improved compliance measures.
- Boost reporting: Gain better insights and operational transparency with enhanced reporting.
- Foster community: Build a collaborative environment for sharing ideas and strategies.
- Encourage continuous learning: Promote ongoing education and knowledge sharing.
5. Embracing technology and consumer empowerment
Zillow CEO Rich Barton | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
Leveraging technology and focusing on consumer empowerment are both keys to future success in real estate, said Zillow CEO Rich Barton. During his session, he emphasized that by embracing data-driven tools and investing in innovations, agents can enhance consumer experiences and stay ahead of the competition. This approach aligns with the broader industry trend toward greater consumer transparency and efficiency.
Key insights:
- Embrace technology: Leverage tech to enhance consumer experiences.
- Focus on consumer needs: Understanding and meeting consumer needs is essential for long-term success.
- Invest in data and tools: Utilize data-driven insights, and invest in empowering tools.
6. The impact of AI in real estate
Left to right: Kendall Bonner, eXp; Shayan Hamidi, Rechat; Scott Martino, Endpoint | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing real estate by personalizing customer interactions, automating tasks, and providing valuable insights. Kendall Bonner’s session brought together Shayan Hamidi of Rechat and Scott Martino of Endpoint to discuss how balancing technology with the human touch ensures that while operations are streamlined, essential personal connections are maintained.
Key insights:
- Leverage AI tools: Use AI to make your job easier and enhance client experiences.
- Focus on customer experience: AI can help create more personalized and engaging experiences.
- Balance technology with human touch: Don’t forget the importance of personal interactions.
7. Strategic team management and adaptation
Verl Workman, Workman Success Systems | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
Effective team management while adapting to industry challenges involves specialization, leveraging technology, and adopting a consumer-centric approach. Verl Workman of Workman Success Systems provided insights into innovative team structures and compensation models that can ensure long-term success and resilience.
Key insights:
- Specialization: Focus on specific areas of expertise.
- Technology integration: Use AI and predictive analytics for high-quality lead generation.
- Consumer-centric approach: Always prioritize your clients’ needs, even if it takes you outside your comfort zone.
8. The relatable effect: Building genuine connections in real estate
Rachel DeAlto, MatchGroup | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
Building genuine human relationships in real estate is paramount. Rachel DeAlto’s session highlighted the importance of authenticity, effective communication, and inspiring clients by sharing your passions. Developing relatability as a skill can lead to deeper connections and greater client satisfaction.
Key insights:
- Craving for connection: People need connection, and this is crucial in real estate.
- Human experience in business: Focus on creating human experiences for your clients.
- Relatability as a skill: Develop your relatability through authenticity and embracing discomfort.
- Principles of relatability:
- Connect: Be authentic, and find common ground with your clients.
- Communicate: Be present, make clients feel valued, and lead with purpose.
- Inspire: Share your passions, and inspire clients with your enthusiasm.
9. Leveraging branding and audience engagement
Left to right: Kevin Knight, initial team at Facebook and former global head of brand for Pinterest; Sydney Miller, The Agent Upgrade | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
A unique brand identity and effective audience engagement are vital. Sydney Miller and Kevin Knight of Upgrade emphasized the importance of defining a compelling brand, understanding audience needs, and maintaining direct communication with clients — all strategies that are essential for standing out in a competitive market.
Key insights:
- Unique brand identity: Highlight what sets your services apart from competitors.
- Audience engagement: Build direct relationships, and adapt to platform changes.
- Value proposition: Clearly articulate the value and benefits of your services.
10. Empowering women in real estate
Left to right: RENEW’s Lauren Martin, Anywhere’s Lynette Gladdis, Christie’s International Real Estate’s Natalie Hamrick, Council of Multiple Listing Services’ Denee Evans, Kellers Williams’ Julia Sashay Israel, and Coldwell Banker Realty’s Lindsay Listanski | Photos by AJ Canaria Creative Services
Empowering women in real estate involves mentorship, confidence and inclusivity. The “What Moves Her” session, led by Lindsay Listanski, brought together amazing women leaders who shared their experiences and strategies for success. Supporting each other and creating an inclusive environment can drive success and innovation in the industry. Embracing failure as a learning opportunity is also crucial for growth.
Key insights:
- Mentorship: Share your knowledge, and support your peers.
- Confidence and resilience: Stay true to your skills and knowledge.
- Inclusivity and delegation: Create an inclusive environment, and don’t hesitate to ask for help.
- Embrace failure: View failures as learning opportunities, and keep pushing forward.
As you can see, Inman Connect Las Vegas was a whirlwind of wake-up calls, inspiration and innovation, where fresh perspectives and actionable strategies took center stage.
So what was the overarching moral of the story? Embrace technology, focus on consumer empowerment, and build genuine connections to be the type of real estate professional who can navigate the complexities of today’s market with strength and confidence. By tapping into the collective power of community, understanding the importance of continual learning, and the need for a client-centric approach, our industry will be well equipped to serve amidst all the change.
And if I may, as someone deeply committed to fostering connections and building robust communities within our industry, I was not only moved by the collective wisdom shared during the sessions, and even more importantly, I was truly reinvigorated.
If taken to heart, the insights shared by our industry leaders can not only help us continue to navigate any challenges ahead but also serve to elevate our practices and drive lasting impact across each of our organizations. Together we are stronger and indeed equipped to make our industry even better, one genuine connection at a time.
Author Stacey Soleil is the SVP Community & Engagement at Inside Real Estate, Inman contributing writer and national speaker.
by Chris Pollinger | Aug 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
More than 10,000 plaintiffs, including homeowners and businesses, have reached a $4 billion settlement that comes less than a year after a devastating wildfire on the Hawaiian island.
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Less than a year after a devastating, deadly wildfire, 10,000 Maui plaintiffs have reached a $4 billion settlement, Housing Wire reported on Monday.
On Aug. 8, 2023, Maui encountered the fifth-deadliest wildland fire in the history of the U.S. and the worst natural disaster in Hawaii. “The total scope of the recovery, which includes past insurance claims, county, federal and state support, will approach $12 billion,” Hawaii Governor Josh Green stated in a release on Friday. The historic city of Lahaina was destroyed, and over 100 people lost their lives.
The plaintiffs and seven defendants — the state of Hawai‘i, County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, West Maui Land Co., Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum/Charter Communication — settled after four months of mediation.
The $4.037 billion settlement, subject to final documentation and court approval, will be distributed to over 10,000 plaintiffs impacted by the fire, including homeowners and businesses, beginning mid-2025. The settlement will resolve nearly 450 lawsuits from individuals, businesses and insurance companies filed for fires in Lahaina and Maui.
“This Global Settlement of over $4 billion will help our people heal. My priority as Governor was to expedite the agreement and to avoid protracted and painful lawsuits so as many resources as possible would go to those affected by the wildfires as quickly as possible. Settling a matter like this within a year is unprecedented, and it will be good that our people don’t have to wait to rebuild their lives as long as others have in many places that have suffered similar tragedies,” Gov. Green said.
“This was an extraordinary and unprecedented effort by many people to address the tragic impacts of the wildfires in less than a year,” Green said. “Resolving this so quickly shows how Hawai‘i is different, how we come together in times of crisis to heal together as a community.”
According to the Office of the Governor, Hawaii will not only contribute to the settlement, but to the One ʻOhana Fund with a $65 million contribution. One ʻOhana Fund is a compensation program that assists those who suffered physical injury and families of those who died from the wildfires.
The impact of the wildfire continues to cripple Hawaii as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have extended the Maui foreclosure moratorium for FHA-insured forward mortgages and Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), according to Housing Wire.
The Mortgagee Letter, released nearly two weeks ago, stated that HUD “is now further extending the foreclosure moratorium for properties located in Maui County, Hawaii due to the extent of the devastation from the wildfires, the reduced capacity to access needed resources, and the unique geographic location of Maui.”
The foreclosure moratorium, initially set to expire in May, has been extended for the third time to Jan. 1, 2025.
At last week’s 26th annual Inman Innovator Awards, over 80 individuals and companies were honored for improving the real estate industry through leadership and generosity in the midst of unexpected challenges. Maui real estate agents received the Nate Ellis Award for giving back to the community following the Maui wildfires.
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by Hans Wydler | 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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by Lauren Fox | Aug 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Brokerage and MLS software platform Perchwell has closed on a Series B round of funding led by Lux Capital.
Innovation is in our DNA at Inman — that’s why we’re excited about August’s Technology and Innovation Month. We’ll kick it off by celebrating the companies and individuals pushing the industry forward with an expanded slate of Inman Innovator Awards at Inman Connect Las Vegas. Then, we’ll continue to celebrate the brightest minds in real estate all month long.
Software company Perchwell has landed a $25 million Series B round of financing, Inman has learned.
Lux Capital, its Series A round leader, also led this round and was joined by REColorado MLS, Starwood Capital Group, Flex Capital, Stellar MLS and Venture MLS.
Venture MLS is a fund launched by the California Regional MLS to combat the control of evolving software vendors by larger, third-party enterprise technology companies. Perchwell was its first investment.
Brendan Fairbanks is Perchwell’s CEO and mentioned in the release he believes the company’s solution elevates ”the way real estate agents convey value to their clients.”
“We provide agents with powerful property-centric data in web and mobile platforms under a single seamless solution, empowering them to deliver accurate, precise guidance at a moment’s notice,” Fairbanks said.
The “modern data and workflow platform for residential real estate” is based in New York City and has been engineering artificial intelligence to shrink workflows for brokerages primarily in how they measure and visualize business performance and market activity and empower agents to drive relationships.
Multiple listing services wanting to better address the needs of members are also given an avenue to engage Perchwell, making it one of the few industry systems to provide products to each level of the industry.
“The platform puts the MLS at the center of a modern tech ecosystem and features listing data enriched with supplemental data sets, plug-and-play APIs, powerful market analytics, and comprehensive mobile apps designed to help agents thrive in today’s ever-demanding environment,” the release stated.
Venture capital has been eyeing real estate software and proptech entrepreneurs carefully over the last two years as the market continues to idle.
Total proptech venture capital investments hit just $1.491 billion in the first quarter of 2024 — a 12.4 percent year-over-year decline from $1.7444 billion in Q1 2023 and a far cry from a peak of $7.444 billion tallied in the first quarter of 2022, data from the Center for Real Estate Technology and Innovation shows.
“This decline can be attributed to a number of economic and geopolitical factors,” Valley Bank President Tom Iadanza said in April 2024. “Rising costs of capital, overall economic unease and fears of geopolitical tension along with changes in supply chains’ speed and cost propelling revisions upward for construction and renovation created a cautious environment. However, proptech investment activity continues to showcase pockets of resilience and represents a critical avenue for the gradual evolution of the global property sector.”
Perchwell’s funds will be put toward the AI components of the system, which is finding its way into almost every aspect of the industry, including home search, inspection, title and lending.
“While other industries rely on integrated software tools to manage their work, real estate professionals still spend much of their time shuffling between disjointed MLS data repositories, search portals, and various other point solutions,” said Peter Hébert, co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital, in the release. “Perchwell is setting the new industry standard by bringing all that tooling into a complete and modern software platform.”
Hébert will be joining Perchwell’s board of directors.
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by Amy Chorew | Aug 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Orlando Regional Realtor Association, one of the nation’s top 10 largest multiple listing services, has made its decision on an official lockbox partner by selecting SentriLock, one of two primary industry providers.
Innovation is in our DNA at Inman — that’s why we’re excited about August’s Technology and Innovation Month. We’ll kick it off by celebrating the companies and individuals pushing the industry forward with an expanded slate of Inman Innovator Awards at Inman Connect Las Vegas. Then, we’ll continue to celebrate the brightest minds in real estate all month long.
One of the nation’s top 10 largest multiple listing services has made its decision on an official lockbox by selecting SentriLock, one of two primary industry providers.
The Orlando Regional Realtor Association (ORRA) opted against Supra in favor of the National Association of Realtors-owned access technology provider, according to an Aug. 5 press release. ORRA has more than 20,000 members across multiple Central Florida markets.
“We are honored to have the trust of the industry and to be expanding our market share across Florida,” said SentriLock CEO and founder Scott Fisher in the news release. “We have been serving amazing customers in Florida for years now, and we are excited to expand our family of professionals into central Florida and have other markets coming online soon into next year.”
The lockbox business may seem like one of minor consequence in light of what looms for the industry later in August, but access to key holders, and how often they’re used and thus, purchased, is indeed an issue brokers and MLSs need to consider. After all, lockbox use data is a back door to highly accurate market insight.
In terms of the Aug. 17 deadline for implementation of the terms of the National Association of Realtors post-settlement agreement, SentriLock and its colleagues do have things to consider. For example, how will unrepresented buyers gain access if insistent on seeing a home on their own? Does offering lockbox access instructions in an MLS listing in some way constitute cooperation?
On the latter question, Scott Fisher, SentriLock’s CEO, said in a phone call with Inman that he can’t speak with certainty on specific legal issues regarding the settlement, but did address a few of the issues his team has been chatting about.
“I think the important aspect that I can definitely comment on related to the buyer agreements is there will be a requirement that buyer agency representation must be there before they’re allowed to tour the property,” Fisher said.
As for unrepresented buyers, Fisher said that will come down to individual association rules, and that they’ll support their clients’ wishes.
“I can tell you from certain states, when somebody gains access to your property and then they squat in it, you can spend several years of your life trying to get them out, so that there’s a greater sensitivity right now to ensuring that access is very well controlled, because without that, you know, a lot of a lot of unfortunate things can happen, appliance stuff, you name it.”
In the end, Fisher believes the market will sort it all out in time, from who pays whom how much to what documents get signed.
“Everybody’s best interest can be served if you allow market dynamics to take place,” Fisher said.
SentriLock offers its own home showing application, SentriKey Showing Service, launched in 2021 in the chaos of Zillow’s acquisition of ShowingTime, a one-time industry darling for scheduling buyer tours. The application and its connected lockboxes have a number of wins of late, announcing a partnership with rental software provider RentSpree and mobile marketing app DirectOffer.
SentriLock sued its chief rival, Supra, in 2022, Inman reported. The case hinges on a pair of patents SentriLock obtained in 2011 and 2013 that have to do with the construction and function of lockboxes agents use to store keys and open homes for prospective homebuyers.
Supra is owned by Carrier, the air conditioner company, and announced its own showing and marketing application in May of this year, Supra One.
The software is delivered in both desktop and mobile environments and also provides task-listing and upkeep, lockbox assignment and templates for each that apply pre-set access details, showing instructions and notification methods, among other benefits.
Fisher said in 2021 that SentriLock’s software received rapid support by the industry.
“Now that the service is available to customers, we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response,” Fisher added. “The convergence of lockbox access, showing technology and experience management software all on the same platform is the future state of the technology — and we are proud to offer it now.”
Training and support for ORRA members on SentriLock’s systems is now underway, according to the release, which stated users can expect “a smooth implementation process.”
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by Robert Palmer | Aug 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
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With proposed commission changes set to take effect nationwide on Aug. 17, there’s a best-case scenario on how the National Association of Realtors’ settlement plays out on the ground — and then there’s the reality.
That was the view, at least, from a range of panelists that included brokers, lawyers and MLS executives across a series of sessions focused on the “evolution of buyer agency” at Inman Connect Las Vegas Wednesday.
From a Realtor in the audience who acknowledged the continuation of commission sharing among peers in her home state to an unidentified multiple listing service currently directing members to draft buyer agreements specific to each listing in its database, a troubling information gap between regulators and real estate professionals was on display over four back-to-back panel discussions on the coming changes.
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At the center of the confusion, many of the panelists agreed, were clashing interpretations of the proposed NAR policies themselves.
At NAR’s midyear conference in May, the trade group’s legal team promoted the practice of cooperative compensation, detailed ways that listing brokers could advertise offers of compensation to buyer brokers outside of the MLS, and encouraged buyer agents to contact listing agents prior to showing a property to inquire about offers of compensation. This is in stark contrast to what the U.S. Department of Justice has indicated they want to see happen: no offers of compensation from listing brokers to buyer brokers made anywhere so that the seller and listing agent have no influence on the amount buyers pay their agents.
“I’m wondering, are we doing something wrong?” one flummoxed Realtor asked panelists on Wednesday afternoon, presumably voicing the concerns of many of her peers in the audience.
For the Indiana Realtor who voiced confusion over the changes, at issue were best practices around buyer agreements and protocols for reaching out to listing agents. To peers in the audience and panelists Cassie Walker Johnson of Windermere Real Estate, Kendall Bonner of eXp Realty and Ed Zorn of the CRMLS, she let slip that those calls from buyer agents to listing agents were happening prematurely.
“This is what people have led us to believe we should be doing,” she said. “Calling each agent before you even show a house: ‘We have our buyer broker agreement. What have you negotiated with your seller?’”
The panelists, including moderator James Dwiggins, the CEO of NextHome, all disapproved of the practices described by the attendee.
Johnson, a managing broker with Windermere, raised the specter of agent steering, and advised against calling a listing agent before a buyer client has toured a home. Bonner, a team leader at eXp, agreed that on a practical level, calling every listing agent ahead of every showing wasn’t an efficient model for success. She pointed to an unidentified MLS that was advising members to do just that.
“One MLS I know, that will remain nameless, in Florida, they are instructing their agents to get a new agreement for every listing and call each listing agent, find out what they are offering, and write an agreement specifically for that property, for each listing,” Bonner told the ICLV audience on Wednesday.
If panelists were unanimous in their disapproval of the Indiana Realtor’s actions, they were also in lockstep on the merits of what Zorn characterized as a “consumer-centric model.” Instead of propping up the old commission-sharing system, Zorn said, listing agents should concern themselves with their own fee. Buyer agents, meanwhile, should negotiate their compensation with buyers before showings. And buyers should, if needed, ask for their agent’s compensation in a purchase offer, which the DOJ has specifically said would be permissible.
“[The model] is really simple,” Dwiggins added. “Seller’s willing to entertain any and all requests, put it in your offer. Buyer’s agent, put whatever you want in the offer, and it becomes a negotiation.”
“Realistically … concessions aren’t even going to need to be a thing long-term, potentially, because it’s just a matter of: My seller will listen to whatever you want to put in the offer, and it’s just a negotiation.”
Zorn agreed. In his earlier session focused on the “evolution of buyer agency,” he told attendees they have a choice: “Are you going to choose the route of staying with the old commission-sharing model? Or are you going to look at the changes that are coming up and look at opportunities to enhance your role in real estate?”
Everyone in the industry will have to choose, regardless of their role, Zorn added.
At a session called “Commission Chronicles: Implications for MLSs,” panel moderator Sam DeBord noted “very different implementations” across the country of the settlement changes and that some agents had decided to get “creative” with continuing to make offers of compensation.
“[There are] some really interesting stories of agents saying, ‘I’m going to put commissions in the watermark of photos’ or ‘The number of commas and periods in the listing description will tell you what the number is,’” DeBord told the ICLV audience, before adding: “Please don’t do that.”
Annie Ives, CEO of Southern California-based The MLS, said her MLS is using compliance software to review agents’ listing inputs, and will be looking for keywords to find violations.
Some agents are using URLs that end in 2.5, to indicate the percentage of the sales price they’re offering as compensation in the MLS, Ives said. “So we’ll be looking for that,” she said, adding that she expects agents to come up with other “creative” ways to get around the new rules.
Nonetheless, Ives’ MLS does not plan to fine subscribers for violations for the first few months after the changes, she added.
“Our model is not to collect money on fines,” Ives said. “Our model is to keep the data accurate. We want to be friendly to the agent.”
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