On January 1, 2010, organized real estate was still reeling from the recession. Dale Stinton was steering the ship at NAR. Zillow was seen as the enemy of the MLS. Real estate software was meh. Agent teams were rare. Nearly all brokerages took a split. Selling your house online seemed outrageous. And we still signed documents in pen.
On this episode of Industry Relations, Rob and Greg are looking back at the last 10 years in real estate. They discuss the passing NAR’s MLS Statement 8.0 Clear Cooperation Policy, debating the significance of the office exclusives loophole and how it might lead to government involvement. Our hosts also express their disappointment around the Newsday investigation in Long Island, Testing the Divide, challenging brokerage leadership to make a strong statement against the egregious racism it uncovered.
Greg and Rob go on to share their top 10 defining moments and trends with the biggest impact on the industry over the last decade, describing how the rise of agent teams, 100% commission brokerages, the iBuyer model and consolidation have transformed organized real estate. Listen in for insight into how NAR’s decision to fund RPR and Upstream changed the way the MLS saw Zillow and explore how the space has evolved from 2010 through the end of 2019.
Editor’s Note: We did record an Episode 40 that was never aired. It was about Policy 8.0 but wasn’t ready before the vote. After the vote passed we decided it didn’t add to anything to the issue.
What’s Discussed:
NAR’s passing of the MLS Statement 8.0 Clear Cooperation Policy
Rob & Greg’s take on the Newsday investigation in Long Island
How the loophole in 8.0 could lead to government involvement
The 10 defining trends/events in the last decade of real estate
- The end of poorly designed software
- The rise and domination of agent teams
- The transition in leadership at NAR
- Opendoor pioneering the iBuyer model
- Zillow’s acquisition of Trulia
- 100% commission brokerages
- Consolidation and the influx of capital
- The practice of buying agents/agent teams
- The mainstreaming of digital signatures
- NAR’s decision to fund RPR + Upstream
Connect with Rob and Greg:
Resources:
Compass Pre-Litigation Letter to Bright MLS
Newsday Documentary: Testing the Divide
Rob’s Blog on the Newsday Piece
1000watt Article on Real Estate Software
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller with Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan
Ben Thompson Interview with Rich Barton
Our Sponsors:
One other thing of note for the last decade. The road not taken. AORs in part are there to represent the needs of Realtors. To have their back. We should have that expectation for the dues we pay.
There has always been talk in one way or another of a national MLS. NAR missed that boat. They missed the opportunity to have a Realtor centric website that would drive leads to the listing agent at no charge.
The road to a public portal where leads go to the listing only (your listing, your lead) was taken by HAR right around the same timeframe. HAR has had pretty good success with that portal. They represented their agents without the greed.
Realtor.com could have gonet he HAR route while also giving consumers a firehose of data. They did not. Realtor.com was a joke among agents for a long time because their data relevancy sucked. We would get inquiries from clients regarding properties showing active on Realtor.com only to report to clients those properties had sold months ago.
Would Zillow have the same success with leads to the degree they enjoy today, if NAR had gone a different way. Maybe, given the lack of tech chops at Realtor.com. But it would have been interesting to see how the road not taken might have turned out.
Pingback: All I want for Christmas is for NAR to fund RESO a million dollars next year - Vendor Alley | Vendor Alley