Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

VestaPlus [Sponsor]

Nobody gets into the MLS business because they love compliance. It lives in policy manuals and staff workflows…invisible, until something breaks.

A broker questions inconsistent enforcement. Bad data circulates. Two similar listings get treated differently, and suddenly…boom… everyone has an opinion.

The real risk isn’t a single bad listing. It’s the slow erosion of confidence in whether enforcement is fair, consistent, or even possible at scale.

That’s why I paid attention when ARMLS chose CheckMate. ARMLS isn’t prone to shiny-object decisions — when they adopt operational infrastructure, it’s deliberate and worth understanding why.

What CheckMate offers: daily listing scans instead of periodic sweeps, AI-assisted photo review, centralized violation and fine tracking, and configurable rules aligned to each MLS’s specific policies.

None of that is flashy. That’s the point.

Consistency protects credibility. When enforcement feels predictable, complaints go down. When data quality improves, confidence in the marketplace follows.

Compliance done well fades into the background. Done poorly, it becomes the headline.

Most MLS leaders would strongly prefer the former.

My thanks to VestaPlus for sponsoring this month of Vendor Alley.

Inside the NAR Influencer Summit

The Industry Relations Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player!

Overview

Rob Hahn and Greg Robertson discuss their experience attending the NAR Influencer Summit in Chicago, where they met with NAR leadership and staff to hear about the organization’s strategic direction and turnaround plan. The conversation covers leadership changes, cost-cutting efforts, and the broader challenges facing the National Association of Realtors. Rob argues that the organization faces deeper structural problems—particularly around its value proposition and governance—while Greg is cautiously optimistic that new leadership could help move the industry forward. The episode also explores NAR’s relationship with MLS organizations, the difficulty associations face in “de-risking” from MLS dependence, and the need to identify services members are actually willing to pay for. 

Key Takeaways

  • Rob and Greg attended the NAR Influencer Summit in Chicago, where leadership presented their strategic plan and invited questions from attendees. 
  • NAR leadership highlighted cost-cutting measures, including staff reductions of roughly 14–20%, as part of broader turnaround efforts. 
  • Rob says meeting CEO Nykia Wright in person changed his impression, noting her stronger presence and leadership than he expected. 
  • The hosts debate whether NAR’s challenges are incremental problems or a deeper structural crisis tied to governance and leadership dynamics. 
  • A central issue discussed is NAR’s value proposition—particularly whether agents would voluntarily pay to join if MLS access and other structural ties changed. 
  • Lobbying remains one of the strongest arguments for NAR’s value, though Rob argues it suffers from a “free rider” problem where non-members benefit as well. 
  • Greg raises concerns about how local associations can reduce reliance on MLS revenue without clear alternative funding models. 
  • Both hosts discuss the role of volunteer leadership in shaping strategy and whether structural reforms may be needed to move the organization forward. 
  • The episode ends with a debate about NAR’s stated goal of advancing Americans’ ability to own real estate and what policy implications that might carry. 

Connect with Rob and Greg

Rob’s Website 

Greg’s Website 

Watch us on YouTube

Our Sponsors:

Cotality 

Notorious VIP

The Giant Steps Job Board 

Production and Editing Services by Sunbound Studios

And Then There Were 484

MLS, local association counts drop as consolidation accelerates

“This is not cyclical contraction, it’s structural consolidation. Rising legal and compliance pressures have made scale essential. Regionalization is how organized real estate manages risk, invests in technology and ensures long-term viability.” — Clint Skutchan, SVP of Organized Real Estate, T3 Sixty

For the first time ever, the U.S. has fewer than 500 MLSs. 484, as of December 31st. Down 30 from the prior year — a 5.8% drop, the steepest on record. And a decade ago? North of 850.

The Texas numbers are wild. Six MLSs and eight associations gone in a single year, mostly because a statewide Realtor program that had been offering MLS services quietly folded. One state. One-third of all closings nationwide.

For vendors, the math here is uncomfortable but simple: your addressable market just got smaller again. It’s been getting smaller for years, but we’re now past a psychological threshold that’s hard to ignore.

The silver lining — if you want one — is that the MLSs surviving this consolidation are bigger, better funded, and increasingly capable of actually buying things. Twenty MLSs generate roughly half the sector’s revenue. Those are real customers with real budgets.

But if your pipeline is full of small regionals you’ve been nurturing for years… some of those conversations may have a different kind of deadline than you think.

Clint’s right. This isn’t a cycle. It’s a new shape.

The Doctor Is In

I was in Chicago last week at NAR Headquarters for the NAR Influencer Summit. My kids got a kick out of me being an “influencer.” I feel so Gen Z! Rob Hahn was there, as was Keith Robinson from NextHome/Real Estate Insider’s Podcast, Katie Lance, and a few other podcasters/bloggers/etc. I heard there were more invited but couldn’t make it due to scheduling.

The meeting was held at the top of the NAR building on Michigan Ave. Very cool. I hadn’t been inside the building since pre-pandemic, and never to the top, so that was kind of a treat.

What struck me initially was who from NAR was present: basically Nykia Wright, CEO of NAR, and her entire executive team. Some of them, based in Washington DC, had flown in to attend the event. And they were there for the entire meeting, which lasted from 12 PM to about 6 PM. We were told nothing was off limits, but to be respectful. A lot of the executive team gave brief presentations and then we could ask questions.

Nykia was the first to present. She basically went over NAR’s new strategic plan. I had already read it, so a lot of it was repetitive. Some of the team were brand new to NAR; others had already been there a while, like Lawrence Yun, Shannon McGahn, Mark Birschbach, and Jonathan Waclawski.

Nykia spoke about roughly a 20% reduction in NAR staff, which was higher than the 14% number I had read previously. Based on the tenor of the conversations, budget pressures were clearly a big driver across many departments.

This ain’t your old NAR.

I asked a lot of questions. When I thought I was getting corporate gobbledygook, I pushed back and asked for clarification—which, most of the time, I got. There were some myths I had about NAR that were busted. Some answers I thought were incomplete. But overall I have to say I was impressed with the effort and thought that Nykia and her executive team put into it. Honestly, really impressed.

At one point Nykia described herself as a “business doctor.” I thought that was apt. She described her patient, NAR. By NAR she meant the entire ecosystem: staff, leadership, brokers, and agents. She laid out what the patient needed to do to survive. As a pragmatic doctor, there was no need to dwell on the past. The past was done. Her focus is making sure the patient survives going forward. Her beside manner? All business.

The prescription was pretty clear.

The patient needs to get sober.

Change its diet. Lose some weight.

Eat healthier foods. More greens. Fewer carbs.

And one by one, members of her executive team came up and explained how the patient would start exercising again—new routines, new disciplines, new habits meant to produce a healthier organization.
Maybe even stop hanging around with a few bad influences.

Everyone in the room seemed to agree with the diagnosis.

But agreeing with the doctor and following the doctor’s orders are two very different things.

So the real question isn’t whether NAR has a plan.

The question is whether the patient will actually follow it.

We’ll see.

But at least the doctor has arrived.

My thanks to Bennett Richardson for the invite and Nykia for her hospitality.

Signal by 1000watt – Be there!

Have you bought your tickets to 1000watt’s Signal conference yet? I’ll be there. I went last year too, when it was held at Gilley’s in Dallas, TX. Great content, great people. This year’s Signal conference will be held June 2-4 in Denver, CO. I think for any MLS organization that wants to fire up a creative spark, or to do some professional development for their marketing and training departments, it would be money well spent.

I also hear they are also going to add a special breakout session for MLS. I’ll report more on that as we get closer to the conference.

In the meantime, they are holding a live webinar tomorrow that’s an exclusive preview of the event, hosted by Brian Boero, Marc Davison, and Jessica Swesey. They will walk through:

  • What this year’s program is designed to do (and why it matters now)
  • A look at the speaker lineup and the talks they’re most excited about
  • The hotels they recommend (and why proximity matters)
  • How to make the most of your time in Denver

That’s live tomorrow, March 6th, 12PM PT. Register for the webinar here. Buy tickets to the event here.

Compass, Redfin and an Uncertain Future

The Industry Relations Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player!

Overview

Rob and Greg discuss the implications of a new deal between Compass and Redfin that allows Compass listings to appear on Redfin without traditional listing metrics like days on market or price change history. The conversation explores how this partnership could reshape the competitive landscape among major real estate portals and accelerate the normalization of private or exclusive listings. They also debate whether private listings harm transparency or fairness in the housing market, including a heated discussion around claims that such practices impact fair housing. The episode also examines how shifting alliances between portals like Zillow, Redfin, and Homes.com could affect MLSs and industry norms. Toward the end, the conversation broadens to macro trends including AI’s potential impact on white-collar jobs, the future of real estate search, and how economic disruption could influence housing markets in the coming years. 

Key Takeaways

  • Compass and Redfin reached a deal allowing Compass listings to appear on Redfin without showing days on market or price change history. 
  • The move represents a major shift in portal alliances, potentially weakening the previous alignment between Zillow and Redfin. 
  • Private listings may become more normalized as brokers and MLSs respond to changing portal strategies. 
  • Rob argues that fair housing concerns around private listings are often overstated and distract from the real business debate. 
  • Greg suggests the practical impact may be limited if most listings ultimately still end up on MLS systems. 
  • Future home search may shift from portals to AI assistants that aggregate listings across multiple sources. 
  • The hosts discuss the broader economic implications of AI potentially replacing large numbers of white-collar jobs and how that could affect housing demand.

Links

Concerns Over Harmful Private Listing Networks Explained by NAEBA (The National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents)

Robert Reffkin dreams of lobsters

Connect with Rob and Greg

Rob’s Website 

Greg’s Website 

Watch us on YouTube

Our Sponsors:

Cotality 

Notorious VIP

The Giant Steps Job Board 

Production and Editing Services by Sunbound Studios

DISCLAIMER: Greg & Rob may have business relationships with one or more of the companies discussed.

Brokers, your real estate super app is here

Rechat and Canva Unveil New Integration

By integrating with Rechat, we are empowering agents to turn live property data into polished, on-brand marketing materials in minutes.

Smart move. But the Canva deal isn’t really the story here.

The story is what Rechat has quietly become. They’ve hit 100% year-over-year revenue growth, grown their customer base by 220%, and expanded their team to 85 people across 18 countries. Their CRM adoption rate sits at 75% — which, if you’ve spent any time in this industry, you know is borderline miraculous.

I think two things are at work here to qualify that success.

Number One: Integrations. Figma last August. SkySlope. Follow Up Boss. Now Canva. Rechat CEO Shayan Hamidi says it’s about “removing friction from the creative process and meeting agents where they want to work.” This feels different than an “all-in-one” or “end to end” strategy that a lot of vendors are shooting for — they started by knowing that integrations would be part of their solution.

Number Two: Knowing who their customer is: Independent Brokers. The content that Rechat creates is of high quality and good design. Something that gives independent brokers a way of competing with Compass’ tech stack, but without all the restrictions.

Rechat isn’t trying to be everything to everyone — they’re building the platform that independent brokers didn’t know they were waiting for, and the numbers say it’s working.

VestaPlus [Sponsor]

My thanks to VestaPlus™ for sponsoring Vendor Alley this month.

VestaPlus continues to push practical innovation in MLS technology with tools that help MLSs and agents work more efficiently and deliver better service to their members and clients. They offer a full suite of MLS solutions, including the VestaPlus™ MLS system, MLSGo™ mobile app, MarketSnap™, ShowingsPlus™, SearchPlus™, and CheckMate™ compliance software, all built with an emphasis on speed, usability, and real-world workflows.

This month I want to spotlight CheckMate™, their AI-powered compliance platform that’s gaining traction nationally with MLSs of all sizes. CheckMate not only flags potential listing policy issues, it uses machine learning and automation to help teams maintain data accuracy and streamline compliance workflows, reducing manual work while keeping listing data cleaner and more reliable.

If you haven’t looked at their stack recently, now’s probably a good time.

My thanks again to them for sponsoring Vendor Alley.

Godspeed

FBS joins ROAM on its journey to form statewide marketplace

Press Release: ROAM MLS Selects FBS and the Flexmls® Platform to Support Statewide Marketplace

“Our newly established partnership with FBS will provide our members with an MLS platform that preserves many of the features and familiarity of their current native system while offering access to updated technology. This decision eliminates the need for duplicative add-ons, consolidates data into a single source, and provides our members with the opportunity for greater cost savings,” said Rhonda Reap-Curiel, ROAM MLS President”

Significant win for FBS. See below from ROAM’s website:

“What is changing

  • ROAM will launch a unified MLS platform, built specifically for ROAM by Flex MLS.
  • ROAM will retire the existing Matrix, Paragon, and legacy Flex platforms.
  • Members will be converted to the new platform with their listings, contacts, and saved searches.
  • The Clareity dashboard will be retired.

What is not changing

  • All ancillary services will remain in place, including Cloud CMA, ShowingTime, lockboxes, RentSpree, RPR, and other current tools.
  • Local support remains local.
  • Association-specific fees are unchanged as part of this announcement.”

Nice to see Cloud CMA didn’t get kicked off the island.  😅

Sponsored By VESTAPLUS