Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Steve Byrd is the new CEO of Canopy MLS

Canopy MLS bets on separation, names Steve Byrd its first standalone CEO

“Byrd is taking the helm from longtime Canopy Realtors and MLS CEO Anne Marie DeCatsye, but instead of leading both the MLS and the Realtor association, Decatsye’s existing role will be filled by two separate people marking the beginning of a true separation in leadership between the association and the MLS. This move by the greater Canopy organization has been in the works for some time now, after organization leaders felt that more separation was needed despite the MLS and association having separate boards of directors since 2003. “

I just wanted to post this story because I love this picture of Steve so much. Congrats!

Panels, Parties, and Purpose

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

Overview

Rob and Greg recap their time at Inman San Diego — the first Inman keynote without Brad Inman on stage, new CEO Tom Bohn’s mixed reception, and Greg’s fan encounter with his own book. From there they dig into a bigger debate: what’s the actual purpose of real estate conferences, whether panels count as “education,” and how MLS Reset and other events are trying to carve out a clearer mission.

Key Takeaways

  • Greg’s second edition of “The Art of the CMA” is out; he’s doing speaking engagements and bulk book buys tied to gigs
  • This was the first Inman keynote Brad Inman didn’t give himself, following the company sale
  • New CEO Tom Bond’s keynote got mixed reviews from attendees
  • Inman has shifted toward more agent/broker-centric content and away from organized real estate coverage
  • Complaint of the episode: Inman San Diego had no real central lobby bar
  • Rob argues most real estate conferences (outside NAR events) lack a clear purpose or mission
  • NAR Midyear and Annual are “working conferences” with real votes and lobbying, unlike most others
  • Brand conferences (like Keller Williams’ family reunion) succeed because their purpose is obvious
  • T3 Summit, Gathering of Eagles, and RISMedia events each target a specific tier of attendee for marketing/networking purposes
  • MLS Reset traces its roots back to the Clarity Conference and the MLS executive workshop model
  • Rob and Greg disagree on whether panel discussions are ever educational
  • Greg pushes back, arguing conferences can also be valuable as a source of inspiration and storytelling
  • Rob’s pitch for an ideal conference: two content sessions total, everything else built around networking and an open bar

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

Cotality and ICE to Anchor MLS Reset 2027 as Platinum Sponsors; Clareity Conference Concludes After 24 Years

MLS Reset returns February 22–24 in Scottsdale, the first MLS-specific event of the new year, with sponsorships now open.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – August 4, 2026 — PRESTA Consultants and Giant Steps Advisors today announced that Cotality and ICE will serve as Platinum Sponsors of MLS Reset 2027, confirmed for February 22–24, 2027 at the Kimpton Miralina Resort & Villas (formerly the Scottsdale Plaza Resort) in Scottsdale, Arizona. The announcement follows the conclusion of the long-running Clareity Conference, whose parent company, Cotality, is now placing its support behind MLS Reset. 

The Clareity Conference, a cornerstone gathering for MLS executives and real estate technology leaders for 24 years, held its final event, Clareity26, in Tucson earlier this year. There, Cotality’s Kevin Greene announced the company’s decision to conclude the conference and back MLS Reset, joining PRESTA’s Amy Gorce and Giant Steps’ Greg Robertson on stage to formalize the partnership. 

Now in its third year, MLS Reset has established itself as the first MLS-specific event of the calendar year and the only one on the Q1 schedule as an independent, vendor-agnostic forum where MLS executives, technology partners, and industry stakeholders can say the things you can’t say at other conferences and have an honest conversation.. 

“The PRESTA team and Giant Steps are humbled to carry forward the spirit of what the Clareity Conference built in the MLS community over more than two decades,” said Greg Robertson, Principal of Giant Steps Advisors. “MLS Reset was created to be a place where people can have the honest, unfiltered conversations this industry needs, and we’re grateful to have Cotality and ICE standing behind that mission.” 

ICE, among the event’s earliest and most consistent supporters and a Platinum Sponsor since MLS Reset’s inception, returns in 2027, now joined at the Platinum level by Cotality. 

Sponsorship opportunities across all levels are open now, and organizers encourage interested partners to secure placement early as commitments come in. Registration for MLS Reset 2027 is also open, along with the event’s discounted hotel room block. Sponsorship details, registration, and hotel booking are all available at MLSReset.com. 

EVENT DETAILS 

Event: MLS Reset 2027
Dates: February 22–24, 2027
Venue: Kimpton Miralina Resort & Villas (formerly Scottsdale Plaza Resort), Scottsdale, AZ
Registration & Hotel: MLSReset.com
Sponsorships: MLSReset.com

About PRESTA Consultants
PRESTA Consultants provides strategic consulting services to the real estate industry, specializing in MLS operations, technology strategy, and organizational development. For more information, visit prestaconsultants.com.

About Giant Steps Advisors
Giant Steps Advisors works with MLSs, vendors, and proptech founders on go-to-market strategies, vendor partnerships, and product decisions. For more information, visit giantstepsadvisors.com.

Media Contact:
Greg Robertson · Principal Advisor, Founder · Giant Steps Advisors · greg@giantstepsadvisors.com


MLS Reset [Sponsor]

A quick thank you to MLS Reset for sponsoring Vendor Alley this month.

MLS Reset has become one of the places where MLS leaders, brokers, and technology companies come together to have honest conversations about where organized real estate is headed. The agenda isn’t about looking back. It’s about tackling the challenges and opportunities facing the industry today.

If you’re involved in the MLS space, it’s worth taking a look. Learn more here:
MLS Reset

Thanks again to the MLS Reset team for supporting Vendor Alley.

Canva is eating real estate marketing

Introducing the Adwerx x Canva Integration

“Agents who design their own creative in Canva have always had to bridge a gap between where they create and where they advertise. That gap is now closed.”

Adwerx is just the latest vendor to hop on the Canva train. And what a train it’s become. Keller Williams inked a deal in June of last year. Anywhere followed with an enterprise deal a month later. Rechat launched its integration in March. Lofty in May. LeadingRE added Canva to its Solutions Group program just last week. And now Adwerx.

Remember when every vendor in this industry built their own design tools? Every CRM shipped with a “design center” full of clip art templates that agents opened exactly once. That fight is over. Canva won it. It seems the smart play now is exactly what Adwerx is doing: concede creation, keep distribution. Let agents design where they already design, and make your product the place that money gets spent. (For what it’s worth, the Adwerx version is well done. One-time authorization, pull designs straight from your Canva library, auto-sized for each placement, works with free Canva accounts, no extra cost.)

But here’s the detail worth watching. Canva now has a “Head of Real Estate GTM Sales.” Companies that size don’t build dedicated real estate go-to-market teams for shits and giggles. And Canva has already launched its own MLS-integrated marketing tools. So every vendor plugging into Canva is also feeding the platform that keeps building one layer closer to their business.

Defaults matter. I’d spend the extra money and hire a good designer to make those client facing materials as good as they can be, keeping your aesthetics and vision intact. Most users will use the standard reports/materials your app ships with.

Design isn’t just about how something looks, but how it works. Having a workflow of sending your customers outside your product to another product and then come back doesn’t sound like a good experience for anyone.

It’s all about tradeoffs.

Cheaper to keep her

Lone Wolf Launches Talent in BrokerMetrics, an AI-Powered Solution for Agent Recruiting and Retention

Lone Wolf is putting AI into BrokerMetrics, and the first release is called Talent. Buried in the release is the stat that explains the whole product:

According to a 2026 survey by Inman and Lone Wolf, brokerages rated agent retention’s value at 8.17 out of 10, significantly higher than recruitment value. However, only approximately 2% treat retention as a deliberate strategy, and 44% track no flight-risk signals whatsoever.

I remember a conversation I had with Sharran Srivatsaa a few years back. He told me that brokers should only care about 3 things.

-Recruitment
-Retention
-Profit

I think AI is the perfect tool for the recruitment and retention challenges and this joint survey confirms it. I got a demo at Inman Connect this week and it looks impressive.

This is also Matt Fischer’s first real product statement since taking over in February, and “this is just the beginning” is the part I’d take seriously. Lone Wolf has been quiet for a while. A little birdie told me there is more to come…

When Claude Met Sally

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

Overview

Greg launches the second edition of The Art of the CMA, along with new survey data showing agents believe CMAs are more relevant than ever, even as AI adoption grows. That leads into the episode’s main debate: could AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude get direct MLS access and replace agents’ role in producing CMAs and running transactions? Rob and Greg dig into MLS “participant” rules, a LinkedIn post from Craig Cheatham (Realty Alliance) pushing to redefine who qualifies as a real broker vs. a paper/AI brokerage, and a broader disagreement over whether AI is fundamentally different from past disruptors like Zillow, iBuyers, and discount brokerages.

Key Takeaways

  • Greg’s second edition of The Art of the CMA launched today, with a new chapter on AI and CMAs
  • New survey (~2,200 agents, Feb 2026) shows 89.6% believe CMAs will be more relevant in the future — a 22-point increase from the prior survey
  • Agents report CMAs now take longer to produce and use fewer comps than before
  • Over 90% of agents cite the MLS as their most trusted data source for comps
  • Current AI tools lack direct MLS access, relying instead on public sources like Zillow and Redfin
  • Rob raises the scenario of OpenAI or Anthropic obtaining a broker’s license to join the MLS directly as participants
  • Craig Cheatham’s LinkedIn post to CMLS argues for a more stringent definition of “participant” to separate real brokerages from paper/AI brokerages
  • Discussion touches on the now-expired DOJ/NAR settlement and the “endeavor to cooperate” clause as precedent
  • Rob argues AI replaces human labor and is fundamentally different from past disruptors; Greg argues real estate remains an emotional, trust-based decision AI can’t fully replicate
  • Rob contends a transaction handled by AI connected to MLS data may carry lower risk than one handled by an average, inexperienced agent
  • Both agree AI brokerages are already emerging and expect the MLS participation debate to escalate soon

Links

LinkedIn Post

The Art of the CMA

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

New survey: 89.6% of Real Estate Agents Say the CMA will be more relevant in the future.

New Industry Survey: 89.6% of Real Estate Agents Say the CMA Will Be More Relevant Than Ever, a 22-Point Jump Since 2020, Even as AI Reshapes the Business

“Real estate agents are more confident than ever that the comparative market analysis (CMA), a fundamentally human document, matters most in an increasingly automated industry. That’s the headline finding of the 2026 Survey of Best Practices for CMAs & Listing Presentations, released today by Giant Steps Advisors in partnership with Lone Wolf Technologies.

Back in 2020 my company W+R Studios did a survey of best practices for CMAs and listing presentations. I wondered what had changed in six years, so we decided to run the survey again, in partnership with Lone Wolf, and add a few new questions. We got responses from 2,165 U.S. real estate professionals across 46 states. One thing that jumped out at us: 89.6% said CMAs will be more relevant in the future, up from 67% in 2020. That 22-point jump is the biggest shift on any question in the survey.

Think about it: for twenty years people have been writing the CMA’s obituary. The Zestimate was going to kill it. iBuyers were going to kill it. Now AI is going to kill it.

Here’s what those predictions missed. More public data did NOT make sellers better calibrated. It made them more anchored, and more confident in a wrong number. Every appointment now starts with some version of “Zillow says my house is worth this much.” That’s the screenshot era. So the pricing conversation didn’t go away when data got cheap. It got harder. Look at the number: pricing as the #1 objection jumped from 52.7% to 63.7%. The flood of free numbers didn’t replace the professional who can interpret them. It created a bigger, harder problem that only a professional can solve. Scarcity of data was never the agent’s value. Judgment about data is.

You can download the full results of the survey here.

Thrive Broker Summit [Sponsor]

The Thrive Broker Summit is a broker-focused event created by CRMLS to bring together brokerage leaders, MLS executives, and industry experts for conversations about where real estate is headed. The agenda covers everything from AI and technology to brokerage strategy, MLS data, and the future of organized real estate.

If your company builds products or services for brokers, it’s also an opportunity to be part of those conversations.

Sponsorships are available for companies that want to support the event and connect with the people helping shape the industry.

You can learn more about the sponsorship opportunities here:

Sponsorship Package

Congress Would Like a Word

Robert Reffkin and Rebecca Jensen you got mail! The House Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee sent both CEOs letters asking for briefings on the Compass/MRED partnership, “as soon as possible” and no later than August 5. The concern, straight from the letters, is that the deal:

Judiciary subcommittee summons Compass, MRED CEOs for briefing

“could limit competition by fragmenting inventory, weakening price competition, and creating “velvet ropes” around certain properties that limit access to a select group of potential buyers, potentially limiting consumer choice”

“Velvet ropes.” On congressional letterhead. That phrasing sounds familar, and apparently Washington has been taking notes.

Now walk with me…. The Consumer Federation of America asks the DOJ and FTC to review Compass’s MLS agreements. Senators Warren and Wyden want scrutiny of the Anywhere deal. The New York AG opens an antitrust inquiry. Zillow drags everybody into federal court in Chicago. And now a House Judiciary subcommittee wants both CEOs in the room within two weeks. Here’s the part that should get Compass’s attention: this subcommittee is chaired by Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican from Wisconsin. Warren and Wyden are one thing. When the letters start coming from both sides of the aisle, “this is just politics” stops working as a talking point.

MRED’s response: “Whether it’s our customers or this committee, we’re always happy to help.” Never change, Rebecca.
Compass? Nothing yet. The guy who personally emails MLS CEOs across the country didn’t have a comment ready.

Nobody got subpoenaed. A briefing is the meeting you take so you don’t get the hearing or the subpoena.

Compass’ FAFO moment might be about to happen and something tells me saying “seller’s choice” a hundred times isn’t going to work.

Sponsored By MLS Reset