Yesterday’s announcement of the launch of Open Real Estate was another salvo in the ongoing fight over listing data ownership, distribution and monetization, with franchise and indie brokerage leaders alike teaming up to announce the new listing syndication platform.
We heard from CEOs behind the decision yesterday, but we also wanted to know what the announcement means to boots-on-the-ground agents and brokers. Reactions ranged from excitement to “nothingburger” nonchalance, with a few thoughts on how the new platform can move forward effectively.
Good news
Kyle Crawford
“This is good news for agents, plain and simple. When the homeowner and their agent get to decide how and where a listing is marketed, the seller wins, and that’s who we all work for. Love seeing this many leaders in the industry pull in the same direction.” — Kyle Crawford, VP of strategy for Century 21 New Millennium
Keith Robinson
“Fractured listing data hurts buyers and sellers first and that is who we have to focus on most. Open Real Estate is about keeping that data complete and consistent, and it’s open to every broker in America, big or small, at no cost. Win for the consumer. As it should be.” — Keith Robinson, president of strategy at NextHome, Inc. and co-host of Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered
Ken Baris
“Today’s news about openrealestate.com is a win for consumers. Simply put, it is about great companies who fiercely compete, putting clients first over shareholder value. It makes real estate that is being marketed readily accessible to brokers and consumers. It provides total transparency and does not shield listings from other brokerages. It also does not shield listings from some consumers, making them available to all. This is the industry coming together and doing the right thing.” — Ken Baris, Chief Executive Officer, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty
Tiffany Klusacek
“After nearly 20 years in real estate, I continue to believe our responsibility is first and foremost to the consumer. Sellers need to understand the difference between simply putting a home on the market and truly exposing it to the market. Broad exposure creates competition, and competition gives sellers the greatest opportunity to achieve the best possible outcome.
Buyers also deserve a fair opportunity to see the homes that are available, regardless of which brokerage their agent works for or which platform they use.
I’m encouraged to see industry leaders come together around transparency, cooperation and consumer choice. Technology should make it easier for us to serve our clients and share information — not create new walls around it. If we keep the consumer at the center of that progress, I believe our entire industry benefits.” — Tiffany Klusacek, broker-owner, Tennessee’s Elite at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices PenFed Realty
Dave Stroh
“I think it’s great that the major players in the industry have come together to collaborate on something with consumer transparency and fairness in mind. There will inevitably be some growing pains with implementation, but the benefits to buyers and sellers will be worth it in the long run.” — Dave Stroh, real estate agent with REMAX Plus in Frederick
Julia Lashay Israel
“It’s a great day for our industry when brokerages come together to support a fair, open and transparent marketplace. Open Real Estate represents an opportunity to put consumers first through greater access to listing information and respect for buyer and seller choice. When we collaborate to expand access and help people make informed decisions, consumers win, and we move closer to a more equitable housing market for everyone.” — Julia Lashay Israel, operating principal, Keller Williams Integrity
“The founding companies and early participants in the Open Real Estate initiative are pro-transparency, pro-consumer leaders in our industry who recognize the fundamental importance of data integrity, not only for brokerages and franchisors, but also for buyers, sellers and the health of the real estate ecosystem as a whole … I am hopeful that Open Real Estate will become an important contributor to these shared goals.
CMLS looks forward to collaborating with its leadership to advance greater transparency, data integrity and trust. I’m excited about the potential to create more efficiencies for brokerages, increase consumer access to complete market information and ensure that MLSs remain a cornerstone of our industry.” — Jessie Edgerton, CMLS CEO
Holly Mabery
“The focus here is right where it should be: on the consumer. My fiduciary duty is to advocate for my clients with consistent data and access to help support their decisions. The technology is here and how we look to the future to ensure this industry evolves is critical to remove friction for agents and consumers alike.” — Holly Mabery, Chief Brokerage Officer, eXp Realty
No news
Cara Ameer
“The Open Real Estate initiative is more symbolic than anything else, but it is also a form of a private exclusive listing network without these brokerages publicly saying it.
This platform really doesn’t change anything because the brokerages behind this believe in putting a listing straight to MLS, so their listings will appear on this new platform and on MLS, which seems duplicative more than anything else … This is why Robert Reffkin is pushing for more choice and freedom for agents to be able to publicly market properties that are not going into the MLS without fines or penalties.
By teaming up with multiple brokerages, the Open Real Estate initiative feels that they have size and scale to essentially compete with CIH by offering another option besides the MLS.” — Cara Ameer, bicoastal Coldwell Banker agent
Proceed with caution
Craig Cheatham
“For many years, brokerage leaders across the industry have advocated for a simpler, more efficient way to manage and distribute their listing data — entering information once, maintaining greater control over its use and distribution, improving accuracy and consistency, reducing duplication and costs and enabling innovation through standardized, interoperable systems … A platform like this must have a capable technology vendor behind it, but much more importantly, it needs the cooperation of local MLSs.
If brokers are still required to enter and maintain their listings separately through each MLS’s own add/edit system, the effort’s prospects are dim.
If MLSs embrace accepting broker-originated data from a separate platform, it has great potential. The concept has merit, but its ultimate success will depend on whether MLSs are willing to accommodate and support that approach.” — Craig Cheatham, The Realty Alliance
“This may look like Upstream 2.0, but there is one big difference: NAR is not involved. Four of the largest brokerage and franchise companies in the country are building a single point of entry with normalized data and their own distribution. That could be the start of the demise of the MLS as we know it, because mandatory submission, the last peg MLSs had to hang their hat on, would now reside with Open Real Estate. So the question for MLSs is: if submission, normalization and distribution are handled by someone else, is being the local rulemaker enough to be a business? Because that too is easily replicated with AI and a spreadsheet.” — Amit Kulkarni, co-founder of Alloy Advisors
