“We are honored to have the opportunity to work with more exciting property technology startups,” said Peter Schravemade, managing partner, REACH Australia and New Zealand. “These nine companies represent the largest number of companies taken on in a calendar year for the REACH Australia and New Zealand program. Regardless of your area of specialization, there is significant value within this group.”
NAR, National Association of REALTORS
Interesting mix of companies. If website design and illustrations were any indicator of company success then Milk Chocolate would get my vote.
“Mr. Umansky said that AREA will offer its members a nationwide database of home listings as an alternative, built from the technology he acquired for his own private listings service. That platform, which they’re calling the National Listing Service, is currently live with limited listings at theNLS.com.
“A centralized database with access to the full scope of listings across the country is better for everyone in the industry, and someone just had to do it,” Mr. Umansky said.
Debra Kamin, New York Times
A good question I would ask the two luxury real estate agents/brokers launching this new endeavor is this: “Will this new entity follow (or match) the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) guidelines?”
“NAR President Tracy Kasper informed NAR’s Leadership Team that she recently received a threat to disclose a past personal, non-financial matter unless she compromised her position at NAR. She refused to do so and instead reported the threat to law enforcement. Ms. Kasper felt that, in the circumstances, it was best for the organization that she step down. The Leadership Team is deeply concerned about any attempt to undermine its governance and, as a result, is taking steps to protect the integrity of the organization.”
If you haven’t caught our last episode of Industry Relations that just dropped today you hear Rob talk about the desire for industry entities such as NAR to stop the corporate word salad and speak authentically. This conversation made me think about an article and podcast that caught my attention. It was in relation to the letter (email?) Andy Florance, CEO of CoStar, sent regarding a few statements made at NAR NXT. The entire letter is available (and link to the podcast) so you can go read it here at:
He calls out Bob Evans, VP of Industry Relations at realtor.com, for making false statements “that Homes.com was working against real estate agent“.
He (Andy F.) takes full responsibility for CoStar News naming Sitzer/Burnett plaintiff attorney Michael Ketchmark, “newsmaker of the week” and states “It will not happen again.” [Small quibble; Ketchmark was named “Person of the week”]
He also points out the fact realtor.com and the WSJ is owned by the same company and then makes a damn good point. Here’s a quote from his letter:
“Many people mistakenly believe that Realtor.com is part of NAR. In fact, it is not, it was sold years ago and is now owned by News Corp. The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com are sister companies. They work together closely. The folks that call the shots for The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com are one and the same.
The Wall Street Journal has been prolifically writing more than most about theSitzer/Burnett class action lawsuit and the NAR defeat. They have published article titles such as “Home Sellers Take On the Realtors Cartel”, “Almost No One Pays a 6% Real-Estate Commission-Except Americans”, “The Upending of One of America’s Most Popular Professions”, “The Way You Pay to Buy or Sell a Home is About To Change”, “Jury Finds Realtors Conspired to Keep Commissions High”, “Real-Estate Commissions Could Be the Next Fee on the Chopping Block”, “Realtors Face an Antitrust Reckoning” and more.“
Letter from Andy Florance, CEO & Founder of CoStar
Zing! Pow! Authentic enough for you yet? Love him or not Andy Florance is not in his box seats, he is on the field, and I’m here for it.
As a prolific player of craps I have an analogy for you. In the game of craps you have the concept of “right way” and “wrong way” bettors. In simple terms “right way bettors” are betting on the shooter, and “wrong way bettors” are betting “against the shooter”. When a hot craps game is going on and a “wrong way bettor” shows up at the table everyone gets pissed off. They think having a “wrong way bettor” at the table brings “bad juju”. CoStar, in my view, has been perceived by the industry as a “wrong way bettor”. This was due to the fact that CoStar’s business model does better with the elimination or neutering of buy side compensation. And guess what? It’s looking like Andy made the right bet.
“7 OUT!”
Here’s the thing as these so called “portal wars” heat up. There are many things that we can argue about regarding the business models of all the portals. Dual agency, agent responsiveness, etc. But the Sitzer/Burnett ruling and all the copy cat lawsuits are making it very clear that the game has changed. CoStar isn’t the wrong way bettor any longer.
We need to move on. CoStar, Zillow, Realtor.com are all going to have to adjust. We as an industry are going to have to adjust.
We aren’t play craps anymore. Feels to me more like poker.
Join Rob and Greg on this episode of Industry Relations, as they recap the NAR NXT annual conference and explore some critical issues. Greg shares what NAR NXT’s atmosphere was like, and find out why Rob is worried about independent press commenting on NAR.
Also, discover the reasoning behind Rob and Greg’s beliefs that the real estate industry is way past prepping and the zombies are breaching the wall!
“The scope of Batton 2 is exponentially larger than Gibson, Sitzer | Burnett, or another, similar case, Moehrl. Both Batton 1 (formerly, Leeder) and Batton 2 seek class certification on behalf of two proposed classes:
a “Nationwide Class” made up of “All persons who, since December 1, 1996 through the present, purchased in the United States residential real estate that was listed on an NAR MLS.” For this class, the plaintiffs are asking for injunctive relief, meaning either a court-ordered prohibition or a requirement on the defendants’ behavior.
a “Damages Class” made up of “All persons who, since December 1, 1996 through the present, purchased in the Indirect Purchaser States residential real estate that was listed on an NAR MLS.” For this class, the plaintiffs are asking for damages under “antitrust, unfair competition, consumer protection, and unjust enrichment laws.”
Remember back when the industry freaked out about RPR and how it could be NAR’s play to become a national MLS? I found this article from 2009, that captures the spirt of the day.
“Some skeptics at the conference have even referred to the Realtors® Property Resource database (RPR), as “Reaper” — as in the Grim Reaper — fearing its potential to harm their business.
Because it will not include offers of cooperation and compensationand will only be accessible to NAR members, the database won’t function as a national MLS, NAR says. Not all are ready to take NAR’s word for it.”
RETechnology
Emphasis mine. Sure you would have to be a member of NAR but in a day and age where many people are questioning what being an “MLS” even means … who knows what could happen?
“Let’s say NAR has $500 million, BHHS has $100 million and KW has $50 million that can go towards collateral for a supersedeas bond. That’s $650 million, and that’s assuming all three organizations completely empty the bank account, liquidate everything that can be liquidated, and not even have operating funds.
That is completely unrealistic. For one thing, they have to pay lawyers for the appeal. And pay staff and such in order to be a going concern.”
“The National Association of Realtors’ longtime CEO Bob Goldberg is leaving the trade association, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to HousingWire Thursday morning.
“We are immensely grateful for Bob’s leadership and decades-long service to NAR,” Tracy Kasper, current NAR president, said in a statement. “It has been a privilege to work with him in expanding and strengthening our organization, and we congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement. His contributions to our association and our industry have been tremendous.”
In collaboration with Drew Meyers of Geek Estate (GEM), I will be hosting in the work/car studio I share with Dan Woolley ( and my two vintage VWs) a NAR NXT Pre-Party. We’ll set up tables, have local brews and a few handles, snacks, cool music, a bubble top hockey table and a few surprises. Register here.
Very close to John Wayne Airport (SNA) airport if you are flying in Monday. Or maybe a kicking off point for some of Orange County’s finest restaurants. I’ve included a map below to give you some idea of the location in respect to The Anaheim Hilton and JWA.
Open to GEM members and you pioneers of proptech and organized real estate insiders.
