We are in Dallas for two days only and we’ll be back home tonight. We came to the inaugural Summit Event here last year and it was jammed packed with great speakers and information, and this year has been similar.
The CEO of the National Association of Realtors, Nykia Wright, was on stage yesterday, and you could hear a pin drop. Donna and I were both impressed with her humble demeanor and steadfast commitment to turning around the NAR and making it relevant. She admitted many mistakes were made, and that it will be a long-term project.
She made reference to the good things about the NAR, like being the ‘first voice of real estate’ by publishing market data, and advocating for realtors with the politicians, which I appreciate.
Towards the end, she made a baseball reference that summed it up.
“You won’t see us hitting home runs. We just want to hit singles every day”.
Baseballers know that when you’re behind, you just want to get men on base.
It’s a metaphor for the struggles ahead and that gaining the confidence of realtors will be the primary challenge.
What she didn’t mention was the Clear Cooperation Policy, which is ok because other speakers aren’t touching it either. The latest change by NAR that turned it into a four-headed snake is probably the best solution available as we wait for the Department of Justice and/or more lawsuits to dismantle it altogether.
Meanwhile, private exclusives are getting hotter as other brokerages go public:
I was chatting it up with some of the old guard and the disdain for Compass and Robert Reffkin was palpable. I tried to make three points:
- The last lawsuit forced Compass to pay $52 million. Let’s avoid a repeat.
- More lawsuits and/or DOJ action over the CCP are inevitable.
- Buyer-agents are going extinct, so how relevant is the MLS?
Yes, we want to expose our listings to the public. The new change to the CCP allows brokerages to input their listings on their own websites prior to MLS input, so there you go.
The revised CCP policy tries to make everyone happy. But it won’t be enough for the DOJ, and when they say quit, brokerages will be tempted to cut a deal to upload listings direct to Zillow.
But there are 500+ MLS companies in America.
It will be up to the NAR to provide guidance on finding a solution.
Nykia – that’s your challenge ahead.
Whatever you do, don’t hire the same bozo attorneys that were on the last case!
“Change moves at the speed of trust.”
— Nykia Wright, NAR CEO (speaking at the 1000WATT Brand & Marketing Summit in Dallas last week)