Consolidation. It’s one of those words that crops up in a plethora of different contexts, even within real estate. It sometimes means MLSs; other times, technology, or even brokerages.
At the recent Inman Connect event, Greg Robertson, Lone Wolf’s GM of MLS, moderated a panel on this idea with industry leaders York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks, Jason Gesing, CEO of eXp Realty, and Sara Bonert, VP of Broker Services at Zillow.
In case you missed the panel, here’s a look at what happened—and what consolidation means in the real estate context right now.
It’s about…technology.
It’s no secret that real estate is a late adopter of technology. In many cases, pen and paper is still the way to go! This slow shift means that now, while consumer-facing markets have seen tech coming together for years, it’s a relatively recent change for real estate—and it’s happening fast.
Bringing together real estate-focused tech solutions has its advantages. When you consolidate solutions that involve clients’ data—like transaction management and eSignature, for example—you end up consolidating your clients’ data, too. This typically translates to better experiences because you’re not duplicating efforts for that client, and they aren’t duplicating their own efforts either.
It can also present benefits on the brokerage side of things. With where real estate is right now—with plenty of agents in the market, lots of demand for housing, and rising interest rates—consolidating technology between partnered or merged brokerages, for example, can help mitigate fixed costs.
It’s about…teams.
As the panel discussed, there’s a huge benefit right now to be on a team. They’re in a good position within the industry, and in a way, they represent a consolidation—of agents with similar interests and goals.
They want help with licensing? Join a larger brokerage, many of which are always looking for new teams, to help navigate the otherwise-difficult steps to grow.
They want to expand to other markets? Head to a franchise that helps with lower fees.
They want to keep up with the market? Create unique systems that can handle higher volume than an individual agent could—all while helping newer agents gain their footing faster.
And it’s about…data.
We touched on this a bit earlier, but there’s so much more to come in the industry as far as consolidated data is concerned. And in fact, there have been whispers about what something like the single data listing source from the National Association of REALTORS® could mean.
It’s coming on September 1, 2022—and if you’re intrigued by the possibilities, Inman has a good deep dive on it here.
