Mls And Portal Battles Are An Unforced Error For Real Estate

In 35 years in real estate, I’ve never seen our industry tear itself apart like it’s doing today.

We’re wasting energy and capital, not on innovation, risk-taking or customer delight, but relitigating old tropes. Sadly, few leaders exhibit the qualities that have defined success throughout my career: thoughtfulness, transparency, curiosity, collaboration and a genuine willingness to listen.

Instead, a steady stream of main-stage theatrics and lawsuit leadership make constructive dialogue nearly impossible. For a sector that excels in solving consumer problems, we deserve better internal dialogue. I believe our leaders must set aside the temptation to be disagreeable and learn to become more disagree-able.

I’m not against differences of opinion

I have spent my career helping the industry navigate uncomfortable innovation and change. Our markets thrive on competing ideas and different business models. Challenging assumptions is how we increase value to consumers and agents.

But what’s happening today isn’t just a difference of opinions. We’re arguing over ghosts from the past. Agents who romanticize the time before portals will eventually learn consumers are not so nostalgic. Brokers hoping to revive 1970s listing protectionism will end up ignored by agents building businesses on cooperation and technology-driven transparency. If we keep trying to dial back the clock, the industry will find itself seated uncomfortably across from regulators again.

Is the lion still coming over the hill?

Real estate is a vibrant, diverse mosaic of options. We have never needed a “one-size-for-all” national strategy because all answers already exist in thousands of local markets. Agents and consumers can move to the model that fits best without demanding a single model imposed on everyone. While Europe and Asia clamor for US-styled data transparency, some in America suggest we return to the pre-MLS days of pocket listing practices.

Perhaps it’s due to the prolonged market downturn, but we certainly love boogeymen in this business — the lions have been coming over the hill for decades! Now we’re being sold a dilemma of false narratives. Consumers couldn’t care less about these things; it’s all inside-baseball to them. While we waste energy trying to corner markets and defeat competitors, someone else is building the next better mousetrap to outsmart us all.

Our industry’s approach is all wrong

Even if these issues turn out to be as important as we’re told, our industry’s current approach is wrong. Lawsuits, social media battles and data-feed battles accomplish nothing except damaging relationships. Long-standing industry cooperation is being divided into factions. Some in the media have stopped covering the issues and promote dueling personalities for clicks. The issues are treated like a food-fight for entertainment, increasing suspicions of ulterior motives and fears. Everyone is defensive, when they should be sitting down to talk.

Our leaders can do better.

The real test for solving problems should always be making buying and selling easier, building consumer trust and keeping the industry profitable at the center of the transaction. If we lose sight of these goals, people with power start making mistakes.

Turning off listing feeds isn’t leadership; it’s self-defeating, encompassing agents who must explain to sellers why “taking back our data!” is a valid reason for their homes to fall off the internet. That’s a customer-experience non-starter that also undermines agent retention and attraction. Nobody wants to work for companies or join MLS systems where someone “in charge” can simply turn-off their business plans and consumer-promises on a whim.

We don’t need to reset the clock

Equally misguided are attempts to reset the clock on the last 30 years of growth. Hoping to return MLS to its original model looks bad: after years benefitting from collective investments, we’re now pulling up the ladder behind us. Similarly, hiding property data is absurd. Transparency is the economy’s currency.

Well-known frustrations of home-buying in European markets and shenanigans in non-MLS U.S. markets mean consumers hardly want the Old World of real estate. Suggesting that Gen Z buyers will gladly visit an office to browse secret inventory in a three-ring binder is pure fantasy.

These ideas have run their course and the consumer, if not some in the industry, has moved on. It’s impossible to claim our future requires us to go back in time.

Not all leaders suffer from these delusions

They’ve rightly focused on serving their local companies, clients and agents. They’re working hard to innovate, co-broke collaboratively with local colleagues, and keep the market afloat. Unfortunately, they find themselves caught in the crossfire, forced into conflict with colleagues with whom they would rather collaborate, recruit or even merge.

Furthermore, it’s not just agents and consumers who are dismayed: Agitated regulators are already buzzing. Legislators in multiple states have recently “solved the problem” by banning private listings, because we’re unable to self-regulate on our own.

Ironically, many leaders’ behavior is the exact opposite of what great agents do every day. At the heart of every sale is problem-solving: agents from different companies help consumers with different opinions create mutually beneficial agreements. This is literally what we do for a living, depending upon transparent data and thoughtful skills to craft deals between strangers.

Now it’s time for our leaders to do the same. Here’s how.

First, leaders must separate the people from the problem. Resolving differences won’t happen by dividing the industry into factions of “winners” and “losers.” Scarcity mindset didn’t help the industry sell $6 million homes during the pandemic, and there’s no place for it in the future. Leaders must be hard on problems, but soft on people. They should focus on interests, rather than personal positions. We don’t need “rebels” or “defenders” but leaders who treat parties as stakeholders, without misattributing nefarious motives to their interests. Only then can we build the trust required for constructive dialogue.

Second, leaders must set aside their reliance on lawsuits, social media and press releases. Resolving differences happens when leaders step off the stage and do the hard work of developing options, not demands. Rarely does forcing choices “you cannot refuse” work. Lawsuit thinking must end. Smirking selfies on social media won’t produce lasting results, either. This isn’t a game, but the real world of agents businesses and consumer’s housing dreams.

Leaders must ask different questions: “What ideas hasn’t anyone considered yet? How many possibilities can we discover?” Curiosity uncovers options and reduces fear. Smart leaders replace pre-conceived narratives (“MLS just wants control! Some brokers are trying to corner the market! Portals are evil!”) with questions (“Could we try this instead?”). We must prioritize solutions, not victories over competitors. For any resolution to work, the parties will have to overcome their cautions and take calculated risks. That’s more likely in an environment of “what if” rather than “my way or the highway.”

Finally, leaders must manage the emotional environment. Effective leaders control their emotions as well as prevent supporters from emotional self-sabotage. When stakes are high, strong feelings can help us seek change. But they can also interfere with progress. Agents, brokers and consumers take their cues from our leaders’ public presence. Calm, reasoned conduct creates the confidence for compromise. Wise leaders can prevent our industry from being sabotaged by unrestrained feelings, just as agents often keep clients’ emotions from rejecting a reasonable offer.

Find your superpower and move beyond the division

These leadership principles offer leaders the superpowers needed to resolve these issues and return our focus to growing the market. By prioritizing relationships, setting aside positional power, and developing options, leaders can seek solutions that lift all boats. Progress doesn’t require anybody’s defeat. This is what we call the sapiential power of leaders, using wisdom to drive mutual success. It’s relational thinking, not transactional, that believes in abundance for everyone.

Our industry has survived many challenges over the years, each time emerging stronger. When I started in 1991, a typical year produced 3 million transactions; more recently, 5 million has become the norm. That growth didn’t happen at the expense of anyone; it came from the collaboration of everyone. Our finest moments have been the times we set aside differences and collaborated to find answers. Nothing we’re facing today is insurmountable. Let us encourage our leaders to reconnect with our greatest asset – our relationships – and become the leaders we need at times like this:

Not simply disagreeable, but disagree-able.

Matthew Ferrara is one of the real estate industry’s most respected thinkers and leaders.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.

To contact the editor responsible for this piece: tracey@hwmedia.com