The Insider: Issue 025
Hey! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving break. We’re back this week with the latest news, an aggressive real estate tactic, and more love for Swedish oat milk. Dig in!
Last Week This Week
Let’s rewind the tape a bit, shall we?
Two weeks ago, the National Association of Realtors approved several policy changes that sounded pretty significant:
- Public MLS websites must display buyer broker compensation on listings.
- MLSs must include this data in the feeds they give to brokers and agents, who may now display it on their public websites.
- An email address and phone number for the listing brokerage company (not the listing agent) must now appear on all listings displayed via IDX.
Let’s get #3 out of the way: while some brokers view this as a win because they, not their agents, are getting billing (and potentially the lead, which can be referred out/sold internally), it strikes us as the worst possible solution from a consumer perspective. The person who answers the main phone line or generic inbox at a brokerage is surely not going to know more about the property than the listing agent, or, for that matter, a cooperating buyer agent.
Oh well. We muddle on.
The display of buyer agent commission rates is more interesting. On the one hand, we are skeptical that, as they say, “sunlight will be the best disinfectant” here from a consumer perspective. Real estate is widely episodic for people — we don’t care about it until we care intensely — but by the time we’re engaged we’re not about to take a risk, or question the fundamental fairness of the status quo.
One the other hand, we know from our own recent research here on Inside, that most buyers were unclear on how their agent got paid, and almost half of them would seriously consider paying a buyer’s agent by the hour if they had the choice in the future.
So this is kind of a big reveal. Let the sunshine in.
It’s also possible that this data could be weaponized by non-traditional, rebate, or “paper” brokers in creative ways to position off the mainstream brokerage business.
Have You Heard About This?
Indecent Proposal
It started with postcards. OK, fair enough. Direct marketing. We get it. But now homeowners across the country are feeling a bit more “targeted” by speculators, investors, and real estate agents who, they say, incessantly call them with unsolicited cash offers to buy their homes. The country is about 4 million homes short of demand at the moment. It’s getting crazy out there. Also, please don’t do this. Full NPR story here.
What's Inside
What’s Inside? Well, a lot.
If you have just slightly more time for strategic thinking and learning now that the year is winding down, you’ll want to dig into some of the Inside content that’s been building over the past few months:
Original Research and analyses on what sellers value (and don’t value) when it comes to marketing their homes, post-transaction consumer loyalty, Millennial attitudes toward homeownership and agents, and much more.
From the Source video focus groups with consumers from around the country covering seller pain points, buyer pain points, and more,
Recordings of our Live Webinars, including our Q3 industry landscape briefing, takeaways from our research on agent commissions and more.
Inspiration Point
Dogs Can Sometimes Win
It’s almost too easy to market stuff when you use a dog. We get why so many Realtors use the dog thing in their personal branding (though we don’t agree this is smart branding). However, the email above gave us a shot of delight in its use of a dog. Mainly because it was so unexpected for a fashion brand. It made us chuckle. Dogs can kinda work.
Granted, We Love This
Some of us here are a bit obsessed with the Swedish oat milk brand, Oatly. This month, the company announced the winners of this year’s Big Idea Grant for Coffee. What is it? Since oat milk is a natural partner to coffee, and Oatly is a big proponent of sustainability projects, the company has created a program to give grants to small businesses in the coffee community to help them “pursue strategies, projects, and innovative ideas — all with the intention that what they learn in the process can then be shared to build a more sustainable future for the industry and the planet.” Real estate companies historically are pretty giving organizations. We thought this could spark some cool ideas for our friends who are serious about expanding their initiatives.
Quote of the week
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”
— Sir Ken Robinson
