WASHINGTON, D.C.—With all the changes in the real estate industry in the past year, it’s understandable that real estate associations are feeling a mix of optimism and uncertainty about the future. But if they’re going to survive and thrive beyond this moment, they’ll need to double down on articulating their value and putting customers first.
Those were the key takeaways from a lively panel discussion at RISMedia’s CEO and Leadership Exchange in Washington, D.C earlier this month. During the session titled, “Real Estate’s New World Order: What the Future Holds for Industry Associations,” attendees heard from several brokerage and housing industry leaders.
The common theme panelists seem to agree on is that the industry simply can’t keep doing what has always been done and expect different results. And there’s no better time than the present for a mindset shift, they said.
“We think now, more than ever, any kind of industry association should be reviewing their list of things they do for their members,” Craig Cheatham, president and CEO of The Realty Alliance, told the crowd of several hundred real estate executives.
He added that the future of associations depends on leaders being intentional about focusing on the things they can do more efficiently and effectively. Now, more than ever, Cheatham said the value associations offer is the business support they provide to their partners.
Going further, veteran real estate leader Gene Millman said the future success of MLSs comes down to transparency and data integrity. Millman is the former president and CEO of REcolorado, the nation’s 16th largest MLS with 26,000 members. The two Realtor associations that own the MLS made waves over the summer after shopping for a private buyer for the platform and removing Millman and other board members.
“In the past, you learn lessons; in the future, you apply lessons. You need to inspect what you expect from your MLS,” Millman said. The industry should focus on how it can get better at what it does—and do that, he added.
“We will navigate the changes, and I believe that there’s so many smart people in this industry that will be able to do that. We will all be fine.”
Additionally, Millman cautioned MLS leaders to review their governing documents and rules carefully to understand if they have the right of first refusal to buy their own company, what happens to MLS data if the company is sold to a competitor (or resold again and again).
“Brokers have a right to know how the data is going to be used,” Millman pointed out.
The discussion, moderated by speaker and author Matthew Ferrara, then pivoted to Kymber Lovett-Menkiti, president and regional director of capital properties with Keller Williams Realty, who stressed the urgent need for the industry to better define and communicate its value from the top down—agents to customers, brokerage leaders to their agents and associations and MLSs to their broker customers.
“I think that collaborative leadership is really critical,” Lovett-Menkiti said.
Shannon McGahn, chief advocacy officer with the National Association of REALTORS, shared her bird’s eye view of advocacy efforts at NAR. NAR’s first priority with the group’s new settlement rules—requiring buyer agency agreements and prohibiting offers of agent compensation on the MLS—was to ensure buyers’ ability to buy a home using agency or government-backed loans would remain intact.
The panel discussion ended with a rallying cry of sorts from James Dwiggins, CEO of NextHome, who said the industry is reeling from negative headlines and false narratives. But industry leaders, including those in the room, need to do more to combat those storylines and lead from the front in putting out the right messages.
“We got crushed over the past 10 months,” Dwiggins said. “We have been demonized. The media has put out constant false stories; the narrative has been wrong. We as an industry, and I put myself into it, I think we’ve done a horrible job of countering the narrative that’s been done. We are all equally responsible for that.”
He noted that associations have tremendous value, but media messaging and advertising doesn’t go far enough in articulating it. The industry, as a whole, needs to rethink how it positions the value of real estate agents, especially in the minds of consumers, an impassioned Dwiggins told attendees.
“Consumers don’t give a shit about REALTORS® versus real estate agents. They do not care,” Dwiggins said bluntly. He noted that a lot of national advertising focuses on “how great REALTORS® are” rather than prioritizing the customer first. “We do not just do a transaction; we should be showing stories of what we help people do.”
In making this mindset and value-proposition shift, “we will have a spot permanently in this business,” Dwiggins predicted. “We do that this whole thing changes,” he said. “People look at us as important, not another person trying to get a check.”
