Listing Bits

I sat down with a long-time friend and former business partner, Maggie Etheridge. Maggie was one of my co-founders at IRIS, a real estate software company we started back in 1992. She is a second-generation real estate agent. Maggie’s mom, Martie, was the inspiration for starting a software company focused on real estate and is likely the reason I have a career today.

 

This episode began from a series of texts between Maggie and me about her thoughts on NAR, the lawsuits, exclusive listings, and what the pundits are getting wrong. It was a great conversation and a huge reality check for me, making me rethink some of my previous assumptions. It was a discussion that could have gone on for hours; somehow, I think we’ll have to have her on as a guest again.

 

Reach Out: 

Maggie’s website

Maggie's Insta

Greg's website

Our Sponsors

Trackxi - Real Estate's #1 Deal Tracking Software

Giant Steps Job Board - Where Proptech gets hired

Production and editing services by:

Sunbound Studios

Listing Bits is back with a great guest, Kevin Shtofman, Global Head of Innovation at Cherre. Cherre is a global real estate data management platform. Kevin is from Texas and comes from a very entrepreneurial family that owned retail stores selling western wear, including honest-to-goodness cowboy boots! Yee-haw! Kevin talks about his journey from Wall Street back to Dallas and Cherre. It’s a great conversation where we dive into the breadth of real estate data available now, housing affordability, real estate myths, and the changing vendor landscape. Kevin is a super smart guy, and I found this conversation very insightful—I know you will too.

Reach Out: 

Kevin on LinkedIn

Greg's website

 

Find out more about Cheere

Cherre.com - Follow your Data

 

Our Sponsors

Trackxi - Real Estate's #1 Deal Tracking Software

Giant Steps Job Board - Where Proptech gets hired

 

Production and editing services by:

Sunbound Studios

 

Dan Fortin was one of my favorite people I met working at Lone Wolf. He came over from the Instanet acquisition and has had a front-row seat to see big changes in the industry. From Lone Wolf acquiring 8 companies, 5 of them in less than 9 months, to the challenges of being a forms company during COVID when everyone wanted a specific form, and they wanted it NOW! Sounds familiar, eh?

We discuss Dan's background, the lessons he's learned over the 10 years, and how taking a data-driven approach to making decisions has helped him during his career.

We also get to talk about Lone Wolf's recent announcement on its newest platform, Foundation, and the tremendous amount of work that took. We also delve into product, design, and what the future holds for Lone Wolf.

For more about Lone Wolf Foundation please visit here.

To connect with Dan check out his LinkedIn profile.

 

 

What do Willie Nelson and keeping real estate agents safe have in common?  You will have to listen to this great conversation with Tether RE founder Scott Martin to find out.

Did you know that in 2020 60,000 real estate agents reported being victims of assault, sexual abuse, robbery or were murdered in the US?  In 2023 over 75,000 real estate agents reported being victim of a crime.  And there are a ton of more incidents that go unreported.

In this wide ranging conversation with Scott Martin, a serial entrepreneur, we talk about where the idea came from, and the journey that got Scott here.  Trust me, it's a wild ride!

Join us for fun and entertaining conversation.

 

Reach Out:

Connect with Scott

Check out Tether RE

Our Sponsor:

Trackxi – Real Estate’s #1 Deal Tracker

Production and editing services by:

Sunbound Studios

I hope you enjoy this great conversation with the co-founders of HŌM, Jeff Zakrzewski and Nhan Vo.

In a wide ranging conversation we discuss their orgin story.  Where they came up for the idea of their app and the struggles of going to market with a real estate software solution.

If you are new vendor getting in to the space, an MLS exec, or franchisor professional its worth a listen. 

HŌM is a well designed app that is doing a lot of interesting things with data and collaboration with some great people behind it.

Join us!

 

Find out more about the HŌM experience

homagent.com | myhom.ai

 

Reach Out:

Connect with Jeff

Connect with Vo

 

Our Sponsor:

Trackxi - Real Estate's #1 Deal Tracker

 

Production and editing services by:

Sunbound Studios

"Hotel California", is one of the phrases people attribute to the organized real estate industry, "you can can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave". Kelly Robinson is an industry pioneer in that she co-founded a software company, Realty Plus Online, that created one of the first web-based MLS systems. In my conversation with Kelly we talked about the old days, her journey, and what brings her back to organized real estate game. It's a fun conversation between old friends and talks about the challenges of the MLS vendor business.

The verdict against NAR in the Sitzer lawsuit has organized real estate up in arms.

But Michael Lissack thinks the decision is the best thing to happen to the industry in 100 years.

In fact, he sees the trade association as a criminal enterprise with little value beyond MLS access.

Michael is Managing Broker for The Virtual Realty Group, a 100% commission brokerage that operates in 12 states. 

On this episode of Listing Bits, Michael joins Greg to discuss the real issue behind the lawsuits against NAR and describe what he would do to make buyer’s agent commission negotiable.

Michael explains why it’s necessary to decouple the MLS from NAR membership and how that would likely lead to bankruptcy for the trade association.

Listen in for Michael’s provocative take on why associations don’t deserve a way forward in a world where MLS access is open to anyone with a real estate license.

 

What’s Discussed:  

The real issue behind the lawsuits against NAR and several real estate brokerages

What Michael would do to make buyer’s agent commission negotiable

Why the DOJ takes issue with mandatory membership in NAR for MLS access

How decoupling the MLS from NAR would impact everyday REALTORS

What decoupling the MLS from NAR membership would do to the trade association (and what NAR might do to demonstrate its value and rebuild)

What it would take to decouple local, state and NAR membership

Why Michael believes a real estate license should be the only requirement for MLS access

Running MLSs as not-for-profit organizations vs. for-profit entities

Greg’s thoughts on providing a way forward for associations by compensating them for the work of building the MLS

Why bankruptcy might be apt for associations who don’t provide value beyond MLS access

 

Connect with Michael Lissack:

Michael.Travel

Michael on LinkedIn

 

Resources:

Sitzer v. NAR

Michael’s LinkedIn Post

 

Our Sponsors:

Trackxi

In 2020 Ben knew they needed to make a change.  So he went to the Black Knight board and made a pitch, “give me the resources to build a modern MLS system”.  To his surprise, they said yes. Now, 3 years later, that dream has been realized.

His dream was a mobile-first MLS platform that understands the history of how MLS platforms operate but offers a modern user experience.

That’s exactly what Ben Graboske and Lucie Fortier are working on, and their new product, Paragon Connect, is ready for its close up.

Ben is President of Data & Analytics and Lucie is Executive Vice President of MLS Solutions at Intercontinental Exchange or ICE, the financial services firm that bought Black Knight in September 2023.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Ben and Lucie join Greg to discuss ICE’s history of digitizing complex transactions and explain why its acquisition of Black Knight makes sense.

Lucie shares her motivation for joining the team at Intercontinental Exchange, and Ben describes how ICE’s resources benefit his department in the development of Paragon Connect.

Listen in to understand what differentiates Paragon Connect from other MLS vendors and learn how it simplifies the agent experience by providing an entire MLS platform on both a responsive and native app.

 

What’s Discussed:  

 

ICE’s history of digitizing complicated transactions and why its acquisition of Black Knight makes sense

How being an MLS vendor supports ICE’s vision for making mortgages easier

Lucie’s journey to joining the ICE team and how technology drives her career decisions

What features differentiate Paragon Connect from other MLS vendors

Why Ben’s team decided not to change Paragon’s name (despite offering an entirely new experience)

How Paragon Connect provides an entire MLS platform in a native app experience

The talented team of designers behind Paragon Connect

How Ben’s team benefits from ICE’s data assets and information security

Lucie’s approach to transitioning existing users to Paragon Connect

How Paragon is introducing a consumer app in Q1 of 2024

Why the rules around marketing to members need to change in an MLS system-of-choice model

What makes Paragon Connect ‘the MLS platform of the future’

 

Connect with Ben Graboske & Lucie Fortier:

Intercontinental Exchange

Ben on LinkedIn

Lucie on LinkedIn

Email [email protected] 

 

Resources:

ICE Acquisition of Black Knight

Paragon Connect Demo

Damien Huze on Listing Bits EP85

Paragon Connect on Vendor Alley

 

Our Sponsors:

Trackxi

 

Listing Bits EP085: A Less, But Better Approach to Real Estate Software Design – with Damien Huze of Lone Wolf Technologies

 

Among Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Design is the idea that good design is as little design as possible.

 

Less, but better.

 

And Damien Huze believes that the next evolution of real estate software will apply this concept, offering fewer high-quality apps that work together in a fluid system.

 

Damien is Senior Design Manager and Principal Designer at Lone Wolf Technologies, a software company working to build an end-to-end solution for real estate.

 

Damien served as Chief Design Officer at W+R studios before the Lone Wolf acquisition, and he is responsible for the design of Cloud CMA, one of the most popular apps in real estate.

 

On this episode of Listing Bits, Damien explains how making design a priority benefits companies building web-based apps and why he defines design as a skill aimed at problem-solving.

 

Damien describes how Lone Wolf is working to combine the tools of proptech into a single streamlined experience and shares his team’s user-centric approach to the problem of simplifying real estate.

 

Listen in for insight on the power of relentless focus and learn about Damien’s vision for designing real estate software that delivers more with less.

 

 

What’s Discussed:  

What Damien learned from growing up with creative parents who immigrated to the US

How making design a priority benefits companies building web-based apps (and why so few do it)

How Damien thinks about design as a skill aimed at problem-solving

What Lone Wolf is doing to bring several real estate apps together in a single end-to-end solution

Why Damien believes the next evolution in real estate software is ‘less but better’

Lone Wolf’s upcoming announcement at the T3 Technology Summit

What it means for good software to have an opinion vs. being too flexible or customizable

How Damien’s team brings a user-centric, design thinking approach to simplifying real estate 

Greg and Damien’s take on the advantage of simple tools that get the job done

The well-designed product that’s had the biggest impact on Damien’s life

Why relentless focus boosts productivity and how Damien applies that tenet to design

 

Connect with Damien Huze:

Lone Wolf Technologies

Damien on X

Damien on LinkedIn

 

Resources:

Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design

T3 Technology Summit

Starlink

FaceTime on Apple TV

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson 

 

Our Sponsors:

Trackxi

In 2021, Vijay Gopalswamy’s real estate business was growing like gangbusters. And at one point, he had 32 active transactions.

 

Which meant Vijay was spending every morning with his team, going over each transaction and asking, ‘Did you send this? Did you follow up with that? Did this contract get signed?’

 

But when he looked at the “transaction management” software on the market, Vijay realized that it was built for brokerages, not agents.

 

So, he set out to solve his own problem.

 

Vijay is Cofounder and CEO of Trackxi, a deal tracking software platform that helps agents visualize the next step in each transaction and provides full transparency for the consumer.

 

On this episode of Listing Bits, Vijay discusses his successful career in mechanical engineering and explains how he became an accidental real estate agent.

 

Vijay describes what differentiates Trackxi from other transaction management solutions and how it serves teams, transaction coordinators and new agents.

 

Listen in for insight around the visual nature of Trackxi’s tracking system and find out how the app can help you demonstrate your value prop with clients and grow your real estate business!

 

What’s Discussed:  

 

How Vijay moved to the US to pursue his Master’s in mechanical engineering

Vijay’s successful 20-year career in engineering, finance and sales with Daimler

How Vijay became an accidental real estate agent

How the challenge of managing 32 open transactions inspired Vijay to build Trackxi

The advantage of a dedicated app that does one or two things well

Why Trackxi is a deal tracking software platform (vs. transaction management tool)

What differentiates Trackxi from other transaction management tools 

How Trackxi serves teams, transaction coordinators and new agents

How Trackxi’s tracking system provides transparency around the agent’s value 

How Trackxi’s visual dashboard delivers a State of the Union of an agent’s business

What to expect from Trackxi’s hands-on onboarding process

 

Connect with Vijay Gopalswamy:

 

Trackxi

Email [email protected] 

Vijay on LinkedIn

 

Resources:

 

Trackxi Review in Inman

The Close Picks for Best Transaction Management Software for 2023

 

Our Sponsors:

 

Trackxi