The Realty Alliance

RIS Media: "[Mike Hickman, CEO of Seven Gables Real Estate] believes that repairing relationships between NAR and brokers in the '$2B club' cannot happen without monetary compensation. 'This should be repaid. People made decisions on my behalf that are affecting my business. I’m just a family-owned business, and it’s businesses like mine that make up (NAR’s) constituents.'”

RESPA NEWS: "If given the chance to look at the NAR settlement again for the first time, [Craig] Cheatham said he believes that 'we would direct our major industry association to be proactive and utilize its advocacy resources right away to begin amending federal and state-level laws and regulations to provide both clarity and a safe harbor for real estate practitioners. … The reactionary, defensive posture not only caused the losses in the courtrooms but also allowed false and misleading narratives to take hold in the media and left willing policymakers without instructions on how to resolve the questions for consumers and the industry through legislation and regulation.'”

"Several items on the [2013] list could be summarized by 'prioritize supporting broker success' … and some would add 'through data ONLY.' Expedite feeds, keep the process and cost to a minimum. Work with brokers on learning the formats and use cases that address what brokers need now to keep up with consumer expectations. Another thing: More and more of my brokers are talking about how, in the future, they would like to see MLSs getting out of the business of setting rules that regulate business practices, and instead the only rules the MLS has are around the utility of data -- getting it into the system correctly (via more than one option), ensuring data accuracy, maintaining compatible data formats, protecting data integrity and ensuring distribution methodology meets current needs. Yes, brokers are moving away from wanting their MLSs to set rules around how properties are marketed and what kinds of business models and business practices brokerages employ. They want the marketplace and various market cycles and consumer preferences to have more leeway and don’t want their MLS deciding everything about how business gets done." -- Craig Cheatham #CMLS2025

"In a tough market like this, you can imagine brokers are more focused on MLS balance sheets and financial models. Whatever your level of reserves is, expect your brokers believe they should be lower – perhaps significantly lower. Brokers have a bad experience with significant MLS and association reserves – too often that money starts to burn a whole in the pocket and the funds get deployed to buy products for their competitors – and right now the brokers need that money for their own cash flow, not sitting in the MLS account. The same thing with extra capacity with tech staff at MLSs -- eventually they get put to use creating products and services that are not part of the core MLS mission. And, different now than in 2013, with the excesses brokers learned about in headlines about NAR, it’s probably time for MLSs to rachet back travel, fancy dinners, retreats and galas or anything that might seem to resemble what earned NAR such negative press. Brokers would like their MLSs to move toward revenue share programs, as agents are pressing for 100% 'splits' (which technically are not splits if you think about it) while still demanding robust support services (that are not free) from their brokers. Brokers would like MLSs to revisit their fee structures and perhaps adapt to current market practices – what about providing financial incentives for those brokers who contribute more data to the system, which makes the whole MLS more valuable for all participants? There are other creative ways to charge that brokers want their MLSs to consider. And what about those who don’t contribute listings? Should they be handled differently for fairness’ sake?"-- Craig Cheatham #CMLS2025

NEW MEMBER TESTIMONIAL “Just attended my first TRA conference and I am VERY HAPPY I did. There were so many top brokers who were friendly, helpful and sharing great ideas on how to improve my brokerage. I wish I had joined TRA many years ago. I am excited about this group of professionals who are so much fun, too.” – Tim Milam, CEO of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage

"The challenges and threats to MLSs aren’t primarily from disgruntled customers as much as from new sources – like 1) the loss of the compensation component because of the lawsuit settlement, 2) from alternative MLSs (tech companies, etc.) which currently are aggressively being pitched to brokers right now, 3) from data becoming more available from non-MLS sources (to agents and consumers), 4) from the re-evaluation of all industry institutions and the whole framework of how our industry develops and enforces policy and practice, 5) from the movement to end the tying of MLS access to Realtor membership and 6) from how the courts and federal regulators have come to feel empowered to intervene in significant ways in our industry. We can’t help but think they would love to dictate what MLS looks like going forward, probably just opening it up to the public as a utility. All that remains true, but after this week’s big announcement, I would say disgruntled customers again are an issue for MLS – it’s just a different customer now in the mix MLSs should be monitoring and meeting with. So, things are different in many ways today, a dozen years later, yet what remains the same is that MLSs will need to continue to educate the world on what they are and educate the industry on their value and MLSs will need to build and maintain strong relationships with their brokers." -- Craig Cheatham #CMLS2025