- 2 days ago
The housing market may feel stalled, but Smokey Garrett, founder and operating principal of the GO Network at Keller Williams, says it’s still moving — just under a different set of rules. After years of ultra-low mortgage rates and fast-paced sales, buyers are hesitating over affordability and sellers are adjusting their expectations. Demand hasn’t disappeared as people are still searching and making major life moves. The agents finding success are slowing down, helping clients understand their options and replacing uncertainty with clear guidance.
For brokerages, growth is about more than recruiting agents. Garrett’s team looks at market share, profitability, adoption of agent tools, and especially how many individual agents are actually productive. He sees scale as a local advantage, not simply a matter of having agents spread across the country. As consumer expectations evolve, he argues, agents need to offer value beyond the transaction and become trusted “home advisers.”
Garrett also sees AI as a way to make the business more efficient — but not a substitute for relationships. It can help agents work smarter and give brokerages faster access to insights and support, while the human connection remains essential. And as MLSs reconsider their role, he says brokers and agents should have a stronger voice in how the industry’s data is managed and monetized. The larger challenge, in his view, is to adapt together and make sure the industry’s value is clear to consumers.
Related to this episode:
Tracey Velt’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyvelt/
Smokey Garrett's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/smokeygarrett/
GO Network
https://mygonetwork.com/
Want more from Tracey? Don’t forget to subscribe to Real Estate Daily.
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
For brokerages, growth is about more than recruiting agents. Garrett’s team looks at market share, profitability, adoption of agent tools, and especially how many individual agents are actually productive. He sees scale as a local advantage, not simply a matter of having agents spread across the country. As consumer expectations evolve, he argues, agents need to offer value beyond the transaction and become trusted “home advisers.”
Garrett also sees AI as a way to make the business more efficient — but not a substitute for relationships. It can help agents work smarter and give brokerages faster access to insights and support, while the human connection remains essential. And as MLSs reconsider their role, he says brokers and agents should have a stronger voice in how the industry’s data is managed and monetized. The larger challenge, in his view, is to adapt together and make sure the industry’s value is clear to consumers.
Related to this episode:
Tracey Velt’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyvelt/
Smokey Garrett's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/smokeygarrett/
GO Network
https://mygonetwork.com/
Want more from Tracey? Don’t forget to subscribe to Real Estate Daily.
The RealTrending podcast features conversations with the brightest minds in real estate. Every Monday, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts join us to share their secrets to success, trends, and the lessons they’ve learned. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The industry is changing quickly and the housing market is as well and today my guest is Smokey
00:06Garrett. He is founder and operating principal of the Go Network at Keller Williams and we had a
00:12great deep discussion about necessary changes in the industry, how to manage today's housing market
00:19and more. So enjoy the podcast.
00:33So Smokey, it's good to have you back on the podcast. It's been a while.
00:37It has been a while, Tracy. Thank you for having me back on. I'm excited for the conversation.
00:42Yeah. So I want to talk to you a little bit about the market because you've seen them all.
00:46As we discussed, you were in real estate since 1995. You must have been just a baby at the time.
00:53I was absolutely a baby. I was licensed just straight from birth as opposed to waiting till
00:59the legal age. So, yeah, exactly. So when you look at this market, this housing market,
01:05what feels different to you?
01:07Yeah, that's a, you know, it's that's that's a great question as far as what feels different,
01:12because I've been through as you as you definitely pointed out, I've been in real estate for a while.
01:16So I have had the opportunity to go through lots of different markets back from the dot com market
01:22to 9-11 to to goodness 2008 when everything kind of just collapsed to to covid to two and three
01:31percent
01:31mortgage rates. And and and it's all just been been been very different every time you're in one of these
01:37markets or every time you're in one of these changing, changing markets, especially when you're new to it
01:43for the first time, you feel like you're you know, it's never going to change.
01:46This is just the way reality is. And I and I think the market as a whole has just continued
01:51to I mean,
01:52it's it's always changing. That's been the one thing from having enough longevity in this industry
01:57to know this business is always changing and there's always something new. Just when you think
02:02you have something figured out, then the world changes again or something happens in the world
02:07that actually causes change. And so I think I think, you know, there's some things that are very
02:12familiar about this because it's just a normal market. I mean, we've been through times when it's
02:16been up. We've been through times when the market has been down. And right now, you know, we're in a
02:21we're in something that is that is that is kind of new to us for lots of different reasons, because
02:26because the fact of the market is people are still getting married. People are still getting divorced.
02:33People are still moving. People are still starting families. People are still doing all kinds of
02:37different things. So people are still buying. People are still selling that just how you've
02:42gone about. It's a little bit different. What does feel kind of different, though, this time or
02:48makes it feel different? Because every time we've gone through a shift, there's a new agent that is
02:53bred through that shift that comes out the other side. There's been a new group that has come in and
02:57learned a very different way at a different time. What's changing now and what feels different is
03:02consumer behavior. Consumer behavior is always driven our marketplace, but the consumer
03:07itself, I mean, you're having a much more informed consumer. You have people who are coming in and
03:14beginning a process and taking data and using data in a very different way in terms of how they make
03:22their decisions, what the habits are of the consumers choosing to be from a competitive
03:27standpoint. The value proposition of us as real estate agents in general, it's not just about buying a home or
03:34helping them sell a home. There's so much information out there. The basic information
03:38is different. And so as I look inside, all right, what's happening in this marketplace? What's really
03:44going on? And the consumer is showing up very differently. They have a lot of choices of how they
03:50do business and a lot of choices in terms of just the industry itself as far as what do I
03:55want? How do I
03:56want to do business? How do I want to consume data? And what do I do with it? And so
04:00for us, as we look at
04:01our business here, it's how we're helping and working with the consumer and how we're helping
04:07to adjust to the needs of the consumer. And it's moving very quickly.
04:12So I did a pod, I filled in for Housing Wire Daily for Sarah Wheeler with Logan. And one of
04:20the big
04:20question was, is a hot market actually or a hot economy good for the housing market? And I thought
04:28that was really interesting, you know, because mortgage rates have moved back. Of course,
04:32that was pre-jobs report where we had a little bit of a drop there. But, you know, they've moved
04:37back above 7%. A lot of that is to do with energy. But transaction volume remains under pressure.
04:44So what are you actually seeing from buyers and sellers on the ground today?
04:49Well, I think, I mean, we're in a couple of years of a very flat market and heading into the
04:55third
04:56year of a flat market. And I mean, you know, the market has shifted. We're coming out of two and
05:01three percent interest rates and people moving really quickly and prices increasing. And the
05:06market just kind of momentum of the market has just been driving us. And so now you're kind of
05:11headed to a little bit of a stop your engine kind of part. You know, the buyers definitely have
05:17hesitation. The buyers are definitely sellers. Everybody has a big uncertainty. You're coming back,
05:22with an expectation of how it used to be without realization of what's happening today. And then
05:27number two is with the buyer, you just have affordability. I mean, interest rates are going
05:31up. That changes. That changes people's world. That changes what they can and can't do. And so,
05:37but I think we've got to be careful to put hesitation with the lack of demand because, you know, demand
05:45is still very high. There's still a lot of pent up demand. There is still a lot of people searching.
05:50In fact, I think, you know, I forget the exact number, but I know from January through September,
05:56as far as searches, people are searching more than they have than last year. So people, there's a lot
06:01of people still looking. We're still seeing a lot of activity in the market. I think it's coming back
06:06to, you know, that changes for the agent and what the agent has to do to go be successful. You
06:11know,
06:12for a while there, the agent just had to move fast and everything else happened. And so what happens
06:16today in this marketplace with an agent, if you're really trying to sell someone a house
06:22or sell someone a rate or, you know, rates are the same as they've been since, you know, back in
06:27the 80s. By the way, I wasn't in real estate in the 80s. I was a kid. So I just
06:31want to clarify that.
06:32But back in the 80s, you know, it was 15% interest rate and all those things that doesn't matter
06:37in today's marketplace. And so I think you're having to go back to the best agents that are winning right
06:44now are the ones who are really slowing down. It's not just about an interest rate and being able to
06:50say, okay, that can't do it. So what is going to be our answer? And so understanding it's about the
06:55payment. It's about someone's choices and really helping to provide clarity and understanding
07:00around rates, around where we are today, around where the market's going as far as what we can see
07:07and how we're showing that value differently today. Because, you know, the agents who are explaining
07:12and slowing down to explain, figure out what someone's needs are as the consumer and really
07:19help to provide value in that space are winning at a high level. Because fear is the biggest thing
07:25that stops us from doing things. And so when a lot of what gets past fear or one of what
07:30creates fear
07:30is the uncertainty. And when you have uncertainty, that creates fear. When you have fear, everyone's
07:36natural behavior is just to freeze. And so you let that go and help someone to understand that leads
07:42to a path. So, you know, obviously, brokers are competing intensely right now for productive
07:51agents. And we've had a lot of consolidation in the industry. We've had a lot of different things
07:58going on with from the lawsuits to private listings and everything else. So recruiting alone doesn't create
08:04a healthy company, though. So what are the metrics that you watch to determine whether your brokerage
08:10is actually getting stronger? Okay, I like that. And so, yeah, I think I think a couple of things here
08:16is. Yeah, as far as headlines go, you know, we have a we have we have a we always go
08:24and try to keep our
08:24agents very updated on what's headlines and what's going on. And it's amazing how fast our industry is
08:30changing from from the state of we'll do headlines one week and the next week we go to look at
08:36the
08:36headlines. Well, there's been five new headlines. And so, I mean, I mean, our industry, it's almost
08:40just I mean, it can be a full time job just keeping up with the change and the rate of
08:44change in the
08:45industry. And, you know, there there are, you know, so many so many different different companies
08:51doing so many different things and really creating creating an option and an opportunity in
08:56our marketplace that we just we haven't necessarily seen before. For us, as far as the metrics that we
09:03want to look at, I think we look at the marketplace metrics. There's there's, you know, we have a lot
09:07of
09:07agents in our organization, and it's how much we're winning in each market. So we always look at a couple
09:12things. Number one, how are we doing? We look at what the agent share is of the market. How many
09:17agents do we
09:18have in the marketplace? And and and how are we doing compared against that pond, the market that we
09:24have? We also then look at our market share, how we're doing market share wise and and how we're
09:30doing with inside of that. Do we contain market share? We also look at profitability. Profitability
09:36is something if we're going to be valid to our agents and valid as a business person in this market.
09:41You know, we are a profit sharing organization. We do share revenue, share profits. And so the fact that
09:46we know how to run a good business in a down market is important. And so also, I believe what
09:52you
09:52focus on expands. And so the last the last part for us as our organization, we look at adoption. How
10:00are the how are the tools that we're bringing to help our agents compete in the market today? How many
10:06of those how many of our agents are adopting or using those tools? And so it's how we know if
10:11what
10:11we're bringing is value to our agents and value to the consumer, because we do look at kind of both.
10:17It's always been value to the agents of how we provide value, helping them win. Now in this
10:23marketplace, it's more of how we bring value to the agents and to the consumer for the agents to
10:29deliver to the consumer. And that's a very different way we've approached our business over the last
10:35several years is how are we providing that? And, you know, all agents, what they're looking for is the
10:40way to, you know, where can someone go build their platform and go build their business in the
10:44future. And for us, you know, we want to be able to have a platform that someone can go build
10:49their
10:49business on and not just win for a day or a year, but how they can, you know, whatever platforms
10:55I
10:55believe we're choosing right now are the platforms the agents are actually going to it's going to
11:00dictate their success or non success moving into the future. Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting that
11:06the fastest growing, not all of them, but a lot of them that are fast growing are really not not
11:13relying on core services or affiliated services or whatever you want to call it anymore. But then
11:19you've got the whole section that are that's their their whole model, and they believe in it,
11:25and they're successful too. So has consolidation or any of the the newer competitors that are coming
11:33on the market caused you to rethink your growth strategy tweak it in any way? Or is it that you
11:41feel
11:41it's strong enough that you just keep going with your model? And don't feel like the need to do any
11:49tweaking? Um, well, I think, I think you've always get I think that's, that's, that's a loaded question
11:56because you 100% always have to be improving your business. And so, you know, I think scaling,
12:02scaling is important in in in any market. And I think scaling is important in in any business,
12:09because I think it actually is is people agents growth and agents being attracted to you is
12:16actually proof of your value. So you know how how strong your value is, by how many people are
12:21actually coming in and joining your organization. And I think as the real estate agent, our consumer
12:27has changed, therefore, the real estate agent has had to change. Therefore, our organizations really
12:32have to change. And I think, as you have scale, and we're able to scale your business, for us,
12:41and how we look at this is we have 3800 agents in our organization, and we operate in several
12:46different markets. But it's how we're able to take our business and be able to somewhat scale our
12:52business. And we have a centralized system that's able to scale our business and centralized leverage
12:58part of this. But we still have local leaders on the marketplace, because I think this still remains
13:03a local business. I don't think scale. I don't think scale on itself matters. I think scale,
13:08though, within a marketplace, I'd rather have 4000 agents dominating a marketplace than 4000 agents
13:14spread out across the country, you're not you're not impacting a market or know what's going to happen
13:18there. So for us in our in our organization, and for us, how we look at our business is,
13:24yeah, we're changing every day, because you have a brokerage business that you have that is that is
13:29that you are running, that's complete with all the things that you mentioned, which has to do with
13:35which has to do with lawsuits and legal and changing and uncertainty in a marketplace and uncertainty in
13:41terms of what's happening. Then you also have a have a have a real estate agent who is really trying
13:48to compete against multiple different forces and figure out how they go grow a business in this in
13:54this in this current marketplace. And so I still believe this is a very hyper local business. And
13:59every market is different. Every every single opportunity is different in terms of how you grow
14:06and what the customs are. And it's how you're getting involved with the marketplace and actually
14:10winning. Do you feel like over the years you've had, you know, usually a brokerage, their focus is on
14:19serving their agents, right? Of course, that's your main focus. But because of changing consumer
14:26behaviors, do you feel like that's becoming more involved in the decisions you make for your agents so
14:32that they ultimately can serve them differently? Um, yeah, I think I think, I think, I think this
14:43industry, I think, I think, I think if you look back at the history of this industry real quick, and
14:50just start back from the beginning, and look at how quickly everything is everything is moved, I think
14:56you have, I think you have, originally, it was a broker, the broker was the one that was in control,
15:01they had 50 50 64, you know, they had they had splits, but the broker was in control, then you
15:06move to an agent, and an agent and the agent was going to be the consumer, the customer for a
15:12little
15:12while of the brokerage, we moved into that model, then we moved into the agent, agent becoming, you
15:18know, kind of that free agent kind of market where all of a sudden, all of a sudden, you begin
15:23to be
15:24able to, to, to monetize themselves. And so it became what that person's worth, and what's that
15:31worth for right now, in growing a business, but it wasn't ever value to go grow a business, it was
15:36just value to go grow whatever they were trying to sell at that minute or take to market. So it
15:41was
15:41a short term commoditization of real estate agents. And now we've moved into, in our opinion, an era
15:47right now where each, where we need each other. I think I think as the consumers changing, the consumer
15:55is changing. And I've said that a lot, because it is. And I also look at our industry, needing each
16:00other now more than it ever has needed each other, just because we believe our competition is not the
16:06other real estate companies. I think there's a place for everybody and value is going to, is going to,
16:12to show itself. But what I do believe is our competition in this industry doesn't have a real
16:18estate license, they don't have a fiduciary relationship to the consumer, what they have,
16:23and I'm talking, you know, all the prop tech companies that are out there that are saying,
16:27Hey, you know, use our product, come use what we're doing. We just need to get to the consumer
16:31to validate our product. You have, you have Zillow. They're not in the real estate industry. They have
16:35real estate license, but they're, but they're, they're taking a different approach. They have no
16:39desire to run a brokerage. You have goodness, open door, you know, they brought a very different
16:44product for someone to go out and actually say, okay, you don't need a real estate agent at all.
16:49We'll give you this, save the process, save the hassle, save on how that's, how things, you know,
16:54what you're doing and just come do it this way. And so there are all of these products out there
16:58and all of these, all of these consumers and all these people trying to get to the consumer
17:03around the real estate agent or trying to do something differently. So I look at our competition
17:08as far as we have to change as an industry, because our competition is still competing for the hearts
17:15and minds of our consumers and are, and we're still competing for how we show the most value
17:19because we're still there in a fiduciary relationship to go help them. And so, so how does
17:25that show back up in our brokerage? So, so that's the belief of how we look at the future. So
17:29when we
17:29come in, we're, we are competing against other brokers, but we're actually competing against the
17:33industry in terms of where things are going and how we see a future of our real estate agents
17:38really being as much of a home advisor, as opposed to a real estate agent, advising them on everything
17:45home, advising them and helping them make choices, not just on what's the best home to go buy,
17:50because a lot of people already show up with their home that they already want. A lot of people
17:53already show up with, with some sort of value they think their home's worth. Cause I can put that
17:58into AI or I can put that into, I can go look on Zillow. I have all of these different
18:03values of homes.
18:03And so how do we show up with value truly helping the consumer? Yeah, absolutely. And, and you know,
18:10on the subject of AI and technology, I mean, I think that, you know, we've already seen the
18:18marketing side of it and, and the CRM and the lead flow or lead generation, but where do you think
18:25it
18:26really offers brokerages an advantage or their brokerage economics can actually change because of it?
18:34I think, um, you know, and, and I think I, AI is, there's a lot of conversation around AI. I
18:42think AI
18:43has, has completely changed the way we do everything in this world. And so pretending it doesn't exist
18:50is, is, is foolish. And so it's also how quickly are you learning it and leading it in? Do you
18:56believe
18:56this replaces everybody? Or do you believe this is going to be a tool for our businesses now and how
19:02we're able to help people? And so I think it's, I think the answer is depending upon our industry
19:07goes back from an agent perspective, you know, agents that use AI and use this as a, as a tool
19:14to make their business more effective and more efficient in, in their relationships with their
19:18customers, um, are the ones who are going to win. The ones who are using AI to replace a relationship
19:24are the ones who are going to use. The ones who are using AI not to use it whatsoever and
19:29pretending it
19:30doesn't exist are the ones that are going to lose as, as, as, as our side of the broker,
19:35this has made our business. I mean, we're all learning it as fast as we can and using it as,
19:40as effective as possible. I think for us as a brokerage, it does make everything more efficient.
19:45It makes numbers more efficient. It makes how we're doing business more efficient. It creates,
19:50it takes a whole bunch of data and can see trends that we don't see. Now that just helps us
19:55to make
19:55better decisions. It doesn't make the decision for us for our agent side of this. And so, so I think
20:02for all of us, you know, I think everybody's fear of slow and moving into this is it's going to
20:07replace them or it's going to replace my job. And so I think we've seen everywhere, this is still a
20:12relationship business. And so it will replace the task that some of us are doing, but it's not going
20:19to replace the relationship. So I see that kind of shifting, shifting everyone's job a little bit
20:24and shifting how they do business for our agents. It allows them, you know, for us to be available
20:3024 seven, for us to answer questions to us, to us to make sure the product that they're putting out
20:35there is, is much safer, is much legally, legally they're making the best decisions. There's, there's,
20:41you know, we have our AI agents that are there to answer questions as we would as the broker
20:4524 seven. So agents work all kinds of times and, you know, we're not always available 24 seven to
20:52our agents through AI, through, through the systems that we have and that we've embraced, that really
20:57allows us to offer a better, more efficient product and, and a more accurate product that allows them
21:03to work the way they want to work. And so I think from a brokerage standpoint, it gives us freedom
21:08and
21:08time to go make some better decisions and do the things that we see are more important, which is, you
21:13thinking about the future, helping to coach, helping to train, helping to teach, helping to,
21:17helping to watch the marketplace, helping to people understand, helping to give a better
21:22consumer value proposition and helping to work with the consumer. And so I think the relationship
21:27part stays strong with us and our product that we're putting out there is much more effective
21:32and efficient every day because it's always learning. But yes, that's a long, I apologize for the long
21:37answer, but I mean, I mean, AI is AI is it's changing every day and it's changing what I think
21:43about it every day, sometime for the better sometimes. Well, I'm not so sure, but I mean,
21:47it's, it's changing, it's changing every day, how we do business and how we see things. And it's
21:52offering, offering more value if we let it, as long as we don't give up the relationship.
21:56Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've seen in a year planning one vacation with it to this year starting,
22:03it's like night and day, how much better it's gotten. So it's really interesting. Yeah.
22:09Well, and, and, and, and I think that's, you know, you saying you planning trips and,
22:12and where you're going to eat and, and, and, and what's the best rest? I mean, all of those things
22:16where it's, that has become over a very short period of time, something that we have, there was
22:21whole industries and now whole industries are no longer there because this is much easier. It's also
22:26helping us to make choices and decisions. You're using it, you're using it for your trips and we do the
22:31same
22:32thing, but we're just assuming it has all the answers, whether it does or not, that's what
22:36we're going with. And so you dealing, you, us all as real estate professionals, any professionals
22:42understanding that is a part of the world. And we need to be, we need to be a part of
22:47that to make
22:47sure when, when you're, when your AI agent or your chat comes in and ask a question, we want to
22:53make
22:53sure our agents and ourselves are at the top of that list. Well, yeah, I mean, it's still even planning
22:59a trip. It takes the human element. I mean, I, some, some of the stores they mentioned we go to
23:03are not even open anymore. You know, like some of the restaurants, you go to the reviews and you're
23:08like, eh, this doesn't really sound good to me. So, um, it still takes a human touch for it.
23:15A hundred percent. And that's the difference. It's just different from, from getting information
23:19to actually what experience someone's going to have with you.
23:22Yeah. All right. I'm going to throw a question at you that I didn't give you ahead of time. So,
23:27um, you know, right now it's a little bit of the wild west as far as the MLS is concerned.
23:33Um, you know, NAR stepped away from governing and there are firms making demands on the MLS right
23:41now. Um, well, in a perfect world, what do you see, um, as, I don't know, what do you see
23:49would
23:49make the MLS better for everyone?
23:55And so that's a, that's a very loaded question for me. I know a lot of, I know I have,
23:59I have a lot
24:00of strong feelings around, around all of this. And I think, you know, I think the, you know,
24:06the issue has to do with data with this and, and what's happening with our data. And, and,
24:12and, you know, we, we lost it. You can say we lost it back with realtor.com or, or gave
24:16that,
24:16you know, gave that away. And, and what do we do with data? And so there's a monetization concept
24:21around this of, of what's happening with our data and who is actually going out and, and,
24:27and who is monetizing it. And I feel like as a broker standpoint, you know, the agents are the
24:31collaborators of this data and, and we're the ones that teach and train and we're held liable and
24:36responsible as brokerages for the data and for the information. And then something is happening on top
24:42of everything else, as far as where's that data going, who's monetizing it, what's, what's happening
24:47with it. And are they using it for the betterment of the consumer experience? Are they using it to
24:54monetize themselves? And that's really my question. So from a, from an MLS standpoint, I think, you know,
25:00we are the ones as real estate professionals that have funded the MLS. We provide the data to the MLS.
25:07And we're the ones that give information to the MLS. And they've been our partner for years and
25:12years. And so now we're at a, now we're at a moment in time right now where, how do I
25:18say this? We're
25:19at a moment in time where you don't have to use the MLS, where the questioning of the value of
25:23the
25:24MLS is there. It used to be, it used to be there so we could, we could co-broke our
25:28commissions. And
25:29that's where we worked in all of that. And now that value proposition is no longer a part of that.
25:34So what is the value of the multiple listing service? And I think, and there's also choice
25:39now. You can use the MLS, you cannot, are you a member of NAR and how are you, you know,
25:43all of those things are being questioned, which I actually, you know, love from everybody's
25:48standpoint, just because we've done it one way for this long, doesn't mean, you know,
25:52why are we doing it that way? And is it better for our industry? And so I think it gives
25:57us an
25:57opportunity for the MLSs who are actually forward thinking and saying, all right, how do we survive?
26:02What is the value of what it is that we bring? And what is the value of our organization? And,
26:08and how do we survive into the future? Because we're at a moment in time that doing nothing,
26:13I truly believe this, you know, everything's moving so fast, but as MLS is doing nothing
26:18as a, as an MLSs or as the industry goes, doing nothing is just going to put, put them out
26:23of
26:24business. And so they've got to figure out what the, what is the value to the agent? What is the
26:28value
26:28to the brokerage? And monetization is not the end part of this, but if they're monetizing our,
26:34our data, then, then, you know, we're the creators of the data. And so how are we partnering with this?
26:40And actually, how do they go back and rethink the entire industry? And how do they go back and rethink
26:45how we win in the future? And, and, and where they're going to sit? Because right now, without
26:52our data, without our information, they don't have a value. And so I think it comes back to
26:57who is delivering it? And how are we partnering it and actually getting to have a say together
27:02in how we see the future?
27:04Well, it's interesting, right? Because like you said, everybody felt that battle was lost with
27:08realtor.com and Zillow. And, um, you know, how do you take control of it at this point when years
27:16ago
27:17it was given up, um, you know, for better or for worse?
27:22Yeah. Well, I think, I think that answer is, uh, you know, how do you do it? I think we're
27:26at that
27:27moment in time again, where, where it's kind of like that decision again, except with a lot more
27:32information. And so I think, you know, this comes back to informing and I'm, you know, I'm, I'm,
27:38this is not my cause I'm interested in taking up. And it's, and it's also something that I would like
27:43the entire industry to, to kind of realize and be able to have a conversation with slow down enough
27:49in this marketplace as we rethink the future of, of how we do business and figure out, figure out
27:56really, um, really what kind of future do we want to have and how are we going to share
28:01in the participation of this data? I think, you know, the biggest thing right now is just being
28:06informed. You know, I think it, I think there's a new conversation when you all of a sudden have
28:11choices of which, what MLS you're in business with, or what happens with your data. We now get
28:17to redefine the nature of our relationship and we get to redefine what the value of each other's
28:22relationship is. And I think those are the questions that we should be asking ourselves right now
28:27is how do we see this moving into the future and how do, and what kind of, and how do
28:31we
28:31participate? But that that's together. And so, um, so that's not, that's not just one brokerage,
28:38which are our brokerage saying, I'm going to go out and I'm going to dictate what's happening with
28:42this. Well, the good thing about that happening is it's forced to conversation because it's not just
28:48one person that gets to have a conversation because it's not just a bunch of, of going back to a
28:52bunch
28:53of little pods of data in different places isn't good for the consumer. And it's not necessarily
28:58good for us, but losing control of everything that we have and everything that we do is not good for
29:05the industry or the consumer either. And so I think it, I think it begins with a conversation
29:10and just rethinking business models, just as our business model has changed as our real estate
29:16agents business model has changed. That is created that's, that's forced us all to have different
29:20conversations in different rooms. And that's where it kind of goes back from my perspective of,
29:25of how we kind of change the future. It does take a conversation, not going independently, but, um,
29:32but also realizing not just going along because that's the way it's always been done. And unless
29:36you realize that, unless you realize that, that, that one piece, that things are changing and we're at
29:41that moment in time where we need to pay attention and figure out what is the value of our industry
29:46and
29:47what is the value of our data and who is the best person, best steward going to be moving into
29:52the
29:52future of how we win together. Yeah. I mean, it's a really big question and, you know, I don't think
29:57that there's an answer on the horizon. Um, maybe it'll be a forced answer on the horizon. Who knows?
30:03Um, we'll see. All right. I, I, I, I, you know, I, I think, I think there's going to be
30:11an answer one
30:12way or the other, because decisions are being made and contracts are being signed and, and things are
30:17being signed without us. So I think just doing nothing is our biggest mistake informing ourselves,
30:22having conversations of who's dictated. It's how you controlling marketplaces. When I say that of,
30:27you know, if, if, you know, where, where scale matters is back to the marketplace. And if you control
30:33the marketplace, it doesn't matter if I have 4,000 agents across the country or 4,000 agents
30:38right here in one area where I dominate a market market area, as long as you do that, you do
30:43get
30:43to dictate what happens to the data and what happens to your future. And so everyone has a say in
30:48that,
30:48but, uh, but I think it's about putting control back in the hands of the people who are, who are
30:53helping to create it. And that has to do with the brokers and the real estate agents and not,
30:57not just everything forcing up and letting somebody else do something. It's putting the value
31:02and control back in the hands of how do we want to market this? What do we do for it?
31:06We're legally
31:07responsible for it. And, and how does our customer want things, wants things marketing? We're having
31:13a lot of people in this industry go out and say, you know, Hey, this is better for the cut
31:17for the
31:18consumer. And it's really has nothing to do with the consumer. It's just better for whatever business
31:23strategy that they have or ever, whatever platform they're trying to market at the end of the day,
31:27what's best for the consumer is consumer choice and being able to work with the consumer and the
31:32real estate professional that they choose to go work with them. No, absolutely. Um, so I have a
31:37lightning round of some questions I'm going to ask you. So it's first thing that comes to mind. Um,
31:42the brokerage metric you think gets too little attention.
31:45Okay. For us, for us, I can answer that one really quickly. It's the, it's per person productivity,
31:50but not just in a taking all of my transactions that I do divided by the amount of agents that
31:55we have.
31:56And that begins my per person productivity. What we, what we look at and what we actually,
32:01you know, truth be told, we got away from for a little while because we got, we got very relaxed
32:05in this marketplace as it went in terms of success. And so it's not about how many transactions we sell
32:10versus how many agents, but how many of our agents are winning, how many of our agents are being
32:16productive. And that's one of the things, you know, information, AI, all of those things allow us to
32:21actually track quickly. Now who's productive, who's not, who hasn't sold a home in a while.
32:27How are we helping them? What kind of things they're showing up for and to?
32:31Okay. Sorry, you said lightning round. So I'm going to let you go with lightning.
32:35Recruiting or retention, which is harder right now?
32:38Both, both. And that's, that one's, that one's, that one for me, recruiting, retaining
32:43is, is recruiting and recruiting is retaining. And I think that, I think they're both hard,
32:48but at the end of the day, at the end of the day for, for me, as far as how
32:52we look at it in our
32:52organizations is for us, if we, if we have the best agents that are, that are selling and winning
32:58at a really high level right now, then that is going to attract other people. If we're bringing
33:02people in that are wanting to match the people that we have, then, then that's selling and winning.
33:07It's about getting in, it's about getting in business with people who are accomplishing their
33:12goals and really looking into the future of this business, not just where it's kind of been or how
33:17it's been, but how are we getting in business with the people in the future who, who looking at the
33:22future as something that is exciting to them. And so both, but both happen at the same time.
33:28Well, Smokey, thanks so much for joining Real Trending again. It's always a pleasure speaking
33:32with you. Um, if you'll just hold on for a minute afterwards, um, we'll make sure the recording is
33:39good. Sounds good. And Tracy, I appreciate you a lot. Thank you for having me on. And I really,
33:43I've really enjoyed this conversation. Thanks.
33:47Thank you for having me on.
33:52You