Open Real Estate: Four Brokerage Giants Bet on a More Transparent Housing Market

Name: Open Real Estate: Four Brokerage Giants Bet on a More Transparent Housing Market
Uploaded: 2026-10-27T09:00:57+00:00
Duration: 15 min 1 s
Channel: HousingWire

00:10Welcome to the special edition of HousingWire Daily. I'm your host, Tracy Belt. I'm the Senior

00:16Managing Editor of Real Estate for HousingWire. And I have Chris Kelly, CEO of Home Services of

00:23America. Tamir Pollig, CEO of Real Remax Group. Leo Paragia, he is the CEO of eXp Realty and Agent.

00:32And Chris Czarnecki, CEO of Keller Williams Realty. So thanks for joining me.

00:38Thanks for having us, Tracy.

00:39Yeah, so let's get down to business. I want to talk about how the platform works. Like,

00:45how does it compare to cotalities like BLX or HANA List with AccuCell? And Leo, do you want to

00:51start? Yes. Tracy, you just pointed out technology platforms. So the first thing we want to point

00:56out is this is going to be a data set initiative. So it's going to have a database and then

01:00there

01:01will be inputs. There'll be a UI and also an API. Where we're currently at is we've requested RFPs

01:07from third-party technology companies. We want to make sure it's stable and durable and could be a

01:13combination of products like the ones you just mentioned. But the whole point is to have it be

01:18a complete data set where the input can come directly through the broker built system. So

01:23imagine all four of our companies will probably have our own ad edits inside of our core systems

01:28where you can enter a listing into multiple listing services. So if you serve a market where there's

01:33three or four MLSs, the goal is to minimize the field and the friction. And then some independent

01:40brokers who are joining can choose to use a UX that we will provide. So it, and also if you

01:47use

01:48the local MLS input at the matrix or flex level, the data will still be plumbed back to the database

01:54so we can make sure it goes to all the places it needs to go. Okay, great. So you have

01:58not chosen

01:58a technology partner yet? Nope, but we're down the road. We've requested the RFPs and we're looking

02:04to launch in Q1 of 2027. Okay, great. So this has been a question I've gotten already multiple emails

02:11about. How is open real estate funded now and long-term? And you talked about on BAM's webinar,

02:20you talked about data monetization. So how will that work? I can take this one. Yeah. The only thing

02:29that we discussed and committed to is the capital that will be required in order to build this

02:36infrastructure, just because we believe that we want to create a better reality for consumers in

02:41the real estate space in this market. We have not talked about monetization. We, I mean, obviously there

02:46are a lot of ideas, but the only thing that matters right now is how can we build this? And

02:51we have made

02:51the commitments to make it happen. Okay, great. And I know that Tamir, while I've got you,

02:57you also said on that webinar that Compass was invited to participate. Did they decline or have

03:03they just not responded? No, Compass was invited and it's still invited. I think that they're

03:09contemplating that. They have questions, obviously. They want to learn more. They want to talk to us

03:14and understand better what it means and what our vision is. And we sure do hope that they will join

03:20as well as any other brokerage in the country. Okay, great. And is this going to operate,

03:25open real estate going to operate as like a joint venture among the four founding companies? Or will

03:30you have independent governance structure? Because I think your FAQs mentioned you're hiring open real

03:35estate level leadership and staff to drive the organization forward. I think our vision is,

03:40is obviously the four of us have worked very hard and very well together to get to this point.

03:45But we also have day jobs and, and as you expected. So this will be one where each of our

03:52organizations

03:53are, you know, director level and owners of this platform. But ultimately, we would envision hiring

03:59a leadership team, technology individuals, others who can advocate for this and who are well known

04:05within the space and to build out a fulsome team. And we are contributing our resources in the form of

04:12human talent for the time being. But this would be long term staff with its own independent

04:17leadership team. And we will, we will be, you know, board members and whatnot after that.

04:22Okay. And so how does that funding look like long term, then? If you know, obviously, you're paying for

04:30the platform to be created. And where, where do you go from there, as far as paying these people that

04:36you're hiring? Yeah, I think that our commitment goes to both building the platform and, and supporting

04:42it until, you know, there is any kind of revenue that we can think about, but we're committed to

04:48making it happen.

04:51Then Chris Kelly, I'm going to give this one to you. This is the fun one. How are you addressing

04:56potential antitrust concerns? And will you work with Rezo and CMLS to kind of develop the national

05:02listing standards that you mentioned in the FAQs? Yeah, I mean, when we say open, I mean, we really

05:07mean that. And so it's not just the brokerages that we want to be participants in this. But MLS

05:13partners, portals, and then other, you know, let's say the data standardization companies that you

05:17referenced that are that are part of industry as well, too. We want this to be a collective amongst

05:21a lot of folks. And as far as the antitrust concerns, obviously, that's something that's top of

05:25mind for all of us. And we've worked very carefully as we've gotten to, let's say this point,

05:29with our own respective antitrust council to ensure everything that we're doing is about

05:33the consumer and nothing to do about, you know, what might be best for any individual company or

05:38individual agent or brokerage or other player within the industry. And so we take those concerns

05:42very seriously. And anyone that's looking to get involved with open should understand how committed

05:49we are to that and how serious we've taken that part of it. Well, and address the, I know there

05:55was

05:55one, uh, independence and smaller brokerages were wondering how this impacts them. So why don't we

06:01talk a little bit about that? Um, because I think it's really important for them to know this isn't

06:06just something coming from four huge companies, um, that will. Tracy, I'll, I'll take that one.

06:12Cause it's pretty near and dear to our journey as a, as a, as a small company that wasn't around,

06:16uh, before 2009, right? The, the level playing field that the MLSs have created is what's make,

06:22what makes real estate an even playing field, right? So you could be a three person brokerage,

06:27a 10 person brokerage and have the ability to, to compete. We, we want a world where consumers

06:32are getting the best possible value and, and brokerages are competing on, on that versus

06:38inventory, right? So, uh, this continues to have the opportunity for a startup to come and disrupt

06:45everybody who's not putting their, keeping, uh, the consumer first, right? So, uh, we said it on the

06:51earlier call and I'll say it again, like the, the middle class, the opportunity to become a

06:55homeowner in this country is paramount to what makes this an amazing country. And, um, that is

07:00the reason we came together to make sure that the American consumer is, is having the best visibility,

07:05the complete data set. They can find everything everywhere and they don't have to go to 20

07:09different websites. Yeah. And I, you know, we really think that that relationship between the agent

07:14and the consumer is so sacred and it's been so sticky, you know, for decades at this point,

07:18we think by doing this, we're actually allowing the agent to make a choice on where they want to

07:22align their business with which brokerage based on where they most align, where cultural values

07:27come together, as opposed to, do I need to be at a certain place because of inventory being withheld

07:31or, or lack of transparency for my consumer. And so consumers are allowed to choose the agent they

07:36want to work with. And it's not based on who may have access to certain information hidden behind a

07:40closed door. I'll just add to that because you were asking about smaller brokerages. Uh, I think that

07:45there's a huge benefit to smaller brokerages because they don't have to commit to, to anything

07:49here. They are invited to be a participant. And we, those four founding members are going to pay

07:56for all of the infrastructure that needs to be built. So, um, I think that that's just a huge benefit

08:01without burdening them with, um, with capital incentive, intensive, uh, commitments.

08:06Yeah. And it is free to participate. Um, that, yeah. So how, um, how does that work with private

08:13listings? How are you handling private listings through, um, the platform?

08:17So we, we've tried to be as light, uh, as we can on all rules setting, but, um, our view

08:23is there's

08:24three core principles that the four, um, organizations agree on. And again, feel like this

08:30is through the vein of, of, of what is best for the consumer in the U S and the home

08:35buyer and the

08:35home seller. And so that really made it very easy to set these principles. And they are as follows that

08:41if there are listings, they have to be in the ORE database. Um, and then secondarily,

08:46uh, we are open and we'll have a participant view, which means that if a homeowner does not want

08:53their, their, um, house broadly marketed or put on the market in, in the way that we might think

08:58of in a traditional sense, it is only available to the participant agents within, within open real

09:03estate. And so they are, uh, there and everyone is able to see it and everybody is able to access

09:09it if they're a participating agent. And then we would have a market view, which would be very

09:14typical to what you'd expect syndicated to MLSs portals, whomever are the right end points for

09:20that public listing. And so we think there's an elegant way with those three principles of,

09:25of inclusion, the participant view and the market view that we can accommodate everybody for what

09:31they need and, uh, do it in a way that is, um, is, is exceptionally consumer focused.

09:37Okay, great. And, and so as far as the MLSs and the, and the portals, is there, what needs to

09:45happen?

09:46Are there agreements needed? Um, you know, how is that listing data flow happening with the MLSs

09:52and what work still needs to be done to make that work?

09:55Yeah, I I'll address that. So, um, everyone found out today at the same time. So, um, we we've all

10:00been actively on the phone and Tracy, if I remind you, I spent 10 years of my life selling stuff

10:04to

10:04MLS executives. I know them pretty, pretty well. Um, look, we, we are adjacent to the MLS. We are not

10:10replacing MLSs. We are not a national MLS. Um, we want to be a database with input, right? And so,

10:16um, whether the listing starts on our tech stack or at the MLS tech stack, we want to, to get

10:22it to

10:22where it needs to go, uh, in a timely manner, in a complete manner, right? The protection of the

10:27appraisals and all the other vendors that rely on that to have the financial infrastructure we

10:32enjoy in this country is super important, but, um, it, there'll be a process. Um, but you know,

10:37there, there's a larger concentration. We'll start with the bigger ones and work our way down, but

10:41everyone's invited and, uh, we're, we're excited to talk to everybody.

10:44Um, and so as far as additional brokerages, I know I saw Iron Valley had, um, expressed an interest

10:52to have any others joined since this morning. Yeah, we, we, we're not prepared to disclose

10:56the number, but it's going to surprise everybody. It's been an active day.

10:59Okay, great. Good to hear. Um, and so you, I, I know you said you'd be operational in Q1,

11:052027. So what are the biggest hurdles, um, to launching?

11:09Yeah. So the next steps for us really after this is going to be getting back into what we'll

11:13call the RFP process. And so we have, um, numerous vendors that we have already been going down that

11:19road with, but we thought it was important to, you know, get to the public and start inviting

11:24more brokerages into the process as we get to that next step. So really, you know, the next big

11:27heavy lift for us is to go through that, or finish that RFP process and find the right partners,

11:32um, that will help bring it to life, uh, under that timeline that Leo articulated.

11:36I'll add, I'll add to that, that, you know, so far the four of us, plus our teams have been

11:41investing time and, and, uh, and efforts into that, but we will need to build this as an,

11:45a separate organization with their own employees and leadership. And, uh, alongside as Chris said,

11:51building the technology, we also need to build the infrastructure to actually manage and run the

11:55company. And I think that, I think that also Tracy kind of helps touch on another question that I

11:59think we've all seen a little bit is like, you know, what's different about this than upstream and,

12:03you know, an upstream, you know, it's, it's ambitions were very similar to what we're discussing

12:07today. It just may have been one of those things that was a little before its time in the sense

12:11of

12:11the technology build. I mean, building this today is very different than what it would have looked

12:15like doing this, say 10, 12, 15 years ago. And so it is not to say that it's not a

12:20heavy lift is

12:20to say, you know, uh, those of us, we could just crank this out tomorrow. Uh, but it's certainly a

12:26different endeavor today than it was maybe, you know, 12, 15 years ago when upstream was having

12:29that same conversation. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and I was wondering where you guys found the time.

12:34Do you just not sleep? I think that's, uh, not recently. I think, I think it just,

12:40it just showed, shows you how, uh, how much we care about the American real estate market and

12:45about the consumer and how passionate we are about making sure that, uh, there's transparency

12:51and the data is independent and, uh, and there's data integrity in the industry as well. Um, I think

12:56that all of us put everything aside and just focus on making sure that this industry operates, uh, the

13:02way we think it should be operated. So in our last, um, kind of minute or so together, um, I

13:08would like

13:08to hear from each of you of what you think success looks like maybe two years from now.

13:13I'll kick things off. I think success for me, and I've said it before, is that from the consumer's

13:18perspective, uh, everything just works beautifully as it should in the United States. And we've talked

13:23about what it looks like in other countries, um, and how much, you know, more burdensome that is on

13:27the consumer. You know, our concern was that maybe we were heading down a similar path. Um, so for me,

13:32success a couple of years from now is that the consumer still has access and transparency to

13:36everything that's on the market. Sellers can actually see the competition they're facing as

13:40well when they, when they list their house for sale. Um, and they're indifferent and unknowing

13:44of what all the work that's going on in the backside to pull this off.

13:47Boy, it's hard to improve on that. That's, that's really well said, Chris.

13:52Ditto. Great. Um, I guess then I'll have one more question. Um, I think that you had mentioned

13:58about consumer, but this is not a consumer facing, um, venture, correct? Is there any ideas that it

14:05might be consumer facing at some point? No, if I, if I had to sum it up for you, Tracy,

14:10the goal is to have a complete and transparent data set, right? I can, uh, Chris said it, but

14:15in other countries, like you have to go to 20 websites, we take it for granted in this country

14:19and success looks like that. We continue to take it for granted in two years. Cause it still

14:24continues to work. Great. Any last thoughts? I would say any brokerage interested, um, open

14:30real estate.com. It's people are signing up. Um, and if you were in, uh, the industry and

14:37you're talented and you think we should talk to you, we're, we're also a very actively

14:41considering candidates. Sounds good. Well, thank you all for joining house and wire daily.

14:45I appreciate you coming on and spending the time. Awesome. Thanks for having me. Thanks a lot.

14:50All right. Thanks a lot.

Open Real Estate: Four Brokerage Giants Bet on a More Transparent Housing Market

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