RESO 2022 Fall Conference, Tucson, AZ.
by G. Sax, Director of Growth Management, RESO
Welcome to “Three Questions,” an interview series that introduces you to real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards with a goal of humanizing the tech side of the industry, fun included.
This week’s chat is with Jon Coile, the VP of MLS & Industry Relations at HomeServices of America and the 2022 Chair of the NAR MLS Technology & Emerging Issues Advisory Board, among other posts that you will read about. We talked about service leadership, going for a walk and the best little city in the Mid-Atlantic. Enjoy!
Q1: You must love meetings. Your many roles as a policy and standards leader in the real estate industry could fill a restaurant menu:
- Chair – BrightMLS, 2017–2021
- Chair – 2022 National Association of REALTORS® MLS Technology & Emerging Issues Advisory Board
- Chair – 2021 National Association of REALTORS® MLS Policy Committee
- Co-Chair – 2020–21 NAR MLS Standards Workgroup
- Member – 2021–22 NAR Statewide Datashare Presidential Advisory Group
- Member – UpstreamRE Board
- Member – RES Advisory Board to NAR Leadership
Yet you somehow come across as passionate and informed about each of these endeavors, while also performing your role for HomeServices of America.
Where are you finding the energy for all of this at this stage of your career when nobody would give you hell for slowing down?
Jon: It takes years to get to know everybody in this business. From the MLS side to the vendors to fellow brokers, I’ve been fortunate to have been at many different tables over the years, including at NAR, the Realty Alliance, RESO and more. I feel like I’m at the crossroads where everyone is openly talking about the issues of the day and there are things we need to do together.
It has been a happy circumstance to be in this position. I get to be something of an insider, I get to scurry around between groups and I can share with each of them how other groups are in the same boat as them. I feel lucky to be able to make these connections.
Q2: You have somehow become the morning hike Sherpa at conferences across the country, including at our own RESO conferences. How did this come about?
Jon: I read something that Steve Jobs said at Apple. Instead of having a confrontational meeting, he would go for a walk. You are side by side with your walking partner(s), and you dial down the conversation.
I walk a lot, so I can walk pretty fast. If people start to spew piss and vinegar during a walk, I just pick up the pace, and it really works. A lot of discussion happens at industry events, and you can learn by just going for a walk with others and talking.
For every conference I go to now, I get something together. We have a lot of regulars at this point.
RESO has a special place in my heart, because the first time I ever made a conference agenda was at the RESO 2021 Fall Conference at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
Q3: I once lived in Annapolis, Maryland. You currently call the area your home. It’s a known outpost of beauty to people in the Mid-Atlantic, but I don’t think the rest of the world quite gets it yet. Do you want more people to know about Annapolis or do you want them to stay away?
Jon: By nature, I’m an inclusive guy, so I want everybody to enjoy the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay. Everyone who is reading this, I want them to know about it, because they are my friends in the industry.
We have a lot of gorgeous waterfront in Annapolis. People should get a hotel in the downtown area and just walk around exploring the history.
We have the five-part Georgian architecture, the Naval Academy, St. John’s College, and the Maryland State House that serves as the capitol building of Maryland and was the U.S. capitol in 1783 and 1784.
The Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial, located at the City Dock, provides a lovely sculpture right by a string of restaurants that serve oysters and blue crab caught right from the nearby bay.
It’s safe to say that I love living in Annapolis.
Jon Coile (far left corner), Katie Johnson, NAR General Counsel & Chief Member Experience Officer (center in red) and the Bright MLS walking team in front of the Hotel Hershey at the Bright MLS Board Retreat.
