by G. Sax, Head of Communications, RESO
This week’s interview is with Joe Schneider, EVP of Consulting at Modern.tech and President of MLSPropTech.com. We talked about the opportunities for domestic real estate professionals within global markets, how international real estate practices can influence North American real estate and his thoughts on the immediate future of the industry. Enjoy!
Q1: Although you started in real estate in 2008 and have already had an illustrious career with interesting stops along the way at the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), Compass and Modern.tech, your RESO-related spotlight came at the first International MLS Forum in Paris, where you emceed the event.
Your past role as Director of Global Strategy and Engagement at NAR betrays an interest in international affairs, but why is that still important to you now in your role at Modern.tech or for your professional career in general?
Joe: That role at NAR really was interesting. You might not realize it, given its lofty mission, but we were on an island in terms of connection to the REALTOR® machine. Much of what we did was overseas, working on projects to assure that foreign investment was coming into the U.S.
In doing that, from day to day, year to year, you get a pretty good look at how real estate works in these markets. We had 100 partnerships in 90 countries around the world – Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, everywhere.
You also gain a real appreciation for how we do business here with the MLS as a backbone, but when looking at the association and other/professional groups, you also see an immense opportunity to reposition and improve how we – MLSs and associations – describe and reaffirm our value proposition here in the U.S.
RESO: That’s something that doesn’t get brought up much. It’s usually a one-way street of the MLS concept improving how the world does business.
Joe: Well, just look at what we’re going through right now with buyer’s agency and the NAR settlement. That’s the norm in other parts of the world. Transactions with a buyer agent present occur in only about 30% of the transactions internationally, and that is how it has been for the entirety of their careers.
How do those agents representing buyers explain the value they bring when it’s not the norm? This is something that our agents are going to need to train and/or retrain themselves on.
From the trade association and MLS perspective – where we’re going right now with decoupling MLSs and associations, everyone needs to define their value proposition. Overseas, associations, professional organizations and brokerages have already been able to define their value to the market and to their agents. As we have this conversation here, we can learn from them there. The association is not just a tool for MLS participation.
The other great thing about working on stronger international real estate relations is the opportunity for a cultural exchange of ideas. RESO, being a nonpartisan standards organization, has made the case for how we could create a global real estate marketplace with one standard.
So in the future, when we are making more headway with efforts like the International MLS Forum, having one standard will allow us to flourish and scale up quickly.
We’re not jumping from 1 to 100 with a global platform right away. Instead, we’re starting from 0 to 1 by implementing the RESO standard – an essential foundation for driving success in future endeavors. That is the exercise, and I firmly believe that we are doing the right thing and can get it done.
Q2: When I worked at a local association of REALTORS®, there was a small but largely unengaged faction of members that decried international partnerships as a waste of time and energy compared to closer-to-home issues of immediate impact like local sign ordinances and point-of-sale housing inspection policies.
Did you encounter any blowback like that during your time at NAR, and, if so, how did you combat that?
Joe: That’s a fair question and something we saw a lot. One of my roles was to build Global Business Councils at local associations in the U.S. We would home in on the existing global communities and influences already present in their local market.
On average, every year, 10% of business is built on foreign investment. That’s just residential! The members that are really tuned into these tendencies have a huge opportunity to capitalize on those transactions.
It’s not just New York, Los Angeles and Miami that has foreign investment. Sizable investment occurs in every U.S. state.
At the International MLS Forum, we’re talking about technical specs, but what we’re doing 10 years down the line is creating a purview into these markets, spurring those transactions and making them easier to conduct.
Every country has some iteration of a public-facing portal. Imagine what we can do if they are all talking to each other. I won’t call it a global MLS, but it would be akin to a global portal.
As the world starts to understand this opportunity for more global collaboration, not all those companies are going to have the tools to make the changes. We’re already seeing some major MLSs go into these countries with consulting services and technology solutions.
The model is to get in there, create non-dues revenue and be the real estate technology administrator in that country. There are all these opportunities for alternative revenue streams, and any MLS that decries the international effort is not seeing the bigger picture in front of us.
There are also great proptech companies coming out of other countries, and there are U.S. companies expanding into other parts of the world. Restb.ai, CubiCasa and DirectOffer are good examples of interconnected marketplaces and truly global companies. You should do a Three Questions with them.
RESO: Restb.ai (Nathan Brannen) and CubiCasa (Jeff Allen, Aaron Smith) have already caught our attention, and DirectOffer is on the list, along with another CubiCasa tie-in featuring the New Mexico MLS directive to add a floor plan to every listing in their MLS.
Q3: What is your perspective on where the industry is going from the full breadth of your real estate career, including your current position within a domestic tech startup, but also as someone who worked for a tech-focused American brokerage and as a Government Affairs Director (GAD) for a local REALTOR® association, which particularly fits the bill of the hyperlocal advocate that I mentioned earlier.
Joe: The future of the industry is going to be the same as what the past trajectory has been: What does the consumer truly need and want from the real estate transaction experience?
There is going to be a heavy reliance on technology. Today’s buyer is reliant on portals to start their search process, for example. From the broker perspective, the ones that are able to meet the consumer where they are at are going to win. Whether that’s the MLSs or the brokerages, you have to deliver the right tools, and benefits will win out in the long run.
RESO: Given that answer, are we, as an industry, still going to be able to fund GADs going to city hall meetings? Or are we going to see something similar to the decline of local journalism and local radio?
Joe: The truth is that GADs bring huge value through advocacy at the local level. The only people that will pay for it and believe in it will pay for it and believe in it. That is going to have a negative long-term effect on the industry.
How is the value going to be communicated when membership is optional? What are we to who, and how do we become the best version of ourselves? This work is important to the overall health and vitality of the marketplace, but we need to show concrete examples of that value proposition.
Three Questions is an interview series that features real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards, sometimes in a fun way.
