Latest / Dishin' Dirt with Gary Pickren / 10 Real Estate Stories That Rocked 2025 and Will Reshape Your Business in 2026 (Part 1)

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10 Real Estate Stories That Rocked 2025 and Will Reshape Your Business in 2026 (Part 1) · Dishin' Dirt with Gary Pickren

0:01
SPEAKER_00: This is Ditch and Dirt with Gary Pickering.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: South Carolina's only podcast dedicated to the real estate agent craft.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: And now the host of Ditch and Dirt, Gary Pickering.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: Hi Greens, and welcome back, everyone, to another episode of Dish and Dirt.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm your often opinionated but really wrong host, Gary Pickering, coming to you from the beautiful downtown Columbia, South Carolina offices of Blair Cato Pickering Cash Line, this, the third week of January 2025.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Week in and week out, Ditch and Dirt is the only real estate podcast in South Carolina that is going to tell you what other people in your industry will not tell you and things you might not even want to hear about.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: But we're going to do it every single week, whether you like it or not.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: We're going to bring you the hard truth and let you see what is going on in the industry so that you know how to best protect yourself in this business.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: So today, what we're going to do is we're going to close out 2025.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: We're going to wrap up this year.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: And what you're going to see is that this year is a year that brought you a lot of lawsuits, some settlements, tons of rule changes, mergers and consolidations, and regulatory shakeup, particularly at the South Carolina Real Estate Commission.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: What we're going to do today is we're going to give you the top 10 stories of 2025.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: We're going to wrap it all up for you.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: I love doing this show every year, looking back at what 2025 did in terms of the stories and how those stories are going to affect you moving into the next year, 2026.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: These are the things that you absolutely have to know about.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: You got to also understand how they affect you because you should be talking about each and every one of these 10 topics with your clients already and with other agents, and most particularly with your broker in charge as you head into 2026.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: There's not a single story here in 2025 that does not have implications moving forward into 2026 and beyond.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: So these stories this year were probably some of the biggest stories since I've been doing real estate in 30 years.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to talk about 2025 and what a massive, massive year it was for real estate, stories, news, and ultimately real estate change.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Every segment here isn't just news, it's real impact.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: These are the shifts that changed how we list properties, how we sell properties, how we represent clients and customers, most importantly, how we get paid.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: Before we start with today's show, though, I do have two quick announcements.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: Number one is don't forget to listen to Dish and Data AI Edition.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a 15-minute companion podcast.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: It comes out every Monday.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: First episode came out Monday, the 19th.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Candace Coleman, who's an associate here at Blair Cato, she learns how to do a piece of AI that every real estate agent should be learning and using and implementing.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: And then she explains it to me so that you understand how to use it, implement it in your business and why it's important.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: And at the end, she will rate it as being easy, hard, bridge, whatever, so that you'll know whether this is something you should be able to do or not.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: Now, the best thing about this show is we're going to build from the beginning up.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: Start with some easy stuff.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: So this week we're starting with how to get the best out of AI for creating listing descriptions.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: And then how to take that listing description that AI creates and then have them change it into a social media post, whether it's Facebook or Instagram.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Both of them are going to be different.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Then she'll teach you how to take all that and you make it into a flyer and make other types of marketing pieces.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: Very easy episode, as she said it was at the end.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: And so you're going to learn how to do that all in 15 minutes.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Now each week we're going to build on that.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: If you're new to AI, start at the beginning, you're going to catch a lot of new things and build your practice as you should be.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: If you are already in AI and understanding it, let this be a refresher, but it's also those building steps.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: And if you are an expert in AI and real estate, let us know.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Let us know when you're seeing things that you would like to add, and we can bring those also into these topics so that we can make sure that we give the best advice and information to real estate agents.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's got to be using AI in 2026.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: If you're not, you're going to be left behind.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: You've got to be doing this.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Now, the second announcement I mentioned last week that the tickets were going to go on sale for the 2026 Real Estate Success Summit here in Columbia at the Central Energy Building on February 11th.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: Our keyno speaker, Krista Michure.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: And I told you, if you didn't get your tickets quickly, you were going to miss out.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm very afraid that tickets are sold out.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: As of Monday, the 19th, which is the day I'm actually recording this, tickets were down to like five.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: I think we had five tickets.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Every single table is sold out.
4:23
SPEAKER_00: All the general admission tickets we had are down to like five or seven, something like that.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: So I know by now the tickets are probably sold out.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: What we're going to try to do is create a waiting list where you can go to BlairKato.com, click on the button that says summit, and you'll be able to sign up for a waiting list for a$79 ticket.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: I will then go back to Central Energy and see if we have enough people on the waiting list that we can add a few tables to the right side of the state.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: These will be not as good a view as those that will be straight back, but you will be at the front and you will be able to get in the door to see Christmas shore.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: We've already sold like 275 tickets.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can try to push this to 300.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: Not sure that we're going to be able to in this space, but we're going to do the best we can.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: Five days, guys.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: We sold all these tickets out in five days, with one of them being a holiday.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Thank you all so for your support.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: And I have no doubt in my mind that you're going to absolutely love what we present to you at our sales summit this year.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk about our top 10 stories.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: I want to be sure I'm very clear on this.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Ten stories, I am not ranking the stories this time.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'm not ranking the stories, I don't know that I could rank the stories.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: All 10 of these stories are pretty massive.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: There might be one or two in here that aren't as big as the other ones, and there might be one or two that are bigger than all of them, but it's almost impossible to rank these stories as to important.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: I think all 10 of these stories are equally important this year.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: They were big stories, big changes in what you do.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: So I did not rank them this year.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: There's just 10 stories.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: You're more than welcome to email me what your ranking is at Gary at BlairKeddo.com, or you can hit the like button here.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: I think you can also do it through a note through Dish and Dirt here.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: But let me know which story you think is the most important if you think there's a story that should not have been in here.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Let's go ahead and start with number 10.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: This is the first full year implementation of the Sitzer Burnett settlement and all the fallout that occurred from Sitzer Burnett.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to kick off things with the biggest systematic change in real estate for many, many years.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: And that all happened in 2025.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: We all lived through Sitzer Burnett, and it did not destroy us.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even a headline that most people in the public cared about.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: We suffered for a little bit of time.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: People heard about it and said, well, I understand I don't have to pay buyer agent commissions now.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: And that was quickly debunked.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: But the problem is you felt a lot of the pain from Sitzer Burnett.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of it was growing pain.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: A lot of it was that people didn't understand how the settlement went.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Even the realtors' associations were having to change and adapt and move.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: And that was one of the things I really didn't like about how it was implemented was it did fall a lot on SER to come up with rules for you guys.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: And they were working best they could to try to figure out some of this stuff.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we even had to go back and change things.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: If you'll remember, at first, do not put compensation in the contract, and now compensation is in the contract.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: But these were these things that we had to work through and figure out.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: It's just like the Real Estate Commission at the end of 2024 went in and changed the South Carolina broker's disclosure form to try to incorporate what was needed for the so-called showing document, so we can incorporate the two of them and not have to have that separate showing document.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: The commission jumped on that very quickly.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: But what we know is that agents now are not allowed to put any compensation in the MLS that all disappeared.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: And quite frankly, that was a good thing.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: The whole reason you got sued in the first place was that you literally could go into some MLSs and separate properties based on commission amounts.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: You deserve to get sued on that situation because you're supposed to be working for the in the fiduciary interest of your client and you're able to sit there and only show them properties that are paying three, four, and five percent.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: That's absurd.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: So you almost deserve to get sued for that for being stupid.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: But that's all disappeared.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: No more compensation on the MLS.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: The MLS should be nothing more than an advertisement.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: This is what's available to you.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: Show your clients.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: You should never be showing property based on what you're getting compensated.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Agents then had to negotiate these fees with their clients directly.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: That's always been the case in South Carolina, but the good news is it really forced a lot of agents to have these conversations with the buyers that this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm worth, and you are gonna have to pay me if the seller doesn't.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: And I think that a lot of brokers were able to adjust their risk profiles and teach their agents how to demonstrate their values and to be able to get commissions from the buyers when the sellers decided they weren't gonna pay the full commissions.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: The settlement, it's very important to understand, did not outlaw cooperative compensation.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: It should have, and we're gonna talk about that later on today, but it sure has scared a lot of people out of it.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: And you can see people like EXP and NextHome, they've already gotten out of even wilder ERA, and a lot of the smaller brokerages are not doing uh cooperative compensation.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be part of one of our top 10 stories that we're gonna talk about here in a minute.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: But the biggest impact, obviously, was the MLS is no longer where you look for compensation.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: Buyer agents will have to negotiate before work.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: When you're gonna before you get that buyer representation agreement, you've got to negotiate with that commission.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: The buyer and the seller are in control now of the commission.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: They get to decide what is and what is not part of the contract.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: They are the ones deciding it, not real estate agents, and that's the great thing.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: And all these old school assumptions of how real estate and commissions and compensation worked, all that's out the window, and that that changed very fast.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: The agents in 2025 that excel, those agents that are still sitting up there at the top or that have moved up to the top, what did they do so well in 2025 to get there?
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Well, they did three things.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Number one is they put the compensation discussion up front.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: I've said this for many years that real estate agents spent a lot of time learning how to do a listing presentation, and they barely spent any time how to do a buyer's presentation.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: But that changed in 2025.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: They learned how to do the buyer presentation to discuss, which is number two, their value.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: They educated consumers on their value, what they bring to the table, which is beyond a commission percentage.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: They learned that they do not sell houses.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: It's not your house.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: You don't own the house, didn't build the house, it ain't your house.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: You are not a salesperson.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: What you are is a navigator.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: You are navigating the consumer from the point of, I think I want to buy a house all the way through closing and the billions of steps that they have to go through.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: And the consumer realizes this ain't carvana.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: This isn't drop your car off, get a price, and then I'll sell it.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: This when buying a house is a difficult process, and you need to have guidance along the way.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we got.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: And that's what real estate agents do.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: They provide guidance and negotiate, and they they advise and they counsel and they navigate that person through that transaction.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: And most consumers realize they can't do it without you.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I've been saying for years.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: You can't buy a house without a real estate agent, you can't sell a house without a real estate agent.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: Sure, people try it, but the statistics prove that they leave money on the table every single time and they screw things up.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: They don't get lead-based paint disclosures, they don't do seller disclosures, and they violate the law, and it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: That's where you've come in.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: And then thirdly, structuring these, the language in these representation agreements, and it's particularly the buyer representation agreements.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: And I think the Realtors Association, particularly SCR, did an outstanding job of getting language in these agreements.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: And these agreements are constantly changing and being updated.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: And so unfortunately, we all have to go through this multiple times with these updates.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: But as I said, the Realtors Association is doing everything they can to try to make these documents work the best for you and keep you out of trouble.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: So they're there to help you.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, however, we are noticing that there's a lot of agents out there are still clinging to their old ways, how they were doing it in 2025.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: They're struggling going into 2026.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
11:28
SPEAKER_00: Regulators and lawyers don't care.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: They're not going away.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: The settlement might not have changed law, but it certainly changed behavior and practices and the threat of these lawsuits.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: That's real, and people understand that.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: I literally had one agent this past year yell at me at a realtor meeting when I was speaking to his group saying that we just need to go back to the way it was in the MLS.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: Well, that ship sailed.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: That ain't never gonna happen.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: It's gone, it's over.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: And secondly, we don't need to go back.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to go back to a system that has listing agents dictating what buyer agents are comped.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: Should never have happened.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: You prove your work to your buyer, your buyer either accepts that that worth is of value to them or it's not.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: You should be able to decide with your client.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: For me, Sitzer Burnett has turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to real estate.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: And I know that's not what catch mark wanted, but it really is one of the best things that ever happened to real estate since Al Gore invented the internet.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: And for you, Generation Zers, Al Gore is the guy who ran for president, talked very strangely.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: He claimed he invented the internet, kind of helped make him lose the election.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, Sitzer Burnett has been a tremendous benefit for real estate agents, particularly on the buyer side.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: No longer are you getting paid what the listing agent decides your comp is worth.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: You're now getting whatever comp you can get from the seller, and the rest of it's come from the buyer.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Listing agents are having a whole lot better opportunity of convincing their sellers to pay their commission and even more in so many situations than they had in the past because they're only worried about the listing side.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: But it has been an absolute great thing for real estate.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: Number nine, the Anywhere merger with Compass, Compass Plus Anywhere, created a brokerage behemoth.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: Number nine isn't a lawsuit or a regulation, but it is about corporate transformation.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: This section could actually be entitled Brokerage Consolidation.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we have seen with Redfin and Mr.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Cooper.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: But in September of 2025, Compass and Anywhere real estate announced they were going to merge in an all-stock transaction that was valued around$10 billion, billion with the B.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: And what it was to do was combine Compass's tech and the agent platform with Anywhere's global brands.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: And we're talking brands like C21, Coldwell Bankers, Sobies, and many more that we have here in all across South Carolina.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: Compass is not really that has much of a presence here in South Carolina.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: I think they're a little bit up there in Fort Mill, but these great brands from anywhere, the C21s, the Colwell Bankers, the Better Homes and Gardens, the ERA, those are all great brands here in our community.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: Then in January of this year, the shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal and to combine into this real estate giant.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: So why do they do it?
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Compass wants to compete with Zillow and they want to control the data.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: The more agents they have, the more pressure they can put on MLSs, the more pressure they can put on Zillows to get the rules changed the way they want, and the more pressure they can put on NAR.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, Revkin, he's very adversarial toward NAR.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is very misguided.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Sure, they kind of sucked in that settlement.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: I ain't gonna lie about that.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: They screwed that settlement up, in my opinion.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: But quite frankly, I think it turned out very okay for you guys.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, your commissions haven't gone down.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: You're having to do work a little bit different, but the way that you're doing work now is more transparent and better for the consumer.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: So that's all good.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: But if he continues to try to dismantle NAR or weaken NAR, which he's been very vocal about, then what?
14:46
SPEAKER_00: How long is it gonna be before you lose your status as an independent contractor?
14:49
SPEAKER_00: And if so, how many of you will be terminated the next day?
14:53
SPEAKER_00: Your brokerage is not gonna pay you a minimum wage of 40 hours a week to not produce.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: So with 40,000 real estate agents in South Carolina, of which 75% don't produce, what's gonna happen to them?
15:04
SPEAKER_00: It's not a good thing.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: I know some of you are going, oh good, getting all the business, but that's not good.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: We need to protect your status as an independent contractor.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: That is one of the biggest things that NAR does for you every single year.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: The problem I have with playing this role of disruptor is you might want to sit back and think about what that outcome is.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: So why did anywhere do it?
15:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, debt, pure and simple.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: They were swimming in billions of dollars of debt, and what many economists say was just simply unsustainable.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: This is a life preserver, if you will.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it means in practical terms.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: Scale matters.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: 340,000 real estate professionals are now under the same ownership umbrella.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: That's massive influence from referrals to marketing muscle.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: Office is taking a tech-first approach.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: CRMs, marketing tools, agent platforms are now going to be accessible to a huge swath of agents, but not exclusive to them.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Not all anywhere brands are happy with this, however, there's some real concerns.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: Some agents worry about platform anxiety, what happens to data, CRM tools, and independence when you become part of this corporate jug or not.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: Who owns that information?
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Is it the agent or is it the corporations?
16:03
SPEAKER_00: Some leaders have even publicly said that agents should keep their own data and should be able to take it with them, where others have remained skeptical.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: So, what's going to happen with this big company?
16:12
SPEAKER_00: And yes, some senators, well, uh Senator Warren and Wyden did raise antitrust concerns last fall, fearing there was too much control over listings and market access.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: But that didn't seem to really go anywhere, which was kind of surprising.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: The COMPAS has indicated that companies will operate independently of each other after this merger and that they will do everything they can to maintain distinctive brands, platforms, and culture.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: And that's according to a Compass spokesperson.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: But what we do know for sure is the merger will shape market dynamics for years to come, especially in terms of MLS policies, private listing enforcement, as well as data access.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: All of this is going to evolve for all brands, quite frankly, whether you're part of this new compass anywhere or not, because everybody's going to be looking to see what everybody else is doing.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: Number eight, slow death to broker, broker compensation.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: I predicted last year that the death of broker to broker would happen in 25.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: It didn't happen in 25, but it certainly started.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: It's on life support, it's at hospice, it's been read, it's read last rights.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: It is going.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: There's no if, ends, or buts about it.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: Broker to broker compensation is dead.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: It's dying.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows it throughout the industry.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: A few people are trying to hold on to it, but it's going.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: And it's an undeniable truth.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Post-sensor brokers can still offer compensation to cooperating brokers.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm not here saying it's illegal, but it no longer is driving behaviors of most brokerages.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: Buyers and sellers simply want to negotiate commission inside the offer.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: Concept of listing broker decides how much the buyer's broker is going to get is gone.
17:38
SPEAKER_00: And that's good for the consumer.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: The buyer and seller should make that determination, and it should be based on what the buyer wants to ask for because not all buyers need compensation to be paid for.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: And not all sellers want to pay for a compensation when the offer sucks.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: That's simple.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: This realignment has two very big outcomes.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Number one is agents control their own value.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: When you're sitting with your buyer, no more are you hoping that the seller agent also agrees you have value, you're explaining the value, and you're getting a contract showing what your value is, and the buyers are going to pay you.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, net sheets matter more and more.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: When you look at net sheets, not gross percentages.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: We've gotten so wrapped up in getting the highest offer, but it doesn't matter when you get the highest offer and somebody wants a lot of concessions.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: We need to start looking at net sheets.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to net from the sell of this house?
18:26
SPEAKER_00: But here's the overall big issue about broker to broker.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: One of the accusations in Citr was that the listing agents were using the MLS compensation model to artificially keep buyer agents' commissions higher.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: Now, what we have seen since Citzaburnet has been implemented is commissions have remained high.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Nothing came down.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: So it kind of disproves that whole theory, which is good.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: But it's bad because it allows Michael Ketchmark to now come back and say that the reason that it has not gone down is because broker-to-broker compensation remains and it's still set up to maintain the system because seller agents are automatically asking for 6% with 3% going to the buyer side.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: And that's taking away all the negotiation.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Now, you and I know that's not really true because nothing is binding until it's signed in a contract.
19:13
SPEAKER_00: And regardless whether you're offering three to the other side or two or one or five, it doesn't matter.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: It's all got to be negotiated and agreed to in a contract or a compensation agreement.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people in the industry believe that this will be where the next lawsuit's going to be.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: Couple things you need to understand.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Commission is not binding until it's agreed to in a contract or a compensation form like the South Carolina Form 120.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: The buyers might not even ask for commission.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: They may ask you to pay a portion of the commission as a seller.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: So why are you offering to give away compensation to a buyer's agent before we even know what an offer is or what the buyer might even be, might even want or ask for?
19:48
SPEAKER_00: A lot of buyers are finally realizing in this market that they can make stronger offers by not even asking for commission.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: Think about it this way if you're buying a house for cash or you're buying a million-dollar property, do you really need to ask for buyer agent compensation?
20:02
SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: I want to be very clear, NR is not taking a position.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: CR, as far as I understand, is not taking an official position, but I do believe there'll be some movements to get rid of broker-to-broker compensation and listing agreements and otherwise in 2026.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: I think it will be gone.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: And so I said it again last year.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: I said it would die.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: It hasn't died, but it certainly is on life support.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: And we're seeing that in a lot of different markets.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was very happy to see that ERA Wilder Realty walked away from it this year.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: And if you'll listen to one of my podcasts I did with Tony Nally, he said his agents couldn't be more thrilled.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: They said is the best thing they've ever done.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: EXP, next home, a lot of the smaller brokerages.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: Number seven, clear cooperation and private listing networks.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Huge shift here.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: We are coming in here at number seven with a battle over clear cooperation and private listing services.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: And that story, guys, is still evolving.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Nationally, clear cooperation was supposed to prevent inventory hoarding by making sure that all of our listings are open to the public at once.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: Everybody is marketing to the public.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has opportunity to see the property.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: But there are various brokerages out there, including Compass and others also under the umbrella of Anywhere, who are pushing for private exclusives, office exclusives, if you will.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: Here's a twist.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's going on.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: Zillow and other portals have started announcing enforcing rules that they would require all listings to be publicly marketed to be on the MLS.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: And if they weren't publicly marketed on the MLS version, you weren't going to be on Zillow.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: Right now, as we sit here in January of 2026, Washington State, their lawmakers, I can't believe I agree with anything they do in Washington State, but they floated a bill that would ban private listings unless there's concurrent marketing to the public.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: They treat this as an unfair practice.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: And this is a big deal because this could absolutely eliminate private exclusives in the market.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: This bill would basically change existing state law that's related to the licensee law of real estate agents as well as the unfair practices.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Act and it would require all brokers to market properties to the broader public rather than to a limited number or exclusive of prospective buyers.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: In a video that they updated last week, the Washington State Realtors said that they would support the change as part of what they said was the organization's goal of making the state the most consumer-friendly place to buy and sell real estate.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, what they said was that they feel that the use of private listing networks is at odds with our goal of being the most consumer-friendly state in the nation to buy and sell property.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: It is an unfair practice of real estate licensees to market the sale or lease a residential real estate to a limited or exclusive group of prospective buyers, prospective tenants, or real estate licensees, or any combination thereof, unless the real estate is concurrently marketed to the general public and all other real estate licensees except as reasonably necessary to protect the health or safety of the owner of Ocumen.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: That's the draft language in the statute, guys.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: And I have to say, I love it.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, Robert Refkin responded, I have never seen someone who is so brilliant, be so hellbent on being on the wrong side of real estate history.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: But according to their spokesperson, they say this bill is a veiled attempt by the Northwestern MLS and Zillow to preserve their market dominance by restricting homeowner choice and limiting competition to the detriment of sellers and agents alike.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Look, anytime somebody talks about seller choice or market choice, they're usually full of crap.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we are here.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: This is not about market choice, guys.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: This isn't about seller choice.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: It's really not.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: The big question we have here is will COMPAS impose these PLS rules on the Anywhere brand?
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Will they?
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Emmin Newswriter Christy Murdoch says statements from Anywhere's CEO Ryan Snyder and other CEOs under the Anywhere brand umbrella have indicated a reluctancy to focus on private listings along with a pragmatic approach in the event that private listings become more common.
23:44
SPEAKER_00: And this was a quote that he had that Snyder said if the world goes to private listings, we will not let our agents be so disadvantaged.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: It's a pretty strong comment.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: Snyder said on an investor call that accompanied the company's Q4 earnings presentation, we have more listings to make into private listing than anyone does.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: And I think that was a short-sighted way for our industry to grow.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't agree with him more.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm very happy to hear anywhere CEO say that.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: And I hope that he'll be strong enough to withstand pressure otherwise.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Now, our very good friend James Dwiggins over at Next Home, he simply doesn't buy it.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: He says he doesn't believe Refkin won't take this opportunity to push his pet project.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: I have my doubts too.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: I think Refkin is going to push the PL's private listing networks as hard as he can.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: I just wish Refkin and Compass would quit gaslighting everybody about this.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: We all know that the reason that Refkin is pushing PLSs is not so you can better serve your client.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: It's so you can get both sides of your sale.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: The bottom line is according to realastatenews.com, 35% of all COMPASS listings went through their private listing system.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: So save me your righteous indignation about consumer choice.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: There's no way in 35% of the people in this in the country listing with COMPASS believe that they could get more money by listing the property in the private listing network.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: And when you go to their website and look at what they're being told, it's silly.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: I can only pray that the good people at anywhere and the good brands like ERA and Colwell Banker and others will continue to fight this.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: We all know this is an absolute fair housing nightmare, and it will end small brokerages.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be an antitrust issue.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: In a nutshell, the industry is basically being pulled in two directions at this time, guys.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: Agents and brokers trying to experiment with this limited exposure stuff for strategy versus regulatory boards and platforms pushing for transparency and equal access.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Unequivocally, fall on the side of transparency and equal access when it comes to the consumer.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt this tug of war is going to go on into 2026 and beyond.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: The questions are: are we going to continue to undo decades of fair housing advancements?
25:44
SPEAKER_00: Are we going to consolidate under KW and Compass and EXP all into two or three big ass brokerages?
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Are we no longer going to have one place where we can search for listings?
25:54
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have everybody having all these networks we got to go look to.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: The Zillow fund is just going to say, screw you all.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: We'll make our own listing service and make all of our top agents become Zillow agents.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Refkin's playing with fire here, guys, and I'm very afraid we're all going to get burnt.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Again, I want everybody to understand I'm very brand agnostic.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know a Compass agent.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm not against Compass.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: I think Compass is probably a great organization.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm very against what Refkin's trying to do to this industry when it's only in Compass's best advantage and not in everyone's.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: But the bottom line is, y'all all know that I'm right, that this has nothing to do with consumer choice.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: This has everything we're trying to get both sides of the transaction.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: We all know that it, but without a shadow of a doubt, it is 100% going to turn into a fair housing nightmare and it's going to run small brokerages out of business.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Antitrust violation.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: All right.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: Number six, Zillow's lawsuit, platform pushbacks on private listings.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Zillow has all kinds of lawsuits going on right now, and it's all about visibility and platform power.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: In 2025, Zillow announced they had new policies forcing public marketing listings onto MLS within a day or so, or you run the risk of Zillow and Trillium not putting your properties on their platform.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: Their platform, follow their rules or don't.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's that simple to me.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why anybody's even suing over there.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: If you don't want to list your properties on Zillow, don't follow their rules.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: They don't owe you anything.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: I've never understood how these people think that I don't have to follow the rules of the platform I want to be on.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: So if you don't like their rules, then don't put it on their platform.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Their platform gets more views in a day than the other top nine do in a week, by far.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: But COMPES has filed a lawsuit against them and they're trying to push back.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Some of the lawsuits that Zillow is facing right now is a lawsuit over their Flex agents, alleges that the Flex program illegally steers consumer to Zillow approved agents without clearly disclosing that those agents may pay Zillow referral fees of up to 40%, which they say violates rest, but it doesn't.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: State consumer protection laws.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: The plaintiffs claim that buyers were misled into believing they were contacting listing agent or neutral party when they're actually being routed to a paid referral system.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: I don't know who in their right mind goes on to Zillow and clicks contact agent and thinks you're going to the listing agent.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: Why would you want to go to the listing agent?
27:57
SPEAKER_00: You'd want to go to your independent agent.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: They're not telling you they're going to the listing agent.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: This is a bunch of croc.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: I've talked about this multiple times on a podcast.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: It makes no sense whatsoever.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: But where are your damages?
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Because you going to this Zillow agent versus going to the listing agent, how did that cost you any more fees?
28:13
SPEAKER_00: It didn't.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you've got to prove that somehow the other agent would have charged you less.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, how can you prove that?
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Because all fees are negotiable.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: All fees.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: So I don't understand how you have any damages.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: To me, that's a terrible lawsuit.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: Zillow contact agent deceptive practice lawsuits was a second one.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: That again, this goes through the lead route design.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: Allegedly, consumers were deceived into unknowingly working with Zillow select agents rather than the listing agent.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Same thing.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't understand how that's even a lawsuit.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Um next, they had an expanded class action antitrust RICO allegations.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Some states are now trying to bring RICO charges like they're a criminal organization or something.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: This also seems kind of ludicrous.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: It's all about trying to get after Zillow's market dominance.
28:53
SPEAKER_00: There's been claims that Zillow inadequately discloses its financial incentives tied to the Zillow home loans program, arguing that consumers were pushed toward affiliated mortgage service without transparent explanations or compensations and referral relationships.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: That seems to have a little bit more legs right now than we have seen other places.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: But whether you like Zillow or not, I'm agnostic toward Zillow.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I like them, sometimes I don't.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: But two things are clear.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: Platforms want more control over their data that drives the traffic.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: And they own the platform.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to play with their platform, then you have to abide by their rules.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: And agents need to understand that these external rules can impact your listing strategy sometimes more than the MLS rules can themselves.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Sellers still get to decide where and how their home is marketed, but the visibility game is shifting as portals and regulators assert power.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: And the bottom line, we all know without a shadow of a doubt, when you get a listing, the first thing your client calls you the next day is, is it up on Zillow?
29:46
SPEAKER_00: They're not asking if it's on the MLS.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: They're asking, is it on Zillow?
29:49
SPEAKER_00: That's where your consumer wants to be.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: All right.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: That's all the time we have today.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: So we've done number 10 through five.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: That leaves us five for next week, and we will hit those strong next week.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Hope you enjoyed this week.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Please come back again next week for another episode of Dish and Dirt.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to check out Dish and Data.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: It can be found on any platform that you already find Dish and Dirt on, as well as I put a link in the show notes for you as well.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: And get on that waiting list for the real estate success summit for February 11th, 2026.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, guys.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and we'll see you again next week for another episode of Dish and Dirt.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Take care.