Latest / NOISE vs SIGNAL by Inman / Why Breezy Is Prioritizing News and Partnering With Inman Featuring CEO James Harris

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Why Breezy Is Prioritizing News and Partnering With Inman Featuring CEO James Harris · NOISE vs SIGNAL by Inman

• 0:00
  So what happens when you take a crazy Brit celebrity
• 0:02
  realtor, one of the oldest names in real estate
• 0:05
  news, and one of the hottest prop tech companies
• 0:09
  that is going on today? What happens when you
• 0:12
  mash them together? Join me in this podcast where
• 0:14
  I talk to James Harris, founder and CEO of Breezy,
• 0:17
  about the unique product and the innovative partnership
• 0:20
  within them. James, join me at Blueprint in Vegas,
• 0:24
  and it's not a conversation you want to miss.
• 0:26
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• 0:28
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• 1:01
  Welcome to Noise vs. Signal. I'm your host, Inman
• 1:05
  CEO Tom Bohn. Each week we sit down with the
• 1:08
  top producing agents, industry CEOs, prop tech
• 1:11
  founders, and the people shaping the future of
• 1:14
  the business of home. Then we break down the
• 1:17
  week's biggest headlines and decide what's noise
• 1:20
  and what's signal. Let's get into it. James Harris,
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  how the hell are you, man? I am good, my friend.
• 1:30
  How are you? It's been a couple months, right?
• 1:32
  Definitely has, yes. Let's go back in time, okay?
• 1:35
  We'll go back in time to Miami. Yep. When we
• 1:38
  were sitting in a beautiful lobby having coffee
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  and we were kind of thinking over some ways to
• 1:44
  partner together. Yep. And you said, hey, we've
• 1:47
  got this new app. coming out and we think it's
• 1:49
  pretty, pretty slick and we're excited and you're
• 1:52
  putting everything into it. And we've kind of
• 1:54
  done a lot of new things since then. You want
• 1:56
  to share the big news of what we're announcing?
• 1:59
  Yeah, I'm really excited, Tom. Look, I always
• 2:01
  look at our real estate industry from the inside
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  out and we both. in our respective businesses
• 2:07
  need to meet agents where they're at. And I've
• 2:10
  always found that Inman delivers the information
• 2:13
  that agents need at their fingertips when it
• 2:16
  comes to education, tips, breaking news. And
• 2:19
  Breezy is an app designed to also meet agents
• 2:22
  where they're at in their journey. And so the
• 2:25
  idea was to put the two companies together. We
• 2:28
  have the agents, you have the agents, and together
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  just be so much stronger. So I'm excited that
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  we are announcing a formal partnership. Yeah.
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  I'm really excited about this. So instead of
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  Breezy just being the operating system for agents,
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  how do you show up as an agent in your best light?
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  It's with information. It's with the right tools.
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  It's not about having 15 different apps. It's
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  about having the right app that handles the right
• 2:53
  information. And Breezy's sole mission is around
• 2:56
  pricing. And I want agents to be able to come
• 2:59
  to Breezy and now read breaking news from Inman
• 3:02
  or an article that's important to AI or technology
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  or the local market that that agent's in. So
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  now we're able to bring Inman's information right
• 3:11
  into the Breezy app so that the agent can become
• 3:14
  smarter and educate themselves directly within
• 3:16
  Breezy. Love that. And I love the fact that we're
• 3:19
  now bringing the information directly to where
• 3:22
  people are actually using it. But walk me through,
• 3:24
  for those... out there who have been under a
• 3:26
  rock and haven't heard Breezy yet. Walk me through
• 3:29
  exactly what it does, how it does it, and what
• 3:31
  makes it unique in this marketplace. Yeah, so
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  Breezy was always designed to be the agent's
• 3:37
  right hand. Call it an operating system. But
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  where we are predominantly focused today is on
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  what I call our pie. It's our property intelligence
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  engine. And what I started to realize as thousands
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  and thousands of agents started joining Breezy
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  is the number one most important thing today
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  in an agent's role, in an agent's life or a consumer's
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  life is. pricing. It doesn't matter whether you're
• 4:02
  dealing with a $500 ,000 property or a $50 million
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  property. As agents, the number one most important
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  thing is pricing. So Breezy's comp tool is not
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  just designed today for understanding what a
• 4:15
  property is worth today, but we now have zoning
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  and underbuilt data that can actually show the
• 4:21
  agent what the property's future value is going
• 4:24
  to be worth as well. So again, we're looking
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  at how we can meet the agent where they're at.
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  so that they can show up in a room, be more educated,
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  show up smarter and wiser in a time where tech
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  is at the forefront of every conversation, your
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  consumer's getting smarter. We want the agent
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  to be five steps ahead at all times. Now, there's
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  obviously a lot of tech out there. A lot of people
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  are racing to this industry. I assume that this
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  whole thing is AI native. It's all AI native
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  and powered. By the way, pre -AI, we wouldn't
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  have been able to build what we built today.
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  Talk about that for a minute because that's really
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  interesting because that's true for a lot of
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  things that Inman's doing now as well. Which
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  I want to talk about what you're doing with Inman
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  as well. But if you really think about small
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  to medium -sized businesses and take real estate,
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  even though it's a multi -billion dollar industry,
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  if you actually look at the industry pre -AI.
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  It was a lot of Zillow, Trulia, Homes .com, Redfin,
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  that was more consumer -facing. 100%. Right?
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  And the reason that the agents sort of got left
• 5:24
  behind and the whole marketplace was fragmented
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  is because you had 50 small companies trying
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  to build 50 broken apps that just were born out
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  of a Silicon Valley conference room, not by a
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  real estate agent. And the reason that no one
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  ever went all in on not just real estate, but
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  smaller businesses, was these apps were just
• 5:42
  too expensive to build. And now with AI and the
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  power of technology, we actually get to go out
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  and build the best app for our target demographic,
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  which today is 1 .6 million agents across America.
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  And my sole number one mission at Breezy is,
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  and always has been, obsess over the real estate
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  agent, which I think is pretty much the exact
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  mission that you guys have in the world. So you're
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  already over 20 ,000 subscribers. You've only
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  been out in market for a couple months. That's
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  crazy. It's been a journey. my friend, and we
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  only launched the product April 21st. We crossed
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  21 ,500 agents as of yesterday. Our product is
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  evolving at a rapid pace. As I said, we used
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  to just run this incredible AI engine that would
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  produce these incredibly accurate comps. And
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  we had underbuilt where you can type in an address
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  and anyone across America can look at how underbuilt
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  a property is based on zoning data and analysis.
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  Now imagine we've married those two parts of
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  our product together so that you can now look
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  up not just what a property is worth today, but...
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  what it could be worth in the future. We're able
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  to give you the zoning analysis of how much it's
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  going to cost you to build or add a primary suite,
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  show you the optimal square footage that you
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  should add, show you how long it will take, and
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  show you that property's future value. So the
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  product is evolving. That's a great journey for
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  a realtor to take a client through. From A to
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  Z. And it's a great journey for real estate professionals.
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  If you think of MLS portals or even these real
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  estate portals to be able to show a property's
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  future. Future value is incredibly, incredibly
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  powerful. You've done a lot in this industry.
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  I mean, look, you've created a wildly successful
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  brokerage in luxury. You had one of the first
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  TV shows where, you know, before it became every
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  other channel that was out there, million dollar
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  listing. And now you're a technology guy. Which
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  one has been your favorite and why? Wow, that's
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  a really great question. Firstly, I've loved
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  everything I've done. And every... Part of my
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  life is a learning curve and I'm a sponge for
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  information and I always want to improve. If
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  I had to say one, it would be building Breezy
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  because I feel as though in the last two years,
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  I have learned more. in two years than I have
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  my whole entire life about a world that was truly
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  unbeknown to me. Whereas I've done real estate
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  since I was 15. Now I'm solving for the very
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  problem I've lived through as an agent of 25
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  years. And that's a big deal. It is. Because
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  a lot of people come to this industry not really
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  knowing the mechanics, but coming with a technological
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  background. You came as an actual agent, right?
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  Trying to fix an actual solution that you saw
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  in the marketplace. That's right. That's right.
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  And look, I... have been an agent that has...
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  dealt with the problems that we've built for,
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  that we've catered to. I'm an agent that has
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  struggled certain months, certain years. I'm
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  an agent that's done very well certain months,
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  several years, but I built something that is
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  essentially an app that you can use all year
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  round, no matter where you're at in your career,
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  that will help you level up, level set, and educate
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  yourself to show up in the rooms with your clients
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  in a whole different light. And I'm really proud
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  of what the team have built, and I'm really excited
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  about our partnership, and I'm excited about
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  the trajectory that we're moving in as well.
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  You know, everything's about options and there's
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  a lot of people in our space, right? Whether
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  it's your space or our space, what made you say,
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  Hey, of all the people you could have done this
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  partnership with, let's do it with Inman. That's
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  a great question. So I have. loved Inman since
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  the day I started in this industry. As I said
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  before, I've always been a sponge for information.
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  So Inman has always been the place that I have
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  gone for information. And I think when Brad was
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  leading Inman and when I first started in the
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  industry, it was something that felt very exciting,
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  something I wanted to be a part of, something
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  I wanted to learn from, something I spoke at
• 9:36
  over the years. And truly watching this sort
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  of resurgence of Inman right now. I am loving
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  the direction that you guys are moving because
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  I feel like Inman is taking sort of a 180 right
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  now and leaning into exactly what our industry
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  needs, which is as clear as day to me is community.
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  And I'm watching from afar, but I can literally,
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  it gives me a smile when I see it. I'm watching
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  you guys build and cater to what the agent wants
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  and needs. And it's really special because agents
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  right now do need community. Absolutely. The
• 10:11
  world is in a funny place. Our respective real
• 10:13
  estate markets are in a funny place. There are
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  so many fundamentals right now why we need each
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  other. And as I build Breezy, what I've learned
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  is how much agents want to help each other. And
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  I can truly see you bringing this back and creating
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  community. And I just want to... Give you a pat
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  on the back and say, keep doing it because I'm
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  seeing it from afar. And it's truly incredible
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  to watch. When we first sat down, you'd said,
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  hey, we've got some big things coming for this
• 10:40
  product. Can you give us a little glimmer of
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  where this could be heading? Give a little teaser
• 10:44
  for the audience. There's so much coming, Tom.
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  But we are about to release our 2 .0 version
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  of Breezy that is going to be a complete makeover.
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  And I think agents are just going to be truly
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  excited. We never built Breezy as a lead gen
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  tool. Yet in 2 .0 that we're releasing, there
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  are going to be many, many elements that will
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  allow agents to fish for leads, opportunities,
• 11:09
  uncover opportunity. And for me, as agents, we
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  are the CEO of our own business. No one's handing
• 11:15
  us business, so we have to go out and find it.
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  And so I've been super focused on how can I create
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  the opportunity and uncover opportunity for the
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  agent. So not just on the listing side, but on
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  the buyer side, but also creating the opportunity.
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  and of course I cannot wait for agents to have
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  access to our feed through Inman right in the
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  Breezy app and lots more to come. I think you
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  and I should start a show together. Yep. That's
• 11:40
  about navigating the real estate market through
• 11:42
  all these crazy changes and our staffs and all
• 11:45
  the nutty conversations. You know, we have some
• 11:47
  nutty ass conversations on the regular. On the
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  regular. I don't know if there's many other industries,
• 11:53
  Tom, where we have this many nutty conversations.
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  I also love the fact and I love the direction
• 11:58
  where Inman sort of takes the middle ground around
• 12:01
  all the madness. And I think you've done a really
• 12:03
  good job in journalism around all. the madness
• 12:06
  going on with our industry right now between
• 12:09
  Compass or Zillow or amongst any of the other
• 12:12
  crazy lawsuits, law changes, clear cooperation,
• 12:15
  whatever it might be. You guys have done a great
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  job in being the middle ground, the voice, and
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  sort of listening to both sides and actually
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  giving agents an opportunity to read these articles
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  and learn sort of and educate themselves on what
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  they think is the madness. Do you get text every
• 12:29
  couple of days by people pissed off at you like
• 12:31
  I do? Of course. Every few days. Try every few
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  hours. Hey, unless you're getting those texts,
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  I don't know if you're growing. It is an absolutely,
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  I've never been in an industry where everyone
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  feels so connected to me that they literally
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  slide up in my notes or my DMs, texting me, emailing
• 12:51
  me about how one article profoundly pissed them
• 12:54
  off. It is amazing. The reason that Inman will
• 12:58
  do well right now is because you are leading
• 13:00
  the pack. The fact that agents can text you.
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  I think shows the type of CEO that you are. There's
• 13:08
  a lot of CEOs that want to be six times removed.
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  And I think those that can leave. Oh, there's
• 13:12
  no six times removed, as you know. I'm the same
• 13:15
  way, by the way. Well, but you also get it from
• 13:18
  the, you know, you were on TV. I mean, when we
• 13:19
  were in the restaurant that day, how many people
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  walked by and were like, it's very bizarre. It
• 13:25
  is bizarre. Beyond bizarre. I never came to America
• 13:28
  with the hope of landing a TV show. And there
• 13:30
  we are, eight years later, over 100 episodes
• 13:32
  being broadcast. on a show that played in 140
• 13:35
  countries with 2 million Americans a week watching
• 13:38
  it. But life's a journey and that wasn't on the
• 13:40
  cards, but I'm so grateful that we did it. Only
• 13:42
  in America, I said this all the time, would there
• 13:44
  be a celebrity real estate agent? In... It is
• 13:48
  absolutely insane. I still find it hard. Not
• 13:51
  hard. I love it. But when people come up to me,
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  it's like I just did my job. I just showed up.
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  And listen, it was one of the most incredible
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  experiences. I wouldn't change it for the world
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  if I knew everything now that I knew back then.
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  I'd do it all over again. Well, you deserve all
• 14:05
  your success. OK, last thing. We're going to
• 14:07
  put it on the screen. But how do people find
• 14:09
  Breezy and how do they get it on their phones?
• 14:11
  Yeah, absolutely. So you can go to www. Breezy
• 14:15
  .com. You can find us on Instagram at Breezy
• 14:18
  .ai. And of course, you can go to the App Store,
• 14:21
  type in Breezy Real Estate and download the app.
• 14:23
  Android and Apple. Android and Apple. And we
• 14:26
  also just released a desktop version of Breezy
• 14:29
  as well, which we haven't publicly announced
• 14:31
  yet, but it's a super cool enhanced version from
• 14:34
  iOS and Android. People still are on the desktop.
• 14:36
  Oh, yes, they are. We find that an inmate all
• 14:38
  the time. Absolutely. James Harris, you're always
• 14:40
  a pleasure to talk to. Thank you. Love connecting
• 14:42
  with you. Congratulations on everything you're
• 14:44
  doing. President, founder, CEO of Breezy. Just
• 14:47
  an all -around great guy. Thank you for having
• 14:49
  me. And thank you. All right. Thanks for listening
• 14:52
  to Noise vs. Signal. Follow us on Instagram at
• 14:56
  Inmanews for more conversations and industry
• 14:58
  insights. And be sure to subscribe wherever you
• 15:01
  get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.
• 15:04
  I'll see you next time.