Latest / NOISE vs SIGNAL by Inman / The Agency’s Mauricio Umansky on Launching The ARA and Where Real Estate Goes Next
Transcript
- 0:00Mauricio Umansky does not do anything small.
- 0:03Today we talked to him about everything from
- 0:06starting the ARA, NAR's competitor, to his huge
- 0:09expansion into New York City and overseas. This
- 0:13is a guy you need to watch. Plus, he may eventually
- 0:16be running for mayor of LA. Hey, everyone. This
- 0:19episode is brought to you by Lofty, the agentic
- 0:21AI operating system for real estate. Lofty's
- 0:24AI doesn't wait to be prompted. It works proactively
- 0:28on behalf of your agents to uncover new listing
- 0:31opportunities, engage leads, schedule meetings,
- 0:34and drive more transactions. Lofty turns every
- 0:37agent into a top producer. Visit lofty .com to
- 0:41see how agentic AI can put your business growth
- 0:44on autopilot. Everybody in the business of home
- 0:47has a pitch. Almost nobody gets asked a hard
- 0:50question. This show fixes that. Welcome to Noise
- 0:54vs. Signal. I'm your host, Inman CEO Tom Bohn.
- 0:57Each week we sit down with the top producing
- 0:59agents, industry CEOs, prop tech founders, and
- 1:04the people shaping the future of the business
- 1:06of home. Then we break down the week's biggest
- 1:09headlines and decide what's noise and what's
- 1:12signal. Let's get into it. In January 2024, a
- 1:18broker walked onto the Inman Connect stage in
- 1:21New York and announced he was building a competitor
- 1:23to the NAR. He said he figured the odds were
- 1:26pretty small. Today, the American Real Estate
- 1:29Association has REMAX on its board. every Compass
- 1:32brand enrolling agents, and a former NAR lobbyist
- 1:35running government affairs. He also happens to
- 1:38run the agency, 104 billion in closed transactions,
- 1:422 ,500 agents, 160 offices, and in 16 countries.
- 1:48Mauricio Umansky, welcome to Noise vs. Signal.
- 1:51Appreciate having you here. Hey, Tom, how you
- 1:54doing? It's a pleasure to be here. I'm excited
- 1:56for this conversation. As you know, I've been
- 1:58a big supporter of Invent for a long, long time.
- 2:00And I think you guys are doing a great job. So
- 2:02let's see if we can get the industry a little
- 2:04insight as to what's happening. One of the biggest
- 2:07challenges with a guest like you is that there's
- 2:09so many things that we could talk about, right?
- 2:11We could talk about LA politics. We could talk
- 2:14about your incredible business. We could talk
- 2:16about ARA. I mean, there's so many routes to
- 2:18go, but let's talk first about this deal that
- 2:21you just completed in New York. That was a huge
- 2:23acquisition for you all. Tell me a little bit
- 2:26about that. Yeah, we're actually just finalizing
- 2:29it this week and hopefully making the transition,
- 2:31the full transition next week. I'll be in New
- 2:33York next week. We're very excited about it.
- 2:36There's still some details to be worked out over
- 2:38the next 72 hours. As you know, that final deadline
- 2:41is always gets quite interesting, right? So can't
- 2:44really disclose the exact details of everything,
- 2:47but we're very, very excited. to bring on all
- 2:51of the Christie's offices in New York and New
- 2:53Jersey and make them part of the agency. They've
- 2:56got some great agents there. We're very excited
- 2:59about them. And it'll just be a big growth. And
- 3:02this coming Monday, we're making the transitions.
- 3:05Going to a deal like that, what do you offer
- 3:08them differently that Christie's brand couldn't?
- 3:11Tell me, what does that look like overall? And
- 3:13how did you make that sale? Look, they had their
- 3:16own issues with Christie's, right? And so that
- 3:18all started already with whatever issues they
- 3:20were having, right? That was public knowledge
- 3:22and everybody knew that they were having their
- 3:23own issues. So, you know, I think that I'm not
- 3:26100 % sure that's like, you know, what we're
- 3:28offering that Christie's isn't. You know, Christie's
- 3:30is a great brand. Sotheby's is a great brand.
- 3:33These are all, you know, luxury brands that are
- 3:35out there. I mean, I built my company. with the
- 3:37intention to compete with Sotheby's and with
- 3:39Christie's. I think that they're the oldest brands
- 3:41out there in terms of luxury and boutique -y
- 3:43type of feeling. Sotheby's has lost out a little
- 3:46bit, but still a great brand. And we offer kind
- 3:50of very similar stuff. And our network is incredible.
- 3:53I think it's the international exposure. We're
- 3:55still smaller. We still need to grow a little
- 3:57bit more in order to compete with them on their
- 4:00global regions. But I think that one of the unique
- 4:02things that we have... is because it is built
- 4:04new and it is only 12, 13, 14 years old, the
- 4:08network is so tight and so connected. It's a
- 4:11true collaborative network. The amount of referrals
- 4:14that occur, the way that we're able to create
- 4:16a web of sales throughout the world is pretty
- 4:20awesome and pretty incredible. And I think that
- 4:22that is a unique feature that is uncomparable
- 4:25with any of the other brands that are out there
- 4:26from the perspective of global connectivity.
- 4:29I think we do it better than most. Love that.
- 4:32So one of the things that one of the comments
- 4:34that was picked up in the news was your New York
- 4:37partner you're acquiring. They basically said
- 4:40this was a choice against corporate Wall Street
- 4:42driven model. Right. Is that really the decision
- 4:46they're making or is it really more about, you
- 4:48know, value pitches and splits and the tech platform
- 4:51and stuff like that? Yeah, I don't know. He's
- 4:54a great guy. He's a great business guy. I've
- 4:56enjoyed getting to know him and that group over
- 4:58there. You know, I don't want to make a comment
- 5:01as to what their side of it is. But I think it
- 5:03has more to do with just building a company that,
- 5:06you know, they want to be a part of a boutique.
- 5:08They want to be a part of a private company.
- 5:10They definitely have said that, you know, not
- 5:12a huge conglomerate. There's definitely... Pluses
- 5:15and minuses, advantages and disadvantages of
- 5:17being of different companies. That's why we say
- 5:20there's 31 flavors of ice cream in an ice cream
- 5:22shop, right? And not one flavor is good for all.
- 5:25You know me. I think you've heard me a hundred
- 5:27times. I will never, ever put down my competitors.
- 5:32I think we all deliver great things. I really
- 5:34do. And, you know, I like to concentrate on what
- 5:37I do great. They do a lot of things great. They're
- 5:39huge. I mean, that size of that network is amazing.
- 5:42And it's fantastic. But, you know, we do our
- 5:44own things great. And so there's different flavors
- 5:46for different people. And I like my flavor. You
- 5:51know, so you're adding 1 ,200 agents, 26 offices
- 5:54in a single deal. You are known for that high
- 5:57-end boutique culture. Can that survive that
- 5:59type of growth and that type of ramp up? A hundred
- 6:03percent. High -end luxury, you know, A, it's
- 6:05a Christie's office. They're already high -end
- 6:07and they're already boutique, right? We're not
- 6:08taking a... My God, I'll pick on somebody that
- 6:11doesn't exist anymore. Well, we're not taking
- 6:13a purple bricks office and converting them into
- 6:16a luxury brand. You know, we're not taking a
- 6:19EXP or, you know, a mass brand and trying to
- 6:23convert them into a luxury brand. They are a
- 6:25luxury brand, you know, so that can definitely
- 6:27continue to exist. But, you know, boutiqueness
- 6:29and luxury and that kind of white glove service,
- 6:32that's a service. That's a service that anybody
- 6:33can deliver. It's not about size. It's not about
- 6:364 ,000 agents or 10 ,000 agents. Depending on
- 6:39how you manage the culture of the company, you
- 6:41can continue to deliver it. And so that's the
- 6:43way I see it. It's just a question of how do
- 6:45you deliver it and how you act. Do you start
- 6:48creating a bunch of red tape? Are you listening
- 6:50to your agents? Are you listening to your local
- 6:52managers? Are you willing to make changes or
- 6:55are you hardheaded? You know, when you get very
- 6:57corporate, it's one way, you know, you're going,
- 6:59you're moving. From our perspective, we're not
- 7:01corporate. You know, I've always said it like
- 7:03I can be going down one direction one day. hear
- 7:05an opinion that changes my mind and will change
- 7:07direction this next day. I am not afraid of making
- 7:10a mistake and I am not afraid of admitting that
- 7:13I made a mistake in order to change directions.
- 7:15And I think that that's the difference between
- 7:16a boutique kind of privately held company versus
- 7:19a corporate public market company. Everything
- 7:22you have going on, I mean, growing this amazing
- 7:25business, you came off of a popular Netflix show.
- 7:28Did Planet Earth really need another trade association
- 7:31in real estate? Yes, we do. And we still need
- 7:37a trade association. How did I know that would
- 7:38be your answer? And, you know, I've said it a
- 7:42couple of times. This was not meant to be compete.
- 7:46Did we need another trade association? No, we
- 7:48didn't. But why did we need another trade association?
- 7:51Because our current existing trade association
- 7:53is not delivering for the realtors, what they
- 7:57call realtors, right? I could use the word realtor
- 8:00because I'm talking about the other trade association,
- 8:02NAR. And they're not delivering for us. They
- 8:05really are not. You know, it all started with
- 8:07tremendous frustration with the Spitzer Burnett
- 8:10case. You know, when they made that settlement,
- 8:13they looked after themselves and they stopped
- 8:15looking after the brokerage firms, right? They
- 8:18took care of the small brokerage firms, okay?
- 8:21Under $2 billion, I think it was, or whatever
- 8:23the number was. But the larger brokerage firms,
- 8:26which are the ones that are carrying the majority
- 8:28of the real estate agents, the realtors. that
- 8:30are paying the dues, that are paying for all
- 8:33of these to happen, they didn't, they left us
- 8:34out hanging high and dry to write huge checks,
- 8:38right? And in some cases, making it very difficult
- 8:41for us to survive that, particularly in a time
- 8:43where the market has gotten tough. We're in a
- 8:45low market and it's very difficult. I'm still
- 8:48paying every single month. You know, I worked
- 8:50out a payment plan. I pay every month to the
- 8:52Spitzer -Burnett case. And that's a very frustrating
- 8:54thing. Does that sit on this new regime? I mean,
- 8:58Nakia's come in. It seems to me that I'm an outsider
- 9:01and someone who has been in associations. They're
- 9:03taking all the right steps. What are the right
- 9:05steps? I mean, the right steps, you know, to
- 9:07me would be to say to the brokerage firms, hey,
- 9:10guys, we screwed up. We screwed up on that one.
- 9:13And there's a bunch of other issues, but let's
- 9:15talk about that issue for one second. We screwed
- 9:17up. We should have protected you guys. What can
- 9:19we do to protect you? Can we get on a payment
- 9:21plan to help pay you back? Like you want to correct
- 9:23it? Correct it. Don't just say and then not do.
- 9:26Okay. You know, the clear cooperation policy,
- 9:29they continue to stand behind that policy. That
- 9:32is a policy. No one really follows that though
- 9:33anymore. Would you agree? Well. That's another
- 9:36problem. If you're not going to follow it and
- 9:38you have a policy, then isn't that just a show
- 9:39of losing complete strength and hold on everything?
- 9:42And by the way, they talk about this policy to
- 9:44police it. They stopped following it. People
- 9:46stopped following it when they lost respect for
- 9:48NAR. They stopped following it six months ago,
- 9:51eight months ago. It's a new thing where we stopped
- 9:53following it, right? Until Robert Refkin said,
- 9:55you know, I'm not paying attention to this. I'm
- 9:57doing this thing. But I'll tell you where they
- 9:58still follow it and what we still not allowed
- 10:00or what we still don't have, which is where I'm
- 10:03going with this. They allow, clear cooperation
- 10:06policy allows office exclusives, okay? If you
- 10:11allow office exclusives, then what are you doing
- 10:14to the independent agents and the independent
- 10:16brokerage firms and the mom and pops and the
- 10:18family places and the smaller guys that are out
- 10:21there hustling, okay? And they are losing agents
- 10:25to these big companies because they now don't
- 10:28have access to these off -market listings, right?
- 10:31And the off -market listing is going to exist,
- 10:33period, end of story. Okay. This idea that it
- 10:36shouldn't exist. Well, that's why you should
- 10:37put it on the MLS. Great. The agents, the sellers
- 10:41don't always want their property on the MLS.
- 10:44Period. End of story. Okay. And as long as they
- 10:47don't want it, and there's a small percentage
- 10:48and it might be tiny, but by the way, that tiny
- 10:50percentage, when you go into luxury grows, it
- 10:53becomes a bigger percentage because the people
- 10:55that don't want it in the, in the MLS or in the
- 10:57public world primarily are more luxury driven.
- 11:01Primarily. I'm not going to say that's all, but
- 11:03it's primarily. There's a place to do that now,
- 11:05right? I mean, you can do that now. I mean, nothing's
- 11:08stopping that. Where's the place? There are local
- 11:11laws or state laws that allows you to hold back
- 11:13names depending on the individual state or a
- 11:16certain type of private data, depending on where
- 11:18it's at. How do you share it with agents, though?
- 11:20But how do you share that with other brokerage
- 11:22firms? How do you share that? How do you collaborate?
- 11:26Right. Help me understand this from a layman's
- 11:28point of view then. Again, I don't have a dog
- 11:30in this hunt. I get it. So if you have a private
- 11:34listings network, right, in the truest sense
- 11:38of it, and your goal is to put as many of your
- 11:40listings through that because there is a benefit,
- 11:42right, so that you could hopefully collaborate
- 11:44with one of your brokers that are connected to
- 11:47your organization. There is a true benefit to
- 11:50that, right? Well, what if that's not what you're
- 11:52trying to do? What if what you're trying to do
- 11:54is... have a private listing that is open to
- 11:57every brokerage firm. Totally different. Like
- 12:00we're talking about two different things then,
- 12:01right? No, we're not. We're not talking about
- 12:03two different things. Clear cooperation policy
- 12:05forces it, okay? Forces it to be an office exclusive,
- 12:10not to be a collaborative private listing, okay?
- 12:15I have never stood for, I have never ever in
- 12:18my life said that a... Office exclusive is the
- 12:20way to go so that you can double end it. That
- 12:23is assuming that brokerage firm wants to do is
- 12:25double ending it. I am not for that. That is
- 12:28not what I am about it at all. What I am saying
- 12:31is that there is a group of people that require
- 12:33off market listings. And those off market listings
- 12:36should be shared with every single real estate
- 12:39agent in the country. Love it. How do we make
- 12:41sure that that is actually what happened? Because
- 12:43one study that I just saw, it was like something
- 12:45like 78 % of one group's private listings were
- 12:49all double -ended. By eliminating clear cooperation
- 12:52policy, by allowing other firms to open up MLSs
- 12:56that house private listings, that share with
- 12:59everybody. It's all about collaboration. It's
- 13:01all about collaboration. It's the clear cooperation
- 13:04policy is what does not allow that to happen.
- 13:08That is what that's for. Does ARA? Well, the
- 13:12ARA posted and we shared it with you guys and
- 13:14we shared it with Nikia. We shared it with NAR
- 13:16prior to talking about it. We are currently calling
- 13:19the clear collaboration policy, which is precisely
- 13:22that. Collaborate and share with every single
- 13:26licensed agent in the country. If you want to
- 13:30know about it, you should have a database that
- 13:31allows you to know about it. And that database
- 13:34couldn't be the MLSs. The 500 MLS could be anything.
- 13:37It certainly could be. I mean, but now open it
- 13:39up to competition. Let the MLS be whatever, you
- 13:41know, whoever delivers the best product. Yeah.
- 13:44Okay. Right. I mean, NAR has a three -way agreement
- 13:47where you have to be a member of this. You have
- 13:49to be a member of that. You have to be a member
- 13:50of that. Another, you know, where again, you're
- 13:52eliminating free competition. Just be the best.
- 13:55Just be the best. You already have the advantage
- 13:58of being the best. Just go be the best. It's
- 14:00amazing. You know, when we were in San Diego,
- 14:02this topic of private listings is so vitriolic.
- 14:05People are absolutely taking it personally, you
- 14:08know, across the industry. And like, I'm wondering
- 14:10who's going to take the reins of this and the
- 14:13leadership to get us to a place where it's no
- 14:16longer this point of contention. I am. I love
- 14:20it. That's all. The podcast is over, guys. That's
- 14:26it. Look, I've been in the association world.
- 14:29I grew up through the association world. It's
- 14:31not easy to get them going. It takes years and
- 14:33years and years to really kind of move that rock
- 14:36up a hill. And, you know, you've had some really
- 14:39impressive wins. A couple of large groups on
- 14:42there. The Compass deal. You pulled a lobbyist.
- 14:46You had an executive director for a little bit,
- 14:48but I think that's kind of stopped for now. What
- 14:50does this look like the next two years? Because
- 14:52obviously there's some big splashy moments. Are
- 14:55you able to continue that momentum? Look, it's
- 14:57going to be hard, right? I think that as long
- 14:59as we deliver, continue to deliver some wins,
- 15:01and as long as we're able to continue to raise
- 15:03some money, we're going to be able to continue
- 15:05to deliver. I think that the current and existing
- 15:08association is 120 years old. At what point do
- 15:11you finally say, you know what, I need something
- 15:13new, something that's different, something that
- 15:15doesn't have a thousand people on their board
- 15:17or more than a thousand people on their board.
- 15:20I don't know how you make decisions. I don't
- 15:22know how you move. I'm trying to make an industry
- 15:23better and I'm trying to give back to an industry
- 15:26that gave me a lot. Okay. I've been a very good
- 15:31beneficiary of this industry. I love my industry.
- 15:34Big into ethics. I'm big into integrity. I'm
- 15:37big into all of those things and trying to improve
- 15:39the industry. One of the things that I want to
- 15:41do is I want to make licensing more difficult.
- 15:43I want to make continuing education more difficult.
- 15:45It's very easy to become a realtor. There's virtually
- 15:48no barrier to entry. Talk to me about that because
- 15:51I hear that come up quite a bit. I think that,
- 15:54you know, we have to be held to a larger, more
- 15:56accountability. I think that we have to be better
- 15:59advisors. I mean, we are. for the most part,
- 16:02handling our agents, our clients' largest transaction
- 16:06and most important financial transaction of their
- 16:08lives. And the barriers to entry are minimal.
- 16:12The fact that we get compared to used car salesmen,
- 16:15the fact that we get compared to, like that to
- 16:17me is a very bad thing. I think that we have
- 16:22to improve the industry. We have to improve the
- 16:24reputation of us. I think that we should be real
- 16:27estate advisors and not real estate salespeople.
- 16:30You know, I'm all for full disclosure. I'm all
- 16:33for giving as much information to a buyer as
- 16:35possible and to a seller as possible. But we
- 16:38just have to raise the bar. We got to raise the
- 16:40bar a little bit and improve our industry. So,
- 16:43you know, I'm for that. You know, I think that,
- 16:45you know, continuing education is critical. I
- 16:47think licensing should be more difficult. I think
- 16:50AI is going to change the world tremendously
- 16:52and make us more efficient. So I think you actually,
- 16:54by the virtue of AI, you're going to, it's not
- 16:56going to replace the real estate agent. It's
- 16:59not that an AI robot is going to replace the
- 17:01real estate agent, but it's going to take us
- 17:02from whatever the number is today. There's mixed
- 17:04numbers, you know, 1 .4 million, 1 .6 million,
- 17:071 .2 million, whatever the number is, who cares?
- 17:09Right around there. Are we going down or are
- 17:12we going up? We're going to go down. Where is
- 17:13that number? We're going to go down, 100%. And
- 17:16you know why? Because AI is going to make us
- 17:18more efficient. Okay. And, you know, if I can
- 17:22handle today 30 transactions and AI is going
- 17:24to allow me to handle 60 transactions a year
- 17:26or 90 transactions a year, I'll be able to take
- 17:29on more listings. So the top end of the listing
- 17:31of agents are going to get more listings. And
- 17:34that's going to take people out of the business.
- 17:35The people that are handling buyers because of
- 17:38AI are going to be able to handle more buyers.
- 17:40And so it doesn't matter where you're at. You're
- 17:42going to become more efficient. You're going
- 17:43to have more time on your hands. We're going
- 17:44to become way more efficient. And that's going
- 17:46to shrink the industry. Now, as it shrinks. let's
- 17:49make sure that the continuing education, getting
- 17:51licensed, is a little bit more difficult so that
- 17:54we have a higher end advisor and we have true
- 17:56real estate advisors in the industry instead
- 17:58of just real estate salespeople or realtors.
- 18:00Yeah. What do you think in terms of continuing
- 18:02education, where do you think we're all missing
- 18:04the boat? Like what skill sets do you think a
- 18:07realtor today, you know, obviously you see some
- 18:09of the best people in the market. What's the
- 18:11missing thread? You know, one of the things that
- 18:13we miss is strength in the ethics world. I think
- 18:18that that's And not only ethics from the perspective
- 18:21of the consumer, but just within our own industry.
- 18:25You know, one of the things that I'm very proud
- 18:27of at the agency is that we have a very high
- 18:29spirit of collaboration, right? You look at my
- 18:32office right now, it's all glass. Most offices,
- 18:35people hoard their listings, they hold their
- 18:37clients. Why? Because they're afraid of somebody
- 18:39in their own office that's going to go steal
- 18:40their lead, going to go steal their client, et
- 18:42cetera, et cetera. So even just ethics within
- 18:44ourselves, the way that we treat ourselves in
- 18:46the industry, I mean, we're all competing. There's
- 18:48no question we're all competing. We're all hustling.
- 18:51You know, that will never change because we work
- 18:54for commissions. But if we can do that a little
- 18:56bit more elegantly, share more, collaborate more,
- 18:59as you talked about private listings, share them,
- 19:02don't hoard them. You know, talk about that,
- 19:04make that wider, make that more open. It's not
- 19:07about double lending. I don't care about double
- 19:09lending, okay? It's about sharing. Knowledge,
- 19:12knowledge about the industry, about, you know,
- 19:14like more mathematical knowledge, really being
- 19:17able to advise on local regimes, on things that
- 19:21are happening in the real estate industry. I
- 19:22don't think most real estate agents today know
- 19:25a lot about what's in Los Angeles, what's going
- 19:28on with ULA. What is the mansion tax? What's
- 19:31happening with housing? Is it more of how can
- 19:33we make it more like really educating us to understand
- 19:36what's happening in our industry? I can't tell
- 19:39you how good. In New York, you know, but everywhere
- 19:44in construction, where are we building? How are
- 19:46we rezoning? What is the zoning laws? Where is
- 19:49zoning happening? How do we create more housing
- 19:51affordability? How do we do things better? You
- 19:54know, we just have to be more educated on our
- 19:56industry. It's not just about knowing the contract.
- 19:59We need to know the contract perfectly. But legally,
- 20:02laws, they're changing, all of these things.
- 20:04We need to be way more educated. Okay, so that
- 20:07brings us to a good point. Since Spencer Pratt
- 20:09took the big L, do you regret not jumping in?
- 20:12I always wait. Do you mean for me to run into
- 20:14the race? Yeah. There was no chance that I was
- 20:16prepared or ready to run into this race. I had
- 20:19zero chance fundraising, you know, with what
- 20:22I have going on in my life right now, with everything
- 20:24I'm doing right now. I mean, you just said it,
- 20:27you know, we're up to 175 offices to be exact.
- 20:30We're opening up 30 offices a year. ARA is a
- 20:33passion project of mine. I'm into it right now.
- 20:36If I were to run, I would have to do, I'm open
- 20:38to it, but I have to do it when I'm ready to
- 20:41do it and when I've done proper fundraising and
- 20:43I have an opportunity to go out there because
- 20:45to go beat a Democrat today, and I'm a registered
- 20:48independent to be super clear. I do believe in
- 20:51the middle. I think the middle is what we've
- 20:53all lost. I think Republicans need to go to the
- 20:55middle. I think Democrats need to go to the middle
- 20:57and we need to find that middle. But to go speak
- 20:59on a whole campaign about what that middle means.
- 21:02you know it's a lot it's a full -time job and
- 21:05there was no way i was ready for that so no i
- 21:07don't regret it so so maybe in four years we're
- 21:11going to see umansky for mayor Let's see what
- 21:14happens in the next four years. I mean, it's
- 21:16again, it's not a job that I, it's kind of like
- 21:18the ARA. It's not a job that I want, but if I'm
- 21:21in the right position and the right person and
- 21:23there's nobody better, we might have to jump
- 21:24in to it. Well, you certainly have a number of
- 21:27really good platforms to launch it. And look,
- 21:28if Arnold Schwarzenegger can be your governor,
- 21:31anyone can make it happen, right? I think he
- 21:35was great. Yeah, he's an interesting guy. All
- 21:38right, this is the part of this podcast where
- 21:40we do noise versus signal. I say a thing, you
- 21:42say noise or signal, and then kind of one sentence
- 21:45why. You ready? I'm going to warm you up and
- 21:47make it easy for you, all right? So the first
- 21:49one is signal or noise, the clear cooperation
- 21:53policy is dead and will be replaced. Oh, that's
- 21:57a good one. The clear cooperation is dead and
- 21:59will be replaced. Signal. Signal. All right.
- 22:03So you think that'll happen? I think it will
- 22:05be replaced. I think it has to change. There's
- 22:07too much happening. And like, I mean, we talked
- 22:09about it today. It should be more collaborative
- 22:11and not be pro large, you know, big, big business.
- 22:15As it reached today, it's pro big business. Signal
- 22:17or noise, 100 ,000 ARA members. Signal. Signal,
- 22:23baby. We are definitely going to hit 100 ,000.
- 22:26There's no question about it. I love it. All
- 22:30right. It gets a little harder. AI replacing
- 22:32the buyer's agent. A little bit of both. Again,
- 22:35I think AI is going to make us more efficient.
- 22:37I don't think it's going to replace us, but it's
- 22:39going to make us way more efficient. The MLS
- 22:41existing in 2030. As it stands today, no. Noise.
- 22:46There will be a new MLS. Unified to a couple
- 22:48or one or what? You don't know. There's going
- 22:51to be changes. There's going to be changes. Okay.
- 22:54Luxury real estate is recession proof. Negative
- 22:57noise. Nothing is recession proof. How about,
- 23:02all right, here we go. 6 .7 % mortgage rates.
- 23:06Signal. It's very likely. Yeah. I don't think
- 23:10mortgage rates are high. That's my personal opinion.
- 23:13I think that we just have to get accustomed to
- 23:14what a mortgage rate is. I think 6 .7 % is a
- 23:17little bit high. Five, six. That's not a high
- 23:20interest rate. If you look at interest rates
- 23:21in the past, where sevens, eights, nines, tens,
- 23:24et cetera, et cetera. If you look at most countries,
- 23:26we got accustomed to two or 3%. That's not a
- 23:29healthy economy. Your interest rates, in my opinion,
- 23:32to be healthy. boosted economy should be somewhere
- 23:35between four and six percent four and a half
- 23:37to six percent okay last one and there's not
- 23:39still run a good business still run a good government
- 23:41because you still need to run you need to take
- 23:43care of the entire country so you need to have
- 23:45both there's not many people i can ask this last
- 23:47question to you are one of the very few noise
- 23:50or signal reality tv as a recruiting tool Signal,
- 23:55it definitely works. It's a great advertising
- 23:57tool. It's a great marketing tool. It's a great
- 23:59way to promote. It definitely works, but then
- 24:01you've got to have substance behind you and you've
- 24:03got to be able to run a real business and not
- 24:04just run a reality show. Mauricio Umansky, you're
- 24:08an incredible guest. A hell of a lot of fun.
- 24:10I can't wait to talk to you live and in person
- 24:12again here soon. Thank you so much for joining
- 24:14us today on Noise vs. Signal. Thank you, Tom.
- 24:17I appreciate that. I had a ton of fun. Thanks
- 24:20for listening to Noise vs. Signal. Follow us
- 24:22on Instagram at Inmanews for more conversations
- 24:26and industry insights. And be sure to subscribe
- 24:29wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss
- 24:32an episode. I'll see you next time.