Layla Zulfa
The real estate industry is abuzz with the recent launch of the Open Real Estate (ORE) data initiative, a project spearheaded by a consortium of prominent brokerages aiming to centralize and control listing data. However, even as the initiative garners significant support, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over its ultimate form and function, with some key players, including companies actively involved in its development, expressing a lack of complete clarity on the end product.
At the heart of the matter is the fundamental question of how this new initiative will integrate with, or potentially disrupt, the existing real estate data ecosystem. Ocusell, a technology company that has been operating under a non-disclosure agreement with ORE for "many, many months," offers a service that appears to closely mirror ORE’s stated goals. Hayden Rieveschl, Founder and CEO of Ocusell, noted that his company has been engaged in discussions and collaborations with ORE for an extended period, yet acknowledges a degree of ambiguity regarding the final architecture of the ORE platform.
"In regards to what Open RE has pitched, yeah, I mean, essentially what they pitched is a single point of entry with, you know, full status listings, proactive compliance accommodating entirely to, you know, the MLS or multiple MLSs’ rule sets," Rieveschl stated. He emphasized Ocusell’s established track record and extensive reach across over 30 MLSs as evidence of their capability to fulfill such a vision. "And obviously, Ocusell is the only proven solution that’s been in production for many years with over 30 plus MLSs at this point that can accommodate that request," he added.
The announcement of ORE has been met with a significant wave of support, securing 826 letters of endorsement from real estate brokerage leaders nationwide. Among the initial cohort of prominent brands backing the initiative are Brown Harris Stevens, Lamacchia Realty, Samson Properties, and Windermere Real Estate. This broad base of support underscores a long-standing desire within the brokerage community for greater control over their listing data. Rieveschl echoed this sentiment, stating, "What’s no secret is that the broker community has wanted this for decades."
The Genesis of Open Real Estate
The formation of Open Real Estate can be traced back to a shared frustration among leading brokerages regarding the current fragmented and often inefficient systems for listing data management and distribution. The founding members—AGNT Inc. (representing eXp Realty and NextHome), HomeServices of America, Keller Williams Realty, and Real REMAX Group—recognized the need for a unified approach that would empower agents and brokerages. The initiative’s core tenets, as articulated by its founders, revolve around concepts of "seller choice," a "fair, open marketplace," "transparency," and "fair housing."
A key objective of ORE is to return control of listing data to its producers – the agents and their brokerages. This aligns with a broader industry trend towards data ownership and monetization, where the creators of the data are seeking to benefit directly from its use and distribution. The initiative has explicitly stated that when a revenue model is established, it will exclusively reward agents and their respective brokerages.
A "Data Layer" or a Redundant System?
Tamir Poleg, CEO of Real REMAX Group and a founding member of ORE, described the initiative as a "data layer" during a recent podcast appearance. He elaborated, "Essentially what Open Real Estate does is create a way for agents to send listings to one place and that place then distributes those listings to MLSs, to portals, to all of the stakeholders in the industry. It’s a data sharing platform on the residential side that serves obviously agents and should obviously benefit consumers."
This description has prompted questions from industry observers and software vendors about potential redundancies with existing Multiple Listing Services (MLSs). Michael Martin, CEO and Co-Founder of the real estate AI platform Sidekick, expressed a cautious perspective. "Any additional add/edit functionality on top of what’s required by a MLS I would see as added overhead, even if the user experience is better or faster than what agents are already accustomed to," Martin commented. He further raised concerns about data completeness, suggesting that if ORE requires only a subset of fields, agents might still need to supplement information for specific MLSs, leading to a suboptimal user experience.
Martin also pointed out the potential for friction between ORE and its participating MLSs if brokerages prioritize data input that favors consumer-facing portals over MLS requirements. The differing data field requirements between major portals like Zillow and Redfin and the underlying MLSs that syndicate to them is a known challenge in the industry.
The Impact on MLS Modernization
Andrew Flachner, Co-Founder and CEO of RealScout, a company that licenses listing data from MLSs, offered a different perspective on ORE’s potential impact. He suggested that ORE’s greatest contribution might be its ability to catalyze MLS modernization. "For example, CRMLS has been natively RESO for years, so it would likely process nearly all of a listing’s details from ORE without changing anything," Flachner explained. "An MLS with its own field set would drop some of those details. If ORE shows agents that their local MLS drops some of their listing details because its fields don’t match with RESO standards, there’s a much greater chance that agents and their brokers will push for the MLS to adopt RESO. This could move the industry toward standardized data faster than anything we’ve seen. Whether MLSs choose to work with ORE or modernize so they don’t need it, the industry ends up with better data."
The RESO (Real Estate Standards Organization) Web API is a crucial standard for data exchange in the real estate industry, promoting consistency and interoperability. ORE’s potential to highlight MLS systems that are not fully compliant with RESO standards could indeed accelerate the adoption of these essential data standards.
Streamlining Data Access for Vendors
Dan Foody, Co-Founder of Cloze, a CRM platform that leverages real estate data, speculated that ORE could offer a more streamlined and less burdensome conduit for data provisioning compared to the complex web of agreements often required to access MLS data. "So we’ve got one brokerage customer where we have, I think it’s over 50 individual agreements with a single MLS," Foody said, illustrating the complexity of current data licensing. "We have to manage 55-plus legal agreements. And then, if we want to make a change, we have to modify every single one of those agreements, and read it, resign them all."
Foody believes that a vendor could potentially connect to ORE and work through a single provider, simplifying the process. However, he also raised a critical point about potential cost duplication. "If Open Real Estate charges significant fees for substantially the same inventory, vendors could end up paying twice for the same listings," he cautioned. "ORE plans to compensate brokerages for their listings, but if vendors have to pay significant fees to distribute those same listings, those costs ultimately get passed back to agents and brokerages through the tools they use to serve their clients. In effect, brokerages could end up paying for the very distribution they’re being compensated for."
Flachner concurred, emphasizing that ORE must be structured to encourage vendor participation and make economic sense. "But ORE needs to be structured in a way that encourages their participation and makes economic sense," he stated. "If Open Real Estate charges significant fees for substantially the same inventory, vendors could end up paying twice for the same listings. ORE plans to compensate brokerages for their listings, but if vendors have to pay significant fees to distribute those same listings, those costs ultimately get passed back to agents and brokerages through the tools they use to serve their clients. In effect, brokerages could end up paying for the very distribution they’re being compensated for."
The "Wolf in the Room": Google and the Future of Data Aggregation
Amidst the discussions about ORE’s role and potential impact, Foody introduced a significant concern: the overarching threat of large technology giants like Google. He posited that the fragmentation and competition within the real estate data landscape, exacerbated by initiatives like Compass’s phased marketing and now ORE, inadvertently plays into the hands of companies like Google.
"If this is a counterplay to what Compass is doing, then that’s understandable," Foody remarked. "But the whole thing that everyone misses in this… it’s like these little puppies yapping at each other, and then there’s this wolf [named] Google sitting over there salivating. Now there’s all these pools of data that no one has centralized. And guess who’s really good at creating a single way for consumers to search for something? That’s Google."
Foody’s analysis suggests that by creating more dispersed data silos, the industry is making it easier for a powerful aggregator like Google to consolidate and present this information to consumers. He highlighted Google’s recent announcement on November 4th, detailing agreements with three additional brokerages—REMAX Advantage, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Properties Group, and ENRG Realty—to feed it listings. This move underscores Google’s increasing presence and capability in the real estate data space.
A Familiar Template? The Howard Hanna Parallel
While Open Real Estate is charting its own course, the industry has seen similar initiatives before. Hoby Hanna, CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, expressed surprise at not being consulted by the ORE consortium, especially given his company’s prior involvement in Project Upstream, a now-defunct initiative with comparable objectives. "It would have been nice to be at the table, but obviously those guys didn’t see me at their level," Hanna told HousingWire.
Intriguingly, Howard Hanna’s own platform, HannaList, which employs a multi-step listing marketing approach, could serve as a blueprint for ORE. HannaList was developed by Ocusell, the same company that has been working with ORE. This creates a fascinating parallel, suggesting that the technology and operational framework for a centralized listing data solution may already exist and be in practical use.
Hanna indicated that his company has invested significant resources into HannaList and is committed to its development. He stated, "We have invested a lot of time and money into the platform we have built, HannaList. We are moving forward with that, and we’ve cooperated with MLSs to build it, so I’d really have to understand what the end game is and get a sense of if they can really pull it off before deciding if we will participate."
He further elaborated on the potential of HannaList as a model for ORE, saying, "I’d say that is the product Open RE should build around. I’ve been very happy with it, and our agents are very happy with it. Ocusell has proven they can build it." Hanna also expressed a willingness to share his company’s experience and insights, noting the challenges and operational lift involved in such an undertaking. He sees HannaList as an evolution of the concepts explored in Project Upstream, adapted for his company and agents.
The emergence of Open Real Estate signifies a critical juncture for the real estate industry. While the initiative has garnered substantial initial support and addresses a long-standing industry need for data control, its ultimate success will hinge on its ability to navigate the complexities of existing infrastructure, foster collaboration with technology vendors, and clearly define its value proposition. The ongoing discussions and the potential parallels with existing solutions like HannaList suggest that the path forward for Open Real Estate, while promising, remains a landscape yet to be fully mapped. The industry will be watching closely to see if ORE can indeed deliver on its ambitious vision or if it will become another chapter in the ongoing evolution of real estate data management.
