Friday Flash: The Consumer

We all love The Consumer.

We speak knowingly on their behalf. We fight for them. We concede their power to determine our industry’s future.

The Consumer fuels passionate arguments and noble initiatives.

The Consumer also lends justification to cynical strategies, padding to weak arguments, and perfume to rank bullshit.

The truth is that we all have an idea about what is right for The Consumer. Those ideas are different.

Redfin launched 20 years ago and still exists today to “give consumers a better deal,” as they put it. CEO Glen Kelman believes that with every fiber of his being. But there are those, including myself, who are not so sure that Redfin’s deal is better, but nonetheless admire the vision (and the man). Some believe Redfin does consumers a terrible disservice and think Kelman is full of it. So it goes.

Zillow states that consumers are their “North Star.” Shout that in a room of 100 real estate industry types and you’ll find yourself in a fistfight.

Opportunistic attorneys earned a fortune bringing a class action lawsuit on behalf of The Consumer, only to make real estate transactions more complicated for them.

See, there it is — my own view of what’s best.

I think about this a lot lately because of the Clear Cooperation Policy debate. In all my time in this industry, I don’t think I’ve seen such wild invocations of The Consumer’s rights, interests, and vulnerabilities.

Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, the loudest anti-CCP voice, has spent the past few months telling everybody from CNBC to CMLS that he’s fighting for homesellers’ rights.

I shared my own opinion on CCP a few weeks ago, which was based upon my own view of what best serves home buyers and sellers.

Some people agreed with me. Others didn’t. That’s how it goes. You set up your stall in the marketplace of ideas and hope to pull people your way.

But there is another factor. The obvious one. The Consumer themselves. We — me included — listen too little and proclaim too much.

An industry friend who disagrees with me on CCP called me this week asking “where are the consumers in this debate?”

She asked a good question.

It seems like a good idea to bring them in. Stay tuned.

…

I worry about the potential consequences of a private listings free-for-all for our industry as well. That includes the potential for negative blowback onto large brokerages pushing to have CCP repealed. The words “be careful what you wish for” are at the top of my mind.

Large brokers are some of my closest friends in this business, and I want to see the best of them win. But I worry that going bigger (you can do private listings now, after all!) on exclusives is a poke at a very large and angry bear.

Last month I gave a talk at the CMLS conference in which I elaborated on this idea. CMLS has given me permission to share the video here:

Of course, I want your feedback — especially if you think I’m wrong. I have talked with countless people over the past few months about this, but always seek new arguments or perspectives.

And finally, because I get a lot of angry email when I disagree with or criticize Compass, I’m going to say this: I think Compass is a very good real estate brokerage. I know lots of great agents and team leaders who love it there. The tech is terrific. What Robert and team have done with costs over the past two years is pretty amazing. So, please, scorch me if you must, but know I am not a hater.