T3 Insight
Executive brief: articles and latest news
T3 Sixty’s monthly executive brief providing analysis on the most important trends and developments as well as a quick digest of the most notable news in the industry.
The industry has so many stories, blogs, press releases and announcements each month that we all struggle to digest the information and distinguish between truly meaningful developments and hype or advertisement.
With T3 Insight, T3 Sixty analyzes developing trends, provides new brokerage industry best practices, and creates new perspectives on recent developments in technology, leadership, and organized real estate, in a monthly executive brief. It helps executives understand how the industry is changing in real time.
Each monthly executive brief also includes a composite of latest news and current articles under the title “What We’re Reading.”
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
Have a question? Connect with our executive editor, Paul Hagey.
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Articles
Individual deep dive topics that T3 Sixty explores as part of the monthly executive brief
The articles listed here are an alternative view of the composite monthly brief. This offers an easy way to view recent, chronological, articles.
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November 2021
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Real estate brokerages and teams need different technology at different sizes. In fact, the right technology for smaller firms just will not fit as firms pass a certain agent count. This article highlights some of the technology considerations for brokerages and teams at different sizes.
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November 2021
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Most leaders know the value of strategic planning but may not yet have a reliable, proven system that enables them to focus on the key business areas that actually improve the bottom line. This article outlines a strategic planning process all brokers can employ to achieve tangible results.
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November 2021
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IBuying has gained many headlines, but the real estate financing revolution currently happening is much bigger as companies innovate to streamline the transaction with alternative financing services, something T3 Sixty has termed AltFin. Zillow Group’s move to walk away from purchasing homes is just part of this new approach’s evolution.
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October 2021
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The 2022 Swanepoel Trends Report, now in its 17th year, provides key insights and analysis of the most significant trends shaping the industry in what appears to be its most dynamic period in decades. This article presents some of what industry leaders an expect from the report.
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October 2021
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Technology has promised to make things simpler and more efficient for a long time now. In this article, T3 Sixty identifies some technology areas and products with which brokerages and teams are improving their efficiency and finding success.
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October 2021
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Realtor association executives play a critical role in administering the important services local Realtor associations missions, from serving members with training and education to advocacy and administering a multiple listing service. This article outlines the best practices Realtor associations should employ to hire successful executives.
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September 2021
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T3 Sixty ranks the residential real estate brokerage industry’s most powerful and influential leaders and executives. nominate a leader you feel is worthy.
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September 2021
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While real estate companies tout many potential applications, AI is actually in its relatively early stages in the industry
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September 2021
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Housing affordability has become a big challenge in communities throughout the U.S., as home prices rise, particularly at lower price points
What We’re Reading
Notable industry articles curated with T3 Sixty’s perspective
Every month T3 gathers most important news across all companies, brands and regions and created an executive summary for quick and easy review.
- Article avaiable on Bloomberg
Douglas Elliman, the nation’s sixth largest brokerage, is set to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the “DOUG” ticker as its public parent company, Vector Group, plans to spin it off as a separate company, likely by the end of the year. Vector Group Chairman Howard Lorber says operating as a standalone public company will give Douglas Elliman easier, more direct access to capital markets and allow it to tell a more focused marketing message without any entanglements with tobacco, the other major business operated by Vector Group.
- Article avaiable on The Real Deal
Los Angeles-based Cover has raised $60 million to help fuel its service that builds one- and two-unit prefab homes for homeowners to place on their properties. These types of properties, also known as accessory dwelling units, will play a critical role in adding affordable housing, and housing period, as communities look to diversify their housing stock, cities look to add infill and housing demand outstrips supply.
- Article avaiable on HousingWire
Four MLSs – ACTRIS (Austin, Texas), First MLS (Atlanta), Heartland MLS (Kansas City) and Miami Realtors MLS (Miami) – created a joint venture in MLS Technology Holdings LLC to acquire MLS technology provider Remine. Remine had developed some innovative MLS technology products, but had dealt with reports of unprofessional conduct of leadership and had stumbled in recent months. The move by these MLSs reflects the desire of MLSs to take their future into their own hands and begin owning some of the technology infrastructure they rely on to provide services to brokers and agents.
- Article avaiable on CNBC
In August, a record 4.3 million Americans left their jobs, a growing trend that some are calling “The Great Resignation.” The pandemic has forced many to confront their lives on a deep level, and experts suggest this has contributed to professionals reevaluating their careers and making decisions to pursue opportunities and jobs they want now, rather than putting those feelings off.
- Article avaiable on Reuters
Housing starts stumble into Autumn In September, home starts fell by 1.6 percent from the previous month while the gap between completed homes and those under construction was the largest on record, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The drop in starts is unexpected as demand for homes remain very high. A Reuters poll had suggested that starts would instead rise in September, but rising prices for lumber and other building components have added some hurdles.
- Article avaiable on Businesswire
With a strategic investment in a Vermont-based Keller Williams Realty expansion team, the franchisor has launched a national mega team in Livian. Tailored to attract and support productive teams across the nation, KW has introduced a new team brand it hopes will become a significant player in this arena.
- Article avaiable on Inman
A critical analysis of the Clear Cooperation Policy Inman conducted a multipart investigative series on Clear Cooperation Policy, which NAR implemented in 2020. The policy, intended to curb property marketing that illegitimately circumvent the MLS, limits the ability for agents to market listings to a max of one business day before it goes active in the MLS. The series includes a discussion of how, in some markets, pocket listings continue at high rates. For example, one study reveals that the percentage of homes sold within a day of going active in the MLS (a sign that the home was actually sold before going live in the MLS) shot up in markets around the country after the Clear Cooperation Policy took effect. Irrespective of consumer benefit, brokerages and agents face big incentives with marketing homes off the MLS, a practice that has been commonplace for decades. As the industry looks to keep the integrity of the MLS intact, workarounds to the Clear Cooperation Policy as covered in this series make it clear that the practice is alive and well and will continue.
- Article avaiable on Inman
CoStar Group continues aggressive posture toward Zillow Group Andy Florance, the founder and CEO of CoStar Group, which has aggressively jumped into the residential real estate portal arena with its recent purchase of Homesnap and Homes.com, has developed an aggressive tone toward Zillow Group. His recent interview with Brad Inman at Inman Connect revealed how he’s hoping to position his firm’s real estate play in relation to the nation’s dominant portal. A backdrop to the conversation was Homesnap’s October launch of a New York City portal, Citysnap, that will compete with Zillow-owned New York City portal StreetEasy. While Zillow Group sells advertising and leads to agents for placement on other agents’ listings, CoStar Group has a focused strategy of only placing the listing agent’s contact info on listings on its sites.
- Article avaiable on RISMedia
John L. Scott, the nation’s 15th largest brokerage led by J. Lennox Scott, the grandson of the firm’s founder, is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2021. The company epitomizes the entrepreneur-led, family-owned character that has dominated the industry since World War II. Family-owned and -run companies like John L. Scott are becoming fewer and far between, especially at the largest brokerage tiers.
- Article avaiable on 425 Business
Bill Riss, owner of Seattle-based Coldwell Banker Bain, whose 2020 sales volume of $6.4 billion made it the nation’s 26th largest brokerage, has sold his firm to a subsidiary of real estate title giant Stewart Information Services Corp. Stewart is a global firm publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange with, as of early November, a market cap of over $2 billion. This is another example of the industry’s entrepreneurial owners selling and transitioning the industry in general into one that is more corporately-owned and publicly traded.