Loomio
Mon 5 Mar 2018 6:17PM

3/4-10/18: Listen then leverage 20th National Consumer Protection Week w/ #RE2020 Podcasts?

BW Bill Wendel Public Seen by 25

#RE2020 plans to host a number of listening sessions with consumers and professionals during 20th annual National Consumer Protection Week #NCPW and turn them into podcasts. We'd like to explore multiple themes and invite your ideas on Twitter, in the thread below, or as separate posts on Loomio.

Here's a starter list plus suggested hashtags so YOUR social media posts connect with others, and amplify our individual and collective goals. If you'd like to be interview on any of these topics and want to nomination someone else, please let us know:

#AffordableHousing
#BiddingWars,
#DefensiveHomebuying, others?
#FakeBuyerAgents
#GamesREAgentsPlay,
#REBillOfRights
#REBubble 2.0,
#SpeculatorsWithoutBorders,

FIRST THINGS FIRST: CONSUMER RIGHTS

Since the Trump administration has been dismantling consumer protections, we're using #NCPW to talk about the need for a Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights. Since 1999, there have been a number of efforts to draft one:

http://bit.ly/REBillRights

That effort peaked in 2001 when a petition co-signed by a number of leading real estate consumer advocates was submitted to Congress:

http://bit.ly/RECALL2001

During the past decade, there's been little movement on that proposal, but the daily experience of millions of homebuyers who are being tracked by real estate apps underlines the need to address the subject during National Consumer Protection Week.

CROWDSOURCING:

Who should #RECALL invite to provide a historical perspective on #REBillOfRights, and who should we invite to talk about the need for a Homebuyer / Homeowner Bill of Digital Rights, particularly as real estate companies morph into data companies?

http://bit.ly/CastleDocTwts

BW

Bill Wendel Wed 6 Mar 2019 7:05PM

Posted this thread a year ago, now #BuyersREmorse = lead #RealEstate story for #NCPW2019. See lead story this morning on LinkedIn:

http://bit.ly/BuyerREmorse_LinkedIn

Tweeted that #RE2020 plans to host listening sessions for #Millennials Our goal is to:

Identify pain points;
Develop empathy maps;
Plan offensive/defensive homebuying strategies;
Explore potential relocation options

Anyone want to participate in listening session, or sponsor series? Negotiating with potential partners. See #BuyersREmorse tweets dating back to 2016:

http://bit.ly/BuyersREmorse_RECafeTwts

BW

Bill Wendel Thu 7 Mar 2019 2:59PM

Move over #BuyersREmorse, there a new lead story for #NCPW2019, maybe a historic turning point for real estate consumer advocates. See thread on LinkedIn generated by class action lawsuit filed yesterday against giants in the residential brokerage industry:

http://bit.ly/AntiCompRESuit

BW

Bill Wendel Fri 8 Mar 2019 5:19PM

What hashtag should we use for this?
Gotterdammerung: A Very Serious Legal Threat

http://bit.ly/BewareREClassAction

EXCERPTS:

Already my Facebook thread on this case is abuzz with REALTORS playing legal counsel, opining that the case has no merit, that the lawyers are scum, and so on. Listen, have all the opinions you want, but could I suggest that you at least read the actual Complaint first before forming an opinion?

I have to think more about the claims made here, but at first glance, this is a serious threat. The lawyers here make a pretty credible claim of “conspiracy” (meaning, coordinated action) and there are a lot of economic studies on how cooperation and compensation affect commission rates in North America. I’ve talked about such studies in the past, but until something like this happens, academic studies are just that: academic.

Their facts are hard to dispute...

...the lawyers involved in this case are seriously scary dudes....two of the most successful class action plaintiff’s law firms in the country. ..They have hundred of billions in victories between the two of them, quite a lot of lawyers in offices across the country, and a huge war chest for these kinds of complex class-action lawsuits.

Furthermore, money is one thing. What the plaintiffs want here is an end to cooperation and compensation. That destroys the MLS, and if the MLS gets destroyed, it kills the REALTOR Associations. It might kill off a whole lot of brokerages as well, if their agents now have to try to get the buyers to pay them directly.

It is far too early to start making prognostications of what this case means for the industry, for business models, and so on.

However, this is a real case, filed by real lawyers with real money in the bank, who are playing for keeps and huge dollars. I would urge everyone to at least pay attention to the case.

If you are an MLS, a REALTOR Association, a large brokerage, or a large tech company in our space, I would suggest at least starting to think about the unthinkable: a contingency plan just in case.