In today’s RealTrending, RE/MAX CEO & President Nick Bailey and United Real Estate Holdings CEO Dan Duffy offer a peek into their decisions to buy, build or partner for their brokerage technology platform.
For Bailey, making the decision to let go of in-house tech to go outside made sense for the firm. Duffy, on the other hand, says that their firm is better for building a tech platform. Regardless, both do partner on some components.
Listen in as the two have a friendly point, counterpoint discussion on why they feel their strategic decisions help them run a more profitable brokerage. There are always multiple ways to go about running a brokerage firm, what’s best for one might not be in the DNA of another.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Nick and Dan. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Nick Bailey: Consumers want tools that you can put in their hand. And it needs to be that simple for the agents. We think that there’s all kinds of new tech every year, and there’s really not. It’s only about once every 15 to 20 years that a major technology innovation comes to market.
Dan Duffy: What was the last technology innovation that hit?
Nick Bailey: The new one of today is AI. We have schools blocking it.
Dan Duffy: I disagree, by the way.
Nick Bailey: It’s going to change people’s beavior. That’s an example of when you have tech companies that can be nimble. As these things start to change, I don’t want to build my own mobile device, just like I don’t want to build my own AI company. But I certainly believe that as you fast forward, you’re going to have a click here to write a listing description that will be integrated via AI. And let’s face it — not sexy —but there is a number one technology that has made the consumer experience better and the agents more efficient in the last 10 years. What do you think it is? E-signature.
The RealTrending podcast features the brightest minds in real estate. Every week, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.