For many in the real estate industry, Aug. 17, 2024 — the date that the business practice changes outlined in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement went into effect — served as a reckoning of sorts.
“I am in awe of how many folks decided on Thursday that something was changing on Saturday,” Linda O’Koniewski, the broker-owner of Leading Edge Real Estate, said the week after the business practice changes went into effect. “Most of the confusion we are seeing is from agents who don’t understand what has happened and even broker-owners who don’t understand changes have occurred.”
As it became clear that many real estate professionals are in need of guidance, brokerages and industry leaders have launched a variety of educational resources and training courses for agents and brokers.
Living up to its legacy
Keller Williams is a franchise known for its agent education efforts. In the days immediately following Aug. 17, the firm launched an agent resource webpage known as “Buyer and Seller Agent Tools to Thrive.” On the webpage, agents can view more than 20 one-on-one video interviews with top agents and real estate team leaders in which they discuss their best practices to comply with the terms of the NAR settlement.
Additionally, agents have access to compliance guidance, FAQs, advice to stay ahead in the new regulatory environment, fact sheets for buyers and sellers, and access to panel sessions and content on the NAR settlement from Keller Williams’ Mega Agent Camp last month. The webpage is open to agents across the industry regardless of their brokerage affiliation.
“Keller Williams carries a special mantle, by which to go educate and then share the education with the industry,” said Jason Abrams, the head of industry and learning at Keller Williams. “Gary Keller didn’t write the Millionaire Real Estate Agent and cloister it away; he shared it with the industry. In the same way, we felt this was just too important to keep online in house.”
Abrams acknowledges that giving agents these resources may entice some who are frustrated by a lack of guidance from their current firm to move to Keller Williams. But he also said that isn’t the goal.
“One of the things that disheartens me slightly was that a lot of real estate companies put together their websites and educational emails, and then locked it behind forced registration to try to get real estate agents to become their leads,” Abrams said. “I have never thought about education that way, especially at this moment. If we gain agents, that would be great, but we love to help people who want to grow and thrive entrepreneurially.”
Getting real with agents
The Real Brokerage has also decided to open some of its educational resources to agents across the industry. Just prior to the deadline for business practice changes, the fast-growing real estate firm launched an agent “playbook.”
According to President Sharran Srivatsaa, the playbook contains a list of 26 scenarios “that every single agent should know how to navigate in this environment.”
“We don’t think the 26 scenarios is an exhaustive list by any chance, but it gives agents a huge jumpstart,” Srivatsaa said. “If an agent doesn’t know where to begin, this gives them a place to start.”
The scenarios are broken up between process-based and compensation-based scenarios, and they are given to agents in a workbook format to help them think through the changes and how to handle a variety of scenarios. The firm is also offering online workshops for agents seeking additional help.
An outlet for voices
Agents looking for guidance and fellowship as they navigate the changes can also look toward industry giant Anywhere Real Estate, which launched the Anywhere Voices webinar series in late June.
In a statement, Anywhere said the series is “designed to help broker owners and agents navigate the industry and create success,” and called it a “guide to what’s next in real estate.”
The sessions are led by Anywhere CEO Ryan Schneider and Sue Yannaccone, the president and CEO of Anywhere Brands and Advisors.
“Frankly, the industry needs more leadership helping real estate professionals navigate these changes,” Schneider said during the firm’s second-quarter 2024 earnings call with investors. “And that’s why Sue Yannaccone, the CEO of Anywhere Brands and Advisors, and I recently launched Anywhere Voices, a new publicly available series to provide guidance to the industry and its professionals as we all navigate the future. And we delivered our first session in mid-July focused on buyer agreements.”
Anywhere hosted a second webinar in late August, just days after the business practice changes went into effect. The company plans on hosting more webinars in the future.
Standing by your side
White-label brokerage firm Side has also thrown its hat in the ring as a source of agent education. After piloting its PartnerUp Coaching platform to Side partners, the company announced that roughly half of its next round of live courses, which begin Sept. 9, are available to agents across the industry.
The courses being offered are:
- Scaling Your Boutique Team
- Breaking into the Luxury Market
- SCALE: Mindset, Vision, Strategy & Culture for Building Your Ultimate Company
- Stress-Less Sales: Mastering Communication & Tactical Empathy
- Buyer Broker Agreement? Oh Crap!
- Up-Leveling to a Top Listing Agent and Profit Powerhouse: Strategies for Maximizing Profit and Building a Successful Business
These courses will be taught by Anthony Marguleas, the founder of Amalfi Estates; Brett Jennings, founder of Real Estate Experts; Danielle Lazier, founder of Vivre Real Estate; Kelli Griggs, founder of Navigate Realty; and Zaid Hanna, founder of Real Estate 38.
Steve Capezza, the president of Side, said the firm’s decision to open these courses to the industry was twofold.
“First, the entire industry will benefit from it,” Capezza said. “Our view is the opportunities that exist in real estate — whether it is brokerage, agent experience or customer experience — will be solved through consortium. Not any one company is going to solve it on their own. And our partners and associates trend well ahead of their local markets in terms of production, and our view is the industry at large will benefit from their influence in a coaching role.”
Capezza said the firm also sees this as an opportunity for Side to step out of the shadows and present itself as an industry leader. Like Keller Williams, Capezza said that Side is not viewing this as a recruitment exercise for itself, but some of its partners running the classes might.
For Capezza, it isn’t surprising that many firms and industry leaders have launched educational tools and resources for agents at this pivotal moment.
“I don’t sit in the minds of executives across the industry, but the ones that I would consider reflections of the future, they get that it is not just their agents, their team leader or their brokers that are bringing the category forward — it is the industry,“ he said.
“If they have a best practice, a thorough line of guidance, if they have some element of their business that they believe is going to make a better real estate industry, then we will all benefit from them sharing that. Our customers will benefit from them sharing that. Today, more than ever, I think the industry sees the collective winning as an opportunity for all of us.”
