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NYC brokerages unite to launch ‘game-changing’ data platform

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A number of leading residential brokerages in New York City are banding together to offer a new level of transparency to the way consumers and brokers search and transact property. The effort is being called a “game-changer” by high-ranking executives involved in its launch.

Brown Harris Stevens, Halstead Real Estate and Douglas Elliman are among a slate of top-tier residential real estate brokerages spearheading the launch of NYC Buyer Graph, a platform powered by real estate technology company RealScout that gives buyers, sellers and their agents exclusive data and consumer-friendly technology to collaborate on property transactions.

The goal is to enable both consumers and agents to effortlessly find properties, make data-driven decisions with proprietary data and analytics and securely collaborate with other agents at the participating firms.

Andrew Flachner, co-founder of RealScout

“These leading brokerages have incredible access to data, people, and expertise – an irreplaceable competitive advantage which, for the first time, can be leveraged by buyers and sellers through the application of RealScout’s platform,” said Andrew Flachner, RealScout’s co-founder.

“We’re confident this group of pioneering brokerages, with their dominant market presence, coupled with our technology, will redefine the real estate process in New York and set the standard for the rest of the country.”

Beside Brown Harris Stevens, Douglas Elliman and Halstead Real EstateBond Real Estate, Engel & Völkers, Stribling and Associates, and Warburg Realty have all signed on to the platform.

“RealScout provides much more than the customer collaboration features we wanted,” said Richard Grossman, president at Halstead Real Estate. “We now have access to real-time, buyer demand data for our agents, and for our clients as well.”

Richard Grossman, president of Halstead Realty | Photo courtesy Halstead Realty

“RealScout’s Buyer Graph brings unprecedented sophistication and coordination among member brokerages and agents, while fully ensuring consumer privacy,” Grossman added. “This is a game-changer.”

While the platform is launching with the seven initial partners, it’s currently welcoming additional brokers in the city to join. The NYC Buyer Graph promises brokerages that their clients will enjoy access to the group’s technology, network and homebuyer demand data. The more brokers that join the ranks, the stronger the platform’s reach and influence.

The platform will not be consumer-facing, so buyers and sellers will only be able to gain access by working with a member brokerage or one of its agents.

“Through RealScout, Douglas Elliman joins the NYC Buyer Graph alongside a broad base of the top residential real estate companies in New York City,” said Steven James, New York City CEO at Douglas Elliman. “The Buyer Graph enables us to securely share critical market data with member brokerages, allowing us to help consumers make high-quality decisions about their real estate needs.”

RealScout is a San Francisco-based technology startup that aims to match homebuyers and homes by providing brokerages with buyer data from lead to close. With the platform, which is live in over 100 markets, real estate professionals can capture buyer attention, collect data and use it to close deals.

The startup’s search feature contains no ads for other agents and has a property comparison feature  that automatically displays listings side-by-side and room-by-room using machine learning. Agents also get new listings alerts and can notify clients of those new listings using language branded emails.

Email Patrick Kearns