The National Association of Realtors’ annual conference, NXT, is underway in Anaheim, California, this week, with celebrities, industry leaders, influencers, brands and proptechs on hand to see what’s “next,” especially in the wake of an avalanche of lawsuits threatening to consume traditional compensation models.
Skulking the carpeted convention center hallways will be a contingent of companies from Down Under, a group that seems to be increasing the size of its footprint each year, if attendance at industry events is any indicator.
The first to build a bridge from Australia’s proptech market to NAR’s membership was BoxBrownie, the listing media marketing company. Prior to COVID-19, the company’s red-on-black brand and team of extroverted executives was ever-present at anything real estate-related held in a hotel conference center, consuming airline mileage points like a humpback does krill. The company’s pre-COVID efforts to be everywhere all at once as often as possible paid off, and it sustained its brand recognition through the travel restrictions. Here they come again.
New Zealand’s ListAssist conducted recon efforts at Inman Connect Las Vegas in 2022, attending in person without a sponsorship or paid-for presence. They met people, attended parties, networked and even spent additional weeks stateside following up with worthwhile leads. In short, the company wanted to know if its artificial intelligence content generation solution could find traction.
ListAssist is now in partnership with TheMLS and stood on stage at NAR’s 2023 Pitch Battle. Its platform continues to expand its feature set beyond listing descriptions and into uses to better consumer home search.
ListAssist and BoxBrownie, as well as Sensor Global and Openn, are attending NXT under the umbrella of NAR Reach Australia-New Zealand, a technology-focused industry advocacy organization and product accelerator.
Openn is a mobile-first digital offer management and negotiation solution emphasizing buyer transparency, quicker workflow and document automations.
“The solution can provide buyers with real-time feedback through their device on how much competition exists and where their price stands in the negotiation,” NAR-Reach Australia-New Zealand said in an email.
Sensor Global is stepping foot on U.S. soil as the “rising star” of the organization’s most recent class of proptechs, according to advocacy group. Its value proposition rests primarily in the smart home segment, relying on a team of sensors to monitor interior environments for risks. NAR Reach Australia-New Zealand said the “the revolutionary part of Sensor Global is the smart IoT smoke alarm that alerts users in case of tampering, power loss, or cleaning requirements.”
Internet of Things (IoT) sensors are typically stand-alone devices meant to network appliances and existing building systems for the purpose of large-scale monitoring and data collection. They can be used for water quality, temperature, pressure, motion, smoke and chemical detection, among other uses for property managers, commercial landlords and tenants.
Maybe Sensor Global can get a behind-the-curtain read on the mood of NAR’s leadership, despite stating at NXT’s opening that the trade group will seek “complete reversal” of the landmark Sitzer/Burnett resolution.
Inman reported that NAR’s legal team spoke at a session called “Lawsuit Update: Impact and Next Steps” at NAR NXT in Anaheim, California, this week. The session, which ran less than an hour, was so popular that the event organizers had to open up two overflow rooms to accommodate attendees.
There is one idea almost certainly circulating over sushi plates and around hotel suite soirees in Anaheim this week, and it’s that never before has the real estate agent been more challenged to prove its value to the consumer.
Maybe the contingent of technology companies from a region of the world unburdened by the United States model of agent compensation will have some fresh insight for Tracy Kasper into how NAR should carry on, as the NAR president seems hellbent on advocating for business as usual in spite of consumers from Seattle to Sarasota demonstrating a desire for change.
If only it was as easy as virtual staging.
