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Each week on The Download, Inman’s Christy Murdock takes a deeper look at the top-read stories of the week to give you what you’ll need to meet Monday head-on. This week: NAR President Kevin Sears sat down at Inman Connect Las Vegas with Clelia Warburg Peters to talk about the trade group’s past and future, including a return to advocacy and transparency.
FOMO was the name of the game if you were anywhere but Las Vegas this week (unless you watched from home with your Virtual Access ticket). Not only did Inman Connect Las Vegas offer incredible opportunities to, well, connect (I mean, it’s right there in the name), but it also offered ground-zero coverage for onstage discussions of everything from commissions to operations to affordability and more.
Of course, one of the best parts of the Connect experience is seeing truly extraordinary individuals get up on stage and create can’t-miss moments with their insight, wisdom and, sometimes, sheer unbridled nerve. Here are just a few of the brave souls who dazzled this week.
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NAR President Kevin Sears sends message of resilience at ICLV by Taylor Anderson
“I hope — at the end of the day, at the end of the two-year term — to be able to look back and say there was some stability and calm brought back into our organization and our industry,” NAR President Kevin Sears told a crowd of hundreds of onlookers in his first public appearance at an Inman Connect event.
In front of an audience with strong or mixed opinions about the role of NAR and its benefit for dues-paying members, Sears aimed to offer transparency and to share his accomplishments since being named president of the organization six months prior. The expectations, and the tension, were palpable.
“I think a lot of people feel you haven’t done the job,” moderator Clelia Warburg Peters said, prompting cheers and modest applause from the audience 2 minutes into the on-stage interview.
“The job is to be the voice for real estate,” Sears said in answer to Peters’ question. “I’ve been getting on the road and having conversations with members. God willing, I’ll be president for two years.”
“It’s been very tumultuous over the last 12 to 18 months,” he added.
The Inman Connect Las Vegas stage offered a can’t-miss platform for everyone from reality TV stars to portal warriors to industry titans — and even a presidential hopeful — this week. It also saw awards handed out and the announcement of a new setting for next year’s summertime event — San Diego.
EXTRA: Inman Connect moving from Las Vegas to San Diego
ICYMI, here’s a roundup of just a fraction of the best moments you simply must see as we hurtle toward Aug. 17:
Brad Inman: Be decisive, practice self-care and be
To get through the industry’s perfect storm, Inman News founder Brad Inman told ICLV attendees to “think big [and] act big, because the goddamn problem is very big.”
RFK Jr. at ICLV: Homeownership is the engine of the middle
The Kennedy family heir and presidential contender also argued Thursday at Inman Connect Las Vegas that democracy depends on people maintaining “a posture of fierce skepticism.”
Buyer consultations will be easier than you think: Keith
The NextHome chief strategy officer’s 20-minute presentation at Inman Connect Las Vegas could be just the ticket to feeling more at ease with commission lawsuit changes coming Aug. 17.
Redfin CEO talks lapdogs, wolves and riding out commission
At Inman Connect Las Vegas, Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman described an increasingly complicated commission landscape and the shift brokerages and portals must make.
DelPrete ‘secret shopper’ sting reveals agents lose hosts of
With the help of a firm with more than 100 undercover researchers, the real estate tech strategist tested agents at roughly 30 brokerages. More than 1 in 3 inquiries never received a response.
Quintavius Burdette on ‘surviving’ real estate and reality
The high-volume RE/MAX real estate agent and former “Survivor” contestant broke down how he manages his time to build a fast-growing real estate business at ICLV on Thursday.
Christy Murdock is a writer, coach and consultant and the owner of Writing Real Estate. Connect with Writing Real Estate on Instagram and subscribe to the weekly roundup, The Ketchup.
