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good evening so I'm not very good at um like when I get excited about a topic or when I get when it's a bigger bigger topic than what I can possibly do in a short amount of time I get I get messed up but just bear with me I'm going to try and work through this I find this a very to be a very interesting thing because um I looked at I I was on my Twitter and I just I just posted it and I got nothing I got no response it's very fascinating why would that be why would why would something when a national brokerage decides that they're not going to be part of the National Association for realtors how did that elicit no response and so I'm kind of curious as if as if you know like will this video that I put out get any any sort of traction at all or will it just kind of hide will it just kind of disappear appear uh you never really know with YouTube you never really know with Rumble um but I'm curious and so let's get into the article right now if you haven't heard already if you're not a real estate professional um big waves came through the uh The Brokerage um industry I'd say uh on October 2nd when uh Glenn kelman of uh redin wrote this letter now um it says it's been updated on October 6th 2023 I don't remember the original letter I can't go back and find it so we'll just go through this letter and see what it says and then kind of go from there so Redfin is leaving Nar so Nar is a National Association of Realtors and um so what is this all about so it says Redfin is moving to end our support of the National Association of Realtors for two reasons n National Nar policies requiring a fee for the buyer's agent on every listing and a pattern of alleged sexual Mis or har harassment which I mean we can get into that at some other point but let's just go it says a long time coming we've had many meetings with Nar exex to explore compromises on the policies that would let us continue our support since a red finin wide initiative to join Nar in 2017 we paid more than 13 million in dues in an effort to influence Nar to advocate for an open technology deriven Marketplace that would benefit consumers we'll now explore other ways to advance those goals Now understand that red fin is a a brokerage and they're trying to take away market share from any other brokerage okay and so it just in the first line looks like what they've wanted to do is influence the National Association of Realtors by paying them a ton of money to uh help get them what they want it's not about the consumers and it's never about the consumers in any sort of big business especially highly leveraged brokerages so that that alone is is we're already starting off on a disingenuous level a pattern of sexual alleged sexual harassment we'd already been uncomfortable with Nars positions on commissions when we read reports of sexist behavior and sexual harassment by nar's President and others based on interviews with 29 former Nar employees Nar was aware of the allegations for months and in some cases years but reacted only when those allegations became public and only after the CEO said there wasn't a problem many employees described a culture of intimidation retribution many are still calling for more accountability so now there was an issue with Nar and sexual harassment there was there were there was a lawsuit filed I believe and what they're saying is is even though they left and decided to leave in June the the fact that this happened to come up recently makes them um happy that they're leaving because um they have another thing to latch on to because as we'll see I don't think that this has this you don't write a letter like this and then publish publish it everywhere because you really care about Nar or anything else you publish this to get um clicks you want you want notice look at me I'm the brokerage look at me look at me it's no different than me making a YouTube video about you know sales or anything else some sometimes they they they get results sometimes they don't says residing from the Nar board redin had already um resigned our national board seat in June before the alleged sexual harassment came to light and the many Marketplace is governed by its policies n still block Sellers from listings home that don't pay commission to the buyer agent and it blocks websites like redfin.com from showing for sale bu owner listings along agent listing homes removing these blocks would be easy and it would make our industry more consumer friendly and competitive in The View of redin which is advocating for these changes it's not about consumers it's about redin and what you need to understand is everything is about redin according to redin it's got nothing to I mean it's easy to say it's it's easy to say that it's about the consumers because who are the consumers it's just some genu gen uh generalized blob of of humanity we don't know who they are we'll see a little bit later like like who their consumers might be it's it's just this whole thing is just bizarre so it says um now after careful deliberation uh redin will go further than resigning from the Nar board requiring our Brokers and agents to leave Nar everywhere we can most brokerages are only a loose affiliation of independent agents and none of us want to impose a policy that could alienate any of the people who generate our Revenue Nars for an all forced an All or Nothing choice on us but this all for nothing approach isn't of red Fin's choosing n rules require us to leave local and state associations even when our only beef is with the National Association the rules require that for a broker to be a member she must pay dues for each of the agents under her supervision or his regardless of whether an agent wants to be a member the rules further say that if a broker isn't a member no agent under her survation can be a member so I have some experience with this as a real estate broker okay I'm a member of the National Association of Realtors the State Association of Realtors and then any number of local boards that I want to be a part of I'm a part of three local boards because I do business in most of those three places and I think that it's important to have board membership so I don't I don't think anything of it I I just don't think anything of it so we chose nothing this is like eating in a restaurant that requires you to buy food for your entire family when you come in alone It also says that no family member can D there if you ever stop dining there too the painful choice is to stop patronizing that restaurant altogether I don't think that that's even close to what the situation is but again this is on red Fin's site it's red fin saying what they believe and so we just have to take that with a grain of salt right we have to accept that red Fin's going to advocate for their position I mean they're trying to take over market share from other real estate brokerages so they're going to do whatever they can to to try and win if that's influence a National Association that's the in that that's what they'll do do you think for a moment if the National Association came out and said okay you know what red fin we'll do everything you want do you think that redin isn't going to come right back you think they're going to stay away you know it it it's it's this is this is ridiculous but let's continue um in many markets we can't even do that but often we don't even have that choice in about half the us including things like Charlotte Dallas Houston Las Vegas Long Island Minneapolis Nashville Phoenix and Salt Lake City we can't quit Nar individually or in Mass because Nar membership is required for agents to access listing databases lock boxes and Industry standard contracts it's impossible to be an agent if you can't see which homes are for sale or unlock the door to those homes or even write an offer you're part of the association so you get benefits many of those benefits include uh industry standard contracts and the listing database because you're a member of the association it's not that hard to figure out we want Nar to decouple MLS access from Nar support we're so we're asking Nar now all of a sudden we're asking things when we're already leaving it's like we're we're going to go we're leaving we're leaving but these are the things you can do it's like no you're already leaving right we're asking n to decouple access to these tools including the list listing databases known as the multiple listing services from support for the national Lobby organization and I don't have a problem with that concept of we're going to decouple this from the National Association of Realtors but every single uh individual board throughout the United States will still have control over their own listings because quite frankly I I get a listing I get all the information and I put it on a website and then they're allowed to use my information which is crazy right but it it it Fosters the ability for all of us to cooperate it says agents shouldn't have to underwrite policies and legal efforts that hurt consumers when most of us got into real estate to help consumers red Fin's mission after all is to help redef is to redefine real estate in consumers favor in their opinion they believe they know what's right for the consumer and 150 years of Real Estate practice doesn't when in fact they're a real estate disruptor they've always been that they don't give a damn about the consumer they care about themselves they are a public company that typically loses money so the idea that they care about consumers is bunk they care about taking market share from other brokerages which is fine it's right it's a it's a competitive any number of the other National chains can go ahead and play these same games there's nothing stopping them it says we're committed to our industry's future is in the future our disagreement is with Nar not with not with our industry well they are defining their own industry which is problematic brokerages can compete on price and still cooperate to show all the homes for sale redin will continue our full support of the mls's that Brokers used to share listing data and will remains friends with the many fine people working at Nar and its local affiliates on economics diversity and pro housing policies we love our industry we've tried to love Nar but enough is enough so they made this huge announcement oh my God we're leaving Nar everybody everybody leave n okay oh and by the way there's sexual harassment so we got to leave there disingenuous disingenuous in my opinion but let's look at some other articles because some other people have opinions about this it's not just me here's one red Fin's Evil Genius the real reason behind their breakup with Nar now I've never heard of this publication the real daily the pulse of Realtors but I'll tell you it's a very fascinating read now I've I've put the links to everything I show you in the description so that you have them I'm not going to read the whole article or anything like that but let's just look at this it says in an open letter penned by Redfin CEO Glenn kelman and his leadership team where in tidy phrases were tossed around like a room filled with clever PR graduate students looking for extra credit we've tried to love Nar but enough is enough kelman concludes as if holding back almost believable tears and that's really how you should look at this it's really it's it's an executive doing everything by the book to try and gain his position or gain advantage over other brokerages it says what caught our attention is the what what caught our attention was the fact that the letter casually slides in the real reason red fin is leaving Nar did you notice it the primary reason for this public relations move was almost missed by many since the celicious of sexual harassment overshadowed the other reason they cited they claim that Nar has a policy that agents must pay a fee for representing buyers in every listing transaction that claim is bunk is all commissions are negotiable kelman also notic not that redin agents have collectively played millions in annual membership dues over the over the years uh that's the red herring it's all about the Benjamin's baby and then it says who is the real winner here in 2007 kelman was an evil genius who ended up practicing real estate just like everyone else in the industry there was this whole big thing on 6 minut how he was going to do real estate differently he's a disruptor and everything turns out he does the exact same thing everybody else has done for the last 150 years he's always been a brilliant Public Relation manipulator and I say that with all due respect seriously today nothing is different and kelman knows that he is great okay Redfin data okay they're the only group that puts publishes data I swear like every other day where it somehow gets in the news and then they're able to carry it I I look at redin data when it comes across my desk because it's always a talking point it's always something interesting that I can bring to you so I don't fault redin for what they're doing just recognize what they're doing okay okay and it says so who is the real winner here consumers the Slick kelman would likely say but both you and I know better it's kelman consumers don't care and won't care since the issue is so extremely nuanced and kelman knows that even a huge number of practitioners don't or won't care either sadly for the same reason ke kelman knows it look like I said I put this out on Twitter and nobody said a word I didn't even get one response I got actually I got one one response from somebody and they're like I was shocked that nobody said a word about this either it says but can uh and and I and I think to be fair there's there's also fear um when Zillow went about being a brokerage when they lied and they said they were never going to be a brokerage and then they became a brokerage to do eye buying uh in a in a terrible Fiasco that that you know just stopped broker from being interested in Zillow at all um I mean they completely lied uh they said um they said that uh how do I get it how do I put it how do I put it in orang when Zillow uh said they weren't being Brokers or and then they became Brokers it was just a it was just a complete betrayal okay and that's the same thing companies will do whatever they they don't care what they say okay they they just do what they need to do to get ahead and when when Zilla lost its ass on his estimat trying to do eye buying they got out uh so did did red fin these companies don't do things you know because they care about the consumers they care about profit okay and and don't be SED any other don't be dissuaded by anything else that's all they're interested in says but they'll remember the headline redin leaves Nar and how radical that sounds and while redfin's still just a brokerage and always will be kelman gets to play disruptive Punk yet again and ultimately very little will change and kelman knows that and that's that's a very very astute take and so then we look here it's says why red fin is actually leaving this is from propmodo and it and it comes in let's just go to the the the bottom part it says but what I have an issue with is how they seem to be using the sexual harassment change as the main reason for their decision sure these are very serious charges but to the Nar to nar's credit they have appointed a new president who has been very forthright with her actions to address these incidents in the end blaming the misconduct of some of the people in charge of Nar comes off as a bit disingenuous if you want to change the way that Nar operates then just say that many in the industry will support it every broker I know has an opt opinion about the organization but don't use the hurt that the sexual misconduct inflicted on a few unfortunate people Advance your own agenda they have their fight and you have yours good luck and that's really another great way to look at this this was redin coming out and doing something they was bored it was like I think this was on a Monday and they're like you know what let's shake some things up let's go ahead and publish this you know with a big open letter and we'll really get we'll get redfin's name in the news and it worked you're going to get redf Fin's name in the news but I wanted to pay attention one of the thing that red fin one one of the thing that Glenn kelman has said is that real estate agents get paid too much okay and that you know they shouldn't get paid that much and he should determine who who should get paid and how much which has always struck me as a little bit off okay just to be honest with you as as a real estate broker I know what I make I know what I don't make and I know how hard it is sometimes to make anything anything so I just wanted to point out red fin will Implement internal fair housing monitoring system and $4 million legal settlement well what's this about I mean I thought that red Fin's always about the consumer didn't you the settlement filed April 29th in US District Court in Seattle resolves a suit filed in 2020 by the National Fair Housing Alliance and other organizations the suit focused on redfin's practice of setting a minimum home price in each market to determine whether it will offer its services for specific properties under the settlement redin will stop using home price thresholds when referring business to Partners so you know you go to your website right and they're like I want to sell you know some some person says I want to sell my house and they're like great how much is it worth oh it's worth about 80,000 well Redfin would just say you know what we don't we don't work with you we don't work with you right because again real estate agents get paid too much okay and so if we were to offer our services to you we couldn't make a profit even though we struggle to make a profit as it is because you know realtors get paid too much but somehow we never make a profit anyway says then he they did have a then Glenn put out a statement says throughout our history we've made progress in broadening the price range of properties we could profitably sell so even he acknowledges that he cannot be profitable okay on every property and in price level and this is what what bites me because there's so many agents that that do deals where the price is not that much I mean I had a deal this year where it was $400 okay and I spent a month on it $400 for a month okay you do the hourly math not great it says expanding from Seattle and San Francisco to cities across North America kelman wrote a time we built a network of over 5,000 Partners in an effort to serve customers for every home on our site but our own agents still can't make a decent living selling the lowest priced homes and that's always been the problem in real estate okay there are plenty of agents that can sell million doll homes but good luck selling a $100,000 home and making a profit and finally here's from the real deal um Let me let me had a little cough there sorry redin posted a 90.2 million in losses for the quarter more than the 78 million it loss for the quarter before as rising mortgage rates continued to hammer the housing market C predicted that Redfin would be profitable by the end of 2024 and quashed the idea of the firm becoming an online referral business instead of employed Sal employing salaried real estate agents kman and neelson predicted that redin will lose between 18 million and 134 million next quarter compared to a net loss of 27 million in the fourth quarter of last year with total revenue between 430 million and 459 million that would represent a year-over-year decline of 29 and 33 million look I I I don't have a problem with red fin I don't care what they do I'm a small I'm a small fish in a huge Pond okay I just think it's very disingenuous when they put out garbage like that that act like oh we're always helping the consumer and we only care about the consumer well you don't take care of people that can't sell their properties for a low price at all but you want to lecture me on how to do it say I make too much money so anyway red Fin's leaving Nar known since J June they put out the announcement in October you decide for yourselves if you think that is uh Totally Above board with that I'm going to head out thank you for watching thank you for listening I'll catch you on the next one