How one major association is getting ahead of industry changes
South Florida’s Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors is taking a two-pronged approach, using ads to educate consumers while helping members stay informed.
Key points:
- The association has put together a consumer-facing TV and social media campaign explaining the value of buyer agents in real estate transactions.
- Following a listening tour with members, the association owner of BeachesMLS worked to address concerns prior to the NAR settlement.
- After the settlement was announced, the associations were proactive in providing members with resources and weekly email updates.
Changes to industry practices are coming soon — and many real estate professionals have questions and concerns about what their jobs will look like after August 17.
MLSs and Realtor associations have been busy developing resources to help their members understand these changes, but one organization is taking it a step further by reaching out to consumers as well.
Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors, which operates South Florida's BeachesMLS, is launching an ad campaign in the coming weeks including a TV spot and a social media campaign explaining the value of buyer representation. Other area associations have also shown interest in licensing the content for their own campaigns.
The consumer outreach began before the NAR settlement, when the associations had a surge in membership during the pandemic that resulted in some extra money in the budget — something they decided to invest in marketing.
"Our leaders decided that it would be best served as a consumer campaign, talking about the benefits of being a Realtor member and that would benefit all our members," Dionna Hall, CEO of Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors, told Real Estate News.
With the commissions lawsuits leading some consumers to question the value of agents, the association chose to address those concerns directly in its new commercial. The goal, Hall said, is to make sure consumers have the information they need to understand upcoming changes, such as the shift to mandatory buyer agent agreements.
Supporting agents with information, initiatives
Promoting the value of buyer agents is just one piece of the association's strategy ahead of the August deadline, Hall said.
Other elements are focused on members, including weekly emails, which the organization has been sending since NAR's announcement of its $418 million settlement in March, a micro website with additional information and a class called "Keep it legal" to help agents stay out of future lawsuits. They've also hired legal counsel to help ensure these member resources are accurate.
The foundation for this plan actually started three years ago, before the lawsuits — and their potential outcomes — were on many people's radar. Hall said the association embarked on a listening tour, holding a variety of Zoom meetings with a wide range of industry professionals to discuss the future.
"From that really stemmed a lot of our really large initiatives that have ended up being very valuable for us in this new changing marketplace," Hall said.
One of those "really large initiatives" was the founding of REdistribute and Nestfully, which serve to share data while protecting its value. With offers of compensation scheduled to be removed from MLS sites next month, highlighting other benefits of MLSs is more important than ever, Hall said.
A proactive approach to change
The listening tour also helped association leaders understand what types of issues mattered to members, allowing Hall and others to work through different scenarios before the settlement was announced. As a result, they were able to hit the ground running and immediately help members navigate the impacts of the settlement.
Taking that approach, Hall said, also enabled the association to focus on a roadmap for the future — one that ensures policies are consistent and compliant — rather than spending months trying to figure out how to best communicate with members.
"They want to make sure that they have the right forms, that they're using them correctly and using the right verbiage," Hall said, adding that conversations have evolved to include seller representation and how agents can provide more transparency for consumers.
Ultimately, consumers want 'somebody by their side'
Going forward, Hall believes the changes coming in August will help reinforce the value of agents, particularly buyer agents.
"I think that the consumer realizes that there's a lot of value to having somebody by their side that understands the process," Hall said. "So I think even while parts of that may change, that main fact cannot be denied. There's a lot of information out there, and it's hard to synthesize when you are a person that is not actually trained in that area."