[I have a business relationship with one or more of the companies mentioned herein.]
Over on Substack, Nick Aufenkamp wrote a rather thoughtful piece discussing the big headlines related to all of the pre-marketing brouhaha. Go read it in full.
I shared it, and I have some further thoughts on what he wrote there.
It is worth discussing with a little bit more of Why This Is Happening, which might point the way to How This Gets Resolved.
I do not want this to come off as an attack of any kind on Nick or his thoughts; they are extremely well-considered and make all kind of logical sense. I mean this as a conversation held on paper (well, on a screen) to try to advance the dialogue a bit more.
What I think Nick overlooks, and quite frankly most of the industry now overlooks, is how much of this is the result of historical accidents, good faith decisions made years ago that had unforeseen consequences, and how much of it can and will be reversed, one way or another.
While Nick's post was public, this one is not for two reasons. One, I discuss a lot of the ideas below in the latest episode of Industry Relations podcast, and two... most of what I have to say about it really concerns the leadership of the MLS, of brokerages, and of institutions.
With that said, let's get into it.