LeadingLane Podcast

Ashley (00:00)
Welcome everyone to the Leading Lane Podcast. And there's been some new news in the real estate world. New news. Yeah. Which, ⁓ if you follow James Wiggins, he's kind of captioned like the 2026 Hold My Beer, because every day seems to be a new change in the real estate world. We look back at the last two years, we have had a

Steven L. Burch (00:06)
Isn't that awesome? Yeah, I love that.

Ashley (00:26)
boatload of changes, but I think if you keep your head down and continue to work, can you work right through them? So ⁓ the latest change was a merge between Compass and Anywhere, which I actually think people thought was going to happen in 2027. So they're a year ahead of schedule. And I also think that it came out of nowhere. No, not in real estate. ⁓

Steven L. Burch (00:47)
which never happens, see, right? Nothing is ever.

Ashley (00:54)
That's too funny, I see that an email just popped through that says like, now is where the real work begins. But anyway, regarding the merch. So, Stephen, tell me what you know about it, what you think about it, where you think things are gonna head.

Steven L. Burch (01:10)
You know, I think that the real estate world, the industry is changing drastically and at a rapid pace, right? And so about the merger, like, do I have the details and also a bit? I don't, because to be quite frank, I don't feel that it's going to affect me to that magnitude where I have to dive into it right now. I think that. ⁓

Businesses are going to change, the models are going to change, and you have to be innovative in thinking on how are you going to be able to adapt to the constant evolution of real estate. So I think it's more so less focused on the merger, more focused on how are you going to better your craft in this real estate world. So I think also with that too, it's maybe trying to bring everybody else down. The sky's not falling.

it's not that big of a deal, right? Like, is it a big deal, like a monetary? Of course it is, right? But is it right now going to affect you to where you're going to crumble your business and dry up? That's not how it's gonna happen. I think this is the time that we lead from the front and learn and adapt and see how, like I said, we can just get better. So give me the cliff notes of what does this really mean to you and your understanding with it.

Ashley (02:29)
Yeah. I mean, so there's a couple pieces I think that people are focusing on. like one of them, think is just that it'll be the largest real estate brand. Right. So I don't remember how many thousands of agents will fall under, I think it was like 220 or something, 20,000 single agents. So think some people are looking at it that they're going to be up against like a conglomeration of real estate agents. And I think that for me, right, like you've changed,

brokerages before I've changed brokerages before we both went from a very large national brand to a very small at that same time. We both now lead our current markets. So I think that that is just like a prime example of we were in big, huge, know, franchises and came down and it again, it goes back to the local level and how you're treating people. And I always say, I don't think that people necessarily follow like the franchise, right? Like

Does it help marketing and cool stuff? Great. But they follow the agent. They follow the person that they've established that relationship with the person that they see in the grocery store or the one that sends them anniversary cards. Like those are still, I still think we talk about whether AI will replace agents. And I firmly believe that they will not because there is not that personal, ⁓ you know, touch. I think that that's maybe where some people are getting swayed as, you know, like this big.

corporate that's going to take over the world and all these little guys are going to be left behind. So tell me your thoughts on that.

Steven L. Burch (03:59)
Well, and I don't know the exact percentage of franchise versus independent companies, but I want to say it's like 58 % of brokerages are independent companies. So, I mean, we're talking about franchise on that side. So I think there still are bigger fish to fry independent, like you are correct.

the consumer, the buyer, the seller is going to choose you because of your relationship with them. The brand may help you, the tools and tech may help you on the backend, but I think for anywhere that you are at, regardless of franchise or independent, right now it's all about the education. And if you're investing in yourself and you are investing in how you can learn to better improve, there you are. Let's not focus on just one company.

Ashley (04:53)
Yeah,

I think the other, go ahead. I the other piece is, which we've maybe talked about a little bit in the past, that ⁓ Compass pushes on the private listing piece of that. So they think that Theller should have more choice, which, okay, great, we need to explore what that actually means as far as choice, but more or less like if they were to create some type of private MLS that's only,

Steven L. Burch (04:55)
No, you're good.

Ashley (05:22)
open to their agents, I think is what the concern is for most people. I feel like that's pretty easy to combat when you're talking to sellers, but you know, I think that we've even heard that maybe there are current, you know, Compass agents that aren't comfortable with that practice. ⁓ So Stephen, tell me what makes sense to you as far as a private listing and what doesn't make sense to you.

Steven L. Burch (05:46)
I think at end of the day, it's all about disclosure. It's all about the seller's choice, what they want to do to fit their lifestyle and how, their goals are. As if I were to, you know, just want to be able to hold on until all the listings as pocket listings, like, and I'm not giving the seller an opportunity or a choice or anything else. I think that is blatantly wrong, right? Now from a marketing standpoint, can I see the entice?

being enticing to be able to say, we have this internal MLS, if you will. Honestly, it's no different than what we do from a company's perspective of, we got your listing, we have marketing, we have to do this. I'm gonna broadcast this out to our company solely to make sure that they know about it, but we still wanna get it on the MLS and make sure we just wanna get some traction going. So in a sense, guess maybe some might see that we do pocket listings. We don't because they're going on the MLS and we don't want our sellers.

to not go on the MLS unless that's their choice. So in our listing presentation, we actually have it like very clearly. Like if you don't put it on the MLS, you have a potential of not making as much money. Very simple. We don't know what the, if we had a crystal ball and we knew all of it, right? Like we wouldn't be doing this with the different industry, but we don't. So I think it's making sure that they know the extreme of how this can affect their bottom line. And sometimes.

Ashley (07:06)
Right.

Steven L. Burch (07:13)
It may not affect their bottom line and sometimes people don't care. It's not all about price.

Ashley (07:17)
I think one thing I saw was that there was discussion of they were going to make that address private and then it like you have to contact a Compass agent in order to get the address so that they're trying to like keep it in-house or whatnot. I don't know how that would go. mean a lot of people like to just get the address drive-by type thing because right you drive by and then they'll be like not a good location I don't like the way it looks from the outside but I think as far as you know private listings

I've come across situations where that made sense because it was a ⁓ delicate subject. Maybe it was a divorce. I had like a executive that was relocating that they really didn't want anybody to know about until the time came. So did it make sense at that time? Sure. ⁓

I think I'm on both of those situations. Like they only lasted for, you know, I think it was maybe 10 or 15 days. And then they're like, okay, we need, we need the traction. And so that's the big thing is making sure the seller understands that when you are private, like your pool is typically going to be a lot smaller. I just was giving you an example. had a closing yesterday and that buyer came from Oregon, right? Um, cause they saw it online. like, if I had it just here and wasn't telling anyone about it, that

cash buyer from Oregon, we wouldn't have gotten for that seller and it could have taken another, you know, it's a unique property, it had already been on the market for six months, could have taken another six months for it to sell. So as long as the seller knows the options, that's great. But I do think that, you know, exposure is what I always tell people. It's the same for sale by owners. Like you put a sign in your yard and it's just whoever happens to drive by, you know, sure does that happen? Sure. But who's to say there wasn't someone that would have paid you more that, you know, lives two states over. So.

Steven L. Burch (08:36)
you

Ashley (09:03)
To me, it's just ⁓ making sure that they have the options, but knowing that it could affect them negatively in the long run.

Steven L. Burch (09:10)
I I think sometimes when things are held too tight, greed gets in the way and thinking that's going to help you. And I think that's the thing is that you think it's going to help you. And that's not what we're after. If it's just going to help your client, that's a different story. And the best interest of the client and client choice at the end of the day. You know, one of the things with the address, I really have a hard time thinking that they're going to be able to market to the masses without an address.

because we have to also think here, like we have NAR, we have the code of ethics, right? We have representation, have, I mean, guidelines that how we have to adhere to. So not disclosing the address, that right there, I think is a huge misrepresentation because you're not disclosing. So I, I know that's so simplistic. ⁓ but I really don't foresee that being the, to the masses that way, but.

Who knows? didn't really foresee that we would have to have a sign in the yard within a day, right? Or make sure that you have, get on them less within a day. ⁓ That's wild to me. But also if we didn't have people out here running around like the wild, wild west, and there's actually some structure and compliance, and that's a whole other thing, we're talking on a national level, we still have state.

Ashley (10:16)
not. Yeah.

Steven L. Burch (10:37)
know, laws that you have to adhere to. So, but I do think maybe this might weed out the week ⁓ and I'm here for it.

Ashley (10:46)
I think that one of the things they're talking about, it's like turf wars is what they're kind of saying, right? And so I think it is going to come down to like who has a good chunk of listings will end up controlling that. So if you're an office that doesn't do a lot of private listings and you have the listing, like that's where people are going to come, you know, because they can still see them and those types of things. So it is important. I think that inventory is an important piece of your business.

Steven L. Burch (11:15)
Like there's an agent that came over to our office and she said a long time ago, and it's always stuck with me, get the listings, control the market, because that means that you know that you're going to have people coming to you versus you having to run all over the place. And so ever since I heard that, and I'm not saying control the market as in like be greedy. I'm saying control the market as in you are the expert on being the listing agent and the agent that the sellers want you

one higher, right? So right now I would be focusing how my marketing, what are my marketing tactics? What do I offer? How do I present that? How do I differentiate myself from everybody else? But even more so like I'm looking at my, my backend as far as systems and processes to streamline that, because as I'm improving everything else, I need to make sure that I can actually manage and organize the admin side of things, the backend work so I can continue to increase my production as an individual agent.

Ashley (11:46)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And I think that, you know, there will always be large players. We kind of like talked about it with like airlines, right. Or ⁓ cell phone mergers. Like there's always those types of things, right. But it's like in the same sense, you know, I look at an internet company, for example, like here in town, right. Like the big guys, if you will, aren't currently providing the best services. And there's like a local internet guy that somehow is providing better services and a better cost. And that's who people are.

switching over to, right? So same thing. It's, I think it still goes back to like, you can have the, the big crowds, the big names, the national platforms, those types of things. But at the end of the day, I still just can't, I just don't think you can replace the connections with people and trusting people. Like I do the same thing. Like when I'm looking for, you know, like a plumber or electrician, like I'm not calling like a franchisee like that.

is going to come from three hours away. Like I'm looking for the guy that lives two miles down the road from me that's going to drop what he's doing to come and help me. So I think that that's the same thing. Like I related back to, you know, I think like one time I talked about somebody's sub pump went out like the day after closing and like I dropped what I was doing and went over there to help them. Like some national company is not going to be able to do that. And people are going to remember like the person that helped them in their time of need.

Steven L. Burch (13:39)
You know, I'm going to put it in real life perspective for me, right? I have an escalade. Escalade is supposed to be luxury, right? I'm having issues with my freaking escalade over and over and over again. So just because I like my escalade, but I'm not going to continue to go with escalade if I'm going to continue to have issues just because of the brand is luxury or large or however you want to describe it does not mean that is going to be the best.

service the best outcome that you're looking for, even though that you might be paying for it. You might not get that results. Even the luxury, even the best still have issues.

Ashley (14:15)
I think it just so comes back to it's about people, it's about humans, it's about doing the right thing. It's, I think, a matter of like letting, you know, we talk about there was big change, you know, what, two Augusts ago and everybody was all up in arms and blah, blah, blah. I mean, like, it's kind of, it's subsided and everybody's doing business as they should be. But I think you just can't get lost in the weeds, right? Because when you spend time getting lost in the weeds of

What if, or what if this happens? And let's be honest, like a merge like this is going to take years to shake out. So in the meantime, just keep on practicing your craft and getting better at your craft. And that will keep you in the game, I think, ⁓ with your people and. You know, when things change, you just keep on learning more and adapting and being the best that you can be.

Steven L. Burch (15:07)
It's being ahead of the game, right? Like it's recognizing it, but not putting your blinders and only focusing on it. It's recognizing it and seeing how do I need to move myself forward and how can I move my team forward, my clients forward? And I think the big thing on a leadership perspective here, look back at the broker to broker compensation, right? Everybody freaked out. You can't do it. Then we no longer allowed it from a franchise level office level, right?

and everybody still is freaking out. We still have people, we still have other agents that are asking how much is the seller, you know, how much are you paying me? What is the split on this, right? That has nothing to do with us anymore. We are a year and a half and that two years ahead of these people that are still asking about co-op and commission right now. So imagine in another two years that now we're talking about this. These fools are just now catching up about commission and the clear cooperation and everything. Stay ahead of it.

Ashley (16:05)
I also think too, you know, I'm to go back to my, my own concerns when you have an agent that does come from four hours away and knows nothing. I mean, I, think that over time that's going to get harder and harder just because I think people are going to expect more out of agents. think that people, you know, I think just not having that immediate or not having that true local connection. you really

Push on that and focus on that. think that that will be key to people when the time comes back around that they're ready to sell ⁓ or just the connections they know that they see you out and about, you know, the art of showing up and the people that they never see. It's going to be harder to make that phone call when you need someone.

Steven L. Burch (16:48)
the, if you're consistent, you're going to be seen consistent. Your business is going to be consistent. If you're just popping in like a gopher, like that's what your business is going to be like. It's going to be all over the place, like popcorn. So now I think this is a great topic. Definitely something I need way more education and deep diving into it. But I think just by now with, and maybe I'm a little numb to all the changes in real estate or the great now what's next, but the old, beer, I totally get it because

Grab a beer belly up and have a conversation about it and learn.

Ashley (17:22)
definitely.

Steven L. Burch (17:24)
Cool. Thank you for tuning in to the Lady Lane podcast. Tune into the next one. We appreciate you guys.