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Philip Horigan

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Dear Fellow Real Estate Agents,

Should You Be on Clubhouse? Yes!  
On Thursdays at 11am I host a weekly show on Clubhouse with top real estate agents.  We share information about the current market and strategies from some of the best agents in NYC.  If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably seen me talk about it.

[Note: Each week I send a direct link for the weekly Clubhouse talk to interested agents so they can easily listen in! If you want to receive it also, just reply to this email]

There is no doubt that Clubhouse will help many agents expand their reach and substantially grow their business.

But it is not just about getting “leads”.

Clubhouse also presents an enormous opportunity for you to learn from each other.  In fact, that is the beauty of it: the ability to connect with your peers and colleagues and share stories of lessons learned and how to do things better.

For those that feel they were late to Facebook, then Twitter, then Instagram…now is your chance to be FIRST on a hot new app! 

What is Clubhouse? 
Here is Clubhouse in a nutshell: Take out what you don’t like about Zoom, add in some social media elements, and you have Clubhouse.  How so?

First, it is audio only.  You can be on Clubhouse in your sweats or your pj’s, or while heading to an appointment, making your coffee, or driving your car!

Second, you can participate in the discussion or just listen in. Totally up to you. No pressure to “contribute”, but you can if you want to.

Third, you can just pop in and out of conversations seamlessly. If you like a “room”, you can stay and listen for an hour, or leave after two minutes.

Fourth, it is “LIVE” only. Nothing is recorded.  There is no text, only audio.

If you dislike or distrust social media because you feel a lot of it is so “inauthentic” (let’s face it, much of it is), then Clubhouse may be the app for you.  I am constantly hearing people describe it as “so authentic”.  I agree, it really feels that way.

Why Do I Care? 
Well, as many of you know I love finding new ways for agents to collaborate with each other, share knowledge, and discover new ways to grow their business.

***And of course: ANY chance for agents to get more business without being beholden to the GREEDEASY MONOPOLY BEAST is a very good thing!***

Two More Important Things:
1) I am almost finished with a prototype of a new feature on Frele.com that will really help agents.  But agent spots will be limited.  It is free, and will be first come first serve.  For updates so you can jump on it first, please text “Frele” to 917-540-8825.  

2) For those agents looking for rental exclusives or renter clients, we have an extraordinary unique program that many agents have been part of for years.  Get a free lead here:  Get a Free Lead to Leasebreak’s Agent Lead Program.

I strongly believe in collaboration, transparency, and adding value.

Please join me. Together we can make a difference! Text “Frele” to 917-540-8825 to be part of the future!

And remember, if you want to receive the direct link to the chat we have on Clubhouse each week (Thursdays at 11am), just shoot me an email and I will add you to the weekly email that goes out. 

Phil Horigan, Founder:
Leasebreak#1 in shorter term rentals and pioneered the Special Lead Program: a great way for agents to get rental exclusives and work with rentersFrēlēA new free and transparent real estate marketplace.  Text “Frele” to 917-540-8825 and be part of the journey!

Dear fellow real estate agents,

You may not be aware of this because it has not been reported, but just to let you know:

Last month the New York Times eliminated their real estate listings portal!

This means you will no longer find your listings in the New York Times.

This is truly the end of an era. Sort of sad. The New York Times was the dominant platform for listing your apartments for about a 10-year period before StreetEasy started to replace them over the last 10 years.

Interestingly, the New York Times listings portal was so desperate to regain its former glory, that in 2017 they joined forces with REBNY.  But to no avail!  Here is the article about this in Curbed from 2017.

BUT HERE IS THE IRONY!  Do you know what caused the downfall of the New York Times listings portal?

Greed!  The New York Times charged high listing fees while at the time StreetEasy was FREE!

How the tables have turned! Now StreetEasy is the greedy incumbent charging high listings fees, it’s worse: StreetEasy is also buying up competitors and forsaking transparency, all in the name of profits, profits, profits.

Fear not.  History will repeat itself.  Other competitors will come in and take market share.  But it will take time.  

Three More Important Things:

1: Want to be a panelist? I am starting a weekly real estate panel discussion with top real estate agents on the new app Clubhouse.  The first one is this Thursday 2/4 at 11am.  Anyone can listen in, ask a question, or contribute to the discussion!  Please email me if you would like to be a panelist in the future. Follow me on Clubhouse @philiphorigan to get a notification about the event.

2: I am working on a new idea that will really help brokers (for free) as part of my new listings platform Frele.com. However, agent spots will be limited.  For updates about what I am working on so you can jump on it first, please text “Frele” to 917-540-8825.  

3: For those agents looking for rental exclusives or renter clients, get a free lead here:  Get a Free Lead to Leasebreak’s Agent Lead Program.

I strongly believe in collaboration, transparency, and adding value.

Please join me. Together we can make a difference! Text “Frele” to 917-540-8825 to be part of the future!

Phil Horigan, Founder:
Leasebreak#1 in shorter term rentals and pioneered the Special Lead Program a great way for agents to get rental exclusives and work with rentersFrēlēA new free and transparent real estate marketplace.  Text “Frele” to 917-540-8825 and be part of the journey!

Dear fellow real estate agents,

Sadly (but not surprisingly), StreetEasy has recently tightened its grip on NYC real estate in a few very concerning ways:

  • Zillow/StreetEasy Gets Second NYC Brokerage License It has not been reported at all, but Zillow/StreetEasy quietly obtained a second brokerage license in NYC, this time under “Zillow Listing Services Inc”.  The first was under “Zillow Inc”.  Now they have a total of 3 licensed agents in NYC spread across two brokerages (up from 1 licensed agent earlier this year).

The noose tightens. But there’s more.

The noose tightens. But there’s more.

The noose tightens.  But there’s more.

Some of you have just given up.  StreetEasy is too powerful, you say, and that is where 90% of your leads come from.

But some of you have NOT given up. I know because I hear from so many of you.

Unfortunately, the pandemic has taken its toll on many struggling small potential StreetEasy competitors.  This makes StreetEasy even more powerful.

Thankfully, Leasebreak is one of the few smaller firms still holding up. Why? We have always made a huge bet on brokers being an integral part of the real estate process (fyi: Click to learn more about Leasebreak’s Broker Lead Program).

But Leasebreak is a niche (#1 in shorter term rentals less than 12 months).

So why not do this on a much larger scale! 

Enter Frele. I strongly believe we can apply these same “broker-friendly” principles to Frele, a new site focused more on standard 12 month rentals (and eventually sales).

But I need your help because my ideas will strongly involve YOU.  Unlike many other real estate websites that are trying to find ways to go AROUND brokers, I believe in doubling down on working WITH brokers.

Let’s face it. StreetEasy doesn’t really understand NYC real estate like you and I do. They never have.  They also clearly don’t recognize the extraordinary value that real estate agents bring to the table.

I am in the process of building something cool at Frele with a special emphasis on brokers.  If you want to come along with me on this journey and be the first to get new features, have input, make suggestions, etc. text “Frele” to 917-540-8825.

I strongly believe in collaboration, transparency, and adding value.

Phil Horigan, Founder:
Leasebreak#1 in shorter term rentals and pioneered the Special Lead Program a great way for agents to get rental exclusives and work with rentersFrēlēA new free and transparent real estate marketplace.  Text “Frele” to 917-540-8825 and be part of the journey!

Dear Real Estate Agents,

When is enough, enough?

Do we just continue to stand by and let StreetEasy dictate the terms of our listing data while charging us more and more for it?

The answer is no.  We need to act now and with the utmost urgency.

The solution is simple and entirely legal:

“The real estate industry has to create the most up to date, accurate, transparent and comprehensive listings database which can be accessed by agents and the general public for free.”

Consumers desperately need this kind of listing information.  And sadly, they aren’t getting it right now.

And who best to provide it to them? The real estate industry of course!

This is why MLS’s exist.  When run well, they contain the most up to date, accurate, transparent and comprehensive listing information.

Unfortunately we don’t have an MLS in NYC.

However, we do have something that we could make work.  We have REBNY and the RLS, and the basic structure is already in place.

But the RLS must take serious next steps to transform itself into an acting “MLS” as soon as possible.

Otherwise StreetEasy – with its current requirement for every agent to manually enter their own listings – will become the de facto MLS in addition to being the dominant consumer website.

The current situation is so dire, we don’t have much time.

Can we do it?

I know some of you may have concerns about REBNY’s ability to accomplish this.  There is no question that it will be challenging.

However, I believe the RLS can succeed if these 5 critical items are addressed immediately:

1. Create ONE backend and frontend platform for agents to ENTER, EDIT, and VIEW listings.   Agents need one common platform.  This is how successful MLS’s run across the country, and it is how we can create the most up to date, accurate, transparent and comprehensive listings database in NYC.  Currently – and to StreetEasy’s delight – different brokers enter their listing data through a myriad of different systems with different fields formatted in all different ways (OLR, RealtyMX, Perchwell, RealPlus, etc).  This makes getting the most updated and accurate data really difficult.  Also, it makes improvements in the RLS more time consuming and complicated because each time even a slight change is made in the RLS, all the systems that connect to it have to be updated as well.  This also increases the chance of errors in the listing data.  Just think how much time and cost savings could be achieved by brokerages if they no longer had to focus their resources on fixing incorrect listings!

2. Get every listing into the RLS (including those from Non-REBNY members)  To be effective, every exclusive listing for every licensed agent needs to be in the RLS.  Additionally, for rentals, every landlord listing should also make its way into the RLS.  I hope REBNY strongly considers dropping the current requirement that you can list in the RLS only if you are a REBNY/RLS paying member. To make the RLS work, we need maximum participation which equals maximum listings.  Having every listing in the RLS would dramatically benefit ALL REBNY/RLS members. Can you imagine what a powerful tool it would be for you to be able to confidently claim to your clients that you have access to the most up to date, most accurate, most transparent and comprehensive listings database in NYC?  Of course, any agent listing on the RLS would have to agree to the terms of the Universal Co-Brokerage agreement.  These details could be worked out.

3. Create a free consumer-facing RLS.  Consumers should be able to directly access listings on the RLS for free.  Since brokers have the best listing data, we should be providing it directly to consumers!  If consumers don’t get the most updated listing information from brokers, they will continue to find alternate ways (StreetEasy, etc.) to get it.  Even if this consumer-facing RLS does not have all of the bells and whistles, that is okay.  Leave the fancy features to the consumer websites and the data analytic providers.  The RLS should be focused on what it can do best: provide the most up to dateaccuratetransparent, and comprehensive listing information.

4. Change from OPT IN to OPT OUT so that your listings automatically appear on all approved consumer websites.  First the good news.  Just like the best MLS’s, the RLS syndicates your listings to approved consumer websites.  The bad news is that brokerage firms are required to take an additional confusing step of “opting in” to each consumer website.  This extra step has been a major pain point over the last two years.  As a result, agents’ listings are NOT all syndicating to REBNY-approved consumer websites.  This is really frustrating. Given the current state of things, shouldn’t we have all of our listings on as many approved consumer websites as possible?  Also without access to ALL RLS listings, new consumer websites won’t have a fighting chance to compete with StreetEasy.  For these reasons, the RLS should automatically send listings to every approved consumer website.  A brokerage firm could always choose to “opt out” of any specific website, and agents should be made aware if this occurs.

5. Communicate clearly and frequently what is happening with the RLS. Getting all brokers to use a new platform is a massive undertaking and it has to be matched with passionate and frequent communication.  Unfortunately, eight years after it was created, amazingly, the RLS is still a mystery to many agents.  Most agents still have no idea what the RLS is and what it does.  If the RLS is going to be the new comprehensive listings database in town, every agent needs to know exactly what it is and how to use it.  Perhaps the RLS could appoint a spokesperson whose sole job would be to communicate with agents, discuss progress, answer questions, regularly visit brokerage offices, and encourage feedback on an ongoing basis to continually improve the RLS in real time.

In 2020, let’s work together and harness OUR expertise as an industry.  Let’s create the most up to date, most accurate, most transparent, and most comprehensive listings database in NYC…and when we do, consumers will follow! Who’s in?

Phil Horigan, Founder:
Leasebreak#1 in shorter term rentals and pioneered the Special Lead Program a great way for agents to get rental exclusives and work with renters
Get First Peek by FrēlēWhere rentals appear before they hit the PAY TO PLAY websites like StreetEasy
FrēlēA new free and honest marketplace focused on 12 month rentals.  We may add sales in 2020.
Dear Real Estate Agents,

StreetEasy has once again demonstrated its monopolistic behavior with two new announcements that will negatively impact real estate agents and brokerages:

  • Increasing the mandatory rental fee another 33% to $6/day ($180 per month). This is the third large increase in just 2 years.
  • No longer accepting any “feeds”. This is HUGE (Read on to see how this could ensure StreetEasy’s dominance for years to come unless we act as an industry ASAP).

This first announcement is just another example of StreetEasy’s greedy desire to extract as much cash as possible from the pockets of agents.

The second announcement, however, is much more strategic and sinister. We got our first hint of their “no listing feeds” strategy early this year as I described here in January: StreetEasy’s Diaboloical Plan.

Before we dig into this more, let’s briefly review their exploitative tactics over the last few years.  We are reminded that every major announcement from StreetEasy has involved more money out of the pockets of agents and/or has made their listings marketplace less transparent.

Brief History of StreetEasy’s Exploitative Tactics
2015: Building/Neighborhood Expert. Allows agents to pay to be “expert” agents whether or not they are really “experts”
2017Premier Agent. Connects buyers’ agents with consumers in a way that is misleading to the consumer
2017Initiates Rental Listing Charge. Gouges rental agents by initiating a mandatory posting fee of $3/day/listing ($90/month).
2018Raises Rental Listing Charge. Increases the rental fee by 50% ($4.50/day/listing = $135/month)
2019Charges Fee to Remove Premier Agent. Agrees to remove the never wanted deceptive Premier Agent program from your listing if you pay $333/month/listing.
2019Initiates Referral Fee. Charges unconscionable 35% referral fee (After Premier Agent predictably fails)
2019Raises Rental Listing Charge. Raises the mandatory rental fee again by another 33% ($6/day/listing = $180/month)
2019Gets Rid of Listing Feeds.  Requires ALL agents to enter their listings manually. No longer supports any feeds.  This is huge as it has critical consequences described below for agents and brokerages.

The Real Reason StreetEasy is Cutting All Feeds
First of all, we can easily dismiss the rationale given by StreetEasy to get rid of all feeds.  It is laughable and deceptive.  They claim: “This update will allow us to deliver the best possible listings-entry experience, supporting a healthy marketplace through accurate and up-to-date listings.”

If you want the most accurate, consistent and up to date information, the very last thing you want to do is to have thousands of people individually uploading their own listings.  There is no doubt that this will cause StreetEasy to become much LESS reliable and accurate over time.

Ironically, the way StreetEasy became the most accurate and transparent website 10 year ago was by supporting feeds from every NYC brokerage.

So why get rid of the feeds that helped build the company?

Leverage. They need to maintain leverage to support their ever growing pricing power. 

MLS’s in other states have a lot of leverage over Zillow/StreetEasy.  The MLS’s control the majority of listings that feed to Zillow’s website.  MLS’s are often able to dictate the terms, or at minimum, bring enormous leverage to any negotiation process with companies like StreetEasy.

But we don’t have an MLS in NYC, and the RLS is not quite where it needs to be (yet).  

Up until this year, a huge percentage of the industry (e.g. Corcoran, Elliman) was still feeding their listings to StreetEasy.  This gave these firms a lot of leverage over StreetEasy since they could delay their feeds or threaten to even remove their feeds altogether.  It enabled these firms to negotiate better terms for their brokerage.

So, if you are StreetEasy, why not minimize any leverage brokerage firms may have over you, especially in the absence of an MLS?  By forcing manual entry StreetEasy will control the point of entry with the individual agent.  In fact, StreetEasy wants to have a direct relationship with all agents.  This will enable them to more easily impose and implement harsh new initiatives and terms as they reduce the leverage and control of the big brokerage firms and the third party providers (OLR, RealtyMX, RealPlus, Perchwell, etc.).

We need to fend off the far reaching monopolistic dominance that StreetEasy is seeking. REBNY’s efforts to make the RLS closer to an MLS is a major step in this direction, and hopefully these efforts will dramatically accelerate in 2020.  Time is of the essence.  I will have more to say about this in a future post.

Let’s work together to ensure the integrity of New York City Real Estate!

Phil Horigan
Founder,
Leasebreak#1 in shorter term rentals and pioneered the Special Lead Program a great way for agents to get rental exclusives and work with renters
Get First Peek by FrēlēWhere rentals appear before they hit the mainstream websites
FrēlēA new free and honest marketplace focused on 12 month rentals.  We may add sales in 2020.

Dear Real Estate Agents,

Here we go again. Now StreetEasy is confirming it wants to get referral fees on brokers’ commissions.

Surprised? Not really. StreetEasy has already abandoned its core principles, has lost 50% of its rental listings, and is still struggling with Premier Agent.  Oh, and most ironically, its devious plan to make agents pay $333/month to REMOVE the unsought and unwanted Premier Agent feature on their listings is also failing.

So what is StreetEasy to do now? Go directly after broker’s commissions of course.

The Problem When Listing Platforms Collect Referral Fees
If StreetEasy collects referral fees, consumers and agents will have even more reason for distrust.  Think about it.  StreetEasy will be incentivized to push certain listings with agents who have opted into this referral program.  Where does that leave everyone else? Is that what a fair real estate platform is supposed to do?

I am sure some agents will benefit, just as a few Premier Agents have benefited, but this is not good for the industry as a whole that has come to rely on the platform. Still, it is even worse for the consumers who likely will have no idea that StreetEasy will be motivated to push certain listings over others.  It’s repugnant!

Is it even Legal? 
Zillow has been experimenting with something like this around the country, called their “Flex monetization model”.  Yet I have NO idea how they are going to circumvent what I thought was well established NYC law that you had to be a licensed real estate agent to collect a “success fee”.

How can this be legal? StreetEasy is not a licensed broker.  Isn’t this the definition of a “kickback”? What am I missing?

This is just another example of how Zillow/StreetEasy continues to seemingly focus on short term profits over anything else, and its stock continues to fall like a lead balloon. Zillow’s stock is down a whopping 40% in the last 2 months, close to a 3 year low.  No wonder Steve Eisman, one of the top investors of all time (who predicted the financial collapse in 2008) is shorting Zillow’s stock, recently saying: “Zillow has one of the most flawed business models I’ve seen in a very, very long time.”

Leasebreak – like most reputable real estate listings platforms – does not collect referral fees.  Here’s why:

To date, Leasebreak has distributed about 7,000 rental leads to agents through its Special Lead Program, which has spread almost entirely through word of mouth.  However, we don’t collect referral fees from brokers, even though it means we won’t make as much money.  We want to make sure that our platform is always focused on transparency, and being seen as “fair” to all parties.  (You can find out more about the Leasebreak Special Lead Program here)

Let’s work together to ensure the integrity of New York City Real Estate!

Phil Horigan
Founder,
Leasebreak#1 in shorter term rentals and through our Special Lead Program a great way for agents to get rental exclusives and work with renters
Get First Peek by FrēlēWhere rentals appear before they hit the mainstream websites

Dear Real Estate Agents,

Can you imagine if you could see all the new rental listings, which are not yet posted to StreetEasy, on one website?

Imagine the opportunities for you and your clients:

  • Your clients would get “EARLY ACCESS” to apartments
  • Your owners would get a new kind of creative “sneak peek” advertising
  • You could avoid harsh mandatory posting fees
  • Most importantly, you will play an important role in helping to loosen the stranglehold that StreetEasy has over this industry. 

All of this is already happening on getfirstpeek.comwhere brokers can see rental listings all in one place before they hit StreetEasy. 

HOW DOES IT WORK?
As you know, once StreetEasy started charging mandatory posting fees, many agents came up with the brilliant idea to post their new listings on other websites first (through the RLS, etc.) BEFORE posting to StreetEasy.

Get First Peek, a feature of Frele, simply compiles all these rentals that are not yet posted on StreetEasy into one place (for free of course).  

Since most of your listings are already on our website through the RLS, all you have to do to get your listings on Get First Peek is to “tag” your new listings by going to freemylistings. Simply select the number of days they should remain on Get First Peek and click “save”.  It takes only a few seconds.

Don’t worry if you don’t have any current/new listings now.  You can still go to freemylistings, select the default number of days, and future listings will be tagged automatically.  You only have to do this once and then not think about it anymore.

WHY WILL THIS WORK? 
StreetEasy’s achilles heel is this: YOU and the owners control the inventory, NOT them.

This is our chance as an industry to fight back with our best weapon: Access to Inventory.

JUST ONE DAY EARLY HELPS
Even listing just ONE DAY EARLY on alternative websites before listing on StreetEasy will have a huge effect when multiplied by hundreds if not thousands of real estate agents.

THAT IS WHY YOUR HELP IS NEEDED.  PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SPREAD THE WORD.  

Let’s work together and bring integrity back to New York City Real Estate, one listing at a time!

Phil Horigan
Founder,
Leasebreak: We are #1 in shorter term rentals (but have it all)
Get First Peek by Frēlē: Where rentals appear before they hit the mainstream websites

Dear Real Estate Agents and Brokerages,

StreetEasy is underestimating the hustle and ingenuity of NYC brokers.  Check this out:

There is a movement gaining momentum to NOT list FIRST on StreetEasy…especially within the first 7 days of a new listing.

This trend is happening much more on the rental side of things. Here’s the proof: 16,000 rental apartments – over 50% – have left StreetEasy since “mandatory posting fees” started.

So if your exclusive rental apartments are NOT being posted FIRST on StreetEasy, where are they being posted FIRST?

Chatting with hundreds of you, we know the answer:

“All over the internet”

For example, in addition to the RLS (assuming you are a REBNY/RLS member) some of you are posting your listings FIRST in these places:

  • on your company websites
  • on other consumer websites (Leasebreak, Frele, NY Times, etc.)
  • on your blogs
  • on your Instagram / Facebook accounts
  • in your email marketing campaigns.

These impressive entrepreneurial actions taken by brokers are having an impact.

BUT unfortunately at this rate, it will still be years before a critical mass of consumers “get the message”.   

However, we as an industry have a window of opportunity right now to supersize the effect:

If you are listing your apartments somewhere else FIRST, why not HIGHLIGHT these listings so consumers and agents can easily find them!

NOW YOU CAN!

Just tag your new listings with this free “First Peek” label:

The “First Peek” label will bring extra free attention to your listing, as a listing that is NOT on a “Pay-to-Play” website (StreetEasy, Naked Apartments, etc.)

You can easily add this logo to all your new listings on Leasebreak/Frele by going on your desktop to:
freemylistings.com

Imagine how great it would be if consumers and agents could have easy access to ALL new listings that are NOT on these greedy “Pay-to-Play” websites.

I encourage all free consumer websites (yes, my competitors) to embrace this concept as well.  This is about what is right for the industry.  Principles before profits!

Let’s work together and bring integrity back to New York City Real Estate, one listing at a time!

Phil Horigan
Founder,
Leasebreak: We are #1 in shorter term rentals but have everything
Frēlē: A recently launched free and honest real estate marketplace

Dear Real Estate Agents and Brokerages,

Make no mistake. The recent StreetEasy pronouncement is by far the most aggressive move to date.  There is even a sleight of hand at work here.  In fact, the most important announcement has been overshadowed by the new $333 monthly fee.

What Did they Announce?
Last week StreetEasy said that if you want to be the only agent listed on your exclusive (i.e. get rid of Premier Agent) you have to pay them $333 per month.  However, in order to do this, you have to enter your listing manually, directly through StreetEasy.  This part of the announcement is getting overlooked.  No one seems to be really focusing on this.

Therefore I am actually NOT going to focus much here on their more obvious shameless behavior: Requiring people to pay to get rid of a hated “bait and switch” feature (Premier Agent) which was forced upon them.  

Instead, I would rather focus on the broader, more serious implications of what they are up to, and why we as an industry have to act NOW!

Why are they doing this?

1) Over time StreetEasy plans to replace Premier Agent with “Pay to Play” in sales (like they have in rentals)
StreetEasy has obviously recognized that Premier Agent in NYC is failing.
This announcement will only ACCELERATE the end of Premier Agent in NYC since it will mean less leads for Premier Agents.

In addition, StreetEasy knows the Department of State may soon require substantial changes to the shady “Premier Agent” program. These changes may kill off Premier Agent for good.

The new pricing scheme to pay $333/month to “opt out” of Premier Agent is a great way for them to slowly kill off Premier Agent in NYC without having to admit what a colossal failure it has been.  More importantly, they can do it in such a way as to keep collecting Premier Agent revenue from buyer’s agents, while starting to get revenue from the new program.

2) StreetEasy wants to be the sole manual entry point for all agents on all listings, no feeds. 
But the real implications are in the fine print: Agents who want to get rid of Premier Agent will have to upload their listings manually, directly into StreetEasy.

Let’s face it, many top agents may request this, and they may even get their firms to pay for it.

This should set off alarm bells!

Why does StreetEasy want you to upload manually directly through them? 

Currently many top firms could instantly – with a single click – remove thousands of listings from appearing on StreetEasy.  This is enormous leverage that the top brokerage firms have over StreetEasy.  In fact, as reported by the Real Deal, many of these firms have used this leverage in the last year or two to cut deals and negotiate better pricing for themselves.

By slowly nurturing these “direct” relationships, StreetEasy can dramatically weaken brokerage firms as well as vendors who feed to StreetEasy.

In fact, there is even more proof of their plan. While it has not been reported much (if at all), over the last year or so StreetEasy has required many smaller firms to cut their feed and upload their listings manually.

Controlling the sole point of entry will also give StreetEasy additional ways to dig even deeper into agents’ pockets (Ugh).

Having access to all of the listings used to be one of StreetEasy’s main competitive advantages. However, now that hundreds of consumer websites have the ability to plug into REBNY’s RLS feed, this is no longer a strategic advantage for StreetEasy.

How Can We All Respond? 

1.Think twice before cutting the feed to StreetEasy. Think long term. Hold on to your leverage.  
The big firms who are still sending their listing feeds to StreetEasy may want to strongly consider NOT cutting the feed.  Cutting the feed at this point would be playing right into their hands. Once your agents are posting directly with StreetEasy, your leverage is gone.  It would be really hard to put that genie back in the bottle.

Of course if you are still sending your listings feed to StreetEasy, this means you will be stuck with Premier Agent on your listings.  Given how “weak” Premier Agent is becoming, perhaps that is the best alternative FOR NOW.  This would essentially freeze the status quo, provide the opportunity to seek other solutions, and maintain the leverage you have to help bring about positive change.

2. Move Closer to a True “MLS”: Create One Single Point of Listing Entry Run by an Agent Advocacy Group
Right now agents input their listings in all different ways.  Some enter through their brokerage and some enter through a third party vendor.  Some enter directly through StreetEasy.  StreetEasy is trying to take advantage of this “chaos” and standardize this behavior by having everyone list through them.  This would be disastrous for the industry. You think things are bad now?

The only way to effectively neutralize StreetEasy’s plans of being the single place for everyone to go to enter their listings would be to have a competing database (accessed only by brokers) where all agents can enter their listings directly (This is how MLS’s work in other regions of the country).  It should be run and owned by an entity that advocates for agents (e.g. REBNY).

REBNY’s RLS has made significant progress, but the time is now to allow – and perhaps require – agents to enter their listings directly into the RLS all in one place. While other solutions can be considered, adding this capability to the RLS to work this way would probably be the fastest and most efficient way to compete.

A HUGE critical secondary benefit of this approach would be incredible standard listing quality throughout the industry since everyone would be using the same exact form to enter their listings! This listings database – with a single entry point  and managed by an organization that actually understands NYC real estate to maintain accuracy – could become the gold standard for listing quality. This could be a huge competitive advantage.  

3. Educate your clients about new platforms.  Why? The quality and number of listings on StreetEasy continues to decline.  
Educate your clients to search on new platforms for sales and rentals (FreleLeasebreak, and other competitors.).   To understand what will happen to sales after some of these changes,  look at how “pay to play” has affected rentals on StreetEasy.

As StreetEasy moves to a “pay to play” scheme on sales, you will see a drop in quality and a drop in the number of listings, similar to what has happened on rentals.   I hear from agents all the time that they are receiving leads on rentals from different and more varied websites than ever before!

Please shoot me an email with any thoughts on any of this, or if you want to get involved or help in some way.  I always love to hear from you! 🙂

Let’s work together.  We can bring integrity back to New York City Real Estate, one listing at a time!

Phil Horigan
Founder,
Leasebreak: We are #1 in shorter term rentals but have everything
Frēlē: A just launched honest and free real estate marketplace

Dear Real Estate Agents,

Scrooge strikes again.  Listing fee increase of 50% on StreetEasy.  Fee increase of 13,400% on Naked Apartments.  

OMG.  StreetEasy decided to give agents an early holiday gift.  StreetEasy just announced that they are increasing the cost to list a rental from $3 a day to $4.50.  This is a 50 percent increase in just a year’s time.  It means that it will now cost $135 per month to list a rental with them, up from $90 per month.  OUTRAGEOUS.  Who treats their customers this way? A 50% increase in one year, after being free the 10 years before that?

By the way, it is even worse on Naked Apartments.  Naked Apartments was charging about $1 per rental per month. Thousands of agents use this platform.  Now that Naked Apartments is being folded into the same rental network, these users will also be paying $135 per rental per month.  For Naked Apartment users, this is a PRICE INCREASE OF 13,400%! 

But StreetEasy (accidentally) reveals that their recent business moves are already starting to hurt traffic to their website. 

In their email to agents, StreetEasy said that their traffic per rental listing is up 40% since launch of the $3 fee.  That’s way lower than it should be if you stop to think about it.  After all, don’t forget that the number of the rental listings on their website dropped about 50% over the same time period.   So, the traffic per listing should have roughly doubled if the number of listings on their site halved.  Instead the traffic per listing only went up 40%? For all of you math geeks out there, this means that you are receiving 1.4X the traffic instead of the expected 2X the traffic.  This implies a 30% decrease in overall rental traffic to their website since they launched the new PAY to PLAY rental platform in 2017.

What can we do as a community? 

Enough is enough. Change takes time but together with your help we can do it.  Consumers, agents, and landlords deserve a free and transparent real estate marketplace.  They deserve to not be beholden to a near monopoly who continues to extort hard working real estate agents.

At every chance you get, you should let your clients know about this.  They should know that not only does StreetEasy have only a fraction of the available rental inventory, but they will have even less listings once this new fee is implemented in January.  People should be using other websites (and brokers) to help search for rentals.

Here is another thing we can all do:
Make sure your managers “opt in” to all free transparent rental websites through the RLS.  Believe it or not, many brokerages have NOT yet opted in to all free rental websites.  Your listings may not be getting maximum exposure.   

We can never move from the status quo if we don’t give every new listing website a chance to succeed.

Let me explain further.  If you remember, I spoke a lot about how REBNY’s RLS would help “level the playing field”. One thing has made it much harder than I thought: REBNY’s RLS is an “opt in” only platform.  Only senior members of the individual brokerage can “opt in” to a particular listing website.  This means only one or two people in high positions at your firm have the power to “opt in” or not “opt in” to a particular website for any host of reasons.  These reasons may or may not be in your or your client’s best interest. While being a great first start,  the RLS has not yet been as “plug in” capable as it could be.

Given the state of the industry right now, agents (and their clients) have a right to be upset if managers were not doing everything in their power to list their exclusives on as many legitimate platforms as possible, especially if they are free!  Just ask me and I can tell you if your brokerage has opted in or not to Leasebreak and Frele, both free and extremely transparent websites.

Here’s what I’m doing…but need your help! 

1.Frele created an amazing searchable NYC Rental Guide you can use or send to your clients (www.frele.com/learn).  Free of course. 

This rental guide is a free “broker friendly” NYC rental guide (www.frele.com/learn) with over 40 NYC rental articles and videos. You can use it yourself to brush up on rentals or send it to your clients to get them up to speed.  Just type in relevant keywords and the articles pop up! Feel free to comment and add your expertise on ANY article and maybe you can get new business from prospective clients (Some of the articles get great traffic).   

Reminder: What is Frele?  (Pronounced “Freely”)  As a reminder, with the help and feedback from many of you, we created a rental website Frele (www.frele.com) with a 4 Point Pledge (www.frele.com/pledge) including the promise to always be a free place to list your exclusives.  Our primary mission is to honor and protect the integrity of the real estate marketplace.  Use the purple feedback button on any page to send me feedback on  Frele and let’s continue to build a great site together.  If it makes no money, so be it.  Principles sometimes come first.     

2. For free, continue to use Leasebreak.com, the #1 short term rental website for short term rentals, leasebreaks and shares

Almost all of you know that Leasebreak is the #1 “go to” marketplace to post and search rentals for under 12 months, leasebreaks, and shares.  We also get some traffic on standard 12 month listings.  All free of course.

3. Move over Naked Apartments.  We developed the best program to get rental exclusives or work with renters.  

Seriously, agents rave about this program.  We have a very unique, incredibly fair, and low cost way to help you get rental exclusives and work with renters through our Special Lead Program.  We now have over 600 agents signed up.  If you are interested you can try it out and get a free lead by clicking here and scrolling down.

The fun is just getting started.  And with your help, and with our absolute pledge of always being free and transparent (www.frele.com/pledge) we can bring integrity back to New York City Real Estate, one listing at a time!

Phil Horigan
Founder,
Leasebreak: We are #1 in shorter term rentals but have everything
Frēlē: A just launched honest and free real estate marketplace