by G. Sax, Head of Communications, RESO
Our subject this week is Jim Yockel, CMLS Past President and CEO of Upstate New York Real Estate Information Services. We talked about different MLS business models, finding ways to collaborate during an interesting few years in the organized real estate space and creative ways in which to draw attention to the housing market. Enjoy!
Q1: RESO classifies organizations like the New York State Alliance of MLSs, MichRIC in Michigan and Information Technology Systems Ontario (ITSO) in Canada as a category called “Pooled Platform.” What are the benefits of this business model, and do you think it is on the cusp of becoming more popular?
Jim: The benefits of the pooled platform is streamlined access. Our alliance covers two-thirds of the geography of New York – one database, irrespective of MLSs. Three MLSs are broker-owned, eight are association-owned. Each gets to operate independently, which allows them to serve their brokers/members in the manner in which they see fit.
It also creates the convenience of one data feed for the entire region, covering up to 40 counties. It works to break down all the barriers that we’ve been trying to break down in the industry.
Whether it leads to single ownership, I’m not certain. It could, but it doesn’t have to. That’s harder to predict, because there are so many people involved. Our mission has been to not go down that path – it’s been to serve the people who access that database.
We think this approach makes us more accessible. Alliance members can simply standardize their data into our data set.
We have a broker with a presence in Arizona, and we can accommodate that. Anybody is welcome! If it breaks down barriers, we think that’s good.
Q2: You were the president of CMLS in 2023. During your tenure, what cause did you find yourself championing the hardest?
Jim: The well-covered and very public lawsuits were beginning during that time, so we were actively trying to shape the conversation and understand what was going on – preparing brokers, teams and associations to understand the situation.
Our main focus at CMLS was meeting people in an appropriate way to bring back critical information to their MLSs during a difficult environment and a tough period of change. So much was questionable about how things were going to turn out.
The lawsuits encouraged us to do our own independent research on compensation and operations that was different from what the Department of Justice was claiming. I think we did a nice job with that.
RESO: Did the lawsuits derail what you really wanted to do during your time as President?
Jim: I don’t think so. The role of CMLS is to talk about the issues of the day in order to serve brokers, agents and consumers – to help them transact. It was different from what we planned, but it was a necessary priority. We still did best practices, conferences, etc., which were important but not as urgent.
What I tried to bring to the conversation in the boardroom was how there is a shift in the country about where people work and live. We were missing the trend of corporate/private equity ownership of houses for rent.
Several sources have reported that some 15 to 20 percent of sales are ending up in large-scale corporate or private equity ownership groups. There are some builders that only build rental communities of large, nice suburban homes. My perspective is that if the percentage is this high, how many years do we go through this before there are half the number of homes for sale?
As an industry, when do we start to worry? We probably should have worried a couple of years ago. That’s something that we should be paying more attention to. It is easy to dismiss short-term dips with short-term causes, but when I look at the numbers in Upstate New York, there is a 20-year trend of decreasing inventory.
The National Association of REALTORS® was established with a preamble to the Code of Ethics that talks about the wide distribution of ownership of land. I think this is a critical concept. The positive health, wealth, educational and social impacts of stability in housing are well-documented. We owe it to our communities to ensure that home ownership remains available to as many of our neighbors as possible.
I spend more than half my time on this – helping political, community and business leaders understand the market.
It’s nearly impossible to build anything in our region of New York for under $500,000, and the median income is $60–70K. The math doesn’t make sense. If we don’t find ways to create owner-occupancy at a more attainable price range, we risk losing the chance for future generations to reap the benefits of ownership.
Q3: We first met when you hired the real estate statistics company I worked for to create a customized video product called “The Skinny,” which presented the housing market in a simple and sometimes artistic way for easy sharing. You were one of our first customers. How do you go about finding new ways to help your subscribers/members and the consumers that work with them understand the market?
Jim: For one, The Skinny was attractive. We were already doing the work to make stats accessible to members and the media. Putting that to graphics/voice made that even more digestible. It just made sense to hire that out.
Our members liked it. It wasn’t the most impactful thing, but it was quick and easy to show to members and buyers.
We didn’t replace it when we stopped using it. We tried some other things. Today, I’m focusing much more on in-person deeper dives into the housing market with influential people in the community. We need to share the realities of the market with the average resident.
To be honest, if you’re not looking for new housing, you don’t know that there is a crisis. You’re competing with 20 other offers and there’s virtually no inventory. It’s exhausting.
I can share the stats in all sorts of formats, but it’s a conversation. We’ve changed our focus to be on deeper conversations, and we have a public website called ReImagine ROC Housing that is meant to help us achieve our educational and action-oriented goals.
Three Questions is a lighthearted interview series that features real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards.
