Open Real Estate got the brokers to agree. Now it has to decide who holds the keys

For two years, listings in this country have been slipping underground one company at a time. The largest brokerage in America has defended that model on national television, and has bragged to shareholders that more than 50% of all its new listings do not go straight to MLS, but stay private within their company’s four walls. That is inventory pulled out of the system of cooperation this industry spent decades building. So when Keller Williams, AGNT (the parent of eXp and NextHome), HomeServices of America and Real REMAX Group launched Open Real Estate (ORE) on October 26, every leader in this business paid attention. Four companies that compete every day for the same agents and the same listings agreed in public, in an open letter, that housing markets must stay open to all. That almost never happens. They deserve real credit for it. They also deserve a serious answer to the question their launch raises. ORE is built to stop one brokerage from controlling too much inventory. Its success depends on making sure four brokerages never do. What ORE gets right I read the entire site, including the FAQ, which is where the real rules live. Several commitments have genuine teeth. Every li...