Real estate industry technology provider Real Estate Webmasters (REW) is looking to make property listing data available worldwide with the help of its ChatGPT-powered artificial intelligence robot REWPert.
The concept of a global multiple listing service was first brought to REW by Michale Polzler, the CEO of RE/MAX Europe, and Paul Boomsma, the CEO of LeadingRE.
“Michael has 30,000 agents across 40 countries and deals with multiple languages, so he has been advocating for what they call broker reciprocity for a decade trying to get his agents to share listings to a wider audience,” Morgan Carey, the CEO of Real Estate Webmasters, said. “He brought me over there to speak to the broker owners of the master franchises about the benefits of sharing listings and how it can actually increase sales price because you are increasing competition and sell things faster.”
According to Carey, Boomsma got wind of these conversations and asked if REW would be willing to work as an international vendor with LeadingRE, as he felt his company needed a stronger international vendor network.
With Boomsma and Polzler as champions of the cause, Carey said REW got to work building a global listing site.
“This centralized platform would provide international buyers with a comprehensive resource to search for properties, making it easier for them to make informed decisions. Brokers by themselves can’t do much with a few listings, but those listings in aggregate and at scale are massively valuable,” Carey said. “That’s the value exchange. There is no MLS without listings, so we provide a copy of all the organic leads back to participating brokers in exchange for their listings. They get portal-quality leads at no cost to them, and we get the listings we need in order to build this global powerhouse.”
In order to make listing data accessible to clients around the world, REWPert is built into the platform and translates all of the information into the user’s desired language.
On the back end, Carey said REWPert can also help agents generate listing descriptions and translate them into other languages, as well as draft introduction letters and translate correspondence with agents in other countries
At the moment, Carey said RE/MAX Ireland, England and Wales have subscribed to the platform and REW is working to bring on other firms, including RE/MAX Europe, as well as eXp Realty and Anywhere Real Estate, two firms REW already has established relationships with.
When looking for new regions to expand the product into, Carey said REW’s main consideration is how real estate is traditionally bought and sold in the country.
“We will pick and choose the markets that are most compatible for our current process as well as, considering language barriers, but there is no reason we can’t be in more countries,” Carey said.
He also noted that REW is currently working on signing on brokerages in South America.
“We know that real estate is challenged globally, which means that the transaction cycles are very slow and it is an onerous process,” Carey said. “If we implement technology that makes it easier for consumers to access listings at a larger scale, it increases velocity, meaning properties will sell faster — and that has a significant impact on our customers because they get a better reputation because they sold the property faster. Data has also proven that through reciprocity, you get more inquiries and higher bids, so it increases the sale value of the properties that are being listed.”
