As The Clear Cooperation Debate Heats Up, Two New Platforms Look To Revamp The Listing Process

In addition to dividing the real estate industry, the debate over the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) is highlighting the different desires home sellers may have when it comes to marketing their properties.

Unlist and Off-Markt are two firms that utilize different strategies as they look to capitalize on the growing discourse surrounding listings.

Hinge for real estate

Founded by Dallas-based real estate professionals Brian Pienciak and Kyle Brinkley, Unlist matches real estate agents with off-market properties. 

Pienciak and Brinkley describe the platform as “a dating app for real estate.” It’s only available to licensed real estate professionals.

“A user inputs their buyers and their requirements, like price point, location, bed/bath count, and they do the same for off-market properties. UNLIST makes potential matches, users are notified via push notification, and they can access the matches through their respective dashboards in the app,” the co-founders wrote in an email.

“You then review your potential matches and swipe left or right indicating whether it’s a match you want to follow up or pass on. If there is a promising match, the user is given the other agent’s contact information or can use the in-app chat to directly reach out and further discuss to see if there is a deal to be made.”

Unlike other home search platforms, users cannot search the Unlist database. Instead, they are only notified when an off-market listing matches one of their buyer profiles. As of now, Unlist, which launched in March, is only available in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, but the founders are eager to grow and scale the platform. 

“The plan is to grow the DFW market first, and then hopefully spread into the other major markets in Texas and ultimately nationwide,” Pienciak and Brinkley wrote. “We want to create a core group of users who understand the value of the platform and can testify to its value versus growing too big, too fast.

“DFW is a hot market with a lot of top producing agents who we cater to. That said, tomorrow we could push a button and scale this into other markets be it Miami, LA, and NYC.”

The co-founders said the app currently has about 200 downloads in the app store. They believe the increased discussion about private and off-market listings will only help the platform grow. 

“Regardless of which side you fall on in the debate, the one thing that’s certain is off market deals are not going away,” they wrote. “They didn’t go away in May of 2020, and arguably CCP caused the inverse making them more prevalent and exclusive.

“What is not debatable is that if you are not plugged in to the off-market ecosystem, you are 100% missing out on deals for your clients.”

In order to comply with CCP, agents give off-market properties in the platform “ambiguous” names and they are currently unable to share photos. 

“With NAR’s revised guidance on what triggers the requirements of CCP, we believe that our app’s matching engine effectively becomes a one-to-one broker communication, which no longer constitutes a violation,” Pienciak and Brinkley wrote. 

As Pienciak and Brinkley look to grow the platform, they said they have no plans to partner with specific brokerages as they want all agents to be able to join. 

“One of the reasons we built the app the way we did is to give agents exposure to other agents that they may not necessarily connect with. In-house private networks are great for the brokerage, but they don’t maximize the agent’s reach to potential buyers and sellers,” they wrote.

Test drive your listing

While Unlist may be a good fit for sellers who have already agreed to list a property with a real estate agent, Off-Markt is catered toward the homeowner looking to showcase their home regardless of whether or not they want to sell.

Founder Alison Bernstein views Off-Markt as “a peer-to-peer real estate marketplace that puts homebuyers in the driver’s seat, to explore and connect with homeowners in real time, and discover real estate like never before.” 

“The concept of going to market with a property has always been very daunting, expensive and overwhelming, and I felt that there were so many people that would buy a home and so many people that would sell a home if it was easier to go to market,” Bernstein said.

“I think there are many ways a homeowner can use the Off-Markt platform. On the front end, it is a great way to share the story of your home and your journey of homeownership. On the back end, it really becomes a much more liquid marketplace because anybody can approach anybody at anytime. The whole reason we are called Off-Markt is because why should people only be searching for properties that are on the market?”

But Bernstein made it clear the platform isn’t about to cut real estate professionals out of the transaction. Users can tag their agent, interior designer, landscaper or other real estate professional in their posts, creating a digital portfolio of their work within the platform. 

“Right now, if a real estate broker has a live listing, you can see their picture or name with the listing and they are relevant, but once the property sells, there is nothing left, so this is a great way for them to share the story of their business and show all the things they have done,” Bernstein said. “For consumers, this is helpful because they can see who is doing business in a particular building or neighborhood.”

As the discussion of CCP and listing strategies goes mainstream, Bernstein believes more homeowners may look to showcase their house without actually listing it — and this is exactly what Off-Markt is designed to do, she said.

“I can’t tell you how many people end up buying homes where they literally went and knocked on a door, so this is just a more efficient, effective transaction platform that enables them to do that,” Bernstein said. “Our whole concept is to allow people to have a conversation and see if they agree on terms to transact.”