Coldwell Banker Realty’s Kamini Lane prepares for post-NAR brokering

Kamini Lane stepped into the top spot at Coldwell Banker Realty last year. The president and CEO had her work cut out for her from the start.

Lane joined the brokerage as the Sitzer-Burnett class action lawsuit continued to wind its way through Missouri federal court. New rules born out of the case settlements with the National Association of Realtors go into effect on Aug. 17. 

Coldwell parent Anywhere Real Estate Inc. President and CEO Ryan Schneider assured analysts earlier this month the company’s brands are well equipped for change. 

Lane brings a diverse background to her current position, most recently as president of Coldwell’s sister brokerage Sotheby’s International Realty. She also previously served as Compass’ president of the West and worked at tech companies such as eBay and online fashion marketplace Tradesy.

The CEO spoke with The Real Deal about what Coldwell Banker Realty has done to prepare agents for the new rules stemming from the settlement, common misconceptions in the market and what the new rules could mean for the brokerage business in the years to come.

How confident are you that Coldwell’s agents understand the post-Aug. 17 market?

I am feeling really good about how prepared our agents will be, because we have been laser-focused on making sure that our field leadership is absolutely fluent in the changes and in settlement implementation — not just from a standpoint of what is changing and what the new rules are, but also in making sure that our agents are prepared to articulate their value proposition. 

That is what this all comes down to — agents need to be able to articulate to their clients, both buyers and sellers, the value that they bring, the services that they provide, and then accordingly, the fees that they charge for those services.

What concerns have you heard from your agents about the buyer agreement changes?

There’s a lot of concern just about the pace of change. This is a big change for our industry. But the reality is that in many states in the country, buyer agent agreements have been mandatory for a long time. So, I really think it’s just a question of making sure that we’re prepared.

One of the big concerns is just lack of clarity. We’ve seen local MLSs change their date of implementation. We’ve seen CAR [California Association of Realtors] change the forms requirement. It almost feels like as soon as they get comfortable and confident with one piece of implementation, something changes.

Have you heard any misconceptions from agents, not necessarily at Coldwell?

I saw a piece of collateral from an agent, not with Coldwell Banker Realty but with a competitor, that said that it’s now illegal for sellers to offer buyer broker compensation. I heard a story about an agent, it was a co-broker situation, so an agent was telling a Coldwell Banker agent that it was illegal for a buyer’s agent to accept compensation.

These are really concerning. The misconceptions and the mistruths in our industry that agents believe, it’s really a concern, because that is what starts to erode trust and confidence from a consumer standpoint.

It’s interesting, because you would hope that the confusion and the concern is around the nuances, but we’re hearing agents — again, not necessarily at Coldwell Banker Realty — that are confused about the fundamentals here.

Anywhere has made training available to agents. Is it mandatory?

It’s voluntary. Agents are independent contractors, so we really can’t make very much mandatory besides having an active license. But we have seen incredible participation.

We’ve had a series of webinars that kicked off several months ago called the “Moving Forward with Confidence” series, and it is fireside chats with me and our chief litigation officer. It’s agent panels getting into the details of buyer agency agreements. It’s best practices sharing. 

We’ve had a number of emails that have gone out in the “Moving Forward with Confidence” series that recaps settlement implementation, that recap best practices, that recap the new rules.

We’ve had what we’re calling the “Days of Learning” for every single field leader in Coldwell Banker Realty across the entire nation. It is an entire day dedicated to getting our field leaders together, mostly in person with our legal team to dedicate the day to, again, becoming fluent in settlement implementation in the new world.

Does being a larger brokerage have a competitive advantage over smaller players in the context of these new rules?

Absolutely, yes. The reality is that it takes an enormous amount of resources and expertise to navigate a change of this magnitude. And we’re well equipped to do that. We have hundreds of leaders who, in aggregate, have hundreds of years of experience in this industry. We have a legal team that is the best in the business. We [Anywhere] were the first to settle this lawsuit. We’ve been ahead of the game because of the depth of expertise of our people since the very beginning.

What are the implications of these rules in the longer term for the brokerage businesses?  

We’ve had an influx of less-than-experienced agents for a couple of years. In fairness, post-COVID, where there was an enormous amount of demand for housing, there were a lot of people who entered the industry to respond to that demand.

We are at an inflection point right now. We’re at a renaissance, going back to the basics. Those who are truly professionals, truly experts, are the ones that are going to thrive. Those who haven’t taken to being a real estate professional — being a real estate advisor as a true profession — are going to drop out of the business.

Do the new rules hold implications for M&A and industry consolidation?

That remains to be seen. I think your question around “Are bigger brokerages better poised to respond to this” is prescient. If my hypothesis is true and bigger brokerages are better poised to help their agents win in a changing landscape, then I think we might see opportunities for consolidation, because it’s going to be a little bit harder for brokerages that don’t have the depth of resources that we have to thrive in this kind of new environment. 

If that bears out, I think there will be consolidation opportunity.

TRD reported on Coldwell Banker Realty’s restructuring a year ago to a regional format. Has that structure been helpful as it relates to educating agents on the settlement and new rules?

Oh, for sure, yes, it really has because we have executive leaders who are on the ground in the field and understand and can contribute to a 30,000-foot strategy for the company but are incredibly fluent in local nuance.

They can apply our national strategy at a local level and ensure that what we’re doing to help agents win makes sense when it comes to implementation on the ground. 

There are local MLSs that have different timelines for implementation. We’ve got one MLS PIN (Property Information Network) who has said, “No thank you, NAR. No thank you, DOJ. We’re going to continue to display offers of buyer compensation on the MLS.”

All of that local nuance is incredibly important to understand, and the regional leadership model enables us to do that.

Did your experience at Tradesy and eBay help in preparing you for this role?

I developed a passion for entrepreneurship at eBay because fundamentally eBay is the largest platform in the world for entrepreneurs, whether it’s somebody selling a couple of pieces of clothing a month, or someone selling $1 million of merchandise a month.

What I realized when I was in that role was that I’m not necessarily an entrepreneur myself, but being behind the scenes, being on the business side to help accelerate entrepreneurs’ business, that’s what really gets me going. That’s where I feel drive and passion and purpose.

Being at the helm of Coldwell Banker Realty, we have over 50,000 independent contractors who are entrepreneurs. It’s the ultimate calling for that passion, so it comes full circle for me.

I think being in a startup environment, particularly at Tradesy, which was a mid-stage, growth-stage startup, taught me how to be really comfortable with uncertainty and really comfortable with change. I learned in that kind of startup environment that change presents opportunity, and you can’t shy away from it. You have to embrace it, and you have to be forward-thinking in the face of change. You can’t be reactive.

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