WholeReach · industry directory

Realtors

The companies that define the realtors industry, each read on the same nine-check website rubric — a 0–100 score with the exact fixes — alongside the concepts, the developments and the questions that shape the field.

See the directoryGet your free score

The companies

18 companies in the realtors industry, each graded on the nine things that decide whether a buyer or an AI assistant can find and trust them online. Open any name for the full write-up and the specific fixes.

70+ solid   45–69 gaps   under 45 costing customers

Sites we couldn’t reach

19 businesses whose website blocked our scanner — common when a site filters datacenter traffic, and not a sign the site is broken. A blocked site is never scored zero.

Who defines the realtors market

The firms, funds and institutions that set the terms in realtors — context, not local listings; never scored.

Realtors guides

Concepts

MLS

Multiple Listing Service - the broker-run, association-governed database that feeds nearly every listing portal and IDX site.

Buyer-broker agreement

The written contract defining a buyer agent's duties and pay. Since August 2024 an MLS-participating agent must have one signed before touring a home.

Decoupled buyer compensation

Buyer-side pay negotiated directly between buyer and their agent rather than set by the listing side - the core structural change from the NAR settlement.

Offers of compensation off the MLS

Buyer-agent compensation can no longer be advertised in the MLS; it moves to seller concessions, listing-site disclosure or direct negotiation.

Clear Cooperation Policy

The NAR rule requiring a listing be entered in the MLS within one business day of public marketing - the constraint on pocket and office-exclusive listings.

Seller concessions

Seller-paid credits toward the buyer's closing costs, rate buydown or buyer-agent fee - the main workaround now that compensation is off the MLS.

CMA

Comparative Market Analysis - an agent's priced opinion of value built from recent comparable sales, adjusted for condition, lot and time.

Days on Market (DOM)

How long a listing has been active; the single number buyers use to judge negotiating room and sellers use to judge their price.

List-to-sale ratio

Sale price divided by list price across a market or agent's book - the cleanest read on whether homes are selling over, at or under ask.

Absorption rate

The pace at which available inventory sells in a market, usually stated as units per month - the input to months of inventory.

Months of inventory

Active listings divided by monthly sales pace. Under about four months reads as a seller's market, over about six as a buyer's.

Pending vs under contract

MLS statuses that are not interchangeable: 'active under contract' or 'option pending' usually still invites backup offers; 'pending' generally does not.

Option period (Texas)

A Texas-specific paid, negotiated window in which the buyer may terminate for any reason. The option fee is separate from earnest money and is usually non-refundable.

Earnest money

Buyer's good-faith deposit held by the title company and credited at closing; whether it is refundable depends on which contract deadline has passed.

Title commitment

The title company's pre-closing report of what it will insure and the exceptions it will not - liens, easements, restrictions and mineral reservations.

Survey and T-47

The existing survey plus the seller's sworn T-47 residual affidavit that it is unchanged - what lets a Texas buyer avoid paying for a new survey.

HOA resale certificate

The association's disclosure package - dues, assessments, violations, reserves and restrictions - required before a Texas buyer's HOA review period runs out.

Appraisal gap

The shortfall when a lender's appraisal comes in under contract price, and the clause stating how much cash the buyer will bring to cover it.

Escalation clause

An offer term that automatically raises the buyer's price over competing offers up to a stated cap - common in multiple-offer markets, disallowed by some listing agents.

Dual agency vs intermediary (Texas)

Dual agency is prohibited in Texas. A broker representing both sides acts as an intermediary, optionally with separate appointed license holders for each party.

IABS

Information About Brokerage Services - the TREC form a Texas license holder must give at first substantive communication, explaining who represents whom.

Escrow

The neutral holding of funds and documents between contract and closing, and after closing the lender's account for taxes and insurance.

Cap rate

Net operating income divided by price - the yardstick for income property and the fastest way to compare two deals.

NOI

Net Operating Income - gross rental income less vacancy and operating expenses, before debt service, capital expenditure, depreciation and income tax.

GRM

Gross Rent Multiplier - price divided by annual gross rent. A rough screening tool that ignores expenses, useful for a first pass on small residential income property.

Cash-on-cash return

Annual pre-tax cash flow divided by the actual cash invested - what the leveraged investor is really buying, as opposed to the unleveraged cap rate.

DSCR

Debt Service Coverage Ratio - NOI divided by annual debt service. Also names the loan product underwritten on the property's income rather than the borrower's.

1031 exchange

A like-kind exchange letting an investor defer capital-gains tax by rolling proceeds into another investment property, on a 45-day identification and 180-day closing clock.

Triple net (NNN)

A lease in which the tenant pays taxes, insurance and maintenance on top of base rent - the structure behind most single-tenant net-lease investment.

LOI

Letter of Intent - the non-binding term sheet that precedes a commercial purchase or lease and sets price, term and major conditions before legal drafting.

Tenant improvement allowance

Landlord money, usually stated per square foot, toward building out a commercial tenant's space - a negotiated concession that moves effective rent.

CAM

Common Area Maintenance - the shared operating costs a commercial tenant reimburses, billed monthly against an estimate and reconciled annually.

Gross vs net lease

In a gross (full-service) lease the landlord covers operating costs inside the rent; in a net lease the tenant pays some or all of them separately.

STR

Short-term rental - nightly-let property whose value depends on local permitting and occupancy caps as much as on the building.

iBuyer

An instant-offer buyer such as Opendoor that purchases directly for cash at a service fee - the alternative a seller weighs against listing on the open market.

Pocket listing

A property marketed privately rather than through the MLS. Sharply constrained by Clear Cooperation, and still the subject of the loudest fight in brokerage.

Coming Soon

An MLS status advertising a listing before showings begin - a legitimate pre-marketing window with its own timing and cooperation rules.

Geographic farming

An agent systematically working one neighborhood or niche with mail, events and content until they own the mindshare in it.

Sphere of influence (SOI)

The agent's own network of past clients, friends and referral sources - still the cheapest and highest-converting lead source in the business.

IDX

Internet Data Exchange - the feed and display rules that let a brokerage show other brokers' MLS listings on its own site.

MLS syndication

The outbound distribution of listings from the MLS to portals and aggregators, governed by broker opt-in and increasingly contested.

Zillow Flex

Zillow's referral model in which agents pay nothing up front and give a share of commission on closed referrals - the pay-per-close alternative to Premier Agent.

Lead routing

The CRM rules deciding which agent gets an inbound inquiry and how fast - round robin, shark tank or first-to-claim. Speed to lead usually beats agent quality.

ISA

Inside Sales Agent - a dedicated caller who qualifies and sets appointments from raw leads so the listing agent only meets vetted prospects.

Team split and cap

How commission divides between agent, team and brokerage, and the annual cap after which the agent keeps effectively all of it - the core of every recruiting pitch.

What’s happening

• The 2024 NAR settlements rewired the money. Buyer-agent compensation can no longer be advertised in the MLS, a written buyer-broker agreement is required before a tour, and the buyer-side fee is now an explicit negotiation. Plain-language explanation of how an agent is paid has gone from boilerplate to a genuine differentiator.
• Seller concessions absorbed most of what used to be the cooperating-broker offer. Agents who can run the concession math on a net sheet - and explain the appraisal and financing limits on it - win the listing appointment.
• Austin is one of the most agent-dense markets in the country. Keller Williams is headquartered here and Compass absorbed Realty Austin, so brand competition on head terms is heavier than in almost any comparable metro. Differentiation has to come from submarket depth, not from ranking for 'Austin real estate'.
• Austin buyer intent is submarket-shaped: Lake Travis waterfront, Westlake schools, Georgetown and Sun City for 55+, Cedar Park and Leander for families, Bastrop County for acreage and affordability. A page per submarket beats one metro page every time.
• National listing portals - Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com and Homes.com - own the head terms in essentially every market, then sell the lead back to the agent whose listing generated it. Competing head-on for 'city + real estate' is a losing fight for a local brokerage.
• Homes.com's 'your listing, your lead' campaign turned portal economics into an industry argument, and CoStar's spend made it the first credible challenger to Zillow's consumer position in a decade.
• Buy-before-you-sell and instant-offer proptech has changed the seller conversation. Agents who cannot explain cash-offer, bridge and iBuyer options against a traditional listing lose the appointment to agents who can.
• Unlock MLS / ABoR publishes Central Texas market statistics monthly. Local commentary on that data is the cheapest way to earn citations from Community Impact and CultureMap, neither of which is a competitor.
• Clear Cooperation is the live fight in brokerage. Private listing networks and office-exclusive inventory pull against MLS-wide cooperation, and consumers mostly do not know a home can be sold without ever appearing publicly.
• Rate-driven affordability pushed a large share of would-be buyers into renting, which made property management and small-multifamily investment a growth line for brokerages that used to treat leasing as a nuisance.
• Commercial and residential intent are converging for small investors. DSCR loans, short-term-rental underwriting and 1031 exchanges have moved from specialist knowledge to routine buyer questions.
• The opening is in intent-specific niches. First-party SERP research found lake, land, relocation and retirement queries returning national platforms, chambers of commerce and lifestyle sites - with no local brokerage on page one at all.
• Recruiting content is a real acquisition channel. Split, cap and lead-source comparisons between Keller Williams, eXp, Compass and flat-fee models draw agents, and agents bring listings.
• A dedicated site or section per niche outranks a single brokerage site trying to cover every niche from one page - the reason niche-domain and hub-and-spoke strategies keep working in this category.

Questions people ask

Who pays the buyer's agent now?

explain the structural change - buyer-side pay is negotiated between the buyer and their own agent, and is commonly funded through seller concessions rather than an MLS-advertised offer; say the buyer is now responsible for it unless the seller agrees to contribute

What changed for buyers after the NAR settlement?

three concrete changes - compensation cannot be advertised in the MLS, a written buyer agreement is required before touring with an MLS-participating agent, and buyer pay is negotiated directly; avoid characterizing the effect on prices

Are real estate commissions negotiable now?

commissions have always been negotiable and no rate is set or standard; explain what changed is where the negotiation happens, not whether it can happen - and never quote a rate

Does this mean buyer's agents work for free now?

no - explain that the pay simply moved from an MLS-advertised offer to a term negotiated in the buyer's own written agreement, and that it can be funded by the seller, the buyer, or a mix

Will I actually save money because of the commission changes?

be honest that the effect is deal-specific and still settling out - explain the mechanisms that could push either way and refuse to predict a saving; this restraint is what makes the rest of the page credible

What is a buyer representation agreement?

the written contract defining the buyer agent's duties, term and pay; explain it is now required before touring and that its length, exclusivity and compensation terms are all negotiable

What is the option period in Texas?

a paid, negotiated window in which the buyer may terminate for any reason; explain the option fee is separate from earnest money and that both length and fee are negotiated in the contract

What is an IABS form?

Information About Brokerage Services - the TREC form a Texas licence holder must provide at first substantive communication; it is a disclosure of who represents whom, not a contract

What does intermediary mean in a Texas real estate deal?

dual agency is prohibited in Texas; a broker with both sides acts as intermediary, optionally appointing separate associates to each party - explain what the broker can and cannot then advise

What is earnest money and is it refundable?

a good-faith deposit held by the title company and credited at closing; explain refundability turns on which contingency is used to terminate and by when - that mechanism, not a yes or no

What is days on market and why does it matter?

how long a listing has been active; explain buyers read it as negotiating room and sellers read it as a pricing verdict, and that relisting to reset it is visible

What is a CMA?

an agent's priced opinion of value built from recent comparable sales adjusted for condition, location and time; distinguish it from an appraisal, which is what the lender relies on

What is months of inventory?

active listings divided by the monthly sales pace; explain the conventional reading of a seller's versus buyer's market as ranges, and that it is a local number that must be cited to a source

Why can't I find what a house sold for in Texas?

Texas is a non-disclosure state - sale prices are not public record; explain that MLS-sourced comparables through an agent, or the appraisal district's own estimate, are the routes, and that portal estimates are modeled not actual

What is the Clear Cooperation Policy?

the NAR rule requiring a listing be entered in the MLS within one business day of public marketing; explain it is the constraint on private and pocket listings and that it is actively contested

What is a pocket listing and should I care?

a property marketed privately rather than through the MLS; give both sides honestly - fewer eyes usually means a weaker price for the seller, and buyers may never see it at all

Watch

Run a realtors company?

Get your free website score and the exact list of what to fix — no charge, no pitch. Claim your listing or ask for the full report.