RealScout’s 10 Year Anniversary

RealScout 10 Year Anniversary
RealScout 10 Year Anniversary

A decade ago, at the early stages of the venture capital boom that fueled the unicorn startup craze, my cofounder Michael and I began working late nights in a dinky office, our ambitions both limitless and naive. As a practicing real estate agent at the time, I knew that the industry was ripe for innovation, and we were determined to be at the forefront. That was the genesis of RealScout. 

Of course, the challenges in the years ahead, unpredictable and daunting, tested our resilience and patience. Naturally, it’s this path behind us, littered with failures big and small, that led us to where we are today. 
But this retrospective isn’t about how “despite all odds, we persevered and succeeded.” It’s about how 10 years on, where we ended up — and where we’re going — is so much more meaningful and valuable than where we ever dreamed we’d be. 

And it’s about how grateful we are to everyone for helping us get here. Here are the stories of three people, among countless many, that helped define what RealScout is today. 

Adriana Plut, Customer #1

Not long after we started our long nights in the tiny office, local Silicon Valley agent Adriana Plut unexpectedly became RealScout customer #1. It was unexpected because we met Adriana well before we had the operations ready to take on customers. Yet, during an early prototype feedback session, Adriana pulled out her checkbook (literally!) to ask how she could sign up. She saw, ahead of everyone else, that taking responsibility for her clients’ online experience was critical to her business, and she took a chance on a couple of unknown entrepreneurs. That vote of confidence was the validation we needed to complete the v1 product; that product, which to this day, is at the core of every RealScout user’s experience. 

Brad Inman, Community Builder

Another game-changing opportunity was given to us by none other than Brad Inman, who let us pitch our platform during the “New Kids on the Block” segment at Inman Connect. RealScout back then was a hyperlocal solution for only a small portion of the SF Bay Area, with years of work ahead of us to become a national solution relevant for the broader Inman audience. Yet Brad saw something in RealScout and gave us a chance to introduce ourselves to the industry. That was the start of many meaningful relationships with members of the Inman community and it instilled in us the importance of delivering thoughtful, informative content when speaking to the real estate audience. As young entrepreneurs, these words (and Brad’s continued support) fueled us in times of uncertainty.

Phil Cantrell, Early Buyer Graph Champion

Third was Phil Cantrell, a fiercely independent thinker who founded Benchmark Realty in Nashville and grew it into a powerhouse that inspires brokerages across the country. Phil is not known for chasing trends and jumping on bandwagons, so we were absolutely thrilled when he embraced the importance of the Buyer Graph initiatives back in April of 2019. Buyer Graph initiatives allow brokerages and their agents to share anonymized demand data on RealScout, providing market transparency for agents and clients. It was Phil’s confidence in this model that led to the success of the Nashville Buyer Graph and the other 18 Buyer Graphs (and counting) around the country. 

Adriana, Brad, and Phil were just three of many in the real estate industry who listened to us, resonated with our vision, and took a chance on us. As entrepreneurs — but also simply as people passionate about an idea — there is no better, no more meaningful show of support. 

If there is one thing we did right over the years to garner this support, it’s that we stuck, almost stubbornly, to our mission: to be the technology that strengthens, not weakens, the relationship between real estate professionals and their clients.

10 years ago, our human-centric approach was seen as contrarian among the broader tech community. Today, despite all the technological and financial innovation, buying or selling a home has proven to be an inherently human exercise that requires a human relationship to anchor its success. And it can be empowered by a thoughtful, complementary technology solution. RealScout aims to be that solution. 

Our team, and the future of RealScout

The story, of course, isn’t complete without addressing our team. Over the years, we’ve been lucky to have many incredibly talented people contribute to the company; but, it’s when we took the company fully-remote in 2017 that we unlocked our full potential. 

Our team today is a genuinely remarkable group of highly talented individuals of all backgrounds, focused on fulfilling our mission. The simple truth is that shared success with this group of people is motivation enough. 

So what’s next? Naturally, we will continue to push the envelope developing tools for brokerages, teams, and agents to help nurture and convert their clients. We’ve been consistently upgrading our platform over the years, and this will only accelerate. In fact, we’re getting close to announcing key features that expand our customers’ ability to nurture and convert a broader audience of real estate consumers. 

We’ll also continue to champion an open ecosystem for real estate tech, working with various stakeholders to make sure that every user gets the experience and control they deserve. The industry has come a long way in just the last few years, and I think there’s a lot more that vendors like us can do for the good of the ecosystem. 

Most importantly, we’ll continue to be the real estate tech company that empowers, not disrupts people. As seen in the anecdotes above, we are at our best when working closely with and for our customers. You can count on us to listen to you, understand your goals, and make changes to solve the most important problems you face. 

10 years on, we feel a strong sense of belonging in this community and, as a result, a profound sense of responsibility. 

Our aspirations as young entrepreneurs weren’t ignoble or misguided; but, where we are today far surpasses our expectations of 10 years ago. It’s a true blessing. 

Thank you for walking with us the first 10 years. Here’s to 10 more!

Andrew Flachner
President and CoFounder

Clearing the Low-Inventory Logjam

How agents are unlocking “latent listings” by reducing seller uncertainty

THE LAST 12 MONTHS have been marked by unprecedented low inventory, with the pandemic and the ensuing economic uncertainty reinforcing a long term trend of dwindling listing opportunities. These market conditions have created fierce competition among agents, rapid innovation, and new winners and losers.

Across the board, the winners, some of which have achieved their best sales performance on record, have differentiated themselves by doubling-down on their strengths, delivering value to consumers via their expert knowledge, business network, and problem-solving-driven service. This model delivers exactly what real estate consumers desire in a high-consequence, complex transaction in times on market volatility.

Unfortunately, what consumers often experience when interacting with status quo real estate marketing and tech is the exact opposite. Instead of being an extension of the personalized, consultative experience an agent should be providing, real estate marketing and technology throw consumers into an ecosystem of generic messages and one-size-fits-all experiences.

For brokerages and agents stuck in the status quo, the client’s poor experience can be especially damaging during a low-inventory-market, leading to systematic problems including lower marketing conversion, customer attrition and commission pressure.

It is the perfect timing, therefore, for all real estate professionals to carefully examine their marketing and technology strategies to ensure that consumers are getting meaningful, personalized value.

This commitment to elevate and personalize the real estate experience is not only a solution to clear the current low-inventory logjam, but a meaningful evolution in the real estate industry itself that will pave the way for its long-term future.

Personalized vs Spray-and-Pray

Whether it’s a postcard farm, Facebook advertising, or a portal advertisement, spray-and-pray marketing methods target a loosely defined audience with a lowest-common-denominator message. Inevitably, this approach — while scalable — does little to communicate why a potential client should work with a particular agent or brand. In fact, with the exception of some of the most sophisticated, highest volume teams, most agents derive an exceedingly small portion of their business through these methods.

The tech strategy for brokerages and agents fares even worse, with many firms simply resigned to the fact that their clients will use national portals and other 3rd party controlled technologies.

It goes without saying that this provides no benefit to the brokerage and agent, and it offers a poorly personalized experience for the consumer.

Contrast these realities to what actually generates the bulk of an agent’s business: sphere of influence. When working with their sphere of influence, communication with a potential client is, by default, personalized, consultative and actionable. Agents actively provide customized data and analysis, and solve problems specific to a particular client and market. Although highly manual, these activities are what lead to high conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

In low-inventory conditions, spray-and-pray marketing and a resigned tech strategy become even less effective as competition amongst listing agents intensifies.

Even personalized, SOI tactics can get even more time-consuming as seller confidence wavers in response to increased market uncertainty and risk.

Question is, how do you create a personalized yet scalable experience for your clients?

Meaningful Personalization That’s Not Just for Show

Many existing examples of personalization have been superficial and without measurable value. Handwriting a client’s name in a mass-mailer or asking about a family member in an email are perhaps thoughtful gestures, but they don’t take advantage of the deep potential that exists in thoughtful customization of marketing and technology experiences.


Meaningful personalization starts with understanding the problems a particular client faces, whether it’s their particular property, neighborhood, financial considerations or family situation. These inputs will shape the solutions that both marketing messages and technologies should deliver, and maximizes the chances a client will respond positively.

In the current low-inventory market, any number of concerns could be top of mind for a potential home seller. Is it risky to put my home on the market? What price can I get? Will I be able to find or afford a new place to live?

These problems can be addressed in generalizations, but the more specific the solutions are, the more receptive a potential seller will be. Arguably, if more potential sellers could have their problems addressed in a personalized manner, it would have a positive effect on the market as a whole as anxieties ease and confidence grows.

Meaningful personalization will always require a human-element provided by an agent, but it also requires data and tools to deliver the rigor. That’s where RealScout’s latest product release becomes a key factor.

Scalable, Personalized Problem Solving for a Low-Inventory Market

In a low inventory market, every home seller wants extra assurance that putting a home on the market won’t be overly risky, the price attractive and the process simple. Providing personalized answers to every potential seller can seem like a daunting undertaking. Not only does the work seem highly manual, often the appropriate tools and relevant data are unavailable to both real estate professionals and consumers.

While a solution like the CMA is a good retrospective tool to illustrate how listings will perform, they can be unreliable during periods of low-inventory with reduced sample size and increased price volatility.

Brokerages can provide more real-time insights through office meetings, in-house data-collection and analysis, but this can be difficult to implement and even harder to maintain through agent and client participation.

There are, however, platforms specifically designed to gain insights into serious, real-time, agent-represented demand in a particular market. RealScout’s network of brokerage and agents use RealScout’s home search platform with their clients, setting up MLS-grade search alerts. This preference and behavioral data is then anonymized and securely presented to listing agents as a way for them to assist their clients.

Market Alerts, for example, present a heatmap of homebuyer demand in a particular area, and how that demand has shifted over time.

It’s a powerful tool to keep potential sellers informed of current market demand in a very specific and relevant geographic area.

Test-the-Market takes this a step further by allowing listing agents to simulate a listing without actually putting a property on the market. Insert the basic parameters of a listing, and RealScout will provide a real-time measure of how many RealScout homebuyers would match with that listing. Furthermore, it calculates how incremental increases or decreases in listing price affects the number of matching buyers, enabling listing agents to present both an estimate for homebuyer demand as well as a data-driven pricing strategy for a particular listing.

Finally, the Reverse Prospecting feature allows listing agents to identify and reach out to buyer agents with matching homebuyers, once a listing is put on the market. This ability provides an additional, highly targeted marketing channel to the listing agent, something they can explain to potential sellers to reassure them that there are many avenues to finding the perfect buyer.

Tools, like the ones provided by RealScout, help listing agents problem-solve for their potential clients without extensive time investment, even before a listing agreement is in place. This level of personalized value-delivery is exactly what’s needed is winning competitive listings, especially during a low-inventory environment.

A Paradigm Shift in Brokering Deals

The data-driven approach to personalized problem-solving naturally extrapolates to a bigger paradigm shift in how real estate deals are brokered.

Since RealScout-powered brokerages and agents understand their clients better and at scale, that knowledge can be used not only for providing expert advice, but also for matching buyers and sellers.

The traditional model of putting a listing on the MLS and waiting for buyers to raise their hands to express interest is an acceptably effective, if limiting method, of brokering deals. By definition, this status quo broadcast model of brokering deals applies to 2 primary groups, buyers and sellers with active listings. A deeper look reveals, however, that there’s a subtle — yet critical — asymmetry to this picture: while both serious and potential buyers can participate in this model (since listings are available to anyone), only sellers with active listings (the serious ones) can participate.

A data-driven, personalized strategy, championed by companies like RealScout, enables the excluded category of potential sellers to participate in the market in a more meaningful way.

In the same way that potential buyers can see what sort of inventory is available before they decide to jump into the market, potential sellers can preview the demand before they decide to go through the more arduous and costly process of listing their property.

Especially in a market where listings are few and far between, unlocking latent listings through broader participation can be a real boon for listing brokerages and agents. This also helps potential sellers, by allowing them to reduce the uncertainty of listing their home, not to mention buyers in the market, who will enjoy the benefits of having more inventory.

A Personalized Future

The low inventory market that we face today, personalized problem-solving is the approach that creates the transparency and confidence needed to clear the logjam. Along the way, buyers, sellers, agents and brokerages benefit through more efficient, effective workflows that lead to better outcomes for every party.

Beyond that, a commitment to better understanding clients will empower brokerages and agents to truly play the role of ‘broker,’ match-making perfect buyer-seller pairs while increasing market participation.

In fact, adopting a marketing and technology strategy that focuses on personalization is a back-to-basics moment for the industry. It seeks to turn back the years of erosion caused by impersonal online real estate marketing and technologies, and build a modern client experience that humanizes the transaction without sacrificing substance. It amplifies the value of brokerages and agents by doubling down on their strengths.

It’s a vision of the future that expands the real estate industry as a whole, and not one that disrupts it.

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How Brokerages Thrived Through the Biggest Power Shifts in 2020

Real Estate Chess Gambit

How top brokerage leaders across the U.S. built a unique tech ecosystem to forge a path for long-term success

Real Estate Chess Gambit
Illustration by Mirko Grisendi
Amid a tumultuous and unpredictable year, real estate’s playmakers innovated at record pace and deployed new strategies that are redefining the future of the industry. Blink, and you might have missed some of these seismic shifts this year:
  • Q1: the implementation of NAR’s Clear Cooperation policy, a response to walled-garden listing data strategies that rose to prominence in 2019.
  • Q2: the pandemic necessitated the deepening of remote home buying/selling, a massive acceleration of a trend already in motion for many years.
  • Q3: Zillow’s announcement to harness its dominance with consumers to broker their own iBuyer transactions.
  • Q4: a major new player entered residential real estate with CoStar’s acquisition of HomeSnap, providing the $34B company access to one of the biggest real estate audiences in the country.
These developments represent the breakdown of long-held assumptions, yet another wave of talent and capital entering the space, and a consequential shift in economic and operational power throughout the landscape. Meanwhile, despite the climate of uncertainty, brokerage leaders have met these challenges by deploying their own long-term strategies, taking an objective look at their own strengths and doubling down on the unique opportunities presented to them. Chart showing number of brokerages using the RealScout Buyer Graph One such group of leaders represent 48 brokerages who, in 2020 alone, became vocal and active advocates for delivering best-in-class tech experiences for their clients and agents. This conviction is motivated not only by the need to fulfill modern technology needs, but also by the prediction that such robust brokerage platforms act as both defense and offense against disruptive changes in the industry. A key benefit of a strong technology experience is the ability to engage, and therefore secure, both clients and agents to the brokerage. Whether at the lead-gen phase, the home search phase, or the transaction management phase, new entrants in the market understand the critical importance of making sure real estate consumers are engaged on first party platforms. Brokerage leaders who partnered with RealScout share this view, and see a strong brokerage-owned consumer technology ecosystem as table-stakes to compete in the evolving marketplace. Deploying powerful agent/client collaboration tools is a simple, yet powerful, starting point to engage consumers and keep them in the agent and broker ecosystem. These tools lead to higher lead-conversion and the ability for agents to manage a higher volume of clients. Furthermore, the engagement these tools create ensures brokerages are well positioned to harvest the byproducts of increased repeat and referral business, and the most valuable opportunity of all: data.

Many of the developments in 2020 seek to bypass or disrupt the traditional brokerage ecosystem or business practices, despite the fact that the incumbent model is still the center-of-gravity of the industry as a whole.

As with almost any other technology experience, user engagement and data are inseparable in real estate. The key observation these leaders have made, is that there’s a big disconnect in real estate consumer data where the owner of the client relationship — the agent and brokerage — typically don’t have access or control of the client data that is generated. In other words, a consumer may work with an agent to buy or sell a home, but because they use third party technology, the agent has no visibility into the technology usage, let alone the ability to then add further value to the consumer through those insights.

This is another reason why a RealScout-facilitated data strategy resonates with brokerage leaders. Since the platform is designed for secure yet transparent handling of client behavior and preference data. Instead of giving away this critical asset to 3rd party portals, agents using RealScout can better understand and serve their clients. Brokerages and agents also have more visibility into their client base and therefore the overall health of their business.

While this strategy is immensely valuable to individual brokerages, there’s a broader opportunity that encompasses the brokerage ecosystem as a whole. Many of the developments in 2020 seek to bypass or disrupt the traditional brokerage ecosystem or business practices, despite the fact that the incumbent model is still the center-of-gravity of the industry as a whole. The simple yet powerful conclusion is that by doubling down on their strengths, brokerages and agents can unlock opportunities far greater and more tangible than some of the long-shot bets made in 2020.

A concrete example of this rallying cry occurred this year as 48 brokerages across 5 regions anchored “Buyer Graphs.” These initiatives brought together leading brokerages to build an open platform that securely and thoughtfully shares engagement data generated on RealScout. In doing so, the brokerages get a deeper insight into the market as a whole, deepen inter-brokerage collaboration, and ultimately deliver a more data-driven, sophisticated home buying experience to clients.

Nearly 50,000 agents are now part of these initiatives, providing access to insights and decision-making tools unavailable anywhere else.

These RealScout-powered initiatives have popped up in major metropolitan areas such as Washington DC, New England, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Orange County, and Denver/Northern CO. In fact, nearly 50,000 agents are now part of these initiatives providing access to insights and decision-making tools unavailable anywhere else.

Even the most unpredictable element of 2020, the global pandemic, was something these brokerages were better prepared for, thanks to these strategies. A best-in-class collaborative technology was exactly what agents and clients needed during remote transactions, and the results speak for themselves.

What’s striking about the strategy set forth by these brokerage executives is its simplicity and consistency. By focusing on the singular goal to provide the best possible first-party client experience — an experience that intimately involves client/agent collaboration — these leaders have been successful in responding to big industry trends, even larger macro-economic challenges, all the while elevating their ability to serve clients.

Although 2021 may prove to be just as unpredictable as 2020, the lesson learned from these leaders is that blindly chasing and reacting to trends is not the key to success. Instead, a simple, consistent, potentially contrarian vision, carefully formulated and boldly executed will protect against busts and accelerate booms.

Welcome to RealScout, DC!

Or, is it welcome to DC, RealScout? Either way, we are excited to share the launch of the DC Buyer Graph today, with 10 leading real estate brokerages in the capital area. This initiative helps member brokerages take control of the customer search experience while providing market transparency in the face of changing market conditions.

The DC Buyer Graph founding members include Century 21 New Millennium, City Chic Real Estate, Keller Williams Metro Center, Long & Foster Real Estate, McEnearney Associates, Realty ONE Group Capital, RE/MAX Realty Group/100, RLAH Real Estate, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, and Washington Fine Properties.

“Since day one, deepening the relationships between brokerage, agents and consumers, has been the mission of RealScout, “ said Andrew Flachner, President and Co-Founder of RealScout. “Now, more than ever, it’s important to double-down on relationship-based strategies because many real estate portals and iBuyer platforms are starting to compete with the traditional brokerage model. For years, RealScout has helped brokerages strengthen their network via high-engagement buyer tools, and more recently with seller tools powered by the Buyer Graph.”

With the addition of the DC Buyer Graph, the initiatives now cover a dozen regions, including major metropolitan areas like Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Denver. In the Capital Region, which is part of the Bright MLS footprint, participating brokers will be able to glean data across Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia, which is particularly helpful as area buyers have numerous neighborhood options and may cross state or district lines to find the perfect home.

“In these rapidly changing times, CENTURY 21 New Millennium was looking for a partner who would be able to provide our agents with a competitive advantage, and, most importantly, our clients with an extremely powerful added benefit to our value proposition. RealScout is most definitely that partner,” said Todd Hetherington, CEO of CENTURY 21 New Millennium.

Since this summer, RealScout has been debuting new features that make the Buyer Graph even more valuable to agents, brokers, and consumers. Utilizing pooled and anonymized buyer activity, Buyer Graph data shows where buyer attention is most concentrated, and how it’s evolved over time. The data also shows what impact small adjustments to list price have on the volume of buyer-matches, among other listing-specific insights. As market conditions change day-by-day, these tools can help listing agents engage their seller clients, produce highly relevant listing presentations, and craft well-informed pricing (and price adjustment) strategies.

“Knowing who the buyers are, where they are and what they’re looking for—all information that’s part of RealScout’s Buyer Graph—is invaluable for our agents and a strong value proposition to their sellers,” said Boomer Foster, president of Long & Foster Real Estate. “As one of the anchoring members of the DC Buyer Graph initiative, Long & Foster will be able to offer customers significant visibility into real-time buyer behavior – which is so important during this time when buyer demand is surging in the DC area.”

“The Buyer Graph puts real-time information at our fingertips in an unprecedented way. With the MLS we’ve always had insight into the supply side of the equation: listings. Now we have a powerful tool on the demand side – what buyers are actually searching for,” said David Howell, EVP/CIO of McEnearney Associates Real Estate. “It makes our agents better and, even more importantly, equips our clients with information they need to make sound decisions in a rapidly changing market. It’s no wonder we’ve had very wide and rapid adoption among our Associates.”

RealScout’s award-winning home search platform, which was recognized recently as one of the top resources for real estate agents (Source: RISMedia), enables high-touch collaboration with buyer clients during a time when agents can’t be physically present for much of the clients’ home search. The insights generated from this buyer activity is securely anonymized and repackaged to power the DC Buyer Graph alongside twelve other regional Buyer Graph initiatives.

The DC Buyer Graph, like all Buyer Graphs, is open to any brokerage. Broader participation in a Buyer Graph improves market transparency and benefits real estate consumers by powering even more data-driven decision-making. In markets where Buyer Graphs are not yet formed or announced, brokerages can opt to anchor a brand-new initiative with peers in their market. To join an existing Buyer Graph or to inquire about starting a new Buyer Graph, contact buyergraph@realscout.com. Learn more at learn.realscout.com/buyergraph.

Zillow’s Big Announcement: Focus on Your Strengths

Zillow’s Big Announcement: Focus on Your Strengths

The far-reaching impact of Zillow’s announcement that they’ll be hiring their own agents to represent iBuyer transactions is being discussed by many excellent analysts and journalists. 

But I wanted to talk about what you, as a brokerage executive, should do with this news.

One simple way to explain Zillow’s deepening iBuyer strategy, is their realization that they are better off directly monetizing their Top-of-the-Funnel dominance, instead of indirectly through reselling agent leads.

Zillow is doubling down on their key advantage. 

And my recommendation to you, is to do the same. 

Where does your current business come from? My guess is that the majority (90%+) is sphere of influence, repeat business, and referrals. These are all areas where a relationship (instead of web-performance) is driving consumer decisions. 

Focus on and invest in your advantage. You have a value-proposition—for now—that Zillow can’t compete with. If you can strengthen and solidify your network of current and future clients at the Middle-of-the-Funnel, you’ll be in a much more secure position going forward.

Since day one, deepening the relationships between brokerage, agents and consumers, has been the mission of RealScout. This isn’t an opportunistic marketing message, it’s what we do every day for our partners like Long & Foster, Howard Hanna, and TTR Sotheby’s International Real Estate, who each recognized the importance of doubling-down on relationship-based strategies. 

Whether it’s diving deeper into Zillow strategy, or discussing how we can build a strong Middle-of-the-Funnel for your organization, we’re here to talk.

Erika Cappa Joins RealScout as Director of Brokerage Relationships

Erika Cappa Joins RealScout

RealScout is excited to introduce the newest member of our team, Erika Cappa. Joining us as the Director of Brokerage Relationships, Erika brings seven years of experience as the Director of Technology Management & Support at RE/MAX INTEGRA. 

At RealScout, Erika will work to advocate for our customers throughout the country, strengthen relationships with our brokerage customers, and support them after the initial implementation. Gathering customer feedback and questions, she will use her expertise in real estate technology and customer support to help our team develop the right solutions. 

A problem-solver and a people-person, Erika started her career as a Military Police Sergeant in the US Army, where she was deployed overseas, serving tours in Iraq. Transitioning into the civilian workforce, she got her B.S. from University of Maryland. During her time at RE/MAX INTEGRA, she led a team that supported more than 17,000 individuals throughout North America and was instrumental in the implementation of three full technology platform transitions. 

We’re thrilled to welcome Erika to the team, where she will ensure our customers have the best experience and ROI using the RealScout platform.

RealScout’s New Identity

This story was originally announced via Inman News here.

Read more about the rebrand at http://learn.realscout.com/rebrand

Since our founding in 2012, RealScout has worked for the success of the relationships that make the real estate ecosystem thrive. Whether it’s the partnership between agent + client, brokerage + agent, or user + MLS, we firmly believe that technology should strengthen and empower human collaboration, not replace it. 

Over the years, our vision has led us from a small regional start-up with a modest presence in Northern California to a company that works with some of the most prominent brokerages and agents across the country. Our thesis of collaboration-over-disruption has catalyzed the founding of Buyer Graph Initiatives in major metros such as Denver, Nashville, Orange County, and San Francisco. Most importantly, tens of thousands of real estate professionals have helped hundreds of thousands of consumers reach their real estate objectives through the RealScout platform. 

Our relationship-centric mission is just getting started. Through our services and products, our industry advocacy and analysis work, and most importantly in collaboration with our partners, RealScout aims to power the next chapter of residential real estate where professionals and consumers experience larger successes, together. 

As our company grows and evolves, we’re making sure our identity and brand do too. RealScout’s visual identity reflects our team’s commitment to being good partners, empathetic advisors, and thoughtful innovators. 

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Color Palette

Conveying a sense of welcome, R-House is a more contemporary refinement of the previous mark, comprised of three shapes: the R monogram for our company, the location marker for our technology, and the familiar home icon for our industry.

Negative space revealing the R creates geometric shapes that can be used for design patterns across product and marketing collateral, tying together our customer experience visually.

The Mark

Deconstruction of the R-House

RealScout’s New Identity is Launching in 2020

This year, RealScout’s refreshed identity will roll out across various brand expressions. You’ll see it on our website, throughout our marketing materials, as well as in our product. 

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RealScout’s new identity is so much more than a cosmetic upgrade. Be on the lookout for product upgrades, industry analysis, and company news aligned with our purpose of empowering relationships in real estate.

10 Southern CA Real Estate Brokerages Launch Orange County Buyer Graph

Today, 10 leading residential real estate brokerages in Orange County announce the launch of the Orange County Buyer Graph, the 4th regional Buyer Graph initiative announced after the launch of the Silicon Valley Buyer Graph in March, 2019, the NYC Buyer Graph in September, 2018, and the SF Buyer Graph in November, 2018.

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The founding members of the initiative are The Address, The Agency, The Boutique Real Estate Group, First Team Real Estate, Marker Real Estate, Realty ONE Group, Seven Gables, RE/MAX Cornerstone, Surterre Properties, and Vylla. Together, they promise to bring best-in-class real estate technology and data to Orange County consumers.

The Orange County Buyer Graph, powered by RealScout, enables participating brokerages to securely share anonymized buyer demand data across brokerages, unlocking advanced market analytics and smart deal brokering for participating agents and consumers. Many of the ten founding brokerages have been using RealScout’s listing alert and agent-client collaboration platform for several years.

“We have long been heavy adopters of RealScout, and in 2017 we decided to provide this valuable tool to every First Team agent,” said First Team Real Estate President Michael Mahon. “We’re confident that the Orange County Buyer Graph’s benefit to our agents and clients is unmatched in the marketplace. Further, RealScout works in concert with our natively built RoadMap-AI sequence to connect buyers with the person most knowledgeable about the listing: the listing agent.”

RealScout technology provides:  1) award-winning listing search and listing alert platform that keeps consumers connected and loyal to their agents, 2) client home search data and analysis for agents and brokers, enabling better customer service and experience, and 3) secure, data-driven collaboration among agents of brokerages participating in the Buyer Graphs.

Agents, for example, will be able to use Buyer Graph data to advise their selling clients about how to price their listings, based on real-time, anonymized home search data. RealScout’s platform can show how the quantity of agent-affiliated homebuyers will rise or fall depending on the list price, allowing agents and clients to intelligently balance price and market reach.

From a marketing perspective, the Buyer Graph data enables listing agents to identify and connect with agents that have buying clients who match a particular listing. While identifiable consumer information is never shared, listing agents are able to reach untapped demand to broker high-quality transactions.

“We have a responsibility as brokers and agents to make sure our clients have the best tools at their fingertips, in order to put together the best transaction possible,” said Michael Hickman, President and CEO of Seven Gables. “The fact that this many brokerages came together under the same vision is a great sign for the Orange County real estate market.”

“Orange County is one of the most diverse, dynamic real estate markets in the country,” said RealScout Co-Founder and President Andrew Flachner. “This is exactly the type of market that requires both human expertise and data-driven decision-making to deliver the best results for consumers. The Orange County Buyer Graph is a big step in the right direction.”

The Orange County Buyer Graph, much like other Buyer Graph initiatives around the nation, is open to any brokerage that wishes to join the initiative. In markets where Buyer Graphs are not yet formed or announced, Brokerages can opt to anchor a brand-new initiative with their fellow brands.

To join the Orange County Buyer Graph or to inquire about starting a Buyer Graph in your market, please contact buyergraph@realscout.com. Learn more at learn.realscout.com/buyergraph.

Seven Major Brokerages Launch Silicon Valley Buyer Graph

Today, seven leading residential real estate brokerages in Silicon Valley announced the launch of the Silicon Valley Buyer Graph, the 3rd regional Buyer Graph initiative announced after the launch of the NYC Buyer Graph in September, 2018 and the launch of the SF Buyer Graph in November, 2018.

The founding members of the initiative are Alain Pinel Realtors, Climb Real Estate, DeLeon Realty, Intero Real Estate Services, Keller Williams Bay Area Estates, Sereno Group, and Today Sotheby’s. Agents that joined Alain Pinel Realtors through its recent acquisition of Hill & Co. will also be members of this initiative.

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The Silicon Valley Buyer Graph, powered by RealScout, enables participating brokerages to securely share buyer demand data across brokerages, unlocking advanced market analytics and smart deal brokering for participating agents and consumers. Many of the seven founding brokerages have been using RealScout’s listing alert and agent-client collaboration platform for several years, which, in addition to providing an industry-leading leading consumer home search experience to clients, has laid the foundation for capturing and utilizing buyer demand data.

“The Silicon Valley Buyer Graph is our answer to a data-landscape that is increasingly proprietary, exclusive, and inaccessible,” said Tom Tognoli, President and CEO of Intero. “The Buyer Graph is about brokerages coming together to create a safe, yet open, deal-making platform.”

RealScout technology provides:  1) award-winning listing search and listing alert platform that keeps consumers connected to their agents, 2) consumer behavior data and analysis, which enables better customer service and experience, and 3) secure collaboration among agents of brokerages participating in the Buyer Graphs. Silicon Valley Buyer Graph features will become available to participating brokers and agents starting 2019.

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Agents, for example, will be able to use Buyer Graph data to advise their selling clients about how to price their home, based on real time demand data. RealScout’s platform can show how the number of active potential buyers will rise or fall depending on a sliding scale of listing price points, allowing agents and clients to intelligently balance price and market reach.

From a marketing perspective, the Buyer Graph data enables listing agents to identify and connect with agents that have buying clients that matches a particular listing. While identifiable consumer data is never shared, listing agents are able to reach potentially untapped parts of the market to broker high-quality transactions.

“As the center of the tech industry, Silicon Valley is home to the most tech-savvy consumers in the world,” said RealScout Co-Founder and President Andrew Flachner. “The Silicon Valley Buyer Graph shows that the real estate community is serious about delivering a consumer experiences that meets and exceeds those high expectations.”

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The Silicon Valley Buyer Graph, much like other Buyer Graph initiatives around the nation, is open to any brokerage that wishes to join the initiative. In markets where Buyer Graphs are not yet formed or announced, brokerages can opt to anchor a brand-new initiative with their fellow brands.

To join the Silicon Valley Buyer Graph or to inquire about starting a Buyer Graph, contact buyergraph@realscout.com. Learn more at learn.realscout.com/buyergraph.