Startup Rayse ‘pulls out’ of NAR settlement by launching agent communications platform

The role and value of real estate agents has been under scrutiny for some time National Association of Realtors (NAR) has settled a number of antitrust lawsuits related to agent compensation offers on realtor-owned Multiple Listing Services (MLS).

While it’s unclear how exactly homebuyers and sellers are responding to this situation, a startup tech company called us Rayse “puts the settlement on hold” with a new communications platform that lets potential buyers track what their agents are doing in real time.

Rayse believes its platform provides much-needed transparency between buyers and their agents, so agents can better communicate the specific tasks they are working on and what their value is to the client.

“There is a big disconnect in understanding what agents actually do, because finding a home online is really only about 5% of the job,” Ashley Terrell-Kayiran, Rayse’s chief revenue officer, said in a statement. “But much of what comes in will not be included in the contract when it is finalized or the disclosures are reviewed. We want to be able to bring to light everything that agents actually do.”

Research from WAW Group suggests that Rayse has had enough of work. In the survey, 71% of homebuyers believe their agents spend less than 15 hours working on their behalf. However, Rayse says buyer agents spend about 87 hours on a single transaction.

The app consists of three components that Rayse says will help increase transparency. First, it helps agents encourage buyers to use their services by providing data, compensation expectations and buyer contracts. The second relates to the home buying process, as the platform tracks the properties a buyer has visited by integrating MLS data. The third element is closing reports, which show everything the agent has done for the buyer.

The company decided to initially make the communications platform available to buyer agents because the new rules imposed by the NAR settlement primarily affect them, so buyer agents have a greater need to communicate their value to clients than listing agents. But Rayse also plans to integrate seller agents in 2025.

The product offers white-label branding that allows buyer agents and brokerages to customize the interface for their clients. White label branding can also be used by brokerages when recruiting new agents.

Rayse has implemented this product in over 200 brokerage houses, including NextHome AND Howard Hanna Real Estate. The company also cooperates with California Regional MLS, the largest MLS league in the country. Rayse’s co-founders are NextHome CEO James Dwiggins and Christine Jacobson, who recently joined Real Estate.com.

Terrell-Kayiran said Rayse will first prioritize onboarding its investors, which include NextHome, Howard Hanna Real Estate, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, RE/MAX, WAV Group, Tom Ferry and multiple MLS leagues.

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