Here’s the story of Agent Wire to date. It’s a bit long and tedious, but this is a personal blog, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Beginning of Agent Wire
Early in 2024, my co-founder Davis and I started moonlighting on an email marketing product for real estate agents. The goal was to create a simple but powerful tool that solves problems we encountered at my firm. Later on, we bought the domain name agentwire.com, which we’re still stoked on.
A Shift in the Real Estate Landscape
Most would agree the April 2024 NAR Settlement announcement was the most disruptive thing to happen to the real estate industry in decades. We learned that Buyer Agent Compensation data had to be removed from MLS databases no later than August 17, 2024. Naturally, a change of this magnitude caused us to rethink what we were doing, and if there might be an opportunity to meet the moment and build something other than the email marketing tool we had in mind.
Misreading the DOJ’s Direction
I thought I knew where the puck was headed, but I was wrong.
There are two things to keep in mind here. The first is the NAR Settlement itself and the rules and requirements that came along with it. Second, is trying to read the minds of the people at the DOJ.
Prior to this experience, I didn’t truly understand the futility of trying to anticipate the actions of the DOJ. It’s pretty much a Fool’s errand. Lesson learned.
The NAR Settlement does allow Buyer Agent Compensation (BAC) to be advertised, just not in the MLS. And there are new rules prohibiting MLS data from being co-mingled with BAC data.
In late 2020, the DOJ issued a press release stating that they wanted BAC data to be published far and wide. The industry reacted and BAC information was made available for consumers to see on aggregator sites like Zillow and Redfin.
Those previous statements gave me confidence that the DOJ was committed to supporting consumer protections related to clear cooperation.
The “Why Now?” Question
A common question entrepreneurs ask themselves when validating business ideas is “why now?”. Meaning, what (if anything) has changed recently that makes what you’re trying to do especially viable? It could be a technological advancement, it could be regulatory change, it could be cultural, etc.
A good illustration of this is Uber. The founder of a startup called Sidecar filed patents around the idea of a ridesharing app back in 2002, long before a mass market product would become viable. Uber and Sidecar launched their apps around the same time. The “why now?” for Uber and Sidecar was the success of the iPhone and the proliferation of mobile devices with GPS tracking. In this case the tech was the unlock.
Similarly, the Supreme Court’s decision in NCAA v. Alston in 2021 is an example of regulatory change that created a big “why now?” for a variety of businesses. I imagine there were dozens of social media marketing agencies (many founded by college students) that launched days after student athletes were allowed to profit from their name, image, and likeness.
Pivoting Agent Wire
As my wife likes to say — I told you that, to tell you this ….
When it comes to the “why now?” for Agent Wire as an email marketing tool, it’s non-existent. Which isn’t to say that a well-done email marketing product is a bad business idea. I still think it’s a great idea. Conversely, the NAR Settlement Agreement had unlocked a massive “why now?” for creating a tool that facilitates clear cooperation and consumer protections. After numerous Slack huddles, Davis and I decided to pivot Agent Wire and chase lightning in a bottle.
The “why now?” was simple and very compelling— Buyer Agent Compensation was being forced out of the MLS, NAR says we can still advertise BAC, and in 2020, the DOJ strongly supported clear cooperation and publishing compensation data. The stars were seemingly aligned.
The Nuances Behind Our Decision
The other BIG thing that went into this decision is sort of nuanced.
Consumers of MLS data feeds such as Zillow and Redfin would be forced to make a choice. According to the new NAR rules, BAC data and MLS data may not mix. This means that Zillow can either choose to import MLS data (literally the whole reason they exist) or they could choose to publish agent compensation information. They can’t do both.
Are you seeing why this pivot from email to clear cooperation was so alluring?
The v1 of the Agent Wire email marketing tool relied on importing MLS data so that we could heavily automate and streamline email marketing for real estate professionals. So in order for us to pivot we had to abandon all of our MLS data licensing agreements and purge our databases.
Building and Presenting Our MVP
About a month before the August 17 deadline, we had our BAC MVP. All the agents at my firm were using it, which is a testament to the UI and how easy it was to adopt.
I did video calls with the legal counsel of my local realtor association, the CEO and legal counsel of my local MLS, and the legal counsel at the state level (NC Realtors Association). I showed them the product and explained where I was coming from. In general, these individuals were supportive and understood my angle and how Agent Wire had the potential to benefit and protect consumers as well as real estate professionals. They also acknowledged that the DOJ could move the goal post again.
This product was so short lived, I feel like I need to memorialize it a little bit. Below is a WIP home page… we hadn’t quite nailed that “Big clever headline” when Davis sent this screeshot. Eventually the H1 evolved into “Real estate works better when brokers work together.”

A Scrappy Go To Market Campaign
I started with my home state. I have access to the entire NC Real Estate Commission’s email list (I have to fetch it over FTP, which is old school for sure, but a lot of states are even more legacy, I’m looking at you Georgia and your binary files 👀).
After a little spreadsheet gymnastics, I had a list of every Broker-in-Charge in the state of North Carolina. I sent ~ 350 cold emails per day.
I wasn’t demonizing NAR. I was making a very sober argument for why I felt clear cooperative compensation was good for our industry and the clients we serve. I had 7 different cold email templates, below is the last one I created and sent.

The response rate was solid. I had hundreds of conversations and email exchanges. People were forwarding my emails to brokerage owners in other states. I was scheduling demos, listening to the needs of large firms, sending custom pricing options, and onboarding customers. Everything was rolling.

Below is a screenshot of a “wire” from my favorite demo account. Not for all audiences, but perfect for some.

The Other Regulatory Shoe Dropped
In the middle of my go to market frenzy, the DOJ issued a statement reversing its prior stance, saying that they no longer wanted to see cooperative compensation published anywhere for any reason. Not only was this a complete 180, it was 100% at odds with the April 2024 NAR Settlement Agreement.
In hindsight, this would’ve been a good time to call it off. But we had momentum. We had good reputable firms cheering for us. And the one thing everyone seemed to agree on was that the DOJ was chasing its tail. The vast majority of firms were still planning to advertise BAC in accordance with NAR Settlement guidelines.
While I was preparing to onboard more customers, at some point it started to feel like I was pushing a boulder up hill. The deadline to implement changes was approaching, tensions were high, and attorneys everywhere wanted to prevent their clients, members, agents, etc from becoming the DOJ’s next poster child.
Eventually all momentum was halted, and all my customers seemed to disappear overnight. Well-regarded firms wanted to move forward but when they asked their attorneys for advice, they said they had to wait and see. I was still getting sign ups, emails, and phone calls from cowboy and cowgirl agents ready to ride or die, but the writing was on the wall.
Dozens of lawyers were saying that Agent Wire might be OK, but they just couldn’t say for sure. And that was it for me. I no longer felt comfortable selling a product to my colleagues that might get them sued. 10 days before the August 17 deadline, Agent Wire was toast.
There was too much fear in the system.
Reflections on the Pivot
I don’t regret the decision to pivot. Deciding to chase lightning in a bottle was everything I expected it to be, and I knew it was a long shot. Riding a wave of change was exciting. It pushed me outside of my comfort zone and gave me an opportunity to connect with real estate professionals all over the country during a time of groundlessness and uncertainty.
Am I disappointed with the outcome? Of course. Do I wish I was farther along with the original badass email marketing tool we had planned? Yeah. But that’s ok. Builders build, and we’re not going to stop.
Understanding the Industry Landscape
We’re now in a post-NAR Settlement world and the sky hasn’t fallen. For states like North Carolina that already had Buyer Agency Agreements in place, not much has changed. For over 20 years, NC realtors have put into writing what they do for their buyer clients. Lesser-skilled agents across the country may decide they can’t hang, and in my opinion, that’s good for the industry.
On the topics of whether or not BAC should flow through the seller or the listing firm, and if/when you’d want to advertise BAC, I’m going to save that for another post. I will say, allowing BAC to flow through the seller instead of the listing firm does seem to take away potential for further litigation and DOJ concerns*. It’s also true that offering different amounts of compensation to different potential buyers creates a lot of surface area for fair housing violations, especially here in the southeastern United States. It also has the potential to create new hurdles and a great deal of uncertainty for homebuyers. Having BAC flow through the listing firm is one way the industry has been able to mitigate those concerns.
Thoughts on Industry Responses
Credit is due to James Dwiggins and Keith Robinson from The Real Estate Insiders podcast. They quelled the hysteria and urged people to keep calm. James’ suggestion to recite “Just put it in the offer” when fielding questions about cooperative compensation from a buyer agent is reasonable, but it’s not a complete answer. There is no complete answer, except maybe this new convoluted chart we have now in North Carolina:

At the end of the day, the best agents out there just want to serve their clients, and this diagram isn’t helping anyone.
KW, Berkshire, and REAL stood out as industry leaders. These companies were honorable in that they didn’t use the moment to virtue signal and promote themselves as being more pro-consumer than their colleagues.
The response from eXp Realty leadership was arrogant, disingenuous, and lacking nuance. But that didn’t stop industry talking heads from praising it. I think people with really big businesses and franchises to protect are doing everything they can to get the DOJ off the industries back. Maybe they saw eXp’s media play as a good thing to boost? Maybe we should thank them for trying? Idk.
Looking Ahead
I’ve pushed pause on Agent Wire for the time being. We plan to pivot back to our email marketing roadmap before the end of the year. Sending mass email is still where a lot of agents get tripped up. Ultimately it’s a UI problem. I’m told UI is all that’s left to solve, that is, until the AI agents obsolete UI’s altogether. Hopefully there’s still time.