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No doubt the entire title insurance industry could likely be turned over though the laws would make this very difficult.

I noticed that OpenListings is looking to try to disrupt on the buy side of real estate transactions. Curious why you wouldn't try to do something on the sell side where I think there is massive room to change things and it's pretty darn formulaic.

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My guess is that they started with buyers because buyers typically are less wedded to an agent. Most agents start out on the buy side because significant numbers of buyers have no loyalties, and because buyers "pay nothing" for the services of an agent (as opposed to the sellers, who pay 5-6%), so customer acquisition is easier. (Of course, buyers do end up paying, it is just wrapped into a 30 year monthly payment.)

All this only applies to the US market,not sure about international RE. Source: I worked for a brokerage for years.

Which laws?

Regarding buyers: we heard a lot of frustration from savvy buyers... people either didn't see the point of their Redfin agent or wanted a simple way to go direct with the seller. The idea of making it less expensive to become a homeowner also really resonated with us.

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