‘Unfiltered’: ‘Take the duct tape off’ and let leaders lead 

NextHome CEO James Dwiggins has emerged as a significant voice on the topics that are shaping the real estate industry: lawsuits, innovation, leadership. But Dwiggins doesn't just answer questions, he asks them of guests on Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered, his podcast with Keith Robinson, NextHome's chief strategic officer.

On this week's episode of Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered, Inman News founder Brad Inman talks about transparency in real estate and how the industry ended up embroiled in lawsuits and turmoil — something he believes has "been in the making for 20 years and mismanaged by real estate leadership across the board."

See what's at the root of the problem, and where we go next: So how did the industry get here? 

"You can blame the DOJ. You can blame a Missouri lawyer. You can blame all kinds of things. But most things are a function of, you know, somebody either engaged in bad behavior, which there was some of, or corruption, which there certainly was over the history here."

Inman also blames brokerage leaders, who have been "duct taped by their lawyers," for not taking a stand, but he says much of the fault lies with the National Association of Realtors. "NAR had an implosion. I think it was in the making for a long time. The arrogance of power and hubris and bad behavior there — it often goes hand in hand. And so they imploded just when we needed them."

And beyond individuals or organizations, what's "underlying all this is the resistance the industry had to transparency," something Inman says he and others have long been calling for.

But he's also optimistic about the future: "I think the best thing that could happen is NAR would be responsible in a new and different way. And I feel like that's happening. And that makes me very encouraged."

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in the Real Estate Insiders podcast belong solely to the podcast creators and guests, and not Real Estate News.