Australian-listed PropTech company Openn Negotiation has announced a pilot agreement with two major North American real estate groups.
The agreement will see the company pair up with Canada’s largest single-industry trade association, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), and North Carolina-based multiple listing service, Triangle MLS.
Both agreements are through the wholly owned subsidiary Openn North America and are designed to provide consumers with unparalleled visibility into the real estate buying and selling process.
As part of the pilot program, Openn’s offer management software ‘Openn Offers’ will be integrated with REALTOR.ca, Canada’s most prominent online property listings portal, with more than 1.9 billion property page views in 2021.
CREA Chief Executive Officer, Michael Bourque said displaying real-time tracking of offers on their REALTOR.ca listings, including multiple-offer scenarios, would allow REALTORS participating in the pilot to empower their buyers and sellers, reinforcing consumer confidence in the home buying and selling process.
“Multiple offer scenarios have become increasingly commonplace in today’s real estate environment,” Mr Bourque said.
“Canadian property buyers and sellers seek greater confidence in the process, while Canadian REALTORS seek tools to enable and more easily manage these situations.
“We’re very excited about the potential of this pilot to address both.”
Executive Director of Openn and President of Openn North America, Duncan Anderson said Openn’s previous experience in the Australian market had allowed the PropTech company to demonstrate the platform’s benefits to both the real estate industry and consumers.
“Through six-plus years of development, execution, and innovation in the Australian market, we have proven that both the real estate professional and consumer benefit greatly from enhanced transparency,” Mr Duncan said.
“We are thrilled by the opportunity to partner with CREA to introduce Openn Offers to the Canadian marketplace.”
With the pilot scheduled to begin imminently in markets across Canada, such as Greater Vancouver, buyers and sellers will soon be able to engage with Openn certified REALTORS via REALTOR.ca.
“This pilot is well-timed and well-suited for our market,” said Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver CEO Jeff King.
Meanwhile Openn Managing Director Peter Gibbons said the company was excited to participate in a ‘by REALTOR, for REALTOR’ solution that provided “equality of access to information and facilitates increased transparency for the consumer”.
“CREA is a tier 1 organisation and has proven to be a fantastic partner since our collaboration began in late 2021.
“Alignment between us is strong, as demonstrated by CREA’s investment in Openn through a subscription for options and our mutual commitment to deep integration.
“This partnership delivers tangible value to CREA members and profoundly de-risks our entry into the Canadian market.”
Additionally, Openn will commence a pilot program with Triangle that will include testing and evaluating the Openn platform for its ability to address transparent offer management needs for Triangle’s 16,000 real estate agent members and countless consumers across North Carolina.
Triangle will select between 20 and 100 REALTOR members to participate in the 60 to 120-day pilot program.
“Triangle MLS helped more than 47,000 buyers find a home last year,” Triangle President and Board Chair, Matt Fowler said.
“Every transaction involved a TMLS member delivering at least one offer to a seller.
“Managing those offers, especially when many come in at once, involves a myriad of details and can be difficult to sort out.
“Openn promises to bring a durable process to the management of those offers in a way that increases fairness and transparency.”
