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Low crime rate, good schools, walkability score, political affiliation.
The list goes on when it comes to what buyers consider before signing the deed on a house.
A new real estate platform, Oyssey, is looking to give buyers all the information they need in making this decision. With block-by-block data on your neighbor’s political affiliation, income, wealth, education, the number of dogs in your neighborhood and more, the platform is set to become “the next Zillow,” shared Oyssey’s Co-Founder and CEO Huw Nierenberg.
Though many are drawn to the political data integration—and other stats like being able to see how many dogs are in your future neighborhood—the platform also offers the ability to sign contracts before touring homes.
Nierenberg and Co-Founder Darian Kelly have been involved in the real estate industry for years, both as agents and homebuyers. Their goal with Oyssey, Nierenberg says, was to create a tool to empower buyers, giving them unrivaled access to data and providing a one-stop contract solution.
Currently, the platform is available for agents in South Florida and New York City, with plans to launch nationwide in early spring. Through a pre-seed round, the platform has secured funding from a few investors, and both founders have also personally invested in its early stages, Nierenberg shares.
“We’ve built the product we’ve always wanted ourselves and we’re surprised nobody ever wanted to create, and we’re very proud to bring it to market,” he said. “We think there’s a lot of the market just like us—that’s young, hungry and interested in real estate—and wants to revise the American Dream of homeownership as an investment as opposed to whatever it is today.”
Thinking about the realities of buying real estate and the pain points that can be solved digitally, Nierenberg and Kelly began exploring how they could integrate publicly accessible data into one platform to better inform buyers during the home-buying process—one of the largest financial decisions people can make in their lives.
At the same time, the usage of political data, along with attempts to address policy changes, creates the potential for pitfalls on any platform hoping to serve real estate professionals and their clients. Notably, all of Oyssey’s buyer contracts are various levels of non-exclusive, only tying a buyer to an agent when they “register” a home by touring, viewing or accessing proprietary data, depending on what the agent and buyer agree on.
That is part of Oyssey’s bigger goal to be a “solution for the purchaser and not a solution for the service provider.” For buyers, this means greater transparency and flexibility, Nierenberg says.
“Our goal with this was to create 100% transparency for buyers so they have control of the contract. So it’s a non-exclusive contract that the buyer has control over. The agent is on the buyer’s contract and the agent is only able to add homes onto the contract when the buyer receives adequate help on those homes,” he said. “If the agent’s not providing value, we make it easier than anyone has ever made it to fire your agent and get rid of them. If you want to change agents, it’s easier than it’s ever been before. If you want to do it yourself while you’re working with an agent, and not see that agent, it’s easier to do that than anyone’s ever made possible.”
Navigating the market post-NAR settlement
While being able to view the political leanings of your future neighbors is one of Oyssey’s more unique features, the platform is also noteworthy for its approach to real estate transactions, specifically post-NAR settlement.
“The way we’re doing non-exclusive contracts, the way we’re automating that process, and what that means for buyers is like nothing the industry has ever seen before,” Nierenberg said.
A few days before the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) settlement was finalized, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) warned buyers about committing to mandatory buyer agency agreements to tour homes, arguing that this harms buyers and limits competition among brokers.
In a Statement of Interest (SOI) filed on Nov. 24, 2024 for the Burnett lawsuit, the DOJ took issue with the provision requiring buyers and brokers to enter into a written agreement before touring any homes, claiming it “raises independent concerns under the antitrust laws.”
These contracts pressure sellers to offer the “customary” rate of 2.5% – 3% to buyer brokers, which doesn’t benefit buyers since they ultimately foot the bill in their home purchase price, according to the DOJ.
“Listing brokers, who represent sellers, effectively decide the total commission and, as a general matter, split it with buyer brokers, insulating buyer brokers from meaningful competition, foreclosing meaningful negotiations between buyer brokers and their clients and decreasing the incentive for brokers to offer improved or lower-cost services,” read the SOI filing.
A survey by RISMedia with over 1,300 agents and brokers nationwide found that commissions had fallen by 68 basis points (0.68%) after the August 17 deadline for policy changes, compared to the full year before. On average, this translates to a loss of $2,870 in commissions on a median-priced home. Further, inexperienced agents (fewer than three years in the industry) saw a larger gap in commissions than those with over 10 years of experience in real estate.
Leading up to the settlement, inexperienced buyer agents brought in 2.58% commission, on average. That percentage dropped to 1.82% post-August 17, which is a pay cut of $3,207 per transaction for median-priced homes. By contrast, experienced buyer agents saw a 10-basis point drop post-settlement, from 2.68% to 2.58%, or a $422 drop in the average transaction.
In light of these statistics, Nierenberg says that Oyssey would be particularly beneficial for younger agents trying to establish themselves in the industry.
“It’s harder and harder for new, young agents to get into the industry and find any type of footing—especially the ones that just want to do right by their buyers. (Oyssey) is the tool for those agents, and that’s who we’re seeing come out in droves,” he said. “It’s a great solution for that segment of the industry that genuinely cares.”
These kinds of young, passionate agents benefit from using Oyssey since they can offer buyers an opportunity by offering them representation in the buying process, he claims. Buyers only pay agents a commission for homes they buy with an agent’s help, and buyers can switch agents or contracts at any point, Nierenberg explains.
“Instead of going to the buyer and asking for a blank check that’s an exclusive agreement, they’re going to the buyer and offering the opportunity that they’re going to help,” he says. “And if they help the buyer, then the buyer is going to owe them commission—only if the buyer buys the home that they help with.”
What’s happening with the market post-NAR settlement, shares Nierenberg, is that buyers are now shopping around and negotiating contracts—resulting in buyers signing multiple exclusive contracts, or buyers not signing any agreements.
“Agents’ commissions are dropping because buyers are good negotiators,” he says. “The reason agents are so excited to be customers of ours is because they’re able to get their buyers to agree to pay them higher amounts of commission, because their buyers don’t have to pay them if they don’t do a good job. If the agent isn’t helpful, the buyer is going to stop reaching out to them, and the agent’s not going to be associated with the property the buyer ends up purchasing.”
Political data and real estate
Oyssey’s integration of political data allows users to see block-by-block data on their potential new neighbor’s political affiliations and contributions.
Nierenberg sees it as an opportunity for buyers to make informed decisions about their communities. Others say this could lead to more divisiveness.
RISMedia spoke with Leigh Brown—a REALTOR® working in the North Carolina and South Carolina markets for the past 25 years—who offered her perspective on the platform. With experience running for Congress in 2019 as a Republican in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, Brown has been involved in her market’s political landscape and is all for sharing a neighborhood’s political leaning, when asked.
Buyers showing interest in a neighborhood’s political affiliation isn’t a “new thing,” but Brown said she’s seen an uptick in it over the years; about 25% – 30% of her buyers ask about it. With some buyers it’s “not the house; it is straight politics,” she said.
The first time she experienced it was over a decade ago when a couple was making their home purchase based on the elected officials in their district—prioritizing politics over the house.
“They were the opposite of the other people I’ve worked with, which is usually ‘We like the house and the elected officials suit us,’ as opposed to that particular couple, which was ‘the elected officials suit us and the house is fine,’” she said. “For that particular couple, it wasn’t bedrooms or bathrooms, it was ‘who’s elected here.’”
If a buyer makes a point to ask about the political leaning of a neighborhood, Brown makes sure to look it up to help the buyer with their decision, but politics is not something she or her agents bring up on their own.
“Even though political affiliation is not a fair housing-protected class, I don’t want to poke the bear,” she said.
For Brown, being able to view the block-by-block data on a neighborhood’s politics is going to be “just another factor,” like a walk-score.
When Oyssey eventually becomes available nationwide, Brown said she would not sign up for the platform since she finds it more important to be educated and involved in her local communities rather than letting an external tool drive her business.
She does not foresee Oyssey impacting her current business model, which is primarily referral-based.
“Unless they’ve got big, deep venture capital pockets that can take this thing bigger than Homes.com, Realtor.com® or Zillow, I can’t imagine that my clients are going to say, ‘Well, Leigh Brown, I’m only using you if you wind up on this politics app’ instead of understanding that I’m also their same REALTOR® who knows the (on-the-ground politics),” she added.
Ultimately, REALTORS®, as a profession, are known as a “uniter instead of a divider” since they need to make sure buyers and sellers get on the same page, shared Brown.
“If we’re looking at the next great thing in real estate, I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s inherently divisive. I think a political app is inherently divisive because it encourages us to stay in our silos and echo chambers,” she said. “I don’t think that it’s conducive to good transactions to put politics at the front of real estate. Part of the conversation? Absolutely, but No. 1, no.”
With this platform bringing politics into the real estate conversation, Brown advises REALTORS® to not be ashamed of their political leanings and be willing to be approached, by people across the political spectrum, because the information agents can share with buyers about their local community is invaluable.
“I hope that the goal of this Oyssey site is ‘We can disagree and still get along. We can disagree and still professionally serve one another.’ I would hope that’s their overriding message, not ‘If we disagree, you should go somewhere else.’”
Oyssey’s data
Agents using Oyssey pay a monthly subscription fee and their buyers can use the platform for free. The web-based mobile platform—which currently has a waitlist—feels very much like an app, but it’s simpler and easier, added Nierenberg.
Nierenberg compared his platform to Zillow, saying that the popular home-selling platform does not offer as many benefits for buyers as it claims to. What Oyssey is doing with this data is long overdue, and it’s essential for the buyers, he added.
Referencing a study from Clever Real Estate’s 2023 American Home Buyer and Seller Report that found that about 93% of recent buyers experience “homebuyer’s remorse,” Nierenberg said that he wants buyers to take advantage of this data to help them make the right decision and not fall into this 93%.
Here is some of the data currently available to users on Oyssey:
- Political: Affiliation, affiliation change, affiliation projections, election results and donations
- Home value: Price per square foot, upside projection, downside risk
- Pets: Number of dogs
- Income: Household income, income by age and education levels, wealth, wealth by age, own versus rent
- Market: Time on market, year built, listing density
- Social media integration: View TikToks and other accounts from potential new neighbors
Since a home is one of the largest purchases people will make in their lives, Nierenberg emphasized how important this data is for buyers before they make their decision.
“You should have access to every possible data point you can legally have and, with very few exceptions, we make that possible,” he said. “There were some things we looked at and said, ‘This would be divisive and it’s not appropriate.’ but for the most part, we tried to make everything available.”
Showing potential homebuyers the political leaning of their neighbors is not meant to lead to divisiveness, Nierenberg added. He sees it as an opportunity to find common ground and build a community.
“We have found the maximum extent that we can go to that doesn’t create further divisiveness,” he said. “We’re not looking to have a negative impact on the market. We’re not looking for buyers to use this adversely, but to create the greatest amount of freedom for buyers and access to data.”
Some of the data the team at Oyssey considered incorporating into the platform was scrapped, Nierenberg added. Language data, for instance, is “legally admissible” to include, but the team decided against showcasing what percentage of the population speaks “X” language.
Providing this kind of data to homebuyers also opens up larger questions regarding privacy and ethics. The Fair Housing Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. Political affiliation isn’t a protected class.
When asked about these potential gray areas and if making this political data easily accessible could lead to division, Nierenberg said, “I think everyone voted the same way (they did as) the last election. I don’t think there was any divide, except for the big divide in the country.”
He argues that Oyssey does not fall into any potential gray areas by sharing political data.
“I think there are potential bad actors that might have malicious agendas, and I don’t think that we are in any way forwarding their ability to carry those out, just the same way they would have if we didn’t exist,” he said.
RISMedia spoke with Daniel Howe—president and CEO of Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc. (HOPE), a nonprofit fair housing agency that fights housing discrimination in Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties—and he noted that political party affiliation is a protected status in Broward County.
The closest example he could note is the Justice Map, which provides race and income data at the census block level for street addresses the user enters into its search tool. Not all addresses yield results.
Howe said he is unaware of any housing discrimination complaints alleging racial discrimination against the map.
He did not comment on Oyssey.
More than just politics
Though it allows buyers access to all of this data, Oyssey also gives buyers control over their contracts.
On the buyer side, you will receive an invitation from your agent to join the platform. After agreeing to the terms and buyer brokerage fee agreement, you can search available properties and get help from your agent through the chat and document-sharing feature.
Misha Hardt, an agent in Florida who has been using Oyssey since it launched in her area, first signed up for the platform because of the solutions it offered post-NAR settlement.
“Initially, I was impressed by the features it offered as a solution to the NAR Settlement Agreement and the liability protection it offered a Designated Real Estate Broker.”
Throughout her time on the platform, she’s found the secure collaboration tools—the chat and document-sharing feature—and the automatic updates of the buyer brokerage agreement when collaborating with buyers most helpful.
When it comes to her experience on the platform with clients and the political integration, she’s found the experience to be a bit mixed.
“As an agent, I have found mixed opinions of the political data features, but up to 50% have expressed interest in this feature due to prior home purchasing and property ownership experiences with neighbors,” she said.
