Kamini Lane has served as President and CEO of Coldwell Banker Realty for three years.
When Lane, who started in the industry as a regional manager for Compass, was named executive, she became the first woman and person of color to hold that role at the more than 100-year-old brand.
She wanted to modernize Coldwell Banker and bring it into the future of real estate to help agents succeed in their business.
“One of the first things I did was reorganize the leadership team to be more connected to the field,” Lane told Inman. “The result is a flattened hierarchy and an executive team comprised entirely of field leaders, people who work with agents, have day-to-day expertise, and who deeply understand and continue to understand what it means to be an agent.”
In a comprehensive conversation with Mr. Inman, Mr. Lane discussed Coldwell Banker’s recent evolution, including its new integration under Compass International Holdings, and his thoughts on some of the biggest topics in today’s news. Here’s what she had to say:
About the evolution of Coldwell Banker
Brands like Coldwell Banker that have been around for more than a century are definitely stable, but sometimes they can make improvements. Lane said the first step in preparing Coldwell Banker for the future under her watch was to upgrade the agent service experience.
“It’s about thinking about digital transformation, thinking about enabling AI, thinking about human-driven technology, and making sure that everything we do provides an intuitive and modern service experience for agents,” Lane said.
But as part of Lane’s efforts to modernize Coldwell Banker, she said the brand is also focused on recruiting agents and finding talent who are committed to building a career in real estate despite all the challenges.
“I’m really proud that Coldwell Banker Realty is investing in the development of our agents,” Lane told Inman. “We know that every agent starts out as a new agent, and we celebrate that. And we’re also a destination for the world’s best agents. We’re looking for people who are willing to put in the effort, mindful of and aware of the fact that this is an incredibly noble profession, and the fact that it’s difficult.”
AI opportunities and threats
The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on all industries is rapidly becoming inevitable. However, while the exciting opportunities that AI offers, it also brings risks, both in terms of the inaccuracies of the technologies being developed and their potential to eliminate traditional human capabilities.
Lane said he sees AI as a tool that empowers agents, not completely eliminates them.
“[AI is] “It’s great for low-value, time-consuming tasks, and it’s great for improving our ability to do our jobs. I think there’s a lot of conversation about, ‘Will AI disintermediate different roles?'” Lane said. However, what we broker in real estate is trust and relationships, and at the heart of that is a human being. So I think the power of AI in real estate is to make agents more efficient and effective, and backend systems more efficient and effective. ”
Coldwell Banker uses AI to segment and submit documents and check compliance, Lane said. In 2024, the company incorporated AI into the brand’s marketing tool, Listing Concierge, which allows it to create listing descriptions for agents, among other things.
But Lane also pointed out that sometimes, especially when making a big decision like buying a home, people just need a real person to tell them the honest truth. ChatGPT in particular tends to provide users with an endless loop of responses depending on what they want to learn, Lane said. These reactions may be pleasurable, but they can also be harmful.
“It’s literally programmed to tell you what you want to hear so you can keep hearing it,” Lane said, citing recently published research. “Buying or selling a home is the most important decision of most people’s lives, both financially and emotionally. And it’s very risky to stay involved and rely on tools that fundamentally tell you what you want to hear. The most valuable real estate professionals are the ones who will tell you the hard news.”
Caldwell and Compass don’t need to ‘kumbaya’
With the Anywhere acquisition, Compass International Holdings also now owns all Anywhere brands, including Coldwell Banker.
Lane said existing Coldwell Banker agencies have expressed excitement about the new development because they will ultimately have access to Compass technology while maintaining the Coldwell Banker brand and identity.
“There aren’t many times in your life when you can say you’ve had the best of everything you’ve ever had and experienced something completely new and exciting,” Lane said. “This is one of those incredibly rare moments. All of our agents still have the incredible Coldwell Banker brand, they still have the leadership, they have the tools and resources. They still have an office, they still call it ‘bleeding’ because the brand affinity with Coldwell Banker is incredible…and we have access to the Compass International Holdings platform.” The Compass International Holdings platform was built with over $2 billion in investments poured directly into creating a truly best-in-class technology platform. Real estate agent. ”
The CEO also argued that being part of Compass International Holdings isn’t actually all that different from when the Coldwell Banker brand was part of Anywhere. Lane said it’s clear that brands are working together in a closer way now, but that doesn’t mean agents need to have any special affinity for each other.
“Honestly, I don’t feel at all that CB and Compass need to kumbaya,” Lane said.
New Compass-Redfin Agreement
Just last week, Compass announced the news that it had signed a deal with Rocket Companies to post its upcoming listings on Redfin.com, and Lane was excited about this development.
“This is a very exciting move,” Lane said, adding that starting in July, Coldwell Banker Realty agents will also have access to the Compass International Holdings platform and will be able to list upcoming properties on Redfin as well.
“So starting in July, we will be able to bring upcoming products to the platform,” Lane said. “They’ll be syndicated to the Redfin platform and they’ll get 60 million eyeballs. 60 million eyeballs on what’s coming soon without any digital baggage.”
Mr Lane said negative insights such as days on market and price reductions can have a significant impact on inventory, which is not always fully recognized.
“But if you have a mechanism where you can put your home on the market and give 60 million people risk-free access to inventory, that’s very powerful for increasing inventory in the U.S.,” Lane said. “And inventory shortages are one of the biggest problems the U.S. housing market has right now.”
spring market
Lane agreed with recent positive economic reports that suggest this spring market could be more active than last year.
“Because interest rates are lower, sellers will mitigate that lock-in effect. And because people are making more money, they can afford more, so buyer demand is likely to be very healthy. Prices are stable and there is no constant fear that housing will be unaffordable,” Lane said. “So I’m really looking forward to the spring market.”
As for weaker agents who have been weeded out in recent years due to market turmoil, Lane said the industry-wide decline in agents is probably not a bad thing.
“I think it’s really important that real estate is seen as an honorable profession and that people who are called real estate agents take it seriously,” she said.
“The decline in NAR membership…I think there’s a lot going on there. But people who think this is a quick buck, like watching reality TV shows and thinking it’s an easy way to make money and finding out it’s not. I think fewer people are either remembering the coronavirus era when they didn’t even have to put their house on the market and understanding that that’s not reality and that this is actually a business that requires a very high level of skill, expertise and dedication.” That’s great. ”
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