- 1 week ago
In this episode of the Real Trending podcast, Tracey Velt sits down with Blake O’Shaughnessy, founder of Ownli, a platform aiming to rethink the traditional real estate transaction by removing agents entirely. Built around the idea that “search got modern, but pricing didn’t,” Ownli offers sellers a DIY platform where they can list homes, manage showings, negotiate offers and complete contracts without paying traditional percentage-based commissions.
O’Shaughnessy argues that the post-NAR settlement environment has accelerated consumer skepticism around commission structures, especially as home prices continue climbing while fees remain tied to a percentage of the sale price. Ownli positions itself as a software-driven alternative, combining public listing data, pricing tools, contracts and third-party service providers into one platform.
The conversation explores whether consumers are truly ready to handle transactions themselves, how Ownli plans to scale nationally, and where technology can — and can’t — replace traditional agents. While O’Shaughnessy acknowledges the emotional and relationship-driven aspects of real estate still matter, he believes the future of the industry is increasingly “unbundled,” with consumers choosing only the services they actually need instead of paying for full-service representation by default.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Ownli removes agents and replaces them with software-driven transaction tools.
The platform charges flat fees instead of percentage-based commissions.
O’Shaughnessy says consumers are questioning traditional commission structures.
Ownli launched nationally with access to more than 500,000 listings.
The company believes the future of real estate is “unbundled.”
Related to this episode:
Blake O'Shaughnessy's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakeo/
Ownli
https://myownli.com/
O’Shaughnessy argues that the post-NAR settlement environment has accelerated consumer skepticism around commission structures, especially as home prices continue climbing while fees remain tied to a percentage of the sale price. Ownli positions itself as a software-driven alternative, combining public listing data, pricing tools, contracts and third-party service providers into one platform.
The conversation explores whether consumers are truly ready to handle transactions themselves, how Ownli plans to scale nationally, and where technology can — and can’t — replace traditional agents. While O’Shaughnessy acknowledges the emotional and relationship-driven aspects of real estate still matter, he believes the future of the industry is increasingly “unbundled,” with consumers choosing only the services they actually need instead of paying for full-service representation by default.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Ownli removes agents and replaces them with software-driven transaction tools.
The platform charges flat fees instead of percentage-based commissions.
O’Shaughnessy says consumers are questioning traditional commission structures.
Ownli launched nationally with access to more than 500,000 listings.
The company believes the future of real estate is “unbundled.”
Related to this episode:
Blake O'Shaughnessy's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakeo/
Ownli
https://myownli.com/
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NewsTranscript
00:08the nar commission settlement has spurred a lot of i don't know if you want to call it disruption
00:15or innovators in the industry and today i'm speaking to blake o'shaughnessy he is the founder
00:22of only it is an idea around search got modern pricing didn't and he's unbundling the process
00:31of selling a home and buying a home and he's doing it without agents involved so i think it's an
00:40interesting podcast and i hope you enjoy it blake you've written some for housing wire and now you're
00:46on the podcast so welcome to real trending thank you i never thought i'd be joining the uh the other
00:52side but here we are so that's right so i want to talk about only um you kind of framed
00:59it around
00:59the idea that search got modern but pricing didn't and what do you think is specifically broken um in
01:07today's commission structure from your perspective and why is now the time to challenge it yeah that's
01:12a great question um like you mentioned you know it's pretty simple search got modern but everything
01:17now is instant transparent and data driven um pricing just didn't evolve the same way so brokerages
01:23are still charging a percentage of the home price and um that's something that hasn't really changed
01:27in decades um home prices exploded especially post-covid yet the commission still remains at that
01:33five to six percent gross so at a one million dollar home we don't think it takes twice the amount
01:38of
01:38work it's a five hundred thousand dollar home but the fee doubles so um you know at some point when
01:43pricing scales with price instead of effort it stops feeling like a service fee and starts feeling
01:47like a tax on the transaction so now that consumers have access to the same data that agents have
01:53um that they used to control uh they're really starting to question it so talk walk me through
01:59only's model in practical terms like if i'm a seller listing a home tomorrow what does that process
02:05look like yeah so um if you're listing tomorrow you sign up you enter your property it'll pull from
02:10public records and we give you real-time pricing range based on comps in your hyper local market
02:15um you pick your price we'll flag it if it's off but ultimately it's your call so from there you
02:21list
02:21it you hit submit on the platform um you manage your showings you receive offers and uh generate
02:27contracts all in one place um and if you ever need help you can plug it into our partner marketplace
02:32and
02:32that's lenders inspections property insurance title and you do all that without paying the bundled
02:38five to five to six percent commission and so you've taken the realtor out of the transaction
02:43completely or do they still have a partner we in our platform right now we have taken the realtor
02:49out of the out of the transaction completely i it's it's diy um you know the software is the agent
02:55you know we track everything so you're never alone inside the transaction you're not doing this by
03:00yourself it's it's really just kind of fsbo on steroids um okay you know with all the partners in
03:06the marketplace and partners within the platform so you're not doing this alone um but you are acting
03:11as your own agent through the platform okay and so tell me a little bit about maybe give me a
03:16case
03:16study or um an anecdote of someone who recently went through the platform and found success and
03:23you know what kind of traction are you getting with it yeah so we are seeing um some good traction
03:28in states like texas california um florida you know those are those are um
03:36are are markets where we've seen the highest engagement and for several listings um i think
03:42those are fast moving markets high volume markets with practical buyers you know people everywhere care
03:47about outcomes obviously you know speed price savings but in texas california and florida we're seeing
03:52that convert so we've got three listings right now on the platform in california one in colorado
03:58um these markets are making those efficiencies very obvious um and frankly easier to challenge i think
04:04um they are still live they haven't closed yet we are just publicly launched from about you know about
04:10three weeks ago um but we are seeing on average i think that the two listings there are the three
04:17listings in california over 1500 views on the listings themselves um they're they're pretty unique
04:23properties there they're adu so income potential multi-generational living um colorado a little bit
04:29more of a depressed market right now um and it's a condo but we're seeing we're seeing a lot of
04:35activity on those listings and is there any tie to the mls or portals um or do they go to
04:41your site to
04:42see the properties yeah they have to go to our site to see the properties we're working on syndication
04:46right now these are being pulled from public records and we have a data partner that's providing the
04:52same the same listings that you know the kind of the zillows and the red fins um are getting their
04:58data listings from so if you go to our site you see our from a listing from a buyer's perspective
05:04you
05:04can see everything on the market but if you're listing right now you've got to go through only
05:08and we're working on that syndication right now okay and i had had your launching with more than
05:13500 000 listings across 43 states but that doesn't sound like that's true or is that true
05:19that is true those are not our listings um those are all the listings that are publicly on the market
05:26right now so we didn't go out and build that supply we just unlock the access to it you know
05:30we're like i said we're using the same licensed public data that the industry already relies on
05:34but just making it usable inside the transaction so are those listed like those listings are they
05:40actually listed by a realtor are you pulling explain to me that because i don't understand my realtor
05:46those are listed by fsbo as well and we are publicly displaying those on our website okay so um
05:54my side and so how do you achieve scale um you know especially you know real estate is hyper local
06:02right and they look in more people than ever are using realtors in their transaction according to
06:08several different um studies so how how do you position yourself for scale knowing that it's a
06:18it's a niche of people who want to do it themselves sure i i think that it's pretty simple and
06:23it just
06:24comes down to unbundling um i think that people instead of paying five to six percent for everything
06:28you know knowing that they can pay for what they actually need we're going to expose that niche um
06:34so you know data like i said handles pricing software handles coordination specialists step
06:39in when it matters so we're making this very simple we're showing you how simple it is to
06:43actually go through a transaction without a realtor being one myself for 10 years before i launched only
06:49i i saw exactly the inefficiencies inside of a transaction and i've kind of set out to try to
06:55expose that um i think that what it's going to take is you know the first couple people actually
07:01closing a deal and getting testimonials from those from those sellers um and saying hey you know i was
07:07able to do this by myself i saved tens of thousands of dollars and only provided everything that i needed
07:13every step along the way um i never felt alone i felt like i had the guardrails um intact the
07:19entire
07:19time um and so that's kind of how i think we're going to achieve scale you know being in 43
07:25states having
07:26over 500 000 listings 313 billion dollars worth of real estate on the platform right now
07:31is huge we just need to convert that okay so if it's listed by someone else um then the buyer
07:38will probably be paying a commission to the listing agent traditionally traditionally sellers pay commissions
07:47and it's just been a line item in the in the settlement statement and it's never really been questioned
07:53it's kind of just been like what i said like a tax on the home ownership so with a buyer
07:57it's 999
07:58to buy and that is essentially a commission that would be paid out to a buyer's agent and that's
08:03paid by the seller or the buyer can say hey i will pay that myself thousand dollars um to accept
08:10my
08:10offer or you know it's it's something that the seller will pay and i think that a lot of sellers
08:15will
08:15say hey if this is a if this is a platform that is actually going to get me to the
08:18closing table
08:19i would much rather pay 999 than 2.8 or 3 to a buyer's agent okay and and so how
08:27um do you plan
08:28to market only how do you plan on reaching um the the right people and where where are you
08:36making your money i guess i should say too yeah we're making our money on that on that flat flat
08:42fee
08:43okay um and then we'll make some money um with some of our partners um not with lenders not with
08:49title that would violate respa we can plug them into the partner marketplace but we'll make our
08:54money um additional money on the transaction through other third-party vendors inspectors
08:59movers contractors um but we plan to market and right now what we're doing is we're just it's it's
09:06all organic it's through socials it's through writing things for housing wire it's for writing
09:10things for inman um we're raising money right now we're in the process of raising money to really
09:14kind of blast marketing on a national level rather than just kind of through our organic um so it's
09:20it's a work in progress but we're growing we're seeing users uh we're seeing followers and so you
09:27know we're just kind of building slowly okay and so one of the long-standing arguments for commissions
09:31is that they align incentives and provide full service guidance so what replaces that value
09:37in your model especially for less experienced buyers and sellers yeah you know i think that
09:44there are real risks in that um pricing something wrong you know missing something entirely inside the
09:49transaction negotiating poorly um but we we reduce that with data and with like i said with guardrails
09:56throughout the transaction optional support when you need it so you're still in control of the
10:00transaction but you're not guessing anymore um you're making informed decisions based on you know
10:06like the hyper local data in your market and um you know we think that you know we'll flag outliers
10:12as needed um but we we put the consumer in control okay and how i mean uh did you get
10:19any investment to
10:21build the platform it's been completely bootstrapped by me at this point um so we've been building it for
10:29a little over a year um we've got to the point where the platform is live we we can do
10:37everything
10:38that we say that we can do and now we're trying to raise money to to help with that scale
10:43okay okay
10:44great um so how do you think about risk in a direct consumer model like pricing mistakes negotiation
10:51missteps you said that you have that data but when you don't have a real estate agent in the mix
10:57who
10:58might be an expert in that local area how do you how do you manage that risk
11:05sure you know like i said we flag outliers um contracts are standardized you know they're all
11:11boilerplate so we help fill those out you know our ai model um and we have a legal compliance team
11:17making sure that everything is above board so the responsibility is visible you know not hidden
11:22um at any point during the transaction okay um you know so the industry is still kind of digesting the
11:29post-settlement landscape around buyer broker compensation um i actually am hearing more buyers
11:35paying a portion of the commission um not just sellers so so how much of your strategy is dependent on
11:42those structural changes versus broader consumer behavior shifts yeah sure you know the nar ruling
11:49certainly helps but i don't think it's the main driver um i think the biggest shift is behavioral
11:54um you know people questioning why they're actually paying a percentage-based fee at all
11:58so i think the settlement just accelerated something that was already happening
12:02you know negotiate or commissions have always been negotiable but i think historically everyone's
12:08thought oh well the seller is going to pay the commission so it doesn't matter you know i can
12:11have a buyer's agent but that's just been like i said kind of the tax on the transaction
12:14um and it shouldn't scale uh with the price it should be you know for for the amount of work
12:21i
12:21think done so that will happen and i think that a lot of people that that was one of the
12:26main drivers
12:26of us building this platform is after the nar settlement we thought that um sellers were going to start
12:32telling buyers that they're not going to pay their agent anymore um it didn't happen you know the
12:37the way we thought nothing has really changed commissions has kind of stayed kind of stagnant there
12:42um i think that is a broader the the underlying kind of issue there's there's there's been
12:49the market kind of stagnated a little bit and i think there wasn't as much incentive
12:54um for buyers to do that so sellers said hey i i will still pay the commission i just need
12:59to get
13:00this house off the books um but as the market sort of rebalances i think you'll start seeing more
13:04of that and what is your sweet spot of spot as far as price range we don't really have a
13:09sweet spot yet
13:10i think that i think that a sweet spot will will probably come out and kind of the the the
13:16pricing
13:16where loans are are really needed but you know right now we have a house that's 1.35 on the
13:23platform
13:24we've one that's just over a million we have a condo that's 500 000 so i think that where people
13:30really need to save every single dollar in the transaction that's probably where our sweet spot
13:34will kind of land we're probably not going to make a huge dent in the super luxury market i would
13:39love to you know i'd love to show everybody that this is a model that works for every every price
13:43point um but i think that probably in that you know 500 000 2 million is probably the sweet spot
13:49so um do you view only as a replacement for traditional brokerages or like part of a
13:56more fragmented ecosystem of multiple kind of models coexisting um you know and and i do think
14:04as we move on there's always new models being developed um so tell me a little bit about your
14:11thought process with that um to give you a sort of a little a cop-out answer i think it's
14:17both
14:17um you know i think there will always be people who want full service but there's a growing group that
14:22doesn't and that's where we're going to focus um you know because because of that this this becomes a
14:27spectrum i think not a single model you know unbundling the transaction rather than one size fits all
14:32okay do you ever see um the company kind of evolving to a different model where you you
14:41literally unbundle so they can purchase mls access or they can purchase like certain parts of the
14:48transaction um i think that that is is it's part of our our platform right now where you can kind
14:54of
14:54pick and choose what what third-party service vendors you use right now i think we're sticking to
15:00kind of the the overall thesis of just unbundling the entire transaction kind of you know diy in it
15:06but with um with support with you also like marketing materials and everything too like other
15:13than pricing you know pulling the public data tell me a little bit more like do you provide marketing i
15:20know you provide contracts um you know help with open houses whatever sure yeah no that's an add-on
15:27inside the platform you can add you can you can select a brochure use your photos that you've
15:32uploaded into the system print out the nice glossy brochure um you can order a sign with a with the
15:38arm for your yard um and then we we help kind of blast the the listing kind of through our
15:44channels as
15:45well okay and what channels are those like that you would blast the listing through it's through our
15:50socials it's through um you know through instagram um facebook linkedin um we're not seeing a whole
15:59lot of traction in tiktok i think it's just a much younger demographic and it's really not something for
16:04um for real estate um but you know we're just trying to get as much exposure as we can
16:10and this will evolve i think but right now that's kind of how we're doing it okay great um and
16:16so looking
16:17ahead three to five years what does success look like for only uh is it market share transaction
16:23volume or just reshaping consumers um expectations around buying real estate yeah so i think success
16:30um is when people stop asking what's the commission and they start asking what am i actually paying for
16:35um so that mindset mindset shift is everything um and then i think the numbers will follow okay and it's
16:42a really big market and capture a little bit of it i think it's a success okay do you have
16:46any
16:46competitors right now there are some competitors out there um they the the difference between some
16:53of the competitors that we have is we are national and they're all kind of focusing more on on hyper
16:58local markets um rolling out state by state um one is in colorado right now um and i think they
17:05might be in a couple other states maybe arizona um it's called ridley um another one is down in florida
17:11baycomb um you know there's a lot of people who kind of have seen this model being completely
17:16outdated and wanting to kind of reset but um what differentiates us is that we've launched nationwide
17:23okay great um so i want to do kind of a lightning round of questions this is kind of first
17:28thing that
17:29um comes to your mind so what is the biggest misconception about commission-free real estate
17:37i would say commission-free doesn't mean no help just means you choose your help one thing agents
17:42do today that technology can't replace that would be the emotional side you know these are people's
17:47homes their memories their families and tech can't replace that emotional component but we can help
17:52consumers make informed data-backed decisions to help alleviate those concerns okay uh most important
17:59in the next cycle transparency or affordability transparency always so in one word the future of
18:05residential real estate is unbundled okay great oh well blake i i wish you much success we'll check in
18:14um maybe in about a year six months to a year see how you're doing and um i really appreciate
18:20you
18:20coming on the podcast today thanks so much for having me tracy i really appreciate it yeah thanks
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