Sam DeBord, CEO of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), will deliver a keynote at the 4th International MLS Forum on November 16-17, 2026, at Raffles Istanbul in Istanbul, Türkiye, addressing what he calls the trillion-dollar question: what role will MLSs, brokers, and technology providers play in the more than $1 trillion in real estate purchased annually by buyers who do not live in the country where they are buying?
DeBord points to a stark information gap. In the United States, buyers can view nearly every home for sale on a single portal, but in many other countries, buyers must ask one broker after another what is available. “The inventory exists, but access to it is very fragmented from an information perspective,” DeBord says. “Creating a more factual, comprehensive picture of what international investment looks like can help the professionals represent buyers better.” That fragmentation is the central problem his keynote will examine, and it matters because it limits the ability of agents to serve cross-border clients efficiently and transparently.
The implications for MLS organizations are significant. DeBord frames the decision bluntly: “Knowing that this trillion-dollar marketplace exists, what’s your role in it?” He suggests that organizations with valuable marketplace data can act as data providers to a network or as partners empowering brokers and consumers with a more transparent and trustworthy experience. RESO’s role, he adds, is to support data partners’ ability to use standards and create an efficient, interoperable information marketplace. The outcome, he says, is to see buyers, sellers, and investors have access to more accurate, transparent, efficient transactions across borders.
For local MLSs and agents, DeBord acknowledges that many U.S. organizations see themselves as local, and that is acceptable. “Probably not everyone in Atlanta is interested in buying a second home in Italy, but some people in Atlanta are,” he says. First MLS, which serves the Atlanta area, has already connected with an MLS in Italy, demonstrating that cross-border data sharing is moving from concept to practice. For agents, such access helps three client groups: people moving abroad, buyers relocating to the U.S. who want to see local listings before they arrive, and local clients seeking a second home or investment property overseas. It also gives agents listings their clients may not find on the sites they already use, creating a new reason for consumers to reach out.
MLS leaders deciding where their organizations fit in cross-border real estate can hear DeBord’s keynote in person in Istanbul, where the forum will bring together MLS executives, brokers, and technology providers from a few dozen countries. Tickets are available now.
