The quest for “transparency” is a major driver in our world today so that people can make the best decisions. We saw it with banking reforms after the recession as well as with all the new disruptive technologies. In commercial real estate, we recently saw the push for transparency with the new lease accounting rules. Commercial real estate brokerage, is a sector in need of increased transparency, particularly given the continued consolidation of commercial real estate brokerage firms where it is increasingly common for opposing parties in a transaction to be represented by agents from the same firm. Beyond this conflict of interest issue, greater transparency is needed as to compensation and “incentives” offered by property owners to entice agents to show a particular property.
