Sam DeBord, CEO of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), will deliver a keynote at the 4th International MLS Forum, taking place November 16-17, 2026, at Raffles Istanbul in Istanbul, Türkiye. His address will focus on the over $1 trillion in real estate purchased each year by buyers who do not live in the country where they are buying, and he will challenge MLSs, brokers, and technology providers to consider what role they plan to play in that market.
DeBord describes the cross-border market as massive but hampered by fragmented listing information. “There’s more than a trillion dollars invested every year by people buying real estate in a country that they don’t live in,” DeBord says. “It’s a massive market.” While U.S. buyers can see nearly every home for sale on a single portal, in many other countries buyers must ask one broker after another what’s 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.”
The keynote will center on whether MLSs should share listings across borders. “Knowing that this trillion-dollar marketplace exists, what’s your role in it?” DeBord says. “You have a role if you have valuable data about the marketplace, whether as a data provider to the network or as a partner empowering brokers and consumers with a more transparent and trustworthy experience in this marketplace.” He adds that RESO supports data partners’ ability to use standards and create an efficient, interoperable information marketplace. “The outcome we’re all working toward is to see buyers, sellers and investors have access to more accurate, transparent, efficient transactions across borders.”
DeBord acknowledges that many U.S. organizations see themselves as local. “If organizations feel that their only focus needs to be the local marketplace, that’s fine,” he says. “Probably not everyone in Atlanta is interested in buying a second home in Italy, but some people in Atlanta are.” First MLS, which serves the Atlanta area, has already connected with an MLS in Italy. For agents, that kind of access helps three groups of clients: people moving abroad; buyers relocating to the U.S. who want to see local listings before they arrive; and local clients looking for a second home or investment property overseas. It also gives agents listings their clients may not find on the sites they already use. “It’s a new reason for a consumer to reach out and talk to you, and something exciting and different to add to your set of tools,” DeBord says.
MLS leaders deciding where their organizations fit in cross-border real estate can hear DeBord’s keynote in person in Istanbul. The forum brings together MLS executives, brokers and technology providers from a few dozen countries. Tickets are available now.
