Santanu Barua from VestaPlus: Why your Next MLS Won't Look Like Today's
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson talks with Santanu Barua, CTO of Vesta Plus, the tech platform owned by the Combined LA/Westside MLS (CLAW), about his path into MLS tech, the Checkmate compliance product, and VestaPlus's approach to AI and MCP servers. Key Takeaways Vesta Plus is a wholly owned subsidiary of CLAW, licensing its homegrown MLS tech to other MLSs since 2018 Santanu's path: EE/CS at University of Houston → mortgage tech at Countrywide (2001–06) → MLS technology since 2006 Checkmate, born from a talk...
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Katrina Romatowski: Rethinking Homeownership for the Next Generation with reSpace
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson sits down with Katrina Romatowski, founder and CEO of reSpace, to discuss a new approach to housing affordability through co-homeownership. Drawing on nearly three decades in real estate, development, and housing advocacy, Katrina explains how reSpace redesigns homes into private suites with shared common spaces and enables buyers to purchase fractional ownership interests. The conversation explores affordability, homeownership as a wealth-building tool, aging-in-place design, MLS...
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Fixing Home Affordability One Room at a Time With Atticus LeBlanc of PadSplit
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson sits down with Atticus LeBlanc, founder and CEO of PadSplit, to discuss the affordable housing crisis and how room-by-room rentals can create housing opportunities for people who are priced out of traditional apartments. Atticus shares his journey from commercial real estate broker to housing entrepreneur, the origins of PadSplit during the Great Financial Crisis, and how the company has grown from a single prototype house to more than 33,000 beds nationwide. The conversation explores shared...
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Brian Boero on Storytelling, Signal, and What Comes Next for MLS
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson sits down with Brian Boero of 1000Watt to talk about the current state of organized real estate, the future of the MLS, AI’s impact on SaaS and marketing, and why writing and storytelling still matter in an AI-driven world. They also preview 1000Watt’s upcoming Signal Conference and discuss a new “next generation MLS” concept the team is developing for the event. Key Takeaways Brian explains how 1000Watt blends strategic advisory work with branding, messaging, and design. ...
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From Pixels to Property Intelligence with Dominik Pogorzelski
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson is joined by Dominik Pogorzelski from Restb.ai to discuss the evolution of AI in real estate—from early photo tagging to large-scale property intelligence. They cover how AI is now embedded in MLS workflows, powering listing input, compliance, and valuation, while also exploring the challenges of scale, accuracy, and the future of AI in the industry. Key Takeaways Restb.ai has been AI-first from the start, building on early computer vision models before the current AI boom. Their...
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Brian Tepfer: How PropStream Turns Data Into Deals
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson interviews Brian Tepfer, CEO of PropStream, about his journey from tech support at Rapatoni to leading a major proptech data platform. The conversation explores how PropStream turns public record data into actionable real estate opportunities, the rise of investor-focused tools outside the MLS, and how shifting market conditions are changing agent behavior. They also discuss industry trends like wholesaling, MLS fragmentation risks, and new go-to-market strategies—including vendor partnerships...
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From Fashion to PropTech: Lauren Martin on Housing and Community
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson is joined by Lauren Martin (RentSpree) for a wide-ranging conversation covering her unconventional path from fashion design to PropTech, the growing importance of rentals within the MLS ecosystem, and the evolution of her initiative, Renew (Real Estate Network of Empowered Women). The discussion highlights how rentals are becoming central to real estate workflows, how community-building is shaping the industry, and how Renew has scaled from a podcast idea into a multi-day retreat with strong...
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Rethinking Ownership: Brett Humphrey on Co-Owning Homes
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson sits down with Brett Humphrey, founder of Joynt, to discuss a new approach to housing affordability through co-ownership. Brett shares his background as a longtime software developer and entrepreneur, including selling a consulting business to Accenture before launching Joynt. The conversation explores how shared home ownership could help address affordability challenges by allowing multiple buyers to jointly purchase and manage property, along with the technical and legal infrastructure required...
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Killing the Copy-Paste: MLS Data Meets Canva
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview In this episode of Listing Bits, Greg Robertson sits down with Marcus Brown, founder of MLS Pipeline. Marcus shares his path from real estate agent to solo software founder, discussing how frustrations with lead generation, CMAs, and manual marketing workflows led him to build a Canva-based MLS data integration. The conversation covers MLS sales cycles, member-benefit products, and why automation and design flexibility matter for agents today. Key Takeaways Marcus Brown transitioned from working...
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Inside Editora: Julie Drazen’s No-Fluff Approach to Real Estate Video
Listing Bits
The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Greg Robertson sits down with Julie Drazen, founder of Editora, to talk about her background in film and commercial editing and how that experience led to building a fast, opinionated video-editing platform for real estate agents. Julie explains how Editora uses AI as a behind-the-scenes tool (not a replacement for craft), why simplicity and taste matter in listing videos, and how the product is designed to save agents time while keeping branding consistent across brokerages. Key Takeaways Julie’s...
info_outline🎙️ Listing Bits Episode: The Amazing Annie Ives
Host: Greg Robertson
Guest: Annie Ives, CEO of The MLS™ / VestaPlus
Duration: ~40 min
đź‘‹ Episode Summary:
In this episode, Greg sits down with Annie Ives, a true titan in the world of organized real estate. From her early days immigrating from Tunisia to building and reviving one of the most resilient MLS organizations in the country, Annie shares her personal and professional journey with candor, humor, and a hint of rebellion.
They cover everything from her humble beginnings in Los Angeles, to taking down not one but two formidable adversaries (a rogue MLS and the LA Times), and ultimately building a fully-fledged MLS software company from the ground up — all while raising a family and earning her MBA.
🧩 Key Topics Covered:
• Annie’s Origins: Born in Tunisia, moved to LA in 1967 post-Six-Day War
• First Jobs in the U.S.: Nanny, Bank of America check processor
• Finding Her Calling: Started in accounting for CLAW (Combined L.A. Westside MLS) in 1993
• The CLS Uprising: How Annie resurrected CLAW after a broker-led exodus and competition from the breakaway “CLS”
• Publishing Power Move: Took on LA Times and launched Southern California Homes & Estates, which remains a staple in the market
• Building VestaPlus: Tired of relying on vendors, Annie led the charge to build a proprietary MLS platform — now adopted beyond their core market
• Checkmate™: Her team’s AI-driven compliance tool making waves across the MLS industry
• Team Philosophy: Why taking risks, building a strong team, and staying scrappy still matters
đź“Ś Resources & Mentions:
• The MLS™ / VestaPlus:
• Contact Annie: annie.ives@themls.com
• Compliance tool: Checkmate™, powered by VestaPlus
• The MLS Summit Event: Annual event hosted by The MLS™