Gail Slater's DOJ nomination and implications for real estate
Many real estate professionals hoped that a victory in this field, (DOJ). But Gail Slater — a veteran technology and media policy consultant — leading the DOJ's antitrust division is banking on those hopes.
“My gut tells me it's not going to be good for us,” said Steve Murray, co-founder. RealTrends Consulting. “It can be neutral at best, which means everything pretty much goes on.”
“How that will play out remains to be seen as the focus on the real estate industry continues, but those who believed there would be a more laissez faire philosophy in antitrust were surprised by Ms. Slater's nomination,” Chuck Cain, attorney and president Alliance Solutionshe added.
Prior to his candidacy, Slater served as a policy adviser to the vice president-elect. During Trump's first term as president, he was an adviser on technology policy National Economic Council. Slater is known as something of an antitrust hawk and has called it out before Google parent company Alphabet break up Like Vance, he praised (FTC) Chairwoman Lina Khan for her work going after Big Tech under the Biden administration.
According to Murray, Slater's appointment shouldn't come as a surprise given Trump's clear antipathy toward many Big Tech firms. But while real estate isn't on the same level as Big Tech, Murray doesn't believe that means the industry's stock is down.
“If he's known to be aggressive in antitrust, why should we think that might be better for us?” Murray said. “Given the (Sitzer/Burnett) lawsuit, why would I expect him to think differently about our industry.”
Marks Sterbcow, managing attorney Sterbcow Law Groupshares a similar opinion.
“He dislikes monopolistic practices and has long advocated the use of strong government antitrust enforcement powers to reign in companies/associations that use their market power to neutralize smaller competitors or, better still, disruptive new market entrants,” Sterbcow said in an e-mail. wrote in the mail.
Sterbcow acknowledges that Slater does not have any specific knowledge or experience in the real estate industry. But she doesn't believe that will stop her from continuing to fight against him National Association of Realtors (NAR) and other industry players.
“I would say that the antitrust concerns of the DOJ's real estate antitrust division will be evaluated over the next 24 months in the hope that real estate brokerage industry leadership will emerge to correct some of the issues of concern to the DOJ's antitrust division. If he finds that the market isn't working properly, then NAR is going to be confused,” Sterbcow said.
Despite those sentiments, Sterbcow said he doesn't see Slater as someone who will create new policies through executive action.
How this will play out for the real estate industry remains to be seen. But given that the DOJ is in the Sitzer/Burnett suit — which disputed the buyer's representation contracts — and as it turns out, things may not look up for industry professionals even with a change in administration.
