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 what he calls the trillion-dollar question: the more than $1 trillion in real estate purchased every year by people who do not live in the country where they are buying.
DeBord plans to ask MLSs, brokers, and technology providers what role they intend to play in that market. “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.”
The listing information behind those purchases is scattered. U.S. buyers can see 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.”
At the center of DeBord’s keynote is the decision of whether MLSs should share listings across borders. “Knowing that this trillion-dollar marketplace exists, what’s your role in it?” he 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 these 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.
The implications extend beyond the forum stage. As cross-border investment continues to grow, the ability of MLSs and technology providers to standardize and share listing data could determine whether international buyers gain the same transparency that domestic buyers often take for granted. For agents, that means new client segments and new tools; for MLSs, it means a strategic choice about whether to remain purely local or to participate in a more connected global marketplace.
