RESO CEO to Keynote International MLS Forum on Cross-Border Real Estate

Sam DeBord, CEO of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), will headline the 4th International MLS Forum on November 16-17, 2026, at Raffles Istanbul in Istanbul, Türkiye. His keynote will tackle what he calls the trillion-dollar question: how the real estate industry should serve the massive cross-border market, where over $1 trillion in property is purchased annually by buyers who don’t live in the country where they’re buying. DeBord will challenge MLSs, brokers, and technology providers to define their role in this fragmented marketplace. “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 core problem, according to DeBord, is that listing information across borders is scattered. 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,” he says. “Creating a more factual, comprehensive picture of what international investment looks like can help the professionals represent buyers better.” DeBord argues that organizations with valuable marketplace data can play a role either as data providers to the network or as partners empowering brokers and consumers with a more transparent and trustworthy experience. RESO supports these data partners’ ability to use standards and create an efficient, interoperable information marketplace, with the goal of giving buyers, sellers, and investors access to more accurate, transparent, and efficient transactions across borders.

For local MLSs and agents, DeBord acknowledges that many U.S. organizations see themselves as local—and that’s fine. “Probably not everyone in Atlanta is interested in buying a second home in Italy, but some people in Atlanta are,” he says, noting that First MLS, which serves the Atlanta area, has already connected with an MLS in Italy. For agents, cross-border access helps three client groups: people moving abroad, buyers relocating to the U.S. who want to see local listings before they arrive, and local clients seeking 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 can hear his keynote in person in Istanbul, where the forum brings together executives, brokers, and technology providers from a few dozen countries. Tickets are available now.