If you've ever wondered why the Real Estate Database (RED) chooses not to work directly with landlords, you're not alone. On the surface, it might seem like a logical move, cutting out the middleman, right? But scratch the surface a little, and you'll discover that working with landlords directly is not only inefficient, it's also a recipe for chaos, conflict of interest, and collapse.

Let's start with something obvious that people tend to ignore: landlords are busy. Really busy. Most landlords aren't just sitting around waiting for buyers or tenants to call. They're entrepreneurs, executives, farmers, importers, and dealmakers, constantly on the move and juggling multiple interests.

That means when a serious buyer wants to view a property, there's a good chance the landlord won't pick up the phone, won't show up on time, or worse, won't follow up at all. As a result, leads go cold, buyers get frustrated, and deals fall apart. You've probably tried calling a landlord more than once and felt like you were chasing shadows. That's not how you close real estate deals.

But inefficiency is just the beginning. There's also the issue of conflict of interest. The RED earns revenue from agents listing their properties on the platform. These agents do the heavy lifting, fielding inquiries, conducting viewings, negotiating deals. If RED were to start working directly with landlords, we'd be doing the very job we enable agents to do. In other words, we'd become the competition. How fair would it be to charge agents listing fees, then turn around and offer the same service to landlords for free or at a discount? We'd be biting the hand that feeds us.

You also have to consider customer service, or lack thereof. Some landlords are great to deal with, no doubt. But many? They lack the people skills and patience it takes to handle property inquiries. Try negotiating a fair price with a landlord who's emotionally attached to their "masterpiece." They'll scoff at your offer, talk down to you, or flat out refuse to listen to market realities. Agents, on the other hand, are trained to handle objections, smooth over issues, and guide both parties to a successful deal.

Then there's the money issue. Ask most landlords to pay a listing fee upfront and you'll get a puzzled look, or worse, an insult. Why? Because the real estate market in our region has grown organically through word of mouth, sign posts on gates, and phone calls. Landlords aren't used to paying for digital marketing. Instead, they'd rather hand the property over to several agents who already know how to list on platforms like RED. It's not just about cost, it's about mindset. Most landlords simply don't believe in paying to promote a property online, even if it could get them a better deal faster.

And let's not forget the technical side of things. Uploading a property on RED isn't rocket science, but it does take time and basic digital skills. Many landlords don't have the time, tech-savviness, or even internet access to list or update their properties themselves. Training a landlord to upload one property is often a dead-end. On the other hand, train an agent once, and they can upload hundreds, even thousands, of listings in different locations and districts with little to no support. That's the kind of scalability RED is built for as its a game of numbers.

History has also taught us some hard lessons. Look at platforms that tried working directly with landlords, House Hippo, for instance. Their staff ended up clashing with agents over the same listings and were seen as competition by their own members. Another startup claimed it would eliminate middlemen and deal only/directly with landlords. That app vanished into obscurity as it lost trust with agents who wrere listing with it. Even Lamudi, before RED took over, tried working with landlords, the result is that employees started moonlighting as agents, turning against the very subscribers who kept the platform alive.

So ask yourself this:

1. Do you really want to deal with a landlord who may not even pick up the phone when a buyer calls?
2. Would you rather work with someone who treats real estate as a side gig, or with a full-time professional who earns only when you succeed?
3. If you were running RED, would you jeopardize your relationship with committed agents just to appease a few landlords who may not even believe in digital marketing?

At RED, we've made our choice. We're not here to sell property, we're here to power the people who do. That means building PropTech for agents, improving listing tools, and helping professionals close deals faster and smarter.

If you're serious about real estate, you need serious partners. And that starts with leaving the landlord's work to the landlord, and the agent's work to the professionals. So, what kind of platform do you want to work with, one that competes with you, or one that empowers you?