February is the month of Valentine’s Day, and sometimes—like in 2020—has a 29th day. But February is also the beginning of moving season. Families and individuals around the country are now beginning to think about upgrading, downgrading or buying their first home. We all focus on the next new deal and certainly look to our friends and neighbors for business. Sometimes we get started after a long winter and holiday season, just as our potential clients are beginning to clean up their home to sell or search for new homes online.

While the fun of home-buying typically comes from discovering and falling in love with your new home, there may not be much fun at all in home-selling unless it is simply the first leg of home-buying. Transaction management solutions have evolved to make the closing process easier, but the biggest hang-up for consumers remains the classically painful process of moving.

In the last few months, multiple technology companies launched a marketplace inside their transaction management solutions that sells products directly to agents and their clients. I am conflicted: Should technology companies enter a space in which real estate brands would want control of that experience? One of the companies claims in a press release that the marketplace sells directly to 1.3 million agents through their transaction forms products. Products in the marketplace at launch include escrow, agent websites, moving services, among others. The tech company indicates that they will continue to expand the marketplace to include home insurance, mortgage and title.