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72 efforts to consumers. Real estate agents, of course, have the most to worry about, on the surface, when it comes to the presence of a legitimately easy online home sales platform with round-the-clock customer service live support. However, both insist that such fears are premature and unnecessary. "is is not a move to take Realtors out of the picture," Sharga says. In fact, on the first page of the forms, the website will ask whether a customer is working with a real estate agent. "We're not trying to cut them out." Morse says Ten-X will actually help real estate agents revolutionize how they do business, akin to the way the internet has changed how children are taught in school. With so much information and technology at their fingertips, school kids don't have to learn rote memorization these days. As a result, their brains are trained to think about new ways to apply information creatively. Similarly, Ten-X says that the platform will allow agents to approach transactions and sales in new and creative ways while freeing up once-jealously guarded information so that more substantive communications can occur. "Real estate is such a human process," Morse says. "People are always going to want to be reassured by someone who can show them the neighborhoods, who know the schools, et cetera. e role of the broker will just evolve, like everything else." Morse sees the future as one in which agents and clients will be better able to interface; a world in which information is easily exchanged and consumers stop feeling like their agents are keeping something from them, whether agents actually are or not. Indeed, a lot of what clogs up the home sales process is administrative paperwork, including time-consuming listing information that sellers will now be able to do for themselves. "If we can take more of the administrative work out of it [for agents], they can add more customers," Morse says. "We want to help [agents] build their business, not take it away." One guiding principle, Morse says, is the attention to accessibility. Online, there is no such thing as bankers' hours. People around the world are always online, and they're conducting business at tea time as much as they're doing business at I-should-be-in- bed-already-o'clock. And, it being 2016, they're doing a lot of business on their phones, everywhere they are. So Ten-X has put a lot of effort into making the platform simple on mobile tech. How much effort? Well, let's just say that when asked who's the brains behind all the work it's taken to make the enormously complicated technology, Morse cites the entire 60-person team. Far too many people in the R&D, marketing, technical, and design departments have put in entirely too much time and sweat to single out any one or few people, he says. It simply would be unfair to not mention everyone. With all that said, one would be forgiven to ask why a company that built such a reputation, not to mention such a profitable enterprise, on an enviably appropriate name like Auction.com would give that name up. But the truth is, no one has given up anything. Auction.com will still be doing what it's always done, with Jason Allnutt, general manager of the residential division, running that part of the business under the Ten-X umbrella. e launch of Ten-X is not, therefore, a dismissal of Auction.com, but rather a child that has become the parent. It's an admittedly gutsy move. But it fits. If you think about it, a name like Auction. com triggers an image of exactly what it is ‒‒ auctions for distressed properties. And while that is an obviously profitable niche, it's only a small part of the picture, Morse says. For a company looking to get into the hundreds-of- billions for its share of that $1.8 trillion pie, a niche market like REO auctions should not be in the front row. Financing will not be part of the initial full-scale version of Ten-X, Morse says, but it is very much on the radar and will be coming shortly. For now, he says, the company wants to concentrate on making the transaction process as user-friendly as possible, for everyone involved. Morse sees Ten-X being able to halve the time it takes to buy or sell a home. "is cuts out an awful lot of the frustration and compresses the timeline to a large degree," he says. Ultimately, "this is about empowerment," for buyers and sellers who will be able to make informed decisions based on real information –without relying on serendipity to get anyone through the process. Fittingly, the main goal is, like the platform itself, far-reaching, deceptively simple, and firmly fixed on some enormous potential. "Data can help you make informed decisions," Morse says. "We envision this to be the Holy Grail for buyers and sellers." "WE TALK ABOUT FORCE MULTIPLIERS DAILY. THE IDEA OF, HOW DO YOU PUNCH ABOVE YOUR WEIGHT CLASS?" – TIM MORSE

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