We recently connected with Lara Gabriele and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lara, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s start with trends – what are some of the largest or more impactful trends you are seeing in the industry?

In the real estate industry, one of the biggest trends I’ve observed recently is the increasing focus on fair competition, especially in light of the recent lawsuit involving the National Association of Realtors (NAR). For years, the NAR has been a dominant force in the industry, shaping policies and practices that have often been criticized for limiting competition and innovation. However, recent legal challenges, like the antitrust lawsuit against the NAR, have brought these issues to the forefront, prompting discussions and actions aimed at fostering a more open and competitive marketplace.
Here at Wispr we decided to challenge the status quo in local markets. Frustrated by the lack of market opportunty and the dominance of traditional brokerage firms affiliated with the NAR, we created a new platform that prioritized fairness and openness.
Instead of relying on exclusive listings and restrictive practices, we embraced technology to create a platform where Realtors can access a wide range of properties and information, empowering them to make informed decisions. By leveraging our marketplace AI they are able to reach a broader audience and provide better services at lower costs. Our trademarked Rumrs and Wiprs will showcase an agents value to their clients in a much more relevant way as buyers start to ask what they are paying for when hiring a realtor.
Our initiative not only disrupts the local market but also inspires similar movements in other regions, sparking a larger conversation about the need for greater networking options and competition in the real estate industry. As more realtors demand access to data and alternatives to traditional brokerage models, there’s a growing opportunity for innovative companies like ours to thrive in this evolving landscape.
We are proud of Realtors and the work they do. The core value of our network showcases this and we hope more realtors call it home no matter what brokerage they are with.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My first experience in the world of real estate was on the mortgage side. I was 17 and started working in the Fraud department of a major bank. This was back in the day when everything was in paper form. Title and Mortgage Fraud were much easier to pull off back then. I was hooked. I wanted to catch bad guys that went after little old ladies and their homes. We paid attention to odd transfers and transactions. I learned as much as I could before transferring to loan servicing. We had a 250 person call center within the bank to manage mortgage calls. Clients would call when they had questions about their mortgage statements. I learned very quickly that not all mortgages were the same and not all clients had the same issues. Once I understood this I became a Loan Officer, I will tell you that job lasted exactly two days. I could not do it. Loan officers have a very tough job! I have immense respect for them and their knowledge. I moved into loan processing and then Underwriting. From there I became a Realtor and thats when I knew I found what made me excited to go to work everyday!
now, 20 years later, as a Realtor I started to see and understand that when it came to useful technology our industry was seriously lacking, The tools and networking system was not there and what was there was very fragmented. We had to stitch everything together with the equivalent duck tape and glue! I set out to solve this problem by creating Wispr. Real Estate is one of the few industries were someone can work for months and possibly not get paid for one reason or another. In the meantime we are expected to shell out thousands of dollars on fragmented technology that most of the time does not work or has never been designed by a realtor. The process is misunderstood and this key elements are missing. This has left a hole in the industry that desperately needed to be filled. Thats where we come in. We solve am many of the issues that Realtors are frustrated with while creating a community regardless of brokerage. When that kind of knowledge becomes free flowing agents are unstoppable! I am excited to help Realtors level up during these exciting times!!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Yes we have had a few ! I can’t tell you how many times we have almost wiped out. As a Realtor and a tech Entrepreneur I love that I can bring both worlds together. And for those that know me personally they also know my husband. He is amazing and supportive. With a background in finance and tech he is one of the smartest people I have ever met. Together we have worked hard to make Wispr a reality! A few years ago when we started this journey, one of my biggest pet peeves was the scheduling of homes that a buyers agent had to make in order to show buyers a home… or twenty!
We literally had to call listing agents wait for call backs or texts to say we could enter at a specific time. then we had to plan the most efficient routes to drive our clients around. It was a pain. I was not a fan of showing time or CSS. The technology was clunky and many times I still had to get on the phone to request a showing. Long story short I told my husband we had to improve on this. We did to the tune of $100,000 of our own money, no investors. What we created was amazing! It was all automated and the AI did all the requests for us. Once the showings were identified our technology created a customized route to each home with time buffers in between for the showing and drive time to the next home. It then was sent to the buyers agent and their client. The kicker was when you got to each showing the scheduler knew, brought up the home and you could rate it and leave notes so that you could discuss everything at the end of the day. We were gaining traction and realtors really liked it… then… disaster… Showingtime was purchased by Zillow for $500 million dollars and the pandemic hit… we were dead. No one could work, there were no home showings. Once things started to open up again homes were being purchased sight unseen with little to no shows. We learned a lot from this. First, NEVER pt your own money in if you don’t have to. Our little scheduler is still on the shelf… I may bring her back out one day and dust her off… but we will have to see.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

For me it’s simple. Honesty and Integrity are the highest on my list of characteristics. Both in what I demand of myself and what I hope to find in others. In our business this can be a daunting task. Many times we find people in our industry are motivated my money and only money. Thats ok but these people will never understand what a professional network is all about. My honesty and Integrity are driven by my values and my values come from Christ. I know who I am and the value I bring to others through him. I will always strive to do right by others. It can be in the form of how we build our product, our pricing or just how we help agents navigate the ever changing landscape that is Real Estate. People know that when they call me I will always personally answer the phone and help in any way I can. If I can’t get them an adequate answer I will find someone who can.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wisprnetwork.com
• Instagram: @wisprnetwork
• Facebook: https://wispr.io
• Linkedin: wisprnetwork

Image Credits

My own photos no credits