The Listing Bits podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player!

Overview

Greg Robertson talks with Santanu Barua, CTO of Vesta Plus, the tech platform owned by the Combined LA/Westside MLS (CLAW), about his path into MLS tech, the Checkmate compliance product, and VestaPlus's approach to AI and MCP servers.

Key Takeaways

• Vesta Plus is a wholly owned subsidiary of CLAW, licensing its homegrown MLS tech to other MLSs since 2018
• Santanu's path: EE/CS at University of Houston → mortgage tech at Countrywide (2001–06) → MLS technology since 2006
• Checkmate, born from a talk with former CLAW COO Gigi Marina, catches violations input rules can't (bad remarks, photo violations via computer vision) and automates follow-up
• Products are built modular/extensible so tools like Checkmate can later be sold to other MLSs
• Vesta Plus has its own MCP server, launching soon to members — part of the "headless MLS" trend (Flex MLS/FBS also offers this)
• Data access runs through a controlled API layer, not direct database access, for security
• Greg pitches a "16 core fields + AI chat for everything else" MLS interface idea
• They discuss a possible marketplace for member-built AI tools, like custom GPTs
• New public-facing site (in development ~6 months) will let the public search agents and listings, with agents controlling how much history/testimonials they show
• Santanu's AI philosophy: build deliberately on existing data strengths, prioritize security over speed

Aligned Showings — MLS-owned showing software built to simplify scheduling, improve communication, and keep MLS data where it belongs.

Giant Steps Job Board – Built for organized real estate and PropTech, not generic tech bros and recruiters who don't know what an MLS is.

Sunbound Studios

The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player!

Greg Robertson sits down with Katrina Romatowski, founder and CEO of reSpace, to discuss a new approach to housing affordability through co-homeownership. Drawing on nearly three decades in real estate, development, and housing advocacy, Katrina explains how reSpace redesigns homes into private suites with shared common spaces and enables buyers to purchase fractional ownership interests. The conversation explores affordability, homeownership as a wealth-building tool, aging-in-place design, MLS challenges, and the growing need for alternative housing models.

• Katrina grew up throughout the Pacific Northwest, worked in construction from a young age, and built a career spanning real estate sales, development, and brokerage.
• Her real estate company was founded as a social purpose corporation, leading to the creation of a nonprofit focused on housing and mentorship for people exiting incarceration and recovery programs.
• The idea for reSpace emerged after selling a small infill home for nearly $1 million and questioning who could realistically afford it.
• Inspiration came from fractional ownership models such as Picasso, but Katrina wanted to apply the concept to primary housing rather than luxury vacation homes.
• reSpace creates homes with private suites that include ensuite bathrooms, closets, workspace areas, and personal amenities, paired with shared kitchens and living spaces.
• Buyers purchase an ownership interest in the property, allowing them to live in high-cost neighborhoods at a price point closer to renting an apartment.
• The model is designed to help first-time buyers, retirees, siblings, friends, and other groups gain access to ownership while maintaining independence.
• Katrina argues that homeownership remains one of the most important pathways to building middle-class wealth and that affordability challenges are increasingly shutting people out of that opportunity.
• A major hurdle for reSpace has been gaining MLS support for fractional ownership listings, despite existing standards that support partial-interest ownership categories.
• Current projects include The Grove in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood and a historic mansion redevelopment in Leschi, with plans to expand through technology and partnerships.

reSpace

Snapshot by reSpace

Katrina Romatowski on LinkedIn

• Signal Conference
• 1000Watt

Aligned Showings — MLS-owned showing software built to simplify scheduling, improve communication, and keep MLS data where it belongs.

Giant Steps Job Board – Built for organized real estate and PropTech, not generic tech bros and recruiters who don't know what an MLS is.

Sunbound Studios

The Listing Bits Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player!

Overview

Greg Robertson sits down with Atticus LeBlanc, founder and CEO of PadSplit, to discuss the affordable housing crisis and how room-by-room rentals can create housing opportunities for people who are priced out of traditional apartments. Atticus shares his journey from commercial real estate broker to housing entrepreneur, the origins of PadSplit during the Great Financial Crisis, and how the company has grown from a single prototype house to more than 33,000 beds nationwide. The conversation explores shared housing, affordability challenges, real estate investing, and the role technology can play in expanding access to housing. Key Takeaways Atticus grew up in New Orleans, studied Architecture and Urban Studies at Yale University, and credits competitive swimming with teaching resilience and persistence. After entering commercial real estate during the early stages of the housing crash, he discovered an overlooked opportunity in room-by-room housing. A chance encounter with tenants Mitch and Otis led to his first rooming-house experiment, revealing strong demand from renters who couldn't qualify for traditional apartments. PadSplit was founded in 2017 to provide the operational and technology infrastructure needed to make shared housing scalable. The platform functions similarly to Airbnb, connecting hosts with renters while handling marketing, screening, payments, move-ins, and support. Many PadSplit residents are workers earning modest incomes who are unable to meet traditional apartment qualification requirements despite having stable employment. The company has grown from 82 beds in 2018 to roughly 33,000 beds today. Shared housing can help homeowners offset mortgage costs and create pathways toward real estate investing. Atticus argues that local market knowledge often matters more than national data when identifying successful housing opportunities. The average PadSplit resident stays about nine and a half months, though many remain for years due to the affordability and stability the model provides.

Links

Padsplit

Atticus on LinkedIn

Sponsors

Aligned Showings — MLS-owned showing software built to simplify scheduling, improve communication, and keep MLS data where it belongs.

Giant Steps Job Board – Built for organized real estate and PropTech, not generic tech bros and recruiters who don't know what an MLS is.

Production and editing services by: Sunbound Studios