I don’t know where to begin with this one. I’m like a kid in a candy store!

First off you have to read the latest press release about CALMLS from the California Association of REALTORS (C.A.R.) Check it out here.

Two things stuck out at me right away. In fact the very first thing was the first paragraph of the press release.

“The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) today announced that CALMLS, the statewide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) initiative, has selected Rocklin, Calif.-based Concentric as its technology partner in California. Concentric was selected following an extensive vetting process that included input from REALTORS® and other stakeholders statewide. Platform-and browser-neutral, Concentric’s Web-based system performs substantially faster than any product on the market.”

Let’s break it down, shall we…

“Concentric was selected following an extensive vetting process that included input from REALTORS® and other stakeholders statewide”

The sentence should have read.

“Concentric was selected when no other MLS vendor in the industry would touch them with a 10 foot pole.”

This is even better…

“Platform-and browser-neutral, Concentric’s Web-based system performs substantially faster than any product on the market.”

REALLY?, “substantially faster than any product on the market”, REALLY?? Ummmm, WTF? Who uses Concentric’s web-based system? I don’t think anyone does? So how the hell does it perform “substantially faster than any product” out there?

So you wander over the the Concentric website and it gets more interesting. Looks like the team consists of old Rapattoni alum, Richard Igou and back from the dead Bret “Wieiner” (note to the guy running the Concentric website, you might want to spell your CIO’s name correctly it’s Bret Wiener, W-I-E-N-E-R, got it?) plus Warren Andrich.

I remember Bret from back in the day and he is a solid guy, and from what I’ve heard Richard is no slouch either. So it sounds like they have a good team. All I can say is good luck.

From what I can tell Art Carter and the CARETS group have already implemented what CAR wants to accomplish and there are other solutions out there such as MLS Alliance (an eNeighborhoods product). So CAR members already have good choices. So, where’s the pony?

And here is the second thing I found pretty funny about the press release.

“CALMLS also debuted new branding for the products and services offered by the statewide MLS entity. These now will be branded as calREDD™, an acronym for California Real Estate Dynamic Data.”

calREDD? I guess they couldn’t use CREDD, because that’s what the agents and brokers will do when they get the bill for this “solution in search of a problem”, – “See Red”.