Looks like NAR is hosting a meetup for real estate data geeks at the NAR Annual Conference in San Diego this year.
From Todd Carpenter
Data science in real estate meet up
REALTORS® are welcome to attend, but this is really geared toward coders, data scientists, business analysts, and maybe even a few economists who work in the housing industry. Heck, I hope 90% of the discussion is completely over my head.
Sounds cool. Click on the link above for more details.
My company, W&R Studios, is starting a new Facebook video campaign highlighting Cloud CMA. We have about 12 to 15 different videos that talk about the “Best Ways To Use MLS Printouts”. It’s a bit tongue in cheek (duh!). I hope you like, and stay tuned for more.
Like the Cloud CMA Facebook Page so you won’t miss the rest!
My thanks to Zillow Group for sponsoring Vendor Alley in support of their upcoming “zip.code” hackathon event.
The event is November 6-8 in San Francisco at the Trulia offices. They are giving away $25,000 in prize money. The event will focus on developers creating products using MLS listing data and using Zillow’s new Public Data API. For the MLS listing data they have received written permission from the respective MLS provider.
I think these type of “hackathon” events are great crucibles for spurring on ideas and innovation. I’m hoping they get a great turnout. They have room for 300 participants.
At the end entrants will need to give a live 3 min demonstration of their product. Note to Zillow please, please, please, live stream the demos!!
For more information click the ad on the upper right hand side of this page or just click:
NorthstarMLS announced a data share solution powered by RPR, dubbed “RPR View™“.
“RPR View™, consolidated into RPR, is already available to you through your NorthstarMLS subscription. You may now access listings in RPR (including offers of compensation) from these Minnesota State MLS’s:
Duluth Area Association of Realtors
Greater Alexandria Area Association of Realtors
Lake Region Association of Realtors (Fergus Falls)
Northwest Minnesota Association of Realtors (Bemidji)
Realtor Association of Southern MN (Mankato)
Southeast Minnesota Association of Realtors (Rochester/Winona)
West Central Association of Realtors (Willmar)
A couple things:
1. I guess this could count as part of the “alternative front end” trend we are seeing.
2. A clever way to using RPR data, and a proof of concept for its backend services (which is what they are pushing for with AMP)
Go read Matt and Gregg’s “MLS Roundup for Summer” now.
Here’s a taste…
“The Miami Association of Realtors (38K members) and Jupiter-Tequesta-Hobe Sound Association of Realtors (1.5K members) plan to merge, forming a new 40K member association and MLS. Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, which is contiguous to Jupiter, was spurned in favor of Miami, and there was a bit of a local dust-up initiated by Palm Beaches. Hopefully at some point all of these organizations will start working together or just merge. If you think big organizations across a wide geography can’t make that work, consider the next two stories:”
I received an email from Lucie Fortier, Senior Director of Operations MLS Solutions, CoreLogic about their Matrix MLS system and it configurability ( I guess they been getting a few phone call lately for some reason).
” …I just wanted to confirm that Matrix has used a decoupled front end / back end architecture for more than a decade now. To achieve this flexibility, our engineers designed the system with an abstracted data connection layer that can utilize SQL, RETS, etc. Most any standard data source can be used with proper configuration. Since the early 2000s, MRIS has run Matrix against their own Oracle backend—the system was put together at the direction of, and in collaboration with, David Charron and his team. At MRIS, Matrix uses their Cornerstone relational database system as the sole repository of user-contributed information, including listings, offices, members, open houses… Anyway, this built-in capability of Matrix is not something we tout very often because most of our customers have had little interest in it. It’s just something we have always taken for granted…”
I had a conversation recently with some folks where we listed the top acquisitions in the real estate industry, and CoreLogic’s acquisition of Tarasoft and their Matrix MLS system has got to be number 1.
The San Francisco Association of REALTORS (SFAR) is working on a new MLS front end system, dubbed RealTime MLS, to help combat pocket listings and increase agent to agent communication.
A video has been making the rounds featuring SFAR’s MLS Director, Jay Pepper-Martens, giving a presentation about the new front end system. The system focuses on active listings, has a Facebook feel, and hopes to offer an MLS alternative to “listing clubs” that have been up and running in the Bay Area. 11% of listing in SFAR are sold “Off MLS”.
I talked a bit with SFAR’s CEO Walt Baczkowski and he told me that while many MLS systems offer ways to mark listings as “coming soon” they really don’t facilitate agent to agent conversations which are key to pre-marketing. So he wants to give agents a legit way of pre market listings.
What I like about this approach is that Walt and his team aren’t trying to solve everything. They are focusing on a problem and trying to solve it. Which I think is a great approach, and something they can build on later.
You can view the video here.
BTW, I love the format of the video. It’s broken up in 3 parts. The presentation first. Then Jay answers questions from the audience given to him by a moderator and then end with a one of one conversation with an agent about the need for such a system.
Rapattoni confirmed was I reported a couple weeks ago.
Rapattoni Corporation Announces Next Generation MLS Software
“Rapattoni’s new MLS will separate the front end user interface from the back end database, offering unparalleled flexibility in meeting the evolving needs of real estate associations and their members. This versatile architecture will allow MLSs to pull listing data from multiple sources and present it in a single interface, enabling the new Rapattoni MLS to integrate seamlessly with Project Upstream, AMP, and other emerging technologies while leveraging industry standards such as the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) Data Dictionary.”
A few things I’ve been thinking since learning about this.
1. Upstream/AMP is really causing a lot of consternation in the MLS community.
2. “Front End” is now a thing. While Black Knight’s announcement is more of a parallel MLS system, SFAR is working on a front end solution (more about that in a later post) and you could even argue that MRIS/TREND initiative is a direct response to Upstream (or at least to brokers) plus I haven’t been shy talking about our upcoming new product, Cloud MLX.
3. Its still early, but I think there is going to be a lot of innovation in this space.
From Black Knight Financial Services:
California Regional MLS Adds Black Knight’s Paragon Platform Allowing Brokers and Agents Front-End MLS System of Choice.
““It is time to break through the barrier of being limited to one MLS platform,” said CRMLS CEO Art Carter. “We have wanted to do this for some time, and we are pleased to form this partnership with the Black Knight Paragon team. Our industry is constantly evolving, and we need to be more responsive to agents, brokers and consumers who are redefining the way they work. The result of this project will give our members better choices as the vendors vie for user selection.”
Very interesting news from CRMLS. A few initial thoughts…
1. There’s a bit of wordplay in the headline. This isn’t a “front end” per se, but a full blown MLS system. So effectively CRMLS will have two MLS systems running in parallel, Paragon and Matrix. In a previous post Rapattoni announced they were working towards separating the front end from the back end. Black Knight isn’t saying that here.
2. What Art Carter, CRMLS CEO, is doing by this move is effectively taking the “MLS conversion” question off the table. Keep in mind CRMLS’ mission is a statewide MLS.
“Are you on Matrix? No problem!” or “Are you on Paragon? No problem!”
To his south is San Diego (SANDICOR MLS) which is on Paragon. Check. To the north is Silicon Valley, MLS Listings which is on Matrix. Check. 3 other large associations in the Bay Area (CCAOR, Bay East, EBRDI) are on Paragon. Check. That’s the vast a majority of the agents in California. Checkmate? It’s still too early to say, but a super smart move by CRMLS.
3. Don’t forget about San Francisco AOR and MetroList Services (Sacramento, CA). Both are on Rapattoni’s MLS platform. MetroList Services is the largest MLS by geography in California (Sacramento and Central Valley). SFAR is rumored to be working on their own alternative MLS system as well.
4. You gotta give it up for Rich Lull and the team at Black Knight, super big win for them.
As an MLS geek I’m just super excited to see how all these moves play out. Some exciting times ahead!
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