This is not a test.
Rob Hahn ponders the MLS of the future.
One Future of the MLS: Expanding On My Inman Presentation
So like I said, the whole “There is no MLS” angle is… well, uninteresting. The economy, the society, the government will not allow a fifth of the GDP to be overwhelmed by chaos.
The interesting thing is more of a “What exactly does the MLS look like in 2025?”
I gotta say Rob knocked it out of the park with this post. So much to chew on. In typical Notorious fashion it’s a long post, but worth the read.
Lynn
Just got back from Inman Connect NYC and by far the highlight was Lynn Strantz’s Retirement Party. I put together a short video where Luke Bulla performed a popular standard re-written for Lynn.
Thanks to John Heithaus for putting together the band and venue. And many thanks to dynaConnections, CoreLogic, ShowingTime and MRED for their contributions at making this happen. Enjoy!
Sam DeBord breaks out his MLS decoder ring
Check out Sam DeBord‘s latest on Inman News, “Decoding the broker/MLS cold war on consolidation“, its a good read and recap of some of the conversations going on right now.
Here are some good insights..
“MLSs, like brokerages, can be wildly different from one another. They don’t all have the same motivations. So it’s not surprising when conversations between brokers and MLSs often sound like they’re scrambled into cold war code.
The participants often don’t understand each another, and sometimes just refuse to state their intentions clearly. Anyone who’s been through an MLS’s executive session on consolidation knows just how much goes unsaid publicly.”
So true. And this…
“I’ve met brokers who’ve proudly told me that their 125-person board will never give up the local MLS, solely because they don’t want the brokers from across the water coming over.
Some threaten board members and MLS execs with losing their jobs if they even start a conversation with another organization about consolidation. It’s maddening, and it shouldn’t be a taboo topic at forums like these.”
I said this before, but sometimes I think “the war” is really larger brokers vs. the smaller ones. Larger brokers are fine with the the MLS, until they’re not.
Inman Connect NYC – Need your help
Looking forward to seeing everyone in New York for the Inman Connect Conference. I’m heading out there tomorrow.
I’ll be participating on a panel on the “Data Track“, which has a ton of great content BTW!
The panel is “Live Problem Solving”, I’ll be joined with Chris Bennett, VP of CoreLogic and Suzanne Mueller, SVP of Move/Realtor.com, David Charron will be moderating. It’s at 2:55PM on Thursday, Westside Ballroom, Salon 2.
The premise of the panel is that audience members can ask us questions and we will do our best, based on our experience, of answering those questions. Here are some examples…
“How did you come up with pricing for your product?”
“How to you manage MLS permissioning”
“What trade/shows and events are worth participating in?”
So, here’s where I need the help. If you have any questions that you would like to ask myself or any of the other panel participants please leave them in the comments. If we have a lull in the questions we will bring yours up!
See you soon! And remember Never Go Big On The First Night!
#NGBOTFN
Looking for a new gig?
MLS Manager – Oklahoma City Metropolitan Assn. of REALTORS
“The Oklahoma City Metropolitan Association of REALTORS® is seeking an experienced MLS Manager to direct our 5600 member organization, MLSOK, Inc.
The MLS Manager must be fully knowledgeable of the relationship between vendors and MLSOK, Inc., all governing documents, legal issues relevant to the MLS system, and fully conversant with the real estate profession.”
Marketing Events Coordinator – W+R Studios
“W+R Studios is looking for a highly-motivated Marketing Events Coordinator. This person would be responsible for all aspects of event marketing including planning, vendor coordination, budget management, event success/lead gen, and tracking. W+R Studios’ events include trade shows, client summits, office meetings/presentations, educational conference support, internal group meetings, and company-wide year end team meetings.”
Marketing/Office Assistant – W+R Studios
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The Marketing/Office Assistant will be primarily responsible for Marketing Team support and office services. The ideal candidate will demonstrate enthusiasm, a “can-do” attitude, and willingness to help in every capacity.”
Could Cloud MLX be the answer to your consolidation efforts?
“Rather than combining data into a single database, Cloud MLX acts as a virtual MLS layer on top of multiple MLS databases. Real estate agents are able to search for listings similar to how they search on Google, providing a modern way of searching, sharing and collaborating with MLS data, clients and other agents.
I’ve been excited to share this with everyone. I think Cloud MLX can serve as another tool in regard to consolidation challenges. Right now SFAR and BAREIS are on Rapattoni, and BridgeMLS is on Paragon. Theoretically we could have any type of MLS System under Cloud MLX and multiple MLS providers, and all those databases are still separate. This allows everyone to maintain their independence while providing their respective members with seamless access to the MLS data they need.
With this type of setup we could have launched BrightMLS (BrightMLX?) in under a month. It could also work for combined single database efforts like GRID MLS (GRID MLX?). You could have agents search either their local traditional MLS system, or login in to Cloud MLX and have access to multiple MLS providers with an easy to use modern interface. See below for a quick promo video we created to promote the Bay Area launch to get a better idea.
As is often discussed, the tech is somewhat easy, the politics are hard, but the MLS providers in the Bay Area made it happen. Kudos to K.B., Walt, DeVina and the others for starting this journey with us.
And if you are interested in learning more about Cloud MLX this video is a good start.
Speaking of lists
I’m going to start a new feature. It’s called the Vendor Alley Shit List.
Here’s how it works. Whenever I see or hear about (from you readers) of a company/person/group doing something completely wrong/idiotic/lame, I’m going to post the video below and maybe a short snippet of why this company/person/group deserves to make the list.
Oh, by the way, this is not a joke.
More recognition for Industry players
When the Swanepoel Power 200 (SP200) list came out I didn’t catch a few other categories they had listed, Emerging Leaders, Trendsetters and Social Influencers. And they are full of some of my favorite people, and while I can’t highlight them all I thought some deserve quick shout out.
Shelley Specchio was listed in the Emerging Leaders section. Note to the SP200 folks, Shelley “emerged” about 10 years ago, and has been a strong leader in this industry ever since, first at NNRMLS and now MIBOR.
So glad to see Joseph Cullom get some props. What I like about Joseph is that his is unafraid to try new things and shake it up a bit. We need more leaders like that.
And speaking of shaking things up, Tim Dain, has been the mad scientist in the MLS world. You can see a lot of his fingerprints on the many initiatives out there today.
And Jeremy Crawford has really taken the horse by the reins with RESO. The sense of urgency is higher than ever, just like the number of attendees to his conferences.
On the vendor side the more I learn about Buyside the more I’m impressed with what Charles Williams is putting together.
The first time I met Tyler Gordon I was impressed with his product and vision for a more connected experience in real estate.
It’s hard to highlight any of the Social Influencers list because I follow them all. But you gotta be reading everything Sam DeBord writes, Katie Lance is a pleasure to work with, and Heather Elias has recently started a company, Artisan Consulting.
ShowingTime launches MarketView, new product for Brokers to help with recruiting and market knowledge.
“We believe MarketView Broker will become an essential tool for brokers to recruit top agents, gain market share, have a deeper knowledge of the markets they serve and provide a clear competitive advantage in a highly competitive marketplace,” said ShowingTime President Michael Lane.
“It can be accessed on any device from anywhere, and will be available to customers and prospective customers looking to grow their presence in the 300+ markets where ShowingTime offers services.”
I’ve always been impressed with ShowingTime. They are doing a lot of things right and you can tell there is a lot of thinking from the top down. Here’s a few observations.
1. They invest in themselves – They’ve made some savvy acquisitions to increase market share of their core product ShowingTime.
2. They made their data an asset – They are creating a proprietary dataset based on the data they collect through their own products. Their ShowingTime Showing Index tracks the average number of buyer showings on active residential properties on a monthly basis.
3. They give their customers better ways to leverage their data. – They are also creating (or acquiring) other products that leverage that data with products like MarketStats, and now MarketShare.
A couple small quibbles – Their UI, mostly on their MLS product, and having an API (iframes are not cutting it anymore). While I think they are doing a good job in data visualization in reports, I think that some focus on UI would really pay a lot of dividends. And making it easier for developers to access their data (via an API) for other apps would only increase its value.
