Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Industry Relations Episode 41: Implementing Ocho, MLS Vendors & the #MLSBHAG Challenge

At present, MLSs are run like nonprofits. And without a way to raise capital, industry executives limit their vision based on the resources at hand. But what if there were no constraints? What kind of Big Hairy Audacious Goals could MLSs pursue with funding from deep-pocketed venture investors?

In this episode of Industry Relations, Rob and Greg are challenging MLS execs to consider what they would do differently with access to significant capital. Greg weighs in on the discussions around implementing the MLS Statement 8.0 Clear Cooperation Policy (otherwise known as Ocho) that took place at Inman Connect, describing how the differences among individual MLSs will inform its implementation. 

Greg and Rob go on to discuss how the challenges associated with switching MLS vendors benefit incumbents and why most MLSs adopt a system of choice approach to consolidation. Listen in for Rob’s take on how MLS execs constrain their vision based on the resources available and take up Greg’s challenge to think about what you would do differently with $5M, $50M or even $500M.

What’s Discussed: 

The discussion regarding how to implement the Clear Cooperation Policy at Inman Connect

How Ocho impacts Compass’ strategy for differentiating its listings

How the differences among MLS Coming Soon policies will inform Ocho’s implementation

The possibilities for interpretation around what qualifies as marketing 

How the challenges associated with switching vendors benefit incumbent MLSs

What’s behind the system of choice approach adopted by most MLSs

Why Rob contends that MLS execs constrain their vision based on resources

NAR as a trade organization vs. the MLS as a tech product + service provider

Greg’s challenge for MLS execs to consider what they would do with access to capital

Connect with Rob and Greg:

Rob’s Website

Greg’s Website

Resources:

Inman Connect

MLS Statement 8.0 Clear Cooperation Policy

Homesnap Pro’s Predictive Analytics

Rob’s Post on the Clear Cooperation Policy

Rob’s Post on the Fundamental Problems in Real Estate

Business Insider Top 15 Real Estate Podcasts

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Remine flaw left MLS data exposed to hackers

A security mishap left Remine wide open to hackers

“The misconfiguration was found in Remine’s development environment, which although protected by a password, let anyone outside the company register an account to log in.
Thinking it was a secure space, Remine’s developers shared private keys, secrets and other passwords, which if exploited by a malicious hacker would have allowed access to the company’s Amazon Web Services storage servers, databases and also the company’s private Slack workspace.”

Yikes! It looks like the security firm who hacked their site got access to a ton of data. According to TechCrunch…

One of the documents seen by TechCrunch showed personal information, including names, home addresses and other personally identifiable information belonging to a rental tenant.

Good news the security firm was doing this for publicity (I’m assuming), and not for any malicious purposes.

While the timing of this type of situation is never good, in the case of Remine it couldn’t be worse, as CoreLogic’s Clareity MLS Executive Workshop starts tomorrow in Scottsdale. With a ton of MLS executives in attendance, I’m pretty sure this will be numero uno topic of conversation in the lobby bar.

T3 Sixty releases part 2 of the “Real Estate Almanac” with rankings of MLS providers and associations

Extreme Contrast Revealed in Real Estate MLS Study Released Today

“MLS Rankings 
The rankings show that the nation’s 20 largest MLSs (approximately 3.5 percent of all MLSs) serve over 50 percent of the nation’s total MLS subscribers; this number will likely go up as consolidation increases across the country and MLSs become larger. While MLSs have declined roughly 30 percent from just over 800 in early 2014 to 565 today, local pride and politics keep some smaller organizations alive. Eighty-two MLSs serve less than 100 brokers and agents, struggling to effectively serve the growing, more advanced technology needs of their users.

California Regional MLS (CRMLS) continues as the nation’s largest MLS while becoming the first organization to break into the six-figure count at 101,502 subscribers as at 12/31/19. Strategic additions this past year have also grown Bright MLS to 90,932 subscribers and Stellar MLS to 58,447 subscribers, making them the nation’s second and third largest MLSs, respectively.”

Swanepoel and his gang have done a great job with this report. It’s very comprehensive and as a vendor, I’m in heaven. I’m sure every MLS exec and vendor in this industry will collectively create a bookmark in their browser immediately.

Also, being somewhat of a word nerd in this industry I just love their labeling and classifications. The label of “Minute MLS” is classic. I’m sure the debate of “micro” and “minute” was a rager.

Many thanks to T3 Sixty for putting this together!

Zillow Group stock surges

20%. Holy shit!

Looking for a new gig?

Director of Marketing and Broker Outreach – North San Diego Association of REALTORS

“Under the direction of the VP Operations, the Director of Marketing and Broker Outreach oversees functions related to the general operations of marketing, broker and member retention and communications.”

There are currently 3 jobs posted on the Vendor Alley Job Board!

Celeste Starchild joins InspectionGo

Celeste Starchild named COO of InspectionGo

“InspectionGo, the leading provider of services and technology to home inspection companies, has announced that Celeste Starchild has been named chief operating officer.  Ms. Starchild will drive the company’s growth through bringing to life the full array of InspectionGo’s products and services to their network of home inspectors across the country.  Ms. Starchild enters the role with more than 20 years of technology leadership experience, and a proven track record of success in delivering valuable products in the real estate space.”

Somehow I missed this news last week. Congrats Celeste on your new gig!

Happy Valentine’s Day from W+R Studios

Anybody get any candy this year? #video

Listing Bits Episode 55: Getting People in Homes with Down Payment Assistance – with Rob Chrane

According to research conducted by Freddie Mac, there are 83 million mortgage-ready renters in the US! But most grossly overestimate how much they need for a down payment and very few know about the low down payment programs available to low and moderate-income home buyers. How much could a real estate business grow simply by making down payment assistance part of its business development strategy?

Rob Chrane is the CEO of Down Payment Resource, a platform that aggregates down payment assistance program data and connects homebuyers with down payment assistance. Rob has more than 30 years of experience as a top-producing Realtor and mortgage broker, and he has been recognized as a HousingWire Vanguard for his leadership in the housing economy.

One thing I love that Rob does is the “Beverly Faull Affordable Housing Leadership Award”. This year it went to Tonya Todd.

“The award, named in memory of accomplished real estate veteran Beverly Faull, recognizes an individual who has demonstrated leadership in providing more access to homeownership and affordable housing finance solutions. Faull was a well-respected veteran in the MLS and housing industry and one of Down Payment Resource’s first employees.”

I used to work with Bev and I know many of you knew her as well, and I think this is such a great tribute.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Rob discusses who down payment assistance is designed to help and why some agents and lenders are reluctant to incorporate these programs into their workflow. We also discuss the evolution of Proptech as well as the pros and cons of the fractional ownership model. Listen in for insight around how Down Payment Resource shares its data with MLSs, lending companies, and individual agents and LOs—and learn about the massive opportunity available to real estate players with access to down payment assistance tools.

What’s Discussed: 

How Rob connects homebuyers with down payment assistance

What inspired Rob to create Down Payment Resource

Who down payment assistance programs are designed to help

Why agents and lenders are reluctant to use these programs

How Down Payment Resource gets its data to industry players

  1. MLSs and Associations
  2. Enterprise solutions for lenders
  3. Down Payment Connect (individual agents, LOs)

How Down Payment Resource makes money via a subscription model

How Rob thinks about the Proptech fractional ownership model 

How DPR’s data shows up for MLS clients vs. individual agents

Resources:

Urban Land Institute

Freddie Mac Housing & Economic Research

Cloud CMA

MGIC

Divvy

Shelley Specchio

Connect with Rob:

Down Payment Resource

Down Payment Connect

Remine to launch add-edit tool

Remine add-edit tool to allow Texas brokers to push listings to MLS

The deal means NTREIS subscribers can either continue to use the MLS’s current CoreLogic Matrix system for listing management or can alternatively use Remine’s add-edit tool. NTREIS’s back-end system remains Matrix.

“This offers an opportunity for agents to upload a listing using a different module. Think of it as front end of choice,” NTREIS CEO John Holley told Inman in a phone interview.

Additionally, “a broker that has a back-end system will be able to use that back-end system to load a listing” and push it to Remine’s add-edit tool to push it to the MLS, he added, noting that agents would prefer not to have to switch between systems and stay in their broker’s back-end system. “That is the goal.”

Whoa. I would love to see this in action. Is it possible that Remine beat Upstream to the punch?

New Realist launches touting upgraded modern tech stack and “Sell Score”

Corelogic: Launches Next-Gen Realist

“Powered by a combination of proprietary, public record, and multiple listing data, the new Realist adds several functions to its extensive feature set, including a new ‘Sell Score’ that uses CoreLogic analytics to determine the relative likelihood that a property will be listed for sale in the next six months. Real estate agents can use the Sell Score to identify and market to owners who are more motivated to sell their home. Realist covers 99.9% of all U.S. property records across more than 3,100 counties, with access to over 500 million historical transactions and tax payment history for 145 million proper”

There are lots of products out there now that “predict” the likelihood a property will be “listed to sell in the next X months”. It would be interesting to compare the same neighborhood with each product and see if there are any differences in predictions. Is it science, luck or a combination of both? Other factors to evaluate each product would be UI/UX, complementary feature sets, and of course, data.

Some of these solutions and products like Revaluate, use AI to look for life events that cause people to move such as “the 8 Ds”: Death, Divorce, Diapers, Diamonds, Diplomas, Discrentrionary Income and The Daily Grind, and Dumpsters rather than/along with MLS data.

But the biggest advantage I see with Realist is MLS integration (within Matrix accounts). The adoption struggle is real.

The counter to all this technology is simply the hard-working agent focused on their farm.

As the old saying goes, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

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