I heard through the grapevine last week that RE/MAX International (LLC?) has signed a deal with eNeighborhoods Homes Media Solutions, for it’s new marketing system Home Connect. Details are a bit early but it appears RE/MAX agents will have access to some of Homes Connect features and will be able to upgrade to other features. Sounds similar to the Market Leader and Keller Williams for eEdge. But as I said details are still forthcoming.

There are a couple things I like about this:

1. It’s great to see eNeighborhoods Homes Media Solutions get their enterprises sales mojo back. With products like Mercado sun setting, and the siphoning off their IDX business, it was huge to see a deal of this size come out of the pipeline.

2. It’s good for RE/MAX. Outside looking in it appears the franchise is going through a transition period (isn’t everybody in this market?) and it’s good to see them making investments toward the future.

I have a lot of questions still. How does Homes.com fit in? What about LeadStreet? What components are included? How much does it cost to upgrade? But I’ll save that for a later post.

Congrats to Andy and his boys for a nice win!

So freaking cool…

Source: Lightning | Twice – The official blog of W&R Studios

Many thanks to Jim, Jeremy, Jim, Deb, and Barbara for making this happen.

Read Full Press Release Below:

MLSListings Selects Cloud CMA for Fast, Easy and Unique Real Estate Property Reports

Latest ‘cloud’ tool helps homebuyers and sellers understand local conditions

PR Newswire

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 21, 2011

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — MLSListings, Inc. (MLSListings) today announced the launch of its latest business-building PERKS product, Cloud CMA, by renowned cloud software developer W&R Studios. The integrated application will enable agents to quickly and easily compile and deliver the most up-to-date comparables reports to clients within minutes, whether from a desktop machine or a mobile device.

“As the real estate industry increasingly embraces cloud-based accessory applications, MLSs have taken on a role of vetting products and services that satisfy multiple expectations,” said Jim Harrison, president and CEO of MLSListings, Inc. “We’re very excited to have identified a comparative market analysis tool that squarely meets our stringent requirements for timeliness, and dependability of information, and delivers an innovative solution that suits the emerging needs of our subscribers for speed, mobility, and ease of use.”

“Our goal with Cloud CMA is simple; to make real estate agents look awesome in front of their clients,” stated Greg Robertson, co-founder of W&R Studios. “With the personalized reports created by Cloud CMA MLSListings members will showcase a unique set of information unavailable to consumers on the web.”

For additional Cloud CMA product detail or ordering information, please visit MLSListings’ PERKS program of business building services at http://portal.mlslistings.com/perks.

About MLSListings, Inc.

MLSListings, Inc. is the premier multiple listing service (MLS) for real estate listings in northern California, representing the REALTOR® associations of Central Valley, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley, San Mateo, Monterey, Pajaro Valley, and San Benito. Currently, the not-for-profit MLSListings represents more than 16,000 MLS subscribers, in approximately 6,000 firms, in an area covering 28,000 square miles. MLSListings facilitates more than $70 billion in annual real estate transactions, and maintains a free, public real estate search for homes for sale at www.mlslistings.com.

About W&R Studios

Founded in 2008, W&R Studios is a privately held web software company located in Huntington Beach, California. W&R Studios focuses on creating the next generation of web-based software solutions for the real estate industry. By providing a “less is more” approach to software design, elegant user interfaces, and using the latest in agile programming, W&R Studios’ software applications are at the same time powerful, yet accessible to everyone. For more information, please visit www.wr-studios.com.

About PERKS Program

MLSListings, Inc. provides a suite of business-building products and services called PERKS, designed to improve agent/broker workflows that increase productivity and facilitate real estate transactions. These products and services range from web sites, software, advanced tools, wireless products, listing syndication, and document management products.

Interesting little app, Postcard on the run, that lets you generate postcards with your own photos, right from your smartphone. It then delivers them the old fashion way.
Couple this is a direct mail printing/list/mailing house and you got yourself a quick and easy Just Listed postcard service.

Via Mashable

I worked with Charles back at eNeighborhoods. He is probably one of the best interactive marketing minds I have ever met. He also could write copy, great copy, faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. He had moved his family to Virginia and began working out of Dominion Enterprises’ head office in Norfolk. While there ee worked on marketing and business development for Homes.com and eNeighborhoods. Now it appears he is moving again, this time to the west coast (Bay Area). I hope that Ellie Mae can utilize his talents to the fullest, Charles is a rock star.

Curiously there seems to be a bit of a “brain drain” happening at Dominion Enterprises, since the departure of division president Peter Ill (although rumor has it Mr. Ill might be entering the space again but in the rentals market, apart from Dominion Enterprises). Craig Gill, EVP of Information Technology has also left along with the departure of Mike Couvillion who was VP of Technical Services and Web Development.

All this on the front of their new product launch, curiously named “Homes Connect” , where you can “Login Once! Access Everything!” – talk about a value proposition!

I was recently talking to another vendor who heads a large technology firm in real estate. We got around to talking about what the market opportunity is, with technology products, in real estate. He said mater of factually, “I’ve done the math, and it’s about a billon dollars a year”. [He referenced the technology spend numbers in a recent NAR member profile]

A billion dollars a year?

Just doing some quick math in my head, using 1M members for NAR. That works out to $1,000 dollar per year, per agent. Which breaks down to $85 per month, per agent. Which sounds plausible, hell maybe a little low!

A billion dollars. I sure like the sound of that!

I’ve been poking around Inman Next. I really like the vibe these guys are putting out. Chris Smith seems to be a great hire by Tim Smith (CEO of Inman News). The content is agent focussed, fresh, I like the use of video, the site is clean. I see a lot of potential.

I’m sure hoping they succeed. Reaching agents is a bitch. I need help. I want a big ‘ole piece of that billion dollar pie!

So anyone that can help me reach agents is going to get my money. Here’s a few ideas that may make that easier.

1. Prove it to me. I want real numbers of your reach. How many real estate agents get/access your stuff?
2. Leverage the web. An email with a link to my kick ass landing page can be wonderful and profitable to me. Plus it seems to make the most economic sense.
3. Help me, help you. It would be great if you could provide me assistance setting up a landing page, writing copy, maybe have a few landing page templates I could use, and some best practices to follow.
4. I want to be on stage. If you want be to buy a table at the back of your room or sponsor your event then give me 3 minutes on stage to make my elevator pitch directly to the attendees. Just having the conference speed read a list of sponsors isn’t doing much for me.
5. I want a partner. When I succeed, you succeed. So how about a little love (less cost) when I begin so I can gain some traction and, in turn, spend more money with you.
6. Target. How about sending all your conference attendees a special email with a list (links) of special offers from your sponsors post event.
7. Segment. My product doesn’t work everywhere so it would be great if you could segment your list by MLS provider. This would be easy, just add a MLS Name field when agents register for your site.
8. Make me a winner. If you have an ad placement, or email list serv that you know really performs well how about picking a vendor (maybe who is at a certain level of service) win that spot for a week (a month?).
9. Extend your reach. Maybe you can help organization like MLS providers and Associations monetize their member lists. You have great content, they need to get some messaging out to their members. How about a product that serves as a communication platform for MLS providers/Associations that is free to them because it’s ad supported?
10. Help me, help you part II. How can I, as a vendor, promote you? The more people visiting your site the better for me. Sometimes in my own marketing efforts I don’t convert them to paying customers. But if I turn them on to you then maybe we can get them the second time around.

A lot of that is stream of consciousness stuff. And I know many of you (RETechnology, AgentGenius, Inman News etc) provide some of what I’m asking.

Point is, the market is there, let’s go after it together.

I haven’t had a chance to check out many of these new mobile IDX solutions but I really like what Diverse Solutions has put together. Goomzee may a bit more feature rich, but the UI on Diverse’s solution is very well done, feels very native. You can check it on your mobile device here: http://app.dsmobileidx.com/demo/12/4 or view a few screen shots.

Full Press Release Below:

__________________________________________________________

Diverse Solutions Launches New Mobile IDX Search
New Property Search Takes Advantage Of Latest In Mobile Innovations

IRVINE, CA. (July 8, 2011) – Diverse Solutions announced today the launch of their new IDX product for mobile devices, dsSearchAgent Mobile. This new offering brings the property search functionality of their desktop IDX products to a mobile interface. Designed with lead capture in mind, dsSearchAgent Mobile promises to be a powerful tool for agents and brokers looking to expand their IDX search to the growing number of mobile device users.

Now that mobile devices have become a standard part of today’s real estate transaction, the release of dsSearchAgent Mobile is a welcome sign for the real estate industry. Using dsSearchAgent Mobile, buyers can use their mobile device to search for homes in any area, schedule showings, and even register to save properties.

Taking full advantage of the latest mobile technologies, dsSearchAgent Mobile integrates many unique search features previously unseen in mobile IDX search products. Innovative applications of the touch screen interface include sliding input controls, full map searching, and interactive property markers. In addition, GPS and location services now standard in mobile devices are utilized in features that allow visitors see listings, open houses, price averages, and more within a specified radius of their current location.
Unique in the mobile IDX space, there is no app or other download required to use dsSearchAgent Mobile. Currently supporting iPhones, iPads, and devices running Android OS or Blackberry 6 OS, dsSearchAgent Mobile was built as a mobile-optimized site that runs in a phone’s built-in web browser.

dsSearchAgent Mobile integrates with existing websites or blogs through an added snippet of HTML code. After this initial setup, any visitors using a mobile device are automatically prompted to redirect to the mobile IDX search. Easy integration combined with customized branding makes dsSearchAgent Mobile an easy and effective way for agents and brokers to extend their web presence to mobile users while retaining their image.

Known in the industry for pushing real estate technology into new directions, Diverse Solutions aims to capture the overall experience of a desktop IDX platform inside of a mobile device with the release of dsSearchAgent Mobile. As part of the announcement, Justin LaJoie, CEO of Diverse Solutions, said, “with touch-screen mobile devices, technology has finally come to a place where we can provide a mobile search experience at a standard our clients have come to expect from us”. This announcement comes just a few months after the release of dsSearchAgent 3.1, the latest in a string of major updates to their flagship IDX product, dsSearchAgent Pro.
For more information on the Diverse Solutions IDX products, including dsSearchAgent Mobile IDX, visit www.DiverseSolutions.com.

About Diverse Solutions
Headquartered in Southern California, Diverse Solutions is a leading provider of IDX technology for clients nation wide. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to enhance the productivity and marketing efforts of real estate professionals through cutting-edge technology, excellent service, and superior quality.

We are very thrilled to announce that Cloud CMA is now available to MLS PIN members!

MLS PIN is the largest Multiple Listing Service in New England and one of the largest in the nation.

MLS PIN is a REALTOR® owned Multiple Listing Service, Property Information Network (MLS PIN) was incorporated in 1997. The corporation has grown its subscriber base from 11,000 to approximately 30,000 licensed real estate professionals.

MLS PIN subscribers just need to visit www.CloudCMA.com to get started.  From there they can watch a short video, see a sample Cloud CMA report and screen shots.

We want to thank Kathy Condon and the rest of her team for being the first to bring Cloud CMA to New England.

[Reposted from the LIGHTNING | TWICE Blog]

Move, Inc. and Zillow, Inc. Sign New Listing Syndication Agreement for ListHub

This Wednesday Inman’s Agent Reboot Tour will hit Orange County at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. I haven’t yet attended this event but I plan on checking it out this week.

They’ve done a good job of getting some great national sponsors. Zillow, Lowes, Realtor.com and a couple Realogy brands.

It’s $49 to attend. The speaker line up looks good:

Nicole Nicolay – Very popular on the circuit.
Chris Smith – This guy is getting rave reviews, It will be interesting to see what the hype is about.
Stacey Harmon – She runs a great newsletter service all about Facebook you sign up for here.

Galen Ward of Estately is also going to be on a panel, “Plug In: Tools and Technologies You Need to Know About.”

Looks like there is a pre-party the night before (tomorrow night) at Pablos Cantina @ The District at Tustin Legacy (6PM-9PM).

See you there!