Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Did Cincy MLS just axe Perchwell in favor of going back Rapattoni MLS?

Looks like last week the frustration of some Cincy MLS members hit the evening news (see video below).

1,000 Realtor-members signed a petition to return to Rapattoni services as a primary listing service among complaints aimed at Perchwell listing services

“In a statement, MLS of Greater Cincinnati President Anne Uchtman said they could never have anticipated a cyber attack leaving the region without any listing services.

“The Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati and its board of directors are committed to finding a solution that allows our users to do their job to the best of their ability and continue serving our consumers,” she said. “Our two MLS providers, Rapattoni and Perchwell, have been extremely helpful and supportive during this crisis. We are working non-stop to get this issue resolved and hope to have a solution in the coming days.”

Sean DeLancey of WCPO

Not a good situation for anyone. I haven’t had full confirmation but it appears that the members voted and want Rapattoni back. I’m not sure what this means for Perchwell, whether is will run in parallel or not. If anyone can confirm please say something in the comments.

Is Rap back?

I’m hearing and reading, Yes! According to social accounts Rapattoni is beginning the process of getting their customers back online. They still have a few caveats to work out, and I’m not sure if this is the same for all accounts. But it appears they have data from August 5th and working on getting photos loaded back up as fast as they can.

It was good to see a lot in the industry stepping up to help during this crisis. Zenlist, Zillow and even CRMLS and Northstar MLS got in the mix.

CRMLS offering help to California MLS organizations hit by MLS outages

The outages effecting many MLS providers around the country could happen to any company. These types of situations are rampant for many industries. So it’s good to see many in the MLS community offering to help. CRMLS is is offering free access to the CRMLS Matrix platform to all California real estate professionals who use MLS systems hit by the outages until the issues are resolved.

Here is a link to the Matrix Resource Center for Rapattoni Users. Users will need to fill out the “CRMLS Temporary Access Form” found in the resource center and send it to CRMLS-cares@crmls.org. 

CRMLS has also issued this statement:

“We want to assure everyone that this is an exceptional circumstance, and CRMLS will not solicit membership to anyone outside of our current CRMLS participants, leverage any of the listing data provided by your members, nor enroll them for further, unrelated communications. We are hoping this will simply be a stopgap for an unprecedented event to keep California real estate going strong.”

-CRMLS

I’ve also attached a CRMLS coverage map for those interested.

Let’s all hope this crisis ends soon.

Brian Tepfer leaves Rapattoni for CEO spot at Propstreams

Just hearing that Brian Tepfer after 20 years at Rapattoni has accepted the CEO position at Propstream. Propstream looks like a predictive analytics app to find “highly motivated buyers and sellers”. Developing…

Rapattoni MLS has a laugh

Having Maddy do the voice-over gives this a very “Monty Python” vibe. Love it! ????????

Rapattoni celebrates its 50th anniversary

Rapattoni Corporation Celebrates 50 Years Serving the Real Estate Industry

“Niki Rapattoni shared some additional memories on the company’s many changes through the years, “This has been a historic decade filled with so much we never anticipated. Andy’s passing in 2015 set a new course as I stepped into the CEO position and formed an executive team to lead the new visionaries and formalized our leadership team to make it all happen”

I’m a little late to the party posting this but I didn’t want it to pass without mentioning it. 50 years is a huge accomplishment. In a world dominated by “get big fast” business models backed by obcene amounts of capital companies like Rapattoni are an inspiration. Congrats to Niki and everyone at the company. Andy would be proud.

Scott Quinn joins Rapattoni as VP of Sales


Scott Quinn Joins Rapattoni Corporation as Vice President of Sales

“Rapattoni Corporation (Rapattoni) announced today that real estate industry veteran Scott Quinn has joined the company as Vice President of Sales. Mr. Quinn brings over 30 years of industry experience to Rapattoni and will focus on Rapattoni MLS sales as well as lending his expertise to the company’s other products and services, working closely with Vice President of Sales Kevin Wolfe and the company’s sales team.”

Congrats to Scott and Rapattoni.

Rapattoni launches custom report writer

Rapattoni MLS Launches New Custom Report Writer

“The new Custom Report Writer includes a variety of templates which MLS members can use as starting points for customizing their own reports, or they can start on a blank page to build new reports from scratch. Users can overlay listing images in different sizes to highlight important features and amenities, increasing visual interest with customizable shapes, borders, and background colors.

In addition to listing photos, Rapattoni’s powerful report designer allows users to add clip art from the MLS’s “royalty-free” library, or users can upload images to create a unique look. Once completed, reports can be printed, emailed, and shared with clients.”

This is interesting to me. I actually had a back and forth with a friend of mine about the value of such a product. His take was that report writers have “never, ever” worked for MLS and third party software vendors before, why would this be different?

I have to agree somewhat if you look at the past. Remember “Crystal Reports“? Yuck. These so called WYSIWYG editors, were the farthest thing from user friendly. Plus design is hard. You have to have a certain level of skill to make something look good and convey information in an easy to understand format.

Today is a bit different. Sites like Squarespace, Wix and on some level WordPress have really changed the game. These sites are template driven but offer a much better experience than tools of the past. My company created Cloud Attract, which is drop dead simple way of creating beautiful landing pages.

Granted, creating printed material is a little different and I haven’t used Rapattoni’s new Report Generator but I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions on basing old tech/UI/UX with what’s possible now.

Rapattoni plugs in

39Rapattoni announces integration with RPR Advanced Multi-List Platform (AMP)

“Rapattoni is a long-time industry partner and veteran MLS system developer,” said Dale Ross, CEO of RPR. “RPR is extremely pleased that Rapattoni has embraced the AMP™ concept of an open database with universal access for all licensed application innovators. Rapattoni has been a leader in providing both association management systems and MLS technology to REALTOR® associations for decades,” he continued. “We look forward to working with the Rapattoni team to help them bring the promise of the AMP™ system to their many MLS clients.”

Times, they are a changing…

Scoop: Rapattoni to offer separate MLS front end solution

Ralph, Niki and Brian
Ralph, Niki and Brian
To say it’s been a tough year for Rapattoni is a massive understatement. Andy’s ongoing back issues and his unexpected death in April of this year have put a dark cloud of rumors over the company and its future.
 
But on a recent visit I made to Rapattoni’s company headquarters I found a lot of people who never thought of giving up and are ready to fight. Which makes sense. The company was founded in 1970, 45 years ago, and you don’t last that long without fighting the whole way.
 
At the center of that fight is Niki Rapattoni. Andy’s co-founder, wife, love of his life. And at an age where she should be enjoying the good life she has decided to push forward and take the company in a new direction for the future.
 
They are now rolling out Rapattoni Magic-Cloud AMS, a new cloud-based solution for their association management software (AMS) which frees the software from on-site hardware, as well as hosting of the current version of Rapattoni Magic AMS for customers that want to eliminate their in-house hardware. This, along with their Integrated Website Service, Single Sign-On (SSO), and Edge MLS mobile interface for iOS and Android, as well as their brand new corporate website, shows the company has been busy. Niki also gave me a tour of their newly renovated offices.  Ralph Hoover, Rapattoni’s EVP, mentioned that these product decisions were made under Niki’s direction, after Andy’s passing.
 
But that’s not what caught my attention.
 
One thing that was also clear to me is that everyone at Rapattoni was in tune with what was happening in the industry. And Upstream was at the top of that discussion. Niki said that the company had a lot of discussions about Project Upstream and what it meant to MLS vendors like Rapattoni. And she said that after a lot of thought they had decided strategically they needed to make a change. That change was to separate the front end of the Rapattoni MLS from the back-end database. This, she said, would give the company flexibility to compete in the future as the landscape of the MLS world changed.
 
Whoa! This was huge news to me. I know that many MLS providers had been looking for some leadership from MLS vendors regarding this, but none of them that I know of have made the declaration publicly.  
 
This is a huge undertaking. I was really impressed by Brian Tepfer, Rapattoni’s CTO, as he laid out the plan. Of course this will not happen overnight, he was quick to say, but the decision has been made, the work has started, and Rapattoni wants to lead the industry in this new direction.
 
On my drive back home to Huntington Beach I got to thinking. My stepmother lost my father a few years back, my mother-in-law lost her husband less than two years ago. Both strong women. But as strong as they are I can’t imagine how either of them could go on after such a great loss, to lead a company of over a 100 people and to make sure their families are taken care of. No break. Unimaginable. And yet Niki and her team are doing it. 
 
So if anybody is asking what’s happening at Rapattoni, I would just repeat what Niki said to me as I left, “We’re still here Greg.  And the sky’s the limit.”

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