A few thoughts about what I’ve been hearing and observing about the state of MLS systems and vendors

Flash’s dead, baby.

I’ve written about the problems and issues of some MLS vendors MLS platforms be written in Flash. and now this, Adobe announced they will no longer continue to develop a Flash version for mobile devices. So to me the debate ends here, MLS vendors who’s new versions rely upon Flash have two choices. Develop a separate HTML5 or equivalent version of their MLS system or create separate “native” versions of their MLS systems that run on mobile devices (iPhone, Droid, iPad, etc.). Either prospects are not great, but….

I’ve seen Discover MLS’ offering and now recently got a sneak peak at LPS’s REinsight new MLS system and was impressed (both are built using Flash). They not only look great, from a UI perspective, but there is some real innovation going on. One of things that struck me about LPS’s REinsight was the blending of the LPS public records data along with MLS data. This is great for creating all inclusive CMAs and other reports. Plus from a map search perspective you can see an MLS listing and also click on the property next to it (that might not be in the MLS database) and up pop public records data, which is super cool. One database, no need to exit out of the MLS system and log in to a separate app, the data is all on the same map/listing view.

I haven’t yet seen CoreLogic’s Fusion product (also developed in Flash) but I have to imagine an MLS system integrated with RealList data would be a hit. CoreLogic does have some hurdles, Tempo, doesn’t work on any browser except Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. And now Fusion won’t run on an iPad. Not anyone’s fault, who could have predicted the iPad’s popularity. But some MLS Vendors, like Solid Earth, appear to be heading to an “iPad first” strategy.

One argument I hear a lot from these MLS Vendors is that according to their analytics less than 2% of MLS subscribers are using iPad to access their current MLS systems. This is just whistling through the graveyard in my opinion.

The Octagon

The issues I talk about above really make for some interesting thoughts about the competitive landscape of MLS Vendors. I see a few scenarios.

Innovation. MLS Vendors who have MLS systems that run on multiple devices, won’t have to develop or mange multiple code bases. These MLS Vendors are free to leverage their develop resources towards other innovations instead of solving cross compatibility issues. A huge advantage as I see it.

Less choice. With the recent acquisition of Tarasoft by CoreLogic lowered the choices in MLS systems vendors. And with CoreLogic still dominating the public records side (has anyone really canceled their RealList contract as RPR has suggested?) are they getting “to big to fail”? Put in another way, do MLS Providers want to have a single vendor control so much of their mission critical applications and data?

It seems the value proposition for other smaller (alternative?) MLS Vendors are starting to get more attractive.

1. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
2. More innovation
3. More personal service.

Sounds good to me.

New Business Models

The reality is that its hard being a pimp. MLS system sales have always had a long sales cycle and with the down real estate market not many large/medium MLS Providers are in a hurry to go thru a conversion. So some MLS vendors are opting to start new business models. FBS comes to mind. MLS Providers are also branching out. Metrolist’s Marketplace comes to mind.

Focus is also becoming a big factor. I noticed this in two areas recently.

1. LPS sold their broker and agents division (now R.E.D. Real Estate Digital)
2. CoreLogic recently sold their Membership Director product back to MMSI.

Welcome to the 3rd Party

I also see a big boon for 3rd Party Software developers in the future (hooray!) Managed and standardized databases and APIs are all in the near future. The aforementioned Marketplace is a perfect example of a new distribution model for real estate specific web apps to be sold. If MLS Providers and Vendors can successfully change the behavior of MLS members to look to buy these apps through a portal, and that portal is easily accessible through their MLS system, 3rd Party software companies stand to benefit immensely. Talk about “non-dues revenue”!

You are witnessing the rebirth of MLS Vendors

I see in 2012 MLS Vendors hammering out their strategy for the next NAR annual meeting Orlando. At that conference I think we are going to see a lot of new innovative stuff, not just from the product side but the re-invention of what it means to be an MLS Vendor going forward. I’m excited about the possibilities.

At the NAR EXPO 2011 in Anaheim I had a chance to get a demo from Bill Fowler, from Solid Earth, of their new “Spring“, MLS system. Hope you enjoy.

It’s just about the time of year when you start reading “top 10″ lists of 2011. I thought I would start a new tradition here at Vendor Alley and rattle off my choices for top companies and people in the real estate industry for 2011.

I call them “The Vendys”.

1. The “Bob Hale” Award
The reason I call this the “Bob Hale” award is that it seems Bob is listed every year as one of the top influencer/innovators in the industry. So think of it as “besides Bob”, who really made a difference this year in the real estate industry. : )

And the winner is….Merri Jo Cowen

I’ve been a part of CMLS for many, many years and while other board presidents have set the stage for CMLS to take a larger role in the MLS community Merri Jo has been the catalyst to make those goals happen. It’s been a pleasure to have a front row seat to how CMLS has changed over the years and Merri Jo has been a huge part of that success.

2. Best new real estate technology/product. -Nest
What happens with the inventor of the iPod focuses his attention on real estate? Magic.

Runner up- I have to say that I really love Realtor.com’s iPad app.

3. Top MLS Provider. – MRED, LLC
All you need to do is take a look at the pressroom of MRED, LLC to see the transformation happening at MRED.

4. Top MLS Vendor – TIED: LPS and CoreLogic.
My basis for this was the CIVIX lawsuit. While I believe NAR painted themselves in to a corner with the settlement it was these two MLS vendors who stepped up and wrote the really big checks.

5. Top Real Estate Portal – Zillow
Their spectacular IPO and recent acquisition of Diverse Solutions only shows they are here to stay and poised to dominate.

6. Best new real estate vendor. – Goomzee
I’ve had many discussions with their CEO, Mike Sparr, and he is one of the new players that “gets it”.

7. Top company to watch – RED -Real Estate Digital
After a bold management buy-out, these guys are just getting started.

8. Most improved company – Inman News
The conferences are better, their site is better, Agent Reboot, InmanNext, the list goes on and on. Tim, Alice, Chris, and Katie and the rest of the team has done a spectacular job and can’t wait to see what’s next.

9. Best industry blog – 1000watt Blog
If I can’t pick VendorAlley.com then 1000watt Consulting gets my vote. Brian, Marc and Joel, offer equal doses of spot on analysis and inspiration all wrapped up in a beautifully atheistic and great writing.

10 Best company blog – RPR
While I have been known to poke some fun at these guys you can’t argue what a great job they do with their blog. One small quibble, I can’t view videos on my iPad.

11. Top MLS Provider CEO – Art Carter
Art Carter turned the fiasco that was California Association of REALTORS failed state-wide MLS effort (calREDD) into in the the largest MLS in country. I don’t think he’s done yet.

12. Best Industry Conference. – CMLS
Like with all my picks I’m a little biased but CMLS’ annual conference keeps getting bigger and better.

13. Best Real Estate Franchise – Keller Williams.
Sure their consumer facing website sucks but in the world of real estate franchisors its all about agent count and these guys are winning.

Well that’s it. Am I a “kiss ass”, “spot on”, “not even close”? What say you?

CMLS 2011 – What a week!

It’s taking me a little longer to recover from CMLS last week. I think it mostly had to do with one of the best lobby bars I been to in recent blurry memory (open till 2AM!). You have all heard by now that is was the largest CMLS ever with over 500 people in attendance. Which is very impressive since it was a bit of the beaten path. Wes Wiggins had originally committed to hosting the conference prior to him taking the top spot at RMLS- Florida. Phil Tedesco is a class act and he and his team did an excellent job of putting together a great conference along with Sarah Carlton and the CMLS board of directors.

A few highlights:

I enjoyed the “What keeps me awake at night” segments. The lights dimmed, and a single spotlight shown upon the speaker. My favs were Curt Beardsley and Mark Lesswing. If anyone has video of either please forward to me so I can post. Just great stuff.

The send off of Peter Shuttleworth (who is retiring) was also fun and Peter is a good sport.

Congrats to Jim Harrison who was elected in to the CMLS Board of Directors.

I also enjoyed the videos shot of non-industry people who were asked questions like “What is an MLS?”

Brian Boero , of 1000watt Consulting gave a talk about implementing what he called an MLS “data socket”. This concept has been talked about before, but Brian put the idea in to focus.

The booth placement for vendors made for lively conversations and a few bumps as people made the gauntlet down “vendor alley”. Which brings me to my announcement of “Best Booth of CMLS 2011″. The honor goes to 10K Research. Great signage, marketing materials and spot on messaging made it my favorite. Great job to the 10K team!

10K Research-Best Booth of CMLS 2011

I wasn’t too thrilled at the Old Tucson Studios “Hootenanny’”. After a 50 minutes bus ride you were treated to a park full of “killer clowns with chainsaws” sneaking up on you. But I digess…

The last session was also fun. Executive Trainer Brian Taylor asked for a “Lone Nut” to come up on stage and ask the audience to follow him on a big bold idea. It was no big surprise when Russ Bergeron stood up to applause and took the stage committing to supporting RESO‘s effort for real estate data standards. He then asked everyone to join him in this pledge. I have a video of what happened next below (sorry for the screen orientation issues):

You should also check out Matt Cohen’s blog post on the event here.

I’ve lost count on how many CMLS conferences I’ve attended ( I think it’s 12) and they just keep getting better. It’s the perfect blend of education, networking and a good time.

I took a few photos which you can check out at the Vendor Alley Flickr Photostream by clicking this link

Next stop Boston, where MLSPIN will be our host of CMLS 2012. See you there!

We exhibited at the CAR EXPO show last week at the San Jose Convention Center. The show kicked off at 5PM on Tuesday night and went till 8PM, show hours were 9AM to 5PM on Wednesday and 9AM to 4PM on Thursday. Not a lot of Vendors will share with you any real numbers in regard to sales at trade shows but I thought I would this time.

Our Booth

I had us listed as “Cloud CMA by W&R Studios“. This was an naming convention I stole from FBS. I’m just worried about the day we launch another product that may or may not have the “Cloud” moniker so I think its important to get both names out there now. We had 3 people total, myself and two others. To be fair I wasn’t always at the booth. Our booth location wasn’t the best but I was able to get a 10 X 10 close to the MLSListings booth, which will make sense a little later in this post.

Over all the traffic was slow. I almost hate saying that since every Vendor references this mythological year when they were off the hook busy with booth traffic. And the Scarf King was super busy! : ) The times we did receive a quick bump was usually when a speaker had referenced us at one of the breakout sessions.

Personally I don’t really care for CAR’s Tuesday evening “kickoff”. It just increases our costs (hotel, food, rental car) We did have a few sign ups (about 10) during this time, but I really think we could have done without it, or maybe it should have lasted just two hours, instead of three.

Last Year Vs. This Year.

Last year the event was held in Anaheim (our backyard), and we did about 70 signups. Half of them yearly (about $199.95) and the other half monthly ($24.95), our “show special” pricing. We had to turn a lot of people away since we were not compatible with Sandicor at the time and some of the Northern California MLS providers.

This year we did a big push in California and the only major MLS provider we were not compatible with was BAREIS. We are going to be launching BAREIS soon, but the timing for this year’s CAR EXPO didn’t work out.

We did about 40 sign-ups total for the show, half of them Yearly. Same pricing as last year. I had set our goal at 100, so I was disappointed. The main factor (besides traffic) was that we are launching a site license with Contra Costa, Bay East and EBRD next month. So we had to turn away a ton of people from those areas who were going to get Cloud CMA free as part of their MLS membership. Also a factor was that we just recently launched the local MLS, MLSListings, so our name recognition was really that strong.

But these are just excuses, and as I tell my sales guys: “Excuses are like assholes. Everyone has one, and they all stink.”

Selling

The guys tried a few different things this time, like demoing on their iPads, which I believe worked out well (although I’m still concerned some agents might be intimidated). I was more comfortable with using the actual printed report samples we had. When demoing on their notebooks (MacBook Airs) they would use a slide show instead of going live on to the web. Although we did have a wireless internet connection thru a Verizon MiFi device we brought along in case a customer had a specific feature they wanted to see. Also, we had a pretty high closing rate of people who came by the booth, so that also tells me traffic was a factor in our poor results.

Since we were new in the area we focused upon finding contacts in the area for coming back for a second trip and doing demos in larger offices. So all was not lost, but disappointing.

Bottom Line

We haven’t had any great success with trade shows this year and I’ve really scaled back our participation. The CAR EXPO will be in Anaheim next year, which means I will probably attend again. If the show were in another area where I would have to travel I would probably scale back and not go myself (which would save a ton of money on alcohol alone). I will give the convention staff at CAR credit, they have a great team and do treat the exhibitors with respect and are open to suggestions. And fresh coffee and doughnuts at the Exhibitor Lounge do go a long way. : )

If you didn’t get the memo it looks like NAR is cutting down the number of days of exhibiting at NAR Midyear from 3 days to 2 days.

The new trade show days/hours are the following:

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 10AM – 6PM
Martinis at Midyear Reception 4PM – 6PM

Thursday, May 17, 2012 10AM- 6PM

To put things in perspective here’s what the days/hours were this past May.

Wednesday 10AM to 5PM
Thursday 9AM to 5PM
Friday 9AM to 2PM

I like the fact the show doesn’t start till later (10AM), but I’m not sure how staying till 6PM is going to help any.

Sue Gorley states:

“With the new schedule, exhibitors will have the opportunity to network and schedule private meetings with attendees on Tuesday and Friday all day, and before 10:00am/after 6:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday.  Note that NAR will enforce the “no suite meetings” during official Expo hours.”

I personally think the “no suite meetings” during official Expo hours is bullshit. Plus a lot of people looked at Friday for heading home. It will be a tough adjustment to convince vendors and customers to stay for a 3PM meeting on Friday.

What do you think?
Take Our Poll
Here’s the copy of the email that was sent out:

——————————————

Dear 2012 Midyear Exhibitor,

Based on your feedback in surveys and discussions, we are pleased to announce a change to the 2012 Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.

You have told us that exhibit hours at Midyear are longer than needed, Friday is a less productive day, and you would like to see exclusive hours for attendees to come to the Expo.

As a result, we have changed the 2012 Midyear Expo schedule to:

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 10:00am – 6:00pm

Martinis at Midyear Reception 4:00pm – 6:00pm

Thursday, May 17, 2012 10:00am – 6:00pm

NAR is clearing the schedule of programs from 5:00pm-6:00pm each day, providing you two exclusive hours for the Expo.

With the new schedule, exhibitors will have the opportunity to network and schedule private meetings with attendees on Tuesday and Friday all day, and before 10:00am/after 6:00pm on Wednesday and Thursday. Note that NAR will enforce the “no suite meetings” during official Expo hours.

We will continue to offer the same great advertising and sponsorships including traffic building opportunities such as Cash In & Win and food & beverage events on the Expo floor.

While the price for booth space will remain the same, the new two-day schedule and changes will help exhibitors to increase their ROI and reduce costs with one less expo day, providing longer straight time move-out hours on Friday and a reduction in daily costs such as cleaning and other services.

We appreciate all of the feedback from you and we hope that the changes in 2012 will be positive and profitable!

Thank you for support and for exhibiting at the 2012 Midyear Expo.

Sincerely,

Sue Gourley
Vice President, Conventions

Like many of you I’m heading up to San Francisco next week for the Data Summit and Real Estate Connect conference, both hosted by Inman News. So here’s a prelude to some of the things I’m looking forward to and thinking about:

I will be attending Inman’s Data Summit. The event will be hosted by Gahlord DeWald and Rob Hahn. I always enjoy getting together with Gahlord, he is a smart guy and I always learn something so it will be interesting to hear he perspective on the data issues plaguing the MLS/Real Estate Industry. Rob Hahn, aka “The Bard of the Long Form Post”, will be hosting too. Rob is always good at making me re-think my current assumptions or at least giving an interesting perspective.

Dan Woolley will be moderating the “Connect Tech” session once again this year and I’m sure he won’t disappoint. Traditionally a geek fest Dan always seems to bring together great minds for interesting conversation about XML and whatnot. The Connect Tech sessions are scheduled for Wednesday, July 27 and start at 8:30AM and end at 12:00PM.

This year Mike Wurzer takes a break from moderating The MLS Innovation Track (Brian Boero will ably take on the task) on Thursday July 28th, starting at 2:00PM. I’ll be on a panel entitled “Managing Your Distribution Channel and Vendor Relationships Profitably and Responsibly”. On the panel with me will be Curt Beardsley of Move, Inc. So please join me as I try not to look stupid sitting next to Curt.

I’m also a big fan of Brad Inman‘s Welcome Address. This year he will be speaking of “The Post-PC World”. But a lot of the hosting duties appear to be taken over by Chris Smith, Inman’s newly hired “Chief Evangelist”. I’ve seen Chris speak at an Agent Reboot Conference and just sat in on a webinar he hosted yesterday. Chris is the real deal, and a very talented speaker who really knows his stuff. The question remains can he go deeper to the the larger issues involving the real estate industry and not just do a presentation on “The Top 10…..”, I think he can, but as an “evangelist” does he even have to?

I’m also look forward to hearing from Joe Bebbia of Airbnb, which for some reason really fascinates me. It will be good to get Ron Conway’s perspective on things and I think David Pogue will be a good draw as well.

But the “Belle of the Ball” might just be Zillow. After a being valued at just about a Billion dollars these guys have to be pumped, and what a perfect conference to strut their stuff. But don’t think the other guys will be sitting still, word on the street is that there will be at least 1 big announcement next week ( I know, I’m a big tease).

Plus doesn’t it seem like there is a lot more parties this year? Almost every night there are one or two parties to go to. I sure hope my liver is ready.

Parties aside to me the next big issue, which we are already having to face, is the advent of these patent lawsuits. As an independent software developer I can tell you that its a big issue that I’m afraid is only going to get worse. It’s not just a real estate issue, this post by Craig Hockenberry spells it out best.

I arrive Sunday evening. I hope to catch up with everyone. And remember Vendor Alley’s first rule of conferences….Never, And I Mean Never, Go Big On The First Night!

See you there!!

I wanted to put down a few thoughts and observations about last week’s MLS Cloud Conference hosted by Bob Hale and the Houston Association of REALTORS.

Additionally I uploaded a bunch of photos from the event. You can see them at the Vendor Alley Flickr Photo Stream

When I first got there I did hear a few of the attendees muttering if they would gain anything by attending a conference held so closely to NAR Midyear meetings in Washington D.C. That combined with it being held the week after Memorial Day seemed to heighten the crowds expectations. But from what I could tell those expectations were soon met.

NAMLS
Bob Hale came up first to set the tone. Bob does a great job of honing in on the important issues and serving up some plausible solutions to these issues. He spoke about giving consumers what they want and about how the MLS needs to engage with NAR and others. But I can’t confirm or deny I heard him speak about forming a “National Association of MLS.” : )
To me a key measurement of a good speaker is how many other speakers reference them in future talks and in the hallways of the ballrooms. By that measure Bob was king.

This business would be great if it weren’t for the damn customers.

Brad Inman was the first keynote and talked about the “post PC” world we are living in. He told us to all get an iPad and kiss our towers and notebook computers goodbye. He had some interesting observations about the employees of his new company, Vook. Apparently nobody at his company likes to sit at a desk anymore, they like to stand, and not eat meat apparently. Although I thought one of the funniest moments (unintentionally) was when Brad made a remark of how he didn’t like the way that some NAR staff talked down about their membership. To me was pretty ironic since MLS execs (and vendors) behave in the same way, if not worse!

I D Mess

I think a lot of people thought the conference would only focus on MLS public facing websites but the topics were much broader in scope. I was kind of hoping for a throwdown between Alex Perriello, CEO of Realogy and Joe Horring of Realty Alliance. Joe was more bombastic but sadly no pile drivers or fisticuffs.

Vendor Love

Another thing that I enjoyed was that they had a lot of vendor love going on. Bob freely put up a lot of vendors to showcase their products and services. Some of the vendors did a great job of talking about a broader message and weaving their products in to that message, but sadly most were just doing a 15 minute long commercial.

Schmooze and booze

On the hospitality side things were great. The hotel was centrally located so you could walk to a lot of restaruants. The HAR staff was very helpful and any hosted bar that serves Tanqueray Ten is number one in my book! Here’s a quick tip if the event is held at the same hotel next year. Mo’s, walking distance from the hotel, has bar doesn’t close until 1AM. Just sayin….

Errol’s Comet

Other highlights were presentations by Errol Samuelson and Curt Beardsley from MOVE. Really great presenters. Errol used this insane picture of a view from a beach with fireworks, a comet and lightning storm to symbolize the state of the industry (You had to be there.) I heard more than one comment on John Heithaus’s presentation and his ability to use a Glengarry Glen Ross clip without swear words.

Lust

Some other random stuff I thought was cool. Channing Dawson of HGTV used the term “Home Lust” or “House Lust” a lot (can’t remember which one of these terms he used). A really great piece of jargon I had never heard before. It appears that someone else was paying attention because Robert Drummer of iMapp when he heard the term immediately went online to check to see if the domain was available. It was. And now HomeLust.com belongs to him! Classic.

Best Audience Question

The best question asked at the conference came from David Charron during Ann Bailey’s update on the CIVIX settlement.

David Charron: Is RPR going to help pay for the CIVIX settlement?

Ann Bailey: MLS providers should contact their RPR reps directly to work out details.

and so without further delay…
Vendor Alley Public Service Announcement

I think its great that RPR is willing to help out with this effort so in the interest of public service here are the names and contact information of all RPR reps that MLS providers should call and request cash assistance with CIVIX:

Ohan Antebian
Email: ohan@narrpr.com
 Phone: 949.910.6285

Ernie Bottom -East
Email: ernie@narrpr.com
 Phone: 262.785.0633

Kristen Carr – Southeast
Email: kcarr@narrpr.com
 Phone: 561.441.9494

Ron France
Email: ron@narrpr.com 
Phone 315.559.5238

Kristen Hernandez – West
Email: kristen@narrpr.com
Phone: 214.471.3795

A full list can be found at http://blog.narrpr.com/about/industry-relations. You’re welcome.

Compelling content, great speakers make this event a must attend. My congrats to Bob Hale and his team plus a special thanks goes out to Sam Scott, Rene Galvan and Shawn Dauphine for their wonderful Texas hospitality See you next year!

[Cupcake Photo Credit: Lisa Herrin]

This was one of my projects over the weekend. Robert Drummer of iMapp and I worked together on creating a site that would have all the major real estate events listed. The best way to make this happen was involve all of Vendor Alley readers. So we have two ways to enter events:

1. A form. Just fill out the form and we will update the calendar with these events on a daily(ish) basis.
2. Bulk upload. If you have a bunch of dates for your events you can also fill out an Excel file we provide and email it to us.

If you have any ideas on making it better please feel free to comment. Click the link on the top of this page or just click the link below to check it out:

Vendor Alley Real Estate Event Calendar

Thanks!

gr

Looks like Bob Hale and the HAR boys have put together a great line up next week for the “MLS Cloud” conference. Both Alex Perriello from Realogy and Craig Cheatham from Realty Alliance will be there so I’m sure the Franchisor IDX issues will be discussed.

Plus from a look of some of the attendees it will be a crazy lobby bar.

For more information check out: http://www.mlscloud.com/2011/

See you there!