I’m moderating a Real Estate Tech Vendor Meet Up next week at Inman News’ Real Estate Connect Conference.
According to the Program:
“WEDNESDAY, JULY 14th
1PM to 2:30PM
Continental Parlor 1, Ballroom Level
CONNECT MEET UP
The name says it all: Meet and connect with people from across the country and around the world who share your business interests. Network. Problem solve. Share. Each meetup will be “hosted” by an expert in your market segment to gently guide a discussion led by participants.”
I’m looking forward to meeting new vendors who are just getting started and others looking to change their game. Should be good chance to share some ideas on how to make a buck in this industry. Hope to see you there!
Have you voted yet?
Inman News is doing a People’s Choice Innovator Award. The awards go to a variety of categories. We’ve got two finalists in the running.
Cloud CMA – Most Innovative Web Service.
Vendor Alley – Most Innovative Blog
Since you can only vote once, I would humbly suggest you use one of your “life lines” and “phone a friend”.
: )
RETechnology.com is gaining ground
RETechnology.com
Looks like the folks at WAV Group have been busy!
“Agents and brokers now have direct access to over 1,000 product descriptions, 500 vendors and 2,000 articles and product reviews through their internal MLS system.”
Pretty damn impressive. Congrats guys!
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RETechnology.com Partners with Six Nationwide MLSs to Deliver Real Estate Technology Solutions for Agents
Agents and brokers gain access to more than 1000 product descriptions, 500 vendors and 2,000 articles and product reviews through their own MLS system.
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. – June 24, 2010 – RETechnology.com (RETechnology) today announced a partnership agreement with six nationwide MLSs to provide agents and brokers direct access to the company’s comprehensive real estate technology website where they can find insights on new products, emerging trends and breaking news.
MLSs continually seek new ways to increase member satisfaction and loyalty. RETechnology.com, the most comprehensive technology information solution available, is helping establish MLSs as an even more valuable technology resource. Through this new tool MLSs are empowering agents to make better technology decisions to grow their business. They help brokers determine which technologies and strategies best meet the needs of their respective businesses.
MLS Help Desks previously encumbered with requests for technology suggestions are fielding research concerns directly to RETechnology.com.
“MLSs have always struggled with how best to introduce various products and services to their large, geographically dispersed customer base,” says Russ Bergeron, CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED). “With RETechnology.com our plan is to let our customers review, evaluate and compare products on their own time and on their own schedule, reducing the amount of time that we or the product vendor needs to spend in the sales process. Our staff will be able to direct callers to RETechnology.com for more detailed answers to their product related questions.”
Agents and brokers now have direct access to over 1,000 product descriptions, 500 vendors and 2,000 articles and product reviews through their internal MLS system.
“RETechnology.com is the most relevant way to research technology in our industry. You get more specific information here than you ever would by searching Google or Yahoo, where the results may or may not be what you are looking for and will most likely be biased. As a trainer at MRED, I am always looking for the newest tools and technologies, RETechnology.com is exactly what this industry has needed. It is objective and comprehensive. You can search and compare any product. I highly recommend RETechnology.com at every one of my training sessions; for real estate, this site has everything you could need to help you grow your business,” says Jerry Hoffman, a top producing agent for Keller Williams.
Agents and brokers are provided access to this information free to them by MLS partners including: Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED),
Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), MLSListings, Inc., Intermountain MLS (IMLS), Heartland MLS (HMLS), and My Florida Regional MLS (MFRMLS). As a result, RETechnology.com is now available to MLSs as a free member benefit to over 20% of all REALTORS® across the U.S., making it the largest resource directory of its type in real estate.
“RETechnology.com is a tremendous tool designed to help our agents navigate through understanding available technology products and how they can help grow their business. Technology in the past has been an intimidating issue and our agents and brokers did not know where to start. RETechnology.com makes it simple by providing a ’one stop shop‘ where agents and brokers can find the right technology tools to help them sell more real estate. We are very pleased to partner with RETechnology.com to provide this excellent resource to help our members get the most out of their technology purchases, right from our MLS system home page,” says Merri Jo Cowen, CEO of MFRMLS.
“We are thrilled to be able to help MLSs become an even more valuable technology partner to their members. RETechnology.com has been designed with the goals and needs of both real estate professionals as well as the MLSs who serve them. Collaboration with other likeminded MLSs will support the goal of providing agents and brokers with the best possible resource for technology information,”
says Victor Lund, CEO of RE Technology, Inc.
Additional MLSs are currently in the process of understanding the new role that they will play in meeting the strong demand of their subscribers to access clear and concise product information. These MLS organizations are graduating beyond simple link beds to the modern experience that consumers find today on sites like Amazon and CNET.
About RE Technology, Inc.
RE Technology, Inc. offers the most comprehensive real estate technology website, reaching hundreds of thousands of real estate agents. By embedding directly into MLS Systems across North America, RETechnology.com makes it easy for agents to access clear product descriptions, objective product reviews, and stay current with technology trends. Providing a rich assortment of tutorials, how-to’s and technology training articles, RETechnology.com helps agents understand the benefit technology can bring to drive business, and how to strategically implement them. RETechnology.com is colored with user ratings and comments, creating a rich community of product feedback and user-driven endorsements.
To learn more please visit www.retechnology.com. Press Contact:
Paden Followwill (805) 503-5506 paden at retechnology dot com
Miami Associations Merging?
Teresa King Kinney
Rumor has it the REALTOR Association of Greater Miami (RAMB) and the REALTOR Association of Miami-Dade County are merging. And it looks like CEO Martha Bullman of Miami-Dade will be retiring. Long time CEO, Teresa King Kinney, of RAMB will be leading the new effort.
Rumor also has it happening as soon as August 1st.
This could have huge consequences and might result in a domino effect for other South Florida associations. Who could be next Fort Lauderdale, South Broward, and/or Palm Beach?
Time will tell.
Redfin agent could be a Russian spy!
Another sign that times are tough for real estate agents!
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman blogged about a Boston Redfin employee that was recently arrested on charges of being a Russian spy. I really not making this shit up, you can read Glenn’s post here.
Accused Traitor, "Ann" Foley
Her name is Tracey Foley, but preferred to be called “Ann” (that should have been the first clue) She apparently passed a criminal background check from Redfin and even represented a customer on a listing. As of now her agent website is still up. The url is www.BostonRedCarpet.com. ”RED” carpet? That’s too perfect, a Russian spy with using the term RED. I bet her favorite drink is Vodka.
You gotta wonder if Redfin paid their agents full commissions would she even need to supplement her income by selling secrets to the Soviets?
I kid….I kid. ; )
Bev is back at it…
Beverly Faull
I had a chance to talk with Beverly Faull a couple of weeks ago to get caught up on what she’s working on. As many of you know, Bev has been in the industry for a long time and was once the CEO of NTREIS and most recently ran the MLS division for FNRES, now LPS Real Estate Group. Bev has her own consulting company now, Business Critical Consulting, LLC (BCC), and she has recently been focusing on a client, Workforce Resource (WFR), which provides a product called Down Payment Resource ℠ (DPR). According to the WFR website (workforce-resource.com)
“Workforce Resource licenses its proprietary Down Payment Resource℠ online service to professionals across the housing industry to promote awareness of, increase access to and simplify prospective homebuyers’ applications for down payment assistance programs. Using this innovative service, real estate agents, home builders, lenders and housing counselors can quickly match first-time homebuyers with available federal, state and local funding, ensuring those eligible for assistance are provided with maximum opportunities for home ownership, while they strengthen client relationships and increase sales. “
In a nut shell, it appears that they can match qualified listings to down payment assistance programs and provide tools to self-evaluate a potential homebuyer’s ability to qualify for those programs. Awesome idea!
The first launch of Down Payment Resource℠ is Northstar MLS in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and the next customer is the implementation queue is REALTOR® Association of Miami Dade County. According to Bev, she and the WFR team, which also includes Lloyd Graves and Warren Andrich (moonlighting?), are pretty busy demonstrating DPR to the real estate industry.
Kind of reminds me of that TV commercial of the guy who dressed in a suit with “question marks” all over who sold directories with names and numbers of “FREE Government Money”.
If the service proves reliable, it sounds like a great tool for real estate professionals and consumers alike.
If you are interested in learning more, call Bev at 520-886-0153 or email her at beverly.faull@businesscriticalconsulting.com
Bret Wiener
Issac Abecassis
as CTO/CFO, Prem Jain (not pictured) as their director of software development and Warren Andrich as VP, Sales and Marketing. The team may be new to management and ownership of the company, but they were working behind the scenes at the old calREDD system.
Warren Andrich
I had a conversation with some of the principles and they were a lot more kind to C.A.R. than I would have been. They say they have been working on a new database structure which will allow a “front end of choice” solution when/if the California Statewide MLS system grows. I wonder if this is the first sign of the end of CARETS?
SANDICOR’s CIO wins local award.
This is kind of cool. Way to go Jeremy!
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Sandicor CIO Wins Information Technology of the Year Award
Jeremy Crawford, Chief Information Officer for Sandicor San Diego MLS, Wins San Diego Business Journal’s Information Technology of the Year Award
SAN DIEGO, CA–(Marketwire – June 3, 2010) – Sandicor, San Diego County’s regional multiple listing service of San Diego real estate and San Diego homes for sale, is proud to announce its chief information officer Jeremy Crawford recently won the Information Technology of the Year award for the category of small private for-profit business in the third annual San Diego Business Journal IT Executive of the Year Awards, an event created to recognize the most outstanding Information Technology executives working in San Diego County.
As chief information officer for Sandicor, Crawford oversees all of Sandicor’s information technology services, including infrastructure, data services, training services, and technical support services. Crawford provides Multiple Listing Services (MLS) as well as ancillary real estate products and services including online tax services, mobile applications, CRM software solutions, real estate lock box services, rules and regulations, and two-factor single-sign-on authentication systems for over 22,000 real estate professionals.
In 2009, Crawford reduced Sandicor’s carbon footprint by reducing power needs through virtualization technologies. He increased technology-based educational services for the real estate community by providing online training opportunities to those in the industry. Elected as Corporate Secretary to Sandicor’s Board of Directors in 2009, Crawford participates in the entire corporation’s annual budget process and is a key individual in the corporation’s annual strategic plan.
“The entire Sandicor team is proud to see Jeremy’s hard work in 2009 pay off,” said Ray Ewing, president and CEO of Sandicor. “We congratulate Jeremy on his success, and are sure we will see him nominated again next year as he continues to lead our technology efforts in 2010.”
For more information on Sandicor’s San Diego MLS, visit www.Sandicor.com.
To read more on this topic, visit: http://www.sandicor.com/press-release/sandicor-cio/.
About Sandicor:
Founded in 1991, Sandicor is one of the largest and most active Multiple Listing Services in the United States, providing approximately 22,000 members with an online database of active residential listings, history of non-active listings for the counties of San Diego, Riverside, Orange, and Imperial, and comprehensive tax records for the entire state of California. Sandicor is owned by four Association of REALTORS®, including the East San Diego County Association of REALTORS®, North San Diego County Association of REALTORS®, Pacific Southwest Association of REALTORS®, and San Diego Association of REALTORS®.
Inman News has posted the list of finalists for their annual Inman Innovator Awards. You can check out the list here.
I’m very happy to announce that both Vendor Alley and Cloud CMA have been selected as finalists.
Vendor Alley was nominated in the Blog category. I started Vendor Alley back in 2007 and am continually amazed at the popularity of the site. Thanks to all Vendor Alley readers who voted to make it a finalist.
I am also super excited about Cloud CMA being nominated in the Web Service category. At W&R Studios we have only launched two products, Dwellicious and Cloud CMA. 
Dwellicious was a finalist last year (losing out to Closing.com) and now with Cloud CMA making a list of finalists this year I’m not sure if my partner Dan Woolley can handle the pressure on any new products we create!
We have some stiff competition in both categories so good luck to everyone and thanks again for your support!
Not sure about you but I’m getting excited about the upcoming Inman Real Estate Connect conference coming up in San Francisco! It starts next month on July 12.
First off is new leadership. Tim Smith recently took the CEO position at Inman News and I’m looking forward to see what personal stamp Tim puts on the event. Also lots of exciting stuff going on in the industry. The competition is heating up and nothing like Inman Connect to catch up with all the players.
Not sure if there are any hotels rooms left but check here to register for the event.
But two things are radically different this year.
1. The venue has changed from the Palace Hotel to the Union Square Hilton.
2. The dates have shifted from ending on Friday to ending on Thursday.
I’m not sure about number 2 but I think I may have found out why Inman has switched venues.
Turns out the beloved House of Shields is closing down. ”Oh the hummanity of it all!!!”
The red glow of the House of Shields was a beacon to Inman attendees as the truly “last call” of the evening. Godspeed HoS!
For more about the HoS closing click here.
