See press release below:
A few interesting tidbits about this.
It’s not clear what the name of this new entity will be? MRMLS? calREDD? or CALMLS? You would think with as bad a rep calREDD has they would flush that name down the toilet.
Looks like current calREDD participants will have the choice of staying on Concentric MLS platform or going to Tarasoft’s Matrix. (Could be a nice revenue bump for Tarasoft but remember calREDD’s last MLS conversion was below 50 agents)
WTF statement: “MLS data needs to be fully standardized with local options for data field variation” Huh?
Still no real mention of CARETS except in the description of MRMLS.
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Monday, June 14, 2010
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® board of directors approves joining efforts of calREDD®, MRMLS
New statewide MLS will serve more than 33,000 real estate professionals statewide
LOS ANGELES (June 14) – The board of directors of the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® on June 12 approved a new structure for the statewide MLS that will merge the efforts of calREDD® with the Multi-Regional Multiple Listing Service Inc. (MRMLS).
The new structure will create one dynamic multiple listing service (MLS) provider serving more than 33,000 real estate professionals and 22 REALTOR® associations statewide. The MRMLS board of directors representing its 12 member associations unanimously approved the proposal last month.
“This is an historic step forward in the evolution of C.A.R.’s initiative to create a statewide MLS,” said REALTOR® Mike Silvas, CALMLS chairman. “Combining our respective strengths and resources will significantly accelerate our shared vision and position the new entity to deliver even more expanded and efficient MLS services for members. The new entity will increase the momentum of the statewide MLS and members should expect to see even more choices and increased services over time.
“This joint effort supports and is in line with the principles which have guided our efforts throughout the process of building a statewide MLS,” he said.
The guiding principles were that: MLS data needs to be fully standardized with local options for data field variation; California REALTORS® should have universal access to all MLS data; use of MLS data and its distribution to third parties should be controlled by the brokers who provide the data; MLS entities should exist for the benefit of participants and subscribers; MLS rules should be uniform and enforced consistently; and the MLS board of directors should include broker owners with appropriate regional representation.
“This is a very positive development for our respective members,” said MRMLS President Richard Stone. “When the calREDD® and MRMLS databases are merged, members will have expanded access to MLS information, greater exposure for their listings, and will be able to select either the calREDD® software system or the Tarasoft Matrix platform currently in use by MRMLS. C.A.R.’s vision consistently has been to offer members choice of systems – merging our efforts will achieve this objective.
“C.A.R., and participating associations, will remain both a member and a fundamental part of the new entity,” Stone said. “Participating associations already have significant voting rights under the current calREDD® structure and will continue to do so under the new structure.”
“Under terms of the new structure approved by our board of directors, C.A.R. will continue to have the right to approve actions such as merger, dissolution or sale of assets, changes in the purpose of the new entity, and changes in the board composition,” Silvas said.
calREDD® and MRMLS will work closely during the transition to the new entity to ensure there are no disruptions in service, the needs of members continue to be met, and associations scheduled to join calREDD® are seamlessly added to the system.
“The Amador Association of REALTORS® is on schedule for a June 21 launch, followed by the Tehama Association of REALTORS® on June 28,” Silvas said. “The new entity will continue to work closely with other associations in the launch queue to identify a cutover date that best meets the needs of the associations and its respective members.”
The mission of Pomona, Calif.-based MRMLS is to deliver, through local member associations, the most affordable, reliable, and convenient listing technology service available, and to provide products and services that support REALTORS® in maximizing use of property data to achieve business goals.
MRMLS Inc. is a member organization made up of 12 local associations of REALTORS® with a service area covering a large area in Southern California, and was one of the founders and integral forces behind the CARETS initiative.
calREDD® is a service of CALMLS, a subsidiary of the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.).
Leading the way…® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States, with nearly 150,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.
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LPS Real Estate Group is looking for a new Account Manager. Check it out on the Vendor Alley Jobs Board.
Your move SoCalMLS.
You gotta wonder what SoCalMLS thinks of all the hubbub brewing with the calREDD and MRMLS “merger”.
Does SoCalMLS even care? Do they think it’s a good idea? Do they think it’s a bad idea?
If so, what are they going to do about it?
If they think it’s a good idea will they want join up?
If they think it’s a bad idea do they make a truce or declare war?
So many questions. I think we might have some answers next week.
Council of MLS launches new website
Council of MLS (CMLS) launches a new website. W&R Studios worked with Jim Marks at Virtual Results to create a great new website for CMLS.
If you are not a member of CMLS you should be. CMLS holds the best MLS Conference in the industry and through this new website is going to start to expand its reach with guest bloggers, research papers, and webinars through the site.
This year’s conference is going to be held in Chicago, hosted by MRED, LLC. Join us!
calREDD is dead. CALMLS emerges.
No use crying over spilt milk.
We’ve been getting a lot of good comments, tons of traffic, and I’ve been also receiving a few e-mails too. More and more information is coming out.
If you are interested check out: New CALMLS Business Proposal, the CALMLS Merger FAQ, and this handy dandy comparison NEW CALMLS Vs. OLD check list: CALMLS and MRMLS Joint Initiative Proposed.
It’s still not clear whether or not the C.A.R. board of directors has approved the “merger” and the $750,000 extension is cash (calREDD had already blown through 2.5M of the 3M they originally asked for) but I think we can assume it will be approved, nobody will lose their job (calREDD, as predicted threw their MLS Vendor under the bus) and new CALMLS is ready to roll.
So taking a fresh perspective what do we have here. As I’ve mentioned before Art Carter has done an excellent job at MRMLS. He was also instrumental in the formation of CARETS. His organization is everything the old calREDD was not: professional leadership, a proven MLS Vendor, plus they are now open to multiple MLS systems, and most of all a proven data sharing platform CARETS. So we should be willing to give this new CALMLS a shot.
I stand by my earlier prediction that Art will have a tough time signing up any MLS providers beyond Southern California but as I hinted before that doesn’t mean CARETS can’t flourish. And what’s really wrong with that anyway? Why the need for one statewide MLS system? Why not just one statewide database? eNeighborhoods essentially pulled this off for a brief time a few years back with MLS Alliance.
So let C.A.R. revise history all they want (we all know the Emperor has no clothes). Sure the CALMLS board will be stacked (what board isn’t?). But a one database solution is really compelling, and maybe, just maybe C.A.R. will finally come to the same conclusion.
Besides the whole calREDD drama was getting kind of well…boring. Looking forward to seeing what CALMLS can pull off. Onward and forward.
If you look up Fiasco in Wikipedia you get this result:
“In English the word fiasco means an absolute, abject or utterly humiliating failure”
Anyway you slice it calREDD was a true fiasco. But you just know that the California Association of REALTORS (C.A.R.) is going to spin this whole mess in to “this was our plan all along.” So put on your tin foil hats to protect yourselves from the C.A.R. reality distortion field.
Here’s some questions I’d like answered.
1. Where’s the 3 million dollars? I bet you its almost all been spent. And how many agents did they get to sign up? Maybe 1,000. Do the math.
2. Which begs another question. How much more money are they going to ask for? Remember the saying “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.” Shame on you C.A.R. board of directors if you give these clowns any more money.
3. Who responsible for this mess? Is somebody going to get fired? They should. Or are they gonna to throw their vendor under the bus? My guess is these C.A.R. douche bags are so chicken-shit that their MLS vendor will get the blame and everyone else gets to keep their job.
4. Who is going to control this new calREDD/MRMLS entity? I’m curious how many seats does the 1,000 calREDD users equate to? Waaaaaaay too many is my guess.
The man who would be king.
Art Carter aka "King Arthur"
In the King Arthur legend a young boy pulled a sword out of a stone and the village knew that he was the true king. In our story Art Carter aka, “King Arthur” is going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to make this new combined entity (calREDD/MRMLS) a success.
I’ve seen Art do some magic before. He just has to make sure this time that the rabbit doesn’t eat all his “CARETS“. If you get my meaning.
Prediction:
A good friend once told me that the only reason California is one state (instead of Northern Callifornia and Southern California) is water rights. So here’s my prediction.
The “merger” will go down as expected, C.A.R. will spin some story to save face. King Arthur will go after SoCalMLS, and possibly a few others in Southern California and have some success. But the state-wide MLS train will stop there. Beyond any existing contracts, no significant Northern California MLS providers will sign up for this new entity (maybe a few tiny associations looking for a subsidy). One off-shoot is that CARETS may expand, which would be good for C.A.R. members. That’s it. Fin.
Now, if I close my eyes and don’t make a sound, I can hear Russ laughing all the way from Chicago. : )
So good luck King Arthur. And stay classy C.A.R., stay classy.
UPDATE:
Check out this FAQ. It confirms calREDD has blown through 2.5M and wants 750K more. Classic!
Google I/O 2010 Postscript – Prediction Results and more from Mark Scheel of Digital Construction
Google I/O 2010 Postscript
The conference is over, and its time to summarize the experience. Below I cover the predictions I got right, the ones I got wrong, predictions for 2011 and coverage of amazing technology, giveaways, food and more. This post is full of pictures and links.
A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. – Joseph Campbell
Cloud CMA lands in PDX
[REPOSTED FROM LIGHTNING | TWICE]
We’ve been busy. Last month we successfully launched Cloud CMA in the Phoenix area (ARMLS). This month we are launching Cloud CMA is the great city of Portland (RMLS)!
Response to Cloud CMA has been fantastic. Here’s one of latest testimonials from a customer…
“I do want to compliment you and your service. The ease of getting to your site via the internet AND my iPhone was AWESOME. I met with my local contact on the property in question yesterday at 11:30 am. But the client who is the decision maker is in NYC. I had an Open House yesterday and I needed to desperately send him the CMA before someone else got the business. As it turned out, when I got to my Open House and I had a break, I was able to log onto the site EASILY!!!!! (BETTER THAN GOING TO MY MLS). I emailed him both the link and the PDF file from my iPhone. And I was able to speak to the client FIRST and review the CMA with him. Because of the ease of this site. I will get the listing. I am sure. I will know tomorrow. But I am 100% confident I will get it.” -Joe Mendez
Joe got back to us the next day. He got the listing. Boom!
As part of the launch of Cloud CMA in Portland we are sponsoring the “buzzre” event in Portland next week on June 3rd at McMenamin’s Edgefield. You can find out details of the event here. We expect close to 200 in attendance, so I’m hoping to meet a lot of people at the event and after party.
I attended a similar event here in Orange County and was impressed with the content and speakers a really happy the timing worked out.
So lot’s going on and let me be the first one to welcome our new customers in Portland and a big thanks to Kurt, John, Christina, Gail and the rest of the RMLS team for helping us get up and running.
Greg
Russ Bergeron’s Farewell Party Pics
I had a chance to stop by Russ Bergeron’s farewell party last Friday. I was just coming back from a week long trip in Jacksonville, FL. It was well attended by Orange County real estate big wigs. I told Russ he would be sorely missed. Looks like he is ready for a new challenge. Here are a couple pics from the event.
Good luck Russ and Godspeed!
Party was just getting started.
Rich, Wallis (Russ' daughter), and John from LPS
