Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

California MLS Providers Spread The Love Cheese!

This is huge news! Congrats to all MLS Providers involved and Andy Woolley and Bob Morse and their teams for making the impossible, possible…..

California MLSs Form New Mega-Data Sharing Group
New MLSAlliance™ Provides Single Search Platform to State’s MLS Listings

Boca Raton, FL (July 31, 2007) – In a unprecedented cooperation effort, ten MLS organizations in California have signed a joint data sharing agreement forming the California MLSAlliance, a new MLS gateway providing agents and brokers with a single source for accessing real estate information throughout California.

The new California MLSAlliance system was launched today and is now available to over 150,000 brokers and agents, providing access to over 2.5 million active listings and off-market properties combined from ten MLSs into one system. The system was developed and is managed by real estate technology provider eNeighborhoods, a Dominion Enterprises company.

California is a prime example of today’s real estate market. Brokers and agents conduct business throughout the state, often across the traditional MLS boundaries. With the new MLSAlliance system, brokers and agents who belong to one of the 45 local real estate associations serviced by the ten participating MLSs can now search one system to find listings spanning across the state. The joint data access agreement between the MLSs extends a blanket offer of compensation and cooperation to all authorized users of the California MLSAlliance.

“With all the focus these days on super regionalization, statewide and national databases, the California MLSAlliance is a great demonstration as to how easy it is for MLSs to work together for the common good,” said Russ Bergeron, CEO of Southern California MLS. “With a little work on our part, and the development effort of our partners at eNeighborhoods, we have seemingly overnight opened up access to millions of listings for our combined 150,000 customers. That’s what cooperation is all about.”

eNeighborhoods has been providing the MLSAlliance™ enterprise data-sharing platform, connecting multiple MLSs into a combined database since 1999. Currently used by more than 185,000 agents and brokers in multiple states, it is widely considered the benchmark in MLS data sharing technology.

“These ten MLSs deserve praise for the decisive and progressive steps they have taken to improve access to real estate information in California”, said Andy Woolley, vice president of eNeighborhoods. “They’re not just talking about it, they’ve made it happen, delivering to their customers the largest compilation of MLS data anywhere in the world.”

Tom Beede, MetroList president and CEO, added, “Distributing the MLS data from multiple MLS sources to a wide geographic audience of agents and brokers is an increasingly important service provided by MLSs today. Recognizing this importance, we’ve taken action with the California MLSAlliance group to quickly deliver a proven solution to our combined 150,000 customers. MLSAlliance greatly enhances the ability of real estate agents to more effectively serve their clients throughout California.”

The MLSs participating in the California MLSAlliance include the Bay Area Real Estate Information Services, Inc. (BAREIS MLS®), Combined L.A./Westside MLS (CLAW), CRISNet Regional MLS, East Bay Regional Data (EBRD), Greater South Bay Regional MLS, iTech MLS, MetroList Services, Multi-Regional MLS (MRMLS), San Francisco Association of REALTORS®, and Southern California MLS.

“We’re proud they selected eNeighborhoods as their technology partner and we look forward to further expansion of the MLSAlliance search platform throughout the state of California”, concluded Greg Robertson, vice president and general manager of eNeighborhoods.

About eNeighborhoods, LLC
eNeighborhoods™ is the nation’s premier compiler of real estate related home and neighborhood information, providing the real estate and marketing services industries with a comprehensive set of marketing and analytical tools. In 2002, eNeighborhoods became an endorsed REALTOR Benefits® of the National Association of REALTORS®. The company provides MLS data sharing and marketing tools to top MLS organizations in the United State, Canada, and Australia. The company also powers the Internet’s top real estate franchise website, remax.com, and maintains strategic alliances with major real estate franchisers, including RE/MAX International, Realogy, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, EXIT Realty, GMAC, Keller Williams, Prudential, Realty Executives and, as well as many of the major independent brokerages. eNeighborhoods is the proud founding sponsor of NAR’s Good Neighbor Awards which educates, encourages and rewards outstanding community service by real estate professionals throughout the country. eNeighborhoods is owned by Dominion Enterprises, Inc., a leading media and information services company serving employment, real estate, automotive, recreation and industrial markets in the United States. Dominion Enterprises has over 6,600 employees nationwide and 2006 annual revenue of over $850 million. For more information on the companies, visit www.eneighborhoods.com and www.dominionenterprises.com.

Inman "After Party" Alert

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Just in case you missed it on the previous comment…

eNeighborhoods is having an Inman Connect “after-party” at the

Black Magic Voodoo Lounge

Special Guest Bartender – Michael Hayes
Thursday night, August 2nd
9:00 PM until Midnight
1400 Lombard Street
Just tell your taxi driver; corner of Lombard and Van Ness.

Inman Connect, next week. Is your liver ready?

Look for live coverage next week at the Inman Conference in San Francisco. We will be there to give the sights, the smells, and the schmooze that is Inman Connect.

Does FNRES + AOL = Listings?

This has been a rumor for awhile now. You gotta think Marty and Mona’s old relationships with AOL thru HomeStore came in to play. Then again I’m sure AOL feels that FNRES’ money is just as green as anyone elses. The only rub here is how many listings will be available to search on AOL? Without good coverage consumers are bound to go elsewhere. I’m curious about the phrase “This is the beginning..”, seems like they are already admiting that its not where it should be….yet. Check out this Inman article for more on this.

But hey these types of deals are hard to put together, so congrats to FNRES!

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AOL today announced a partnership with Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES). Through this agreement, FNRES will aggregate broker and MLS listings for the 3 million monthly AOL Real Estate users, and provide access to instant home evaluations through FNRES’ Cyberhomes expert tools at http://realestate.aol.com.

“This is the beginning of a great partnership with Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions to deliver potential home buyers with the valuable content, information, and analysis they need to make smart real estate decisions,” said Samara Jaffe, General Manager of AOL Real Estate. “This partnership brings together one of the top real estate sites on the Internet with a premier real estate data and services provider.”

“This announcement marks an important shift for brokers and MLSs,” said Cyberhomes General Manager Marty Frame. “Now there will be one destination that unifies their content and offers the best of both listing search and home evaluation, while applying their traffic and lead routing requirements consistently throughout. AOL Real Estate has long been a leading consumer destination and Cyberhomes is proud to bring our real estate industry partners added exposure through this relationship,” Frame concluded.

Later this fall on AOL Real Estate, home buyers and sellers will also be able to search the real estate listings enrolled by FNRES and will have expanded access to Cyberhomes’ comprehensive home evaluation information and market data. Brokers and MLSs interested in learning more about how to provide listing content to millions of AOL users should contact FNRES at (866) 388-4889.

FNRES is a division of Fidelity National Financial, Inc., a Fortune 500 provider of products, services and technology solutions to the financial and real estate industries. The Cyberhomes Web site (www.cyberhomes.com) provides access to FNRES’ leading community and property information and tools. Launched in November 2006, the goal of Cyberhomes is to extend the reach of FNRES’ customers everywhere consumers are seeking home evaluation information online.

AOL® Real Estate, http://realestate.aol.com, is a resource for home buyers and renters of all demographics offering consumers the necessary tools and resources to make a smart investment. The site is focused on delivering a customized experience for multiple audiences, including first time home buyers, buying a second property, renting, selling or home improvement.

About AOL

AOL® is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the country’s largest Internet access businesses, and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC is based in Dulles, Virginia. AOL and its subsidiaries also have operations in Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.

About Fidelity National Financial

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF), is a leading provider of title insurance, specialty insurance and claims management services. FNF is one of the nation’s largest title insurance companies through its title insurance underwriters – Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title – that issue approximately 28 percent of all title insurance policies in the United States. FNF also provides flood insurance, personal lines insurance and home warranty insurance through it specialty insurance business. FNF also is a leading provider of outsourced claims management services to large corporate and public sector entities through its minority-owned subsidiary, Sedgwick CMS. More information about FNF can be found at www.fnf.com.

Request from Inman News

Glenn Roberts from Inman News is doing a story on how real estate vendors are faring in the real estate downturn. We’ve posted his contact information below. If anyone wishes to comment please contact him directly. Glenn does an excellent job of reporting on a lot of MLS issues including the recent consolidation wave. His deadline for this article is Monday July, 10th, so don’t delay. Could be some good free pub.

Glenn Roberts Jr., reporter
Inman News, www.inman.com
(800) 775-4662 x137 or
(510) 658-9252 x137
FAX (510) 658-9317
glenn@inman.com
1480 64th St., #100,
Emeryville, CA 94608

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