Rumor has it, he is set to replace current CEO, Gary Doran, upon retirement.
Key West Association awarded $2.7M in copyright case.
Key West Association Wins Federal Copyright Case
“A federal district court in Florida has awarded $2.7 million to the Key West Association of REALTORS® Inc. in its copyright infringement action against Robert Allen. In finding for the association and imposing such a large award, the court sent a strong message on behalf of copyright owners, said Attorney Steven Robert Kozlowski, who represented KWAR in the case.”
Big win and a great precedent for the Neighborcity case.
Kristen
A little birdy told me that Kristen Carr has a new role at RPR! She’s now Manager, Partner Integrations. I’ve seen some of the stuff that RPR is making available to developers and I have to say I’m pretty impressed. Congrats to Kristen and RPR!
The Sweethome
“Welcome to The Sweethome, a list of great stuff and supplies for your house or apartment.”
The best toilet paper for most rumps? Now you know!
Via Daring Fireball
On Real Estate Nomenclature
This is kind of a weird post. But when you write enough copy in this industry it feels like you are walking in a “language land mine field”.
The term “MLS” can mean several things. It is an acronym for Multiple Listings Service or Multiple Listing System . It it also used as a name for the organization operating the MLS or the company that created the MLS software. It gets kind of tricky. So over the years I’ve come up with names for each as to keep everything straight.
MLS provider – This is the organization that runs the MLS, think MRED, CRMLS, MRIS, etc.
MLS vendor – This is the company that created the MLS software, think Corelogic, FBS, Rapattoni, LPS.
MLS system – The is the name of the MLS software, think Matrix, flexmls, or Paragon.
Many times I might capitalize these terms this way, MLS Provider, MLS Vendor, MLS System. I don’t know why, but I sometimes do.
Sometimes the MLS provider can also be the vendor. This is the case with IRES, RMLS (Portland), CLAW/The MLS I’ve used terms “home-grown” or “proprietary MLS system” in the past but don’t like either (any suggestions?). Sometimes the MLS provider might brand their MLS system. This is the case in MetroList Services (Sacramento) where they branded their Rapattoni MLS system, “Propsepctor“.
I call products like Cloud CMA, Goomzee, and others “third party software solutions“, or sometimes “apps”, hell Matrix is an app, but Apple has seemed to hijacked that word and it gets the REALTORS confused. So “apps” nowadays means things you can download from iTunes or another type of online store. And yes, some MLS vendors offer third party software solutions. Confused yet?
Then there’s the word/term REALTOR. Which should be all caps and have a registered trade mark (at least once). Sometimes I switch this out with “real estate professional” or “real estate pro” but both are too long.
Then there’s IDX (Internet Data Exchange) vs VOW (Virtual Office Websites). IDX (I guess IDL never caught on eh?) traditionally means active listings (but don’t some IDX feed now include SOLDS as well?) and VOW means all listings (assuming you did some sort of secret handshake on the internet).
Anyway, if you ever wondered what the hell I was ever talking about, now you know. So put that in your Funk & Wagnalls!
Don’t forget
“The history of free men is never written by chance but by choice – their choice.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
Did you hear?
I’ve been super busy and there has been a lot of news to catch up on. Here’s a few links to stories I think are worth checking out…
Bob Gottesman has been selected as RESOs new Executive Director, effective May 2013. Check out Matt Cohen’s Live Blog transcript to see this and all the RESO Spring Meeting news.
Todd Carpenter’s new site Realty Nex.us is fast becoming one of my favorite industy sites. He recently published a “Special Report” – “Why online consumers love Zillow and Trulia more than you.” It’s free and worth the read. I’ve also added the link to the my “Read This Now!” header.
Speaking of special reports Rob Hahn’s (aka The Notorious R.O.B.) has another report, “[PREMIUM] Move, Trulia, Zillow: Q1/2013 Report – The Narratives Take Shape”. You need to be a premium subscriber to access the content. I haven’t had a chance to read this one yet (you know you need to carve out a big of time for Rob), but his first two Premium reports were excellent.
And if you really need to get caught up on the MLS public facing website debate look further than Inman News for great content and discussion.
Ever heard of the Dymaxion House? How about a conveyor belt linen closet? Now you have.
[via SWISS-MISS]
The Passion Of Bob Hale
He seems to be everywhere. And when he isn’t there, his name is still on the lips of everyone. In D.C. you had a sense that Bob was fighting for much more than the right for MLS public facing websites, he was fighting for his legacy.
I can’t say that I know Bob all that well. But when first meeting him and his wife Susie you got a feeling that these were “good people”. From time to time he does send me a text or a quick email with an insightful comment on a blog post I have written. I think he gets my weird sense of humor. His name has been so prevalent in our industry a few years ago I came up with the Vendor Alley awards, and the top “Vendy” I dubbed “The Anyone But Bob Hale Award”. I was glad to hear he liked the homage.
A quick story. I was visiting Houston a couple months ago and had a chance to get a tour of the HAR Central Office. Sam Scott graciously led me around introducing me to staff members. Towards the end of the tour we stopped by Rene Galvan”s office. Papers with handwritten notes were strewn across Rene’s desk. Bob was seating at the end of Rene’s desk just finishing up a phone call. They had been working on the MLS policy back then, and it was apparent they had been working for hours (days) and more hours (days) to come. “Hey buddy,” he said, “How you doing? Welcome!” His phone rang again, “I gotta get this”, and he was back working the phones. Lyndon Johnson would be ashamed. My impression was its not easy being Bob Hale, it takes work. A lot of work.
When I walked in to the the MLS Policy committee meeting last week Bob was at the microphone. He was summarizing the importance of MLS public facing websites. Answering questions, fielding counter arguments, always with a glint in his eye….in the arena.
The fight isn’t over. More challenges lie ahead. His biggest yet might be finding a decent hotel room in Boise at the 2013 CMLS conference. But this year, if I had to give out the “Anyone But Bob Hale Award”, I would have to give it to…Bob Hale.
DotLoop gets sued. Several organizations file cease and desists.
Last week wasn’t so great for DotLoop. It was disclosed LoopNet filed a lawsuit against Dotloop for a Trademark Infringement. Which I think is ridiculous but I did find this tidbit in the “Answer and Jury Demand” document interesting.
“4. Defendant admits that dotloop was founded as “MLS Contracts” in 2008 and that its name was changed to “dotloop” in 2009.”
“MLS Contracts”? What a hoot! The more disturbing thing I’ve heard is that several state, local and MLS providers has issued Dotloop cease and desist letters for improperly using forms and contracts in their software. As most vendors know in this space forms are copyrighted and it takes a significant amount of time and resources to obtain licenses for these forms. Lets hope DotLoop does the right thing and honors these copyrights and licenses.
UPDATE: I also forgot to mention the news that Docusign acquired Cartavi. Like I said, not a good week.
NAR Midyear recap link pack
What a week. The meetings, the parties, the dinners, and the drama is over. Or has it just begun? Here are a few takeaways.
CMLX was a hit!
The Council of MLS'(CMLS) new certification program, CMLX, was held last Tuesday. I spoke to several who attended and the feedback was terrific. I know that a lot of people put a tredmendous amount of effort to get this thing off the ground so congrats to all of them for pulling off a successful program. You can find out more here.
Quote of the week:
“You can’t ever talk about a national MLS without getting into trouble. You can’t talk about the number of associations without getting in to trouble. You cant ever talk about professional standards without getting in to trouble,” Stinton warned. “What I’m here to say on behalf of leadership is we’re ready to get in trouble.”
When I read this quote the first time I had to quickly check VendorAlley.com to see if Dale had stolen the brass balls on the right. They’re still there.
The big news you didn’t hear about.
There was some HUGE news that didn’t break at the conference. I’m surprised that the secret was kept. More on this later in the week.
Unleash the hounds.
Was it confusing to anyone else to hear early in the week that people loudly applauded “taking back realtor.com” to then hear this past weekend NAR may let realtor.com “do more“.
The real reason NAR included MLS public facing websites as a basic service.
This may be obvious to everyone else, but imagine if the NAR Executive Committee amendments stuck and MLS providers could no longer charge members or promote their public facing websites. What would that have meant for realtor.com? Isn’t that NAR’s “public facing website”? Or was that the final goal of big brokers all the time?
Real Estate is back! Lets party.
My thanks to ListHub for throwing a great party. Cloud CMA was a co-sponsor and the party was off the hook!
Speaking of parties…
It’s John Heithaus’ rock and roll fantasy, we just live in it! Once again John’s band got everyone’s groove on at the RETechnology party. Thanks to John and Victor for throwing another great event.
