September 2013 - Vendor Alley

Blood, sweat and tears. FBS, LPS and Matrix battle it out.

September 26th, 2013

On paper, a subscription business is very easy. You have new subscribers, existing subscribers and cancelled subscribers. Easy, right? The trick is to acquire as many new subscribers as you can (without breaking the bank) and keep them for as long as possible. But the enemy of any subscription business is churn. And this is at the heart of the battle of MLS vendors today.

I see several trends emerging. A lot of these numbers are based on my observations and “back of the envelope” math. So feel free to tell me I’m full of shit in the comments.

1. Churn baby, churn. It looks like, in regards to churn, FBS is winning. Said another way, FBS is keeping more of their existing customers while gaining additional customers. This is very difficult and something they should be very proud of.

2. Shift happens. CoreLogic is fighting to keep it’s non-Matrix MLS system customers. Same thing is happening to Rapattoni and Solid Earth. Both are in rebuilding stages and are fighting to keep customers happy while they re-tool. FBS and LPS are attacking these opportunities and winning.

3. More shift. Due to the above reasons, when the dust settles, I think the top 3 MLS vendors (in regard to subscribers) are now, CoreLogic, LPS and FBS.

4. In-House MLS systems. Denver, Naples, and Knoxville are all converting to traditional MLS vendors. This is what you call a trend.

5. LPS lands a big one, Sandicor. This is more a threat to CoreLogic than anyone else. Big MLS providers were solely CoreLogic’s domain. But FBS and now LPS have proven they can play with the big boys.

6. Matrix is still the gorilla. And CoreLogic bundling strategy is still tough to beat. They won’t give us without a fight. But I’m already hearing grumbles about relying too much from one vendor.

So that’s the playing field from my point of view. Let’s try and keep in friendly.

W&R Studios announces one millionth Cloud CMA report published

September 26th, 2013

Funny thing about numbers, they kind of sneak up at you. We keep track of a lot of different metrics, and one of them is the number of Cloud CMA reports published. Dan noticed last month the number was approaching 1 Million, and pretty fast!

It’s a huge number and one Dan, I and everyone at W&R Studios are very proud of making happen. And I also want to thank all our MLS partners (providers and vendors) for making this happen. Obviously we wouldn’t have any success without your generosity, support and trust.

Katie and I look forward to seeing and thanking everyone personally next week at CMLS 2013.

Full Press Release below:
——————————————–
Cloud CMA Hits One Million Reports Published
Award winning CMA tool plans to celebrate milestone at Council of MLS 2013 conference next week in Boise, ID.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA (September 19, 2013) – Web-software company, W&R Studios announced today that their flagship product, Cloud CMA, hit one million reports published and plans to celebrate at Council of MLS (CMLS) 2013 conference in Boise, ID, October 2nd – 4th.

Cloud CMA is a web-based report generating software designed for real estate professionals to easily create custom client handouts for buyers and sellers. Report sets include a comparative market analysis (CMA), buyer tour, property report, and flyers. Cloud CMA merges data from the MLS with various web sources such as WalkScore, Yelp, Panaramio and more to generate content rich reports.

“One million reports is really an amazing milestone. When Dan [Woolley] and I first launched Cloud CMA back in 2010 I don’t think either of us imagined this kind of impact.” says Greg Robertson, co-founder of W&R Studios, the creators of Cloud CMA.

Real estate professional, Tania Urbano, of Keller Williams Realty (Mission Viejo, CA), was the Cloud CMA subscriber who published the one millionth report. To recognize this real estate agent, representatives from Cloud CMA proudly awarded her with an iPad mini at her office’s weekly team meeting.

Cloud CMA is accessible from any computer or mobile device regardless of brand. Real estate professionals can generate and automatically share a Cloud CMA report with a client by simply sending an email. Reports are stored in ‘the cloud’ and generate a shareable link to their location that agents can easily share via email, social media channels, and websites or blogs.

“We could not have achieved such a milestone without the support of our MLS partners and their memberships.” Concluded Mr. Robertson. “As the popularity of Cloud CMA increases we are sure to hit the second million published reports a lot sooner than the first.”

W&R Studios will be attending CMLS 2013 next week and plans to celebrate this milestone by offering free commemorative “One Million CMAs Can’t Be Wrong” Cloud CMA swag. All attendees of CMLS 2013 are invited to stop by the booth to participate.

About W&R Studios Founded in 2008, W&R Studios (http://wrstudios.com) is a privately held web software company co-founded by Dan Woolley and Greg Robertson. W&R Studios focuses on creating simple yet focused web applications for the real estate industry. By utilizing a “less is more” approach to software design, elegant user interfaces, and the latest in agile programming, W&R Studios’ software applications are powerful, yet accessible to everyone. W&R Studios’ products include Cloud CMA (http:// CloudCMA.com) and Nudge (http://getnudgeapp.com), an easy way to share real estate knowledge and stand out.

Rapattoni leverages the web with its mobile strategy

September 25th, 2013

Rapattoni recently announced that Andy Rapattoni and Rex Marr had celebrated 45 years of serving the real estate industry. I not sure about you but that gives me a whole lot of perspective. Over the years I’ve seen lot of companies getting bought, sold or just fade away. I’ve said it before, it’s inspiring to see such resilience.

But that doesn’t mean Andy and Niki are stopping. Rapattoni has launched a web based mobile interface for the tablet and smartphone. This web-app can be used on variety of mobile devices including iPhones/iPads and Android based smartphones/tablet.

I may be biased but I think this is smart move by Rap, I see a lot of vendors doing partnerships with consultants to create native solutions for their MLS systems. Native is fine, and sure you get a snappier user experience but what you gain by “being in the app store” you lose by having full control. And where do you stop, iOS, Android? How many code bases to you want to support?

As the saying goes “Software never sleeps”. Iteration is key. You need to be able to tweak, cajole, sand, and polish your product. That’s the work that makes a good product great. It’s very difficult to do that when your disparate teams.

Rapattoni has also gotten into the public facing website game with its Rapattoni Integrated Website Service (IWS). As with their other product the new IWS works with their existing applications, which seems to be an advantage over non-MLS vendor solutions.

More and more MLS vendors are adding this type of solution to their offerings. In some cases, like Solid Earth, it is becoming a “tent pole” type of product.

CMLS 2013 is next week, and we’ve got you covered.

September 24th, 2013

It’s hard to believe that CMLS 2013 is next week. And despite the bitching and groaning about having to take two flights in to Boise, or the lack of a W hotel, CMLS 2013 is breaking records. Why? Because it the best damn conference of the year. Especially if your an MLS professional. So when you’re at the lobby bar and see Greg Manship or Jay Gordon (our two host this year) buy them a drink. And by a staff member a drink too. As many of you know, putting on this conference is no small task, so show a little love.

I’m showing the love the days running up to CMLS by posting a series of articles about various things I think are interesting about the MLS business today. So starting today don’t forget to check Vendor Alley for all cocktail conversation starters.

Reciprocal Deep Linking. Is it the future of MLS data sharing?

September 24th, 2013

California has always been a hot bed of MLS politics and a place of innovation, when it comes to sharing MLS data.

Remember the MLS Alliance? How about Mercado? CARETS is still going strong. Quattro ring a bell? And who could forget the calREDD disaster? It seems whenever MLS providers want to share data, politics get in the way. But a group of MLS professionals believe they have the answer to change the way MLS providers share data, without the politics.

MetroList Services, Inc., i-Tech MLS, Rapattoni and MOVE announced earlier this month a new way, using MOVE’s Find application, to share listing detail records from the source MLS system. They do this with reciprocal deep linking, I’m calling it RDL.

To be honest when I first read the press release I was a bit nonplussed. Seemed just like another MLS data share agreement. But the twist on this is subtle. Using Find and SSO its possible for a MLS member in Sacramento to view the actual MLS property detail page on any cooperating MLS provider’s system. But here the brilliant part, the only thing that each MLS provider must agree to is an offer of cooperation and compensation. Boom.

Here’s a few screen shot to show you how it works:

SSO to Find from within participating MLS system.

Property Search results on Find. Click on the Property Address to display the Find Detail page.

On Find detail page, click on ‘View details on i-Tech’ (cooperating MLS system.)

i-Tech (cooperating MLS system) MLS property detail sheet displays.

Tom Beede, CEO of MetroList Services put it this way, “Reciprocal deep linking is the most cost-effective way to provide real estate agents with access to confidential information on for sale properties, because it’s free.”

Granted there are a few integration points that must be handled, but MOVE, Rapattoni, MetroList Services and i-Tech have already proven the model. Is this the future? Time will tell. The best thing is seeing MLS professionals continue to drive innovation to help them seek solutions to their challenges.

Zillow’s stock price takes a beating after Citron Research report.

September 20th, 2013

Zillow’s stock at one point today had lost 10% of its value on the heels of a new report by Citron Research, labeled “Citron Presents the Most Comprehensive and Thoughtful Piece on Zillow Ever Published. This is why this stock is going to $80 … then $50 … then right back to where it started the year … $30 per share.”

The report paints a dismal future for Zillow, and raise question about its overall business model. I recommend you guys to go read it. Here’s a few highlights…

Zillow spent 32.9 million on marketing last quarter (Q2 2013), they spent 19.8 million in Q1.

They spent 33 million dollars marketing to real estate agents.

Is that number as shocking to you as it is to me?

Zillow accounts for only 13.5% of all real estate web traffic

When you put it as black and white as that it does seem paltry.

And then there’s this…

“No one on Wall Street has ever been able to rattle off the case for his company more eloquently and rapidly than CEO Rascoff. He reminds us that there is a potential $6 billion “revenue pie” – the money realtors spend on advertising – and Zillow now garners only a smidgen of that. Think of the potential!
Even though the Zillow CEO talks about the huge percentage of total Real Estate marketing that Zillow doesn’t attract, there is so much wrong with this thinking. To expose this, ask yourself “what happened to all of the spending on classified ads, music, and travel agents?” Sometimes the internet just makes money flows disappear, and not transfer to a new collector.”

Ouch.

There’s a mention of Bob Bemis‘s abrupt departure. And a video of a CMLS “Brings It To The Table” event. (Do you recognize the guy standing in front of the screen?

And a review a former Zillow employee gave them on Glassdoor.com (oh the irony). Here’s an excerpt.

“11-12 hours days with lunch breaks severely frowned upon. Basically, if you take lunch, it’s nearly impossible to hit your “call time” of 210 min per day- That’s time spent TALKING on the phone- not counting dialing, ringing, etc. Can you say micromanagement??”

What did he expect working in a call center?

I dunno, I think the report is a bit too doom and gloom. Zillow has captured the public and industry’s attention. Who knows what the future will bring.

CoreLogic’s Matrix 6.3 adds ton of new features and Cloud CMA integration.

September 17th, 2013

CRMLS just began rolling out Matrix 6.3 today. Here’s the list:

Interactive Single Line Grids
My Location
Improved Maps
Resigned Client Portal
Resend Auto Email
My Information
Simplified Print Screen
Improved Net Sheets
and, my personal favorite, One Click Access to Cloud CMA.

CRMLS has done a really great job of creating training materials and videos about the new features. They are blasted all over Twitter and their Facebook page. Very smart.

Deep dive into Dotloop vs CAR saga

September 14th, 2013

Not sure how I missed this article on Inman News last week. Paul Hagey does an excellent job of reporting. I love the use of video in the article too. It features two interviews, one with Joel Singer, CEO of the California Associaiton of REALTORS (CAR) and Austin Allison, CEO of Dotloop. But the premise of the article remains unclear.

ZipLogix competitors never had a shot at licensing CAR forms

At the beginning the article states:

“Brokers and agents who want to fill out the California Association of Realtors’ (CAR) electronic forms in software other than the solutions offered by its for-profit subsidiary are out of luck, because of a long-term exclusive license the subsidiary granted its own software firm, zipLogix LLC, when it acquired the firm more than a decade ago.”

But later…

“CAR declined to provide details about which “authoritative bodies” approved its agreement with zipLogix to exclusively license its electronic forms, or exactly when they did so.

Although Singer says CAR’s 150,000-plus members have the power to authorize other firms to license the association’s electronic forms, some members say it’s unclear how the decision-making process works.”

My guess is CAR can do anything it wants, and it doesn’t want to play ball with Dotloop.

Dotloop is on the hunt for leaker as another association cancels its service.

September 11th, 2013

The Arizona Association of REALTORS (AAR) has issued DotLoop a “Notice of Cancellation” today with concerns of protections from “improper use” of AAR forms.

This come off the heels of a story on Inman News; Dotloop probes prominent industry player for identity of alleged hacker.

The Inman story is fascinating. On one hand Dotloop is pissed that someone outed them on the use of unlicensed forms. Which they have since corrected. But it doesn’t end there. Now it seems they are looking for the identity of the person/company that hacked (according to the title of the Inman article) their system.

I have to say I agree with Dotloop on this one. While the circumstance are somewhat ironic, it is in Dotloop’s best interest to find out who has behind this attack(?) and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

And here’s where it gets real interesting. Apparently the hacker (leaker?) used the account to demonstrate to the California Association of REALTORS (CAR) and others about the unauthorized use of forms. Which I mentioned earlier Dotloop has since corrected. So you have to ask yourself who would benefit from outing Dotloop? The answer to me is pretty simple, a competitor. If you start going down that rabbit hole then you come up with this scenario. A Dotloop competitor met with CAR and others and as a result of that meeting the competitor forced Dotloop out of the market. Doesn’t sound too pretty from a legal perspective does it?

I hope I’m wrong about this. I hope that it wasn’t a Dotloop competitor that participated in the hacking and distribution of this information. That’s just plain wrong. And two wrongs don’t make a right.

That being said it doesn’t put CAR is good light.

Exhibit A: CAR met with Dotloop competitor
Exhibit B: Due to the results of that meeting CAR forced Dotloop out of market.
Exhibit C: Dotloop begins to lose business (AAR) in part due to these actions.

Sounds like Dotloop might have grounds for a lawsuit against CAR. And if that happens you might have a guess at the settlement.

CAR licenses its forms to Dotloop. Or in other words, “Checkmate.” Dotloop wins.

It makes me think that this was the whole reason for this lawsuit in the first place.

Fucking brilliant.

See you in the Land of Enchantment!

September 10th, 2013

I’m heading out today to Albuquerque to the RANM (REALTORS Associaiton of New Mexico) fall conference. I’ll be moderating a panel on Listing Syndication. My panelist include Curt Beardsley from MOVE, Sara Bonert from Zillow, John Whitney from ListHub and Jason Reinking from Homes.com.

Should be an A-1 Day!