Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Has the core mission of the MLS changed?

It’s Time for a Grand Conversation on the MLS

“It seems to me that the core function, the core purpose, of the MLS is no longer limited to cooperation and compensation between brokerages. (This is especially obvious when the brokerages themselves were clamoring for this change.) The core purpose of the MLS in 2014 likely includes lead generation.

The MLS of today, properly understood, has added helping its broker participants find new customers to its core mission.”

You may or not agree with him but this is Rob Hahn at his best.

Looking for a new gig?

The Vendor Alley Job Board is starting to fill up!

MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE MANAGER – East Bay Regional MLS

“The East Bay Regional Data Multiple Listing Service (ebrdmls.com) for the San Francisco East Bay area is seeking a skilled MLS Manager. EBRDMLS provides the MLS system, technical support and customer service for the 3000-4000 subscribers from 4 Association of Realtors located in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the Bay Area.”

VP of Industry Relations – Mobile Realty Apps, creators of HomeSpotter

“Mobile Realty Apps, the company behind HomeSpotter, is a leading provider of home search apps for the real estate industry. We have experienced substantial growth and we now service over 200,000 agents through site licenses to MLSs and brokers.”

Recruiting Manager – Trulia

“As the Broker Manager, Strategic Partnerships, you will be a key player in a vital initiative to build and enhance key broker and industry relationships, increase overall engagement and improve conversion rates for the Strategic Partnerships sales team–resulting in an overall increase in revenue for Trulia.”

Also Redfin is looking for a ton of new people in a lot of areas. Including…

Real Estate Manager Broker / Market Manager – New Orleans, LA
Team Lead – Grand Rapids, MI
Real Estate Manager Broker / Market Manager – Pittsburgh, PA

See them all at the Vendor Alley Job Board.

Thanks Mom!

Rebecca Lerma Army

#VeteransDay

NAR levels the playing field with $5 agent websites.

NAR partners with Placester to offer members websites for $5 a month

“Nearly every Realtor can now get a personal website equipped with a listing search tool for just $5 a month.

The National Association of Realtors has partnered with real estate website provider Placester to offer the deal, which is available to all Realtors operating in markets where Placester has Internet Data Exchange agreements with multiple listing services.”

$5.00 is pretty cheap. When Zillow announced IDX websites for $10 a month, I quipped that many IDX vendors might have “pooped their pants” well now I think they shit their bed.

I’m curious if NAR guaranteed Placester a minimum number of sites. That would make sense to me. So that would mean NAR dues are paying for IDX websites whether or not you are utilizing this service. Also what if the MLS has a surcharge on IDX feeds, does Placester eat that cost or do they add it to the $5.00?

Three things strike me about this deal.

1. Big brokers are gonna be pissed. The Realty Alliance has made a big kerfuffle about MLS providers providing agents tools (like websites) for “free”, when brokers would typically want to charge their agents for those same tools.

2. Nice win for Placester! You gotta wonder if MOVE had the option to put a similar deal together.

3. IDX has officially jumped the shark.

dotloop to target more Realogy franchises

dotloop Enhances Relationship With Realogy to Enable Increased Technology Offerings for Franchise Affiliates

“dotloop today announced that it has strengthened its relationship with Realogy, the world’s largest franchisor of real estate brokerages, which will result in an expanded online transaction platform opportunity for Realogy brand franchisees. dotloop’s online transaction platform enables everyone involved in a transaction to come together to close deals faster through a single, seamless online experience. By integrating dotloop capabilities, Realogy will be able to enhance its existing technology offerings for its franchise affiliates.”

I haven’t heard much about dotloop in the past few months. Seems like other players, such as Instanet Solutions and SkySlope, are really making this space competitive. I got a chance to play around with a test account for dotloop and was really impressed with its design. Very thoughtful UI/UX.

The wordplay on this release is interesting. I’m not sure what “strengthened its relationship” means (did dotloop pony up some money for Realogy’s Preferred Alliance program?) That being said this is a nice vote of confidence from Realogy. My bet is that dotloop is seeing success in their model of partnering with franchisors (i.e. KW) and now looking for other partnerships.

Zillow, 66% growth, $88.6 million, ’nuff said.

beast mode
Zillow grows revenue 66 percent to a record $88.6 million

“Zillow beat analyst expectations on both revenue and profit, sending its share price up about 4 percent. It posted a $16 million loss, compared to a $1.2 million loss in the same period last year.”

Talk about Beast Mode.

CRS Data signs 3 year agreement with Springfield Board of REALTORS®

CRS Data Provides Public Records Data to Greater Springfield Board of REALTORS®

““We are very pleased to be able to work closely with CRS Data to insure our MLS system is integrated seamlessly with their property data suite,” said Jessica Hickok, association executive for the Greater Springfield Board of REALTORS®. “We chose CRS Data for their team’s customer service reputation and commitment to providing timely, thorough tax data our members can use to create presentations and produce a range of data for their clients.”

Nice win!

FBS wants real estate developers to spark it up at NAR.

Calling all Real Estate Technology Developers – It’s Time to Light it Up at NAR!

“The Spark Platform is the only way that (approved) real estate technology Developers can plug into 100+ MLSs via a RESO standards-driven listings API with one Terms of Use agreement , no up-front fees and gain product exposure with 100,000+ Agents via an App Store within the Agent’s MLS System.”

Not the post I was expecting to read from reading the title. I thought NAR’s Annual Conference had moved to Colorado.

Recommendation to MLS Policy – November 2014

Good breakdown from Matt…

Recommendation to MLS Policy – November 2014

“While attending RESO meetings last week in Las Vegas, I heard that the RETS standard data dictionary would soon be ratified by RESO, and that the new Web API would be ratified by the middle of 2015. This is great news! While the data dictionary will continue to be improved, even adopting what we have in the data dictionary now will be a big deal, making it far easier for publishers, brokers, and other aggregators of MLS content to build applications and combine content from multiple MLSs. But, without adoption of these standards at the local level, this great promise will go unfulfilled. So, it is with great pleasure that I share the following information:”

Making choices

Like a lot of other vendors I do online meetings and webinars. Just on casual observation many of you are using GoToMeeting. We use it at W&R Studios. While it’s not the best designed software out there it does, for the most part, get the job done.

But one of the most glaring shortcomings is that it doesn’t work with iCal. Meaning when I schedule a meeting I would love it to create an invitation in iCal to send to meeting participants. Nope. I typically have to create an invite manually and copy/paste the meeting details. Since I first subscribed to the service, some time ago, I’ve asked about this feature and they’ve promised “it’s coming”.

Recently GoToMeeting announced a new feature…

“Android Smartwatch App.

GoToMeeting and your Android phone and smartwatch are getting along fabulously these days. If you have all three, you can join, participate and leave a meeting from your watch without ever touching your phone.

Take a jog while you’re taking a meeting. Listen in on a session while rocking your baby to sleep — no squirming into your pockets and fumbling with your phone needed. Plus, you’re going to feel like a super-cool spy.”

What? The? Fuck?

Seriously? Letting someone know WHEN a meeting is scheduled is SUPER Important. “Listen in on a session while rocking your baby to sleep”? NOTSOMUCH.

The choices many companies make to spend their development resources astounds me. Whether its Google Glass for Trulia or this turd.

Nancy Reagan had it right, “Just say no”.

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