Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Diane Ruggiero to take reins at COVE

diane-professional-2014-8x10One name that jumped out at me on the last post was Diane Ruggiero. Diane was in the association and MLS world for 35 years.
-CEO in Burlington County, NJ for 10 years
-CEO in Washington DC when MRIS was formed
-CEO at Kansas City Regional AOR for 15 years and 7 years of that as the CEO as Heartland MLS.

Diane also spent one year at Microsoft HomeAdvisor in the early days of their formation. She joined Ann Bailey at Pranix in January 2016.

With Ann’s retirement Diane will now be the consultant and facilitator for the COVE group going forward. Congrats Diane!

N.A.R. CEO Search Committee revealed

I don’t think a recruiter has been announced but from what I understand here are the members of the search committee.

Chris Polychron – Chair, Hot Springs, AR
Cathy Whatley – Vice Chair, Jacksonville, FL

Jeff Barnett, Los Gatos, CA
Tray Bates, Corpus Christi, TX
Brian Copeland, Nashville, TN
Julie DeLorenzo, Boise, ID
Travis Kessler, Austin, TX
Mike McGrew, Lawrence, KS
Mike Pappas, Miami, FL
Beth L. Peerce, Los Angeles, CA
JoAnne Poole, Glen Burnie, MD
Diane Ruggiero, The Villages, FL
Joel Singer, Los Angeles, CA
Tom Stevens, Vienna, VA
Rebecca Thomson, Chicago, IL

The choice seems pretty clear to me.

N.A.R. and realtor.com score big win over patent troll

NAR, realtor.com Score Industry Win Against Patent Troll

“The real estate industry achieved an important victory last Friday on a patent-infringement case — one that stretches back more than a decade — when U.S. District Judge George King in California ruled the patent invalid.
The patent involves the use of a computer to display a database of real estate listings on a map and to zoom in on listings. The so-called ‘989 patent was granted in 1991 and has since expired, but the patent holder, Real Estate Alliance Ltd. (REAL), claims it is owed millions in licensing fees from past use by real estate agents, brokers, MLSs, and MLS vendors.”

The entire industry owes a debt of gratitude for N.A.R and realtor.com for taking up this fight.

Looking for a new gig?

Diverse SolutionSales Executive

“The Sales Executive role at Diverse Solutions provides a compelling opportunity for professionals with a proven track record to generate new customers and grow our existing business, while delivering an exceptional customer experience. You are versed in working to generate new customers as well as building and working with an assigned book of business.You will increase revenue, build strong customer partnerships, and increase retention and customer satisfaction. Have in depth knowledge of real estate trends, market conditions, be an expert in the real estate landscape as it pertains to top real estate professionals, teams, brokers, and brokerage houses throughout the United States. Partner with billing, customer service, and marketing to foster client growth and/or resolution.”

Find out about this job and more at the Vendor Alley Job Board!

What’s Opendoor going to do with the $320 million they just raised?

Teke Wiggin from Inman News…

What Opendoor’s Uber-like funding round means for real estate

Property-exchange platform Opendoor just bagged what is probably the largest funding round ever for a real estate tech startup, with a reported valuation of at least $1 billion only two years after launch.

The startup is overhauling the traditional real estate business model in a fundamental way. It buys and sells homes itself, giving it unprecedented flexibility to improve speed, convenience and customer experience.

Opendoor’s deployment of $320 million in equity funding and $400 million in debt will send shockwaves across the industry, perhaps most by popularizing new technology and business practices.

I might be oversimplifying this but I think it’s pretty obvious why Opendoor raised that much money and what they are going to do with it.

The need to buy houses (inventory). So unlike most institutional money, a lot of the money raised will be tied to an asset. So I think getting a larger sum was a good risk.

To me Opendoor is more akin to CarMax. I recently sold on older car through CarMax, I didn’t get as much as I would have wanted but the process was pretty much hassle free, and to me, time is money.

The rub here is that some in Silicon Valley have thought real estate agents would be replaced by software by now, just like travel agents.

But many of these new entrants have failed to grasp the emotional nuance of buying and selling real estate.

FBS taps AgentSquared as solution for its Broker Services Team

FBS Broker Agent Services Team to Offer AgentSquared180,000 Realtors Gain Access to Instant IDX Websites

“With an AgentSquared IDX website powered by the Spark API, Flexmls users can register their domain and have a beautiful, live IDX website in minutes that’s modern, branded, mobile-responsive and integrated with their Flexmls contacts (so they don’t have to manually enter lead information from their AgentSquared website into their Flexmls CRM). Because the listing data is coming from a real time API, any changes to the listing record are reflected instantly on AgentSquared websites so consumers have the freshest and most comprehensive listing information possible.”

I’ve been meaning to write about Troy and his company, AgentSquared, for sometime now. It’s really the first API only solution I’ve been impressed with. You have to see it to understand that when they say an “instant IDX website” it really is that simple, and instant. The brilliant part about this solution is the way AgentSquared leverage the API data for setup. I don’t think that has been talked about much.

The only caveat is that things are much quicker and simpler with FBS’ Spark API platform which has agent info in their API and handles both the data and permissioning. That doesn’t mean that an MLS provider with an API could grant that permission for the product as part of the solution.

The MLS™ touts strong customer satisfaction numbers

The MLS™ 2016 Customer Survey Reveals Increased Overall SatisfactionShare Article

“Overall satisfaction with The MLS™ has grown in the past year, with 89% of members reporting satisfaction, compared to a satisfaction rating of 83% in 2015.
The survey results also reveal that 97% of members feel The MLS™ meets their needs, compared to 94% in 2015. Among other key findings, 95% of members would recommend The MLS™ to a colleague or friend.

Further, the 2016 results imply that member feel that The MLS™ provides them with increased value for their money when compared to 2015 results. In 2016, 92% of members reported feeling extremely or somewhat satisfied with the value of The MLS™ for their money, as compared to 66.65% in 2015. The MLS™ offers numerous complimentary tools to members including Property Websites/Virtual Tours, Cloud CMA, 10K Infosparks, RatePlug and more, along with support through various channels such as a Help Desk, a compliance team, hands-on classes, Webinars and more.”

The real estate in The MLS™/CLAW’s territory is some of the most expensive in the world and its no easy task keeping those brokers satisfied. Kudos to Annie and her team for these impressive results.

CLAW’s has been working on upgrading their existing MLS software to something totally new. This and other “home grown” MLS systems, including IRES and RMLS Portland were featured in a recent article by Matt Cohen called, “MLS: Homegrown and Happy“. In this post Matt listed out the main reasons these MLS providers have chosen to go this route.

-Vendors can be difficult to work with. Most of them have gone through periods where they are less than optimally responsive to enhancement requests and even to bug-fix requests.
-Vendors are acquired by a company that doesn’t provide the same level of service.
-Vendors go out of business (though all the current major vendors are quite stable!)
-Vendors ‘retire’ well-liked systems
-Licensing a shared code-base can mean waiting months or years for enhancement requests – or the vendor may just say, “No.”

“Well-liked”. High praise indeed. : )

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