Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Tyler Gordon, CEO of Agent Inbox, talks messaging

LIVE from RESO Spring Conference 2017

Henry Ford is credited with saying, ‘If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.’ True innovation provides you with the tools you didn’t even know you needed. Today’s guest understands the challenges of the real estate industry, and he created a platform that provides a unique solution tailored to the work we do. A solution that will make you wonder how you ever did without!

Tyler Gordon is the CEO and Founder of Agent Inbox, an all-in-one communications platform that empowers MLSs to launch a market-wide platform that allows every agent to communicate with every other agent about any listing, from any device, within any product. Agent Inbox seeks to build the messaging infrastructure so that everyone involved in the real estate transaction (including vendors) can effectively communicate via one system.

After graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in finance, Gordon went to work for Grooveshark, an on-demand streaming music service, where he built their data products and market research team, boasting a research panel of over 300,000 participants. From there, he joined the family business, a real estate brokerage in south Florida. Realizing just how difficult it was to be a real estate agent, Gordon set out to solve some of the problems he encountered – and Agent Inbox was born. Today, Gordon explains the nuts and bolts of Agent Inbox, sharing how the tool works with any app under the MLS umbrella. Listen and learn the benefits of a single communication system that connects all the stakeholders involved in the real estate transaction!

What’s Discussed: 

The shift in how people communicate
– Agents have migrated away from phone/email
The idea behind Agent Inbox
– Create market-wide messaging platform
– Every agent can communicate with every other agent
The installation of Agent Inbox
– Integrated directly into MLS link
– App is available to download, but not necessary to use the service
How to access Agent Inbox
How the Agent Inbox infrastructure might be used to include other industry stakeholders
– MLS
– Association
– Vendors
The benefits of Agent Inbox
– Sits on top of any product in MLS
– Allows for live, contextual conversation
How Agent Inbox was conceived
The trend toward specialized products
Where Agent Inbox is already up and running
The user-friendly nature of Agent Inbox
The benefits of messaging (vs. email)
– 99% of people open, 95% respond
– Socially acceptable to wait several days before responding to email

Resources:

Intercom Customer Messaging Platform

Slack Team Messaging

Connect with Tyler Gordon:

Agent Inbox
Email: tyler [at] agentinbox [dot] [com]

Bob Goldberg

“Talk about a dream. Try and make it real” – Bruce Springsteen, Badlands.

What you should know about Bob Goldberg — possibly NAR’s next CEOThe current SVP at the National Association of Realtors has a deep background in real estate technology

“It’s not hard to see why Goldberg would be an obvious choice.”

Agreed. This post on Inman goes on in detail about Bob’s many accomplishments since joining NAR in 1995. It’s beyond impressive, I had no idea about half of them. Simply put Bob is a guy that gets things done. Period.

I’ve heard many rumors about who is in the running. But in my opinion I cannot think of anyone else who is more qualified for this position. But, just because, lets break down a few of the biggest arguments.

“NAR needs NEW leadership, not more of the same.”
Bullshit. Just because a person works for the CEO, doesn’t mean he that when he/she becomes the new CEO he/she is going to lead the same way. Also, when did experience become a liability? Or loyalty? By electing someone outside the industry in franchise/finance/whatever industry (oh please NOT someone from the banking/finance world GROSS!) would be as stupid as appointing a brain surgeon to run HUD.

“Most REALTORS are women, so the new CEO needs to be a women.”
The new CEO for NAR should be the best person for the job.

“We need a big name to lead us”
A celebrity? How’s that working out America?

Back in the day while working at eNeighborhoods, we were a “REALTOR VIP partner”, which is now “REALTORS Benefits”. Over the years, we got to spend a lot of time with Bob, his staff and family. I got to know him and them pretty well. He’s the real deal. Smart, honest, and sincere. He has a great sense of humor, a good boss, and a loving father. He’s got a deep knowledge and passion for the industry. In short, he’s a leader.

Dionna Hall leads newly consolidated association, Realtors® of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale

New Merger Creates Third Largest Association in America

“This merger combines the MLS and the Associations of Ft. Lauderdale and the Realtors® Association of the Palm Beaches and covers a four county region along the east coast of Florida stretching north from Miami.

The cornerstone of this consolidation is a result of the hard work of the staff and the volunteer leadership. The forward thinking leadership of the board presidents along with the capable and progressive attitudes of CEOs Dionna Hall and Rick Barkett pulled this merger together. Mr. Barkett will be retiring at the end of the year, culminating the career of one of our industry’s greatest CEOs. Hall will helm the new organization.”

I wanted to make a few comments on this last week but never got the chance. So here it goes.

Kudos to both of these associations for making this happen. I can’t imagine how tough it was putting together. And a huge congratulations to Dionna Hall on her new position. And a fond farewell to Rick Barkett.

Then there’s this..

“The new company will be offering an MLS service that covers the four county area with a front end website of choice using either FBS Flex MLS (current vendor for Palm Beaches) or CoreLogic Matrix (current vendor for Fort Lauderdale).”

I think this is a good idea, but still wonder how it will all work out. And I assume there are a myriad of vendor agreements to sort out. I’m beginning to see this “front end of choice”, where the whole MLS system is available, model in other places (CRMLS, MLSListings) but none have gone live yet. In the later case the MLS vendors are only paid on what system is being used. I worry the the total available market (TAM) might not sustain this, but who knows. One thing is for sure, new business models are beginning to emerge due to this new wave of consolidation.

Sam DeBord in a recent Facebook post really brought it home to me on how long the MLS industry has been at this.

“As we head to D.C. for NAR midyear meetings, the MLS seems to be crossing the tipping point toward an open service model. Worth your time:

11 yrs ago via Bright MLS’s David Charron (h/t Saul & John at RealTown & the irreplaceable Judith Lindenau): https://www.realtown.com/Judith2/blog/disorder

“Human and political factors can hinder the transmission of (MLS) content as much as technical factors. … this biggest and most powerful tool is not technology, it’s OUR attitude. Now is the perfect time for all of us as MLS executives to work together with the same sense of cooperation that defines the very industry, indeed the very customers we serve.”

11 years ago.

TouchCMA is dead

From TouchCMA’s website.

“Moxi Present (formerly TouchCMA) will no longer be offering subscriptions to individual agents.”

No comment. ????

The Controversial Pivot to API with RESO CEO Jeremy Crawford

One of the great things about RESO is how the community comes together for the benefit of the industry. RESO recently honored some of the volunteers. You can read the full press press release here.

While at the recent RESO Spring Conference I got to sit down with Jeremy and discuss some of thing they are working on. He’s really done a great job. Hope you enjoy.


 
‘…You’re building a new infrastructure. You’re building a brand new interstate, and one of the hardest things is the off ramp and the on ramp.’

RETS has been a solid technology standard for fifteen years, and many vendors are resistant to make the change to API. But as the needs of mobile shift the industry, a new ‘interstate’ is necessary. Today’s guest is prepared to discuss the details of this controversial pivot.

Jeremy Crawford is the CEO of RESO, the organization responsible for the creation, promotion and adoption of standards in the real estate industry. RESO seeks to fuel innovation and help streamline the real estate transaction. Crawford has been involved with RESO since 2010, serving on its Board of Directors and co-leading the Education and Outreach Workgroup. He has a unique combination of talent and experience, with an extensive background in information technology and corporate management. After graduating from East Tennessee State University with a degree in computer science, he landed an IT position with Safeco Insurance. From there, he worked in network management for BB&T Corporation and MarketLinx (a division of CoreLogic). His resume also includes leadership roles as CIO of SANDICOR, CIO and COO of MLSListings, and COO of Aculist.

Crawford explains the need for a pivot away from RETS to API, the benefits of saved search portability, and the progress of the transition to date. Listen in to understand the steps being taken to improve the permissioning process and who might play a role in further advances.

What’s Discussed: 

The controversial pivot to API
– Resistance from traditional vendors
– Interstate analogy (on and off ramps)
– Shifting needs require API
– Parallel uses of both RETS and API likely
The progress of the move to API
– Distribution piece complete
– Updates component under development
The vendors who are taking advantage of API capabilities
The benefits of switching to API for established vendors
– API built to access data on the fly
– Can still replicate data, but have option not to
– Saved search portability
Progress with regard to the challenges of permissioning
– Standardized data licensing agreements
– NAR turnaround time policy for IDX access
– Access to developmental data feeds to facilitate product development
Who is responsible for permissioning process
– RESO R&D Workgroup drafting best practices
– Brokers must help shepherd process along

Resources:

AgentSquared

Agent Inbox

Connect with Jeremy Crawford:

RESO
Twitter

Art Carter talks data consolidation


 
“If the MLS industry had a face, that face would have a facial tick – because it’s always threatened by something or someone.”

With such constant scrutiny, you’ve got to have a pretty thick skin in the MLS business. And if your goal is to consolidate, let’s say the listings for the entire state of California, you’d better be even tougher. Today’s guest on Listing Bits faces such across-the-board resistance daily as he works to convince real estate professionals that giving up a little local control is worth it in the long run.

Art Carter is the CEO of California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (CRMLS), providing products and services to over 82,000 subscribers. CRMLS works to connect real estate professionals throughout the state of California via access to the most data at the lowest cost possible.

Carter spent nine years working for the Pacific West Association of Realtors as they pushed the envelope on innovation and brought the association world to a new level before moving to CRMLS in 2005. For the past 11 years, he has been dedicated to making a difference in the daily lives of Real Estate Professionals. He is best known for leading the data share revolution in Southern California.

Carter has been named one of Inman News’ 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders twice, and he is a member of the Dr. Almon R. “Bud” Smith, RCE, AE Leadership Society in recognition of dedicated service and commitment to advancing the association management profession. Listen in as he shares the progress CRMLS has made toward listings consolidation in California.

What’s Discussed: 

The disparity between consumers and agents/brokers when it comes to data access
How agents and brokers respond to the prospect of listings consolidation
The unraveling of CALRED
The history of CARETS
The advantages of data shares over an aggregated database
Why CRMLS seeks to consolidate listings for the entire state of California
The politics preventing consolidation
Where the resistance to consolidation comes from
The progress CRMLS is making toward consolidation
– From 21,013 members in 2005 to 82,037 today
– Working to grow another 10% this year
The benefit of implementing a ‘system of choice’
– Eliminates the need to convert
– Allows agents to access data with the tool they prefer
Solutions for the permissioning issue
– Unified contracts
– Online process
Why the MLS industry itself should resolve the permissioning issue
The primary purpose of the MTP Project
Carter’s advice for MLSs seeking to consolidate
– Build relationships
– Consider every ‘no’ a ‘not yet’

Connect with Art Carter:

CRMLS Website

“635” – A conversation with Joel MacIntosh of WolfNet

LIVE from RESO Spring Conference 2017!

Pioneering Innovation in Real Estate Tech with WolfNet CEO Joel MacIntosh
 
Talk about being at the forefront of new technologies… Today’s guest was working to develop ecommerce in the mid-1990s, streaming video in 1998, and consolidating MLS data in 2000.

Joel MacIntosh is the CEO of WolfNet Technologies, a real estate tech pioneer offering highly configurable IDX and VOW property search applications, MLS data standardization services, and property search API services. WolfNet accesses data from 600-plus MLSs in North America, offering the most accurate and up-to-date MLS data in the business, and the company serves national franchises, brokers, agents and MLSs.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management with a BS in Entrepreneurship and Business Management, MacIntosh founded WolfNet in 1996 as a work-for-hire web development company. WolfNet moved into the real estate space in 2000 when a broker approached the firm with an interest in Broker Reciprocity, and they have been developing groundbreaking products and services for the industry ever since.

MacIntosh was recently named one of the 200 Most Powerful People in Real Estate for a reason, and today he shares how WolfNet stays on the cutting-edge of real estate software innovation. Listen and learn about their flagship products and services as well as projects in the works around photo image categorization and AI.

What’s Discussed: 

WolfNet’s journey from work-for-hire web development to real estate tech
WolfNet’s flagship products
Why MacIntosh favors the consulting aspect of his work in the data space
How WolfNet pioneered data sharing among MLS systems
– Up and running in Minnesota since 2001
– Big growth from 2008-2012
– Just added 635th MLS
Why most bigger players prefer direct database access over RETS
The benefits for WolfNet of building their own API
The two main WolfNet customer profiles
– Established companies who want the data
– Newer ‘bootstrap’ firms who want a transactional API
The ‘magic number’ of MLS markets at which point a company benefits from aggregating the data itself
How the numbers validate the concept of consolidation
– Fewer than 10 MLSs have more than 100,000 active listings
– 118 MLSs have 25,000-plus active listings
– It takes 234 MLSs to get to 90% of the listing inventory
– 500 MLSs comprise roughly 8.6% of the inventory and just 3,000 listings
WolfNet’s client base
How the data services component of WolfNet was conceived and productized
The built-in permissioning WolfNet offers
How WolfNet’s additional features connect data points to add significant value
– Photo processing to generate thumbnails
– Address data processing
– Acquiring public records data
What is involved in WolfNet’s image categorization and tagging project
– Identifies the category of room pictured in a photo (i.e.: kitchen, mudroom)
– Distinguishes specific attributes (e.g.: white kitchen with stainless steel appliances)
– Utilizes technology trained via neural network and human tools
– 100,000,000 photos processed
– MacIntosh anticipates release at the end of next quarter
WolfNet’s new data loader product
Vendors introducing AI in the real estate software space that impress MacIntosh

Connect with Joel MacIntosh:

WolfNet Website

Leveraging Big Data in Real Estate with Jonathan Spinetto and Luci Fortier of Remine

Remine announced another deal today with REColorado today. Thought it would be appropriate to post my Listing Bits interview with Jon and Lucie back at the RESO Spring Conference. Enjoy.

Leveraging Big Data in Real Estate with Jonathan Spinetto and Luci Fortier of Remine
 
LIVE from RESO Spring Conference 2017!

In a world where your every move is tracked via geocode through your Starbucks orders and Instagram posts, there is an abundance of data. And those who know how to interpret that information can learn an awful lot about a person and her behavior, using it to either market or serve … or both. The world of real estate is no different, and there is much buzz in the industry regarding an innovative new data solutions product for agents.

Remine is a Big Data company that delivers predictive analytics to real estate professionals exclusively through their MLS. They analyze property records, transactional history and consumer data to determine someone’s propensity of buy, sell or refinance a home. Their user interface utilizes heat maps and other visualizations to help real estate professionals contextualize data, identify new leads and win more business. The team is comprised of successful agents who understand the needs of real estate professionals.

Jonathan Spinetto is the COO of Remine, and he has been a licensed agent since 2002. Using his own custom technology systems, Spinetto has completed over 3,000 single family residential transactions. As both a practitioner and a technologist who offers unique insight into industry trends, he delivers keynotes internationally around Big Data in real estate.

Lucie Fortier is the newly appointed VP of Product. She brings an understanding of the MLS space and a great deal of implementation experience to the Remine team. Fortier spent the last five years as Senior Director of Operations at CoreLogic, where she was accountable for the support and execution of a suite of Real Estate web-based applications delivered to 600,000-plus agents in the US and Canada.

Spinetto and Fortier articulate the specifics of the Remine product and how it ties together property attributes with data about people in order to provide meaningful insight for agents. Listen and learn how Remine is different from other companies that offer predictive analytics and why they chose to partner with MLSs.

What’s Discussed: 

How Remine employs data to help agents find prospects
Why Remine doesn’t fit into a particular product category
The types of data Remine has aggregated and linked to MLS data
– Contact info
– Property data
– Mortgage data
– Airbnb data
– Predictive analytics
– Individual stats about residents
– Parcels
Why Fortier joined the Remine team
The beauty of providing meaningful insight that agents can use
The difference between Remine and other companies that offer predictive analytics
– MLS-centric (available to all members)
How Remine democratizes the data to help agents be proactive
How Remine fills a gap in the real estate tech space
Why Remine chose to partner with MLSs rather than sell directly to agents
The importance of face-to-face demos
The necessity of stewardship when it comes to data sharing
– Privacy concerns
– Shift in societal norms
The responsibilities of a company like Remine to share appropriate personal information
– Controlling product delivery via coordination with MLS systems helps stop bad actors
The Remine implementation schedule
What Fortier brings to the table as VP of Product
– Understanding of MLS space and how agents use applications
– Experience in implementation
How Remine adjusts predictive analytics to localize to a given area
How Remine is funded

Connect with Jonathan Spinetto and Lucie Fortier:

Remine

Houston Association of REALTORS signs with Remine

HOUSTON ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® BRINGS REMINE TO ITS 36,000 REALTOR® MEMBERS

“Leo Pareja, CEO of Remine, said, “It’s a real badge of honor to be working with Bob Hale and the HAR team. Bob is a real visionary of the industry; to have his endorsement means a lot to us. We are excited to bring the Remine intelligence platform to such a forward thinking organization. HAR is a milestone agreement for Remine, bringing us over 200,000 agents under contract via our MLS agreements since the beginning of the year.”

Great to see some new blood in the space, they certainly have generated more buzz than any other vendor I can think of in a long time. I got a chance to interview Remine co-founder Jonathan Spinetto, and Lucie Fortier on my podcast Listing Bits (coming soon) and really enjoyed our conversation. Congrats!

RESO Deep Thoughts…

Name withheld to protect the innocent. #reso2017

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