“We are pleased to welcome the Calaveras County Association of REALTORS® and its members to MetroList,” said MetroList President and CEO Dave Howe. “By bringing more associations together on a single MLS platform, we are creating a regional MLS that enables real estate professionals to better serve their clients and supports consumers who are increasingly searching for properties across county and regional boundaries.”
Quick story, long time ago I was with some friends on a river rafting trip. We stopped by Angels Camp. We had no idea at the time but there was a rodeo and fair going on with a frog jumping contest. I just remember the excitement of just happening upon this and all of us heading to the fair and having a great time that day.
Anyway, congrats to MetroList and CCAR. MetroList is already the largest MLS in the state of California and this partnership adds a few more giant sequoias to the mix.
“The new Lone Wolf Foundation includes tools such as Transact, Relationships and Deal Tracker, all aimed at simplifying deal management and enhancing client relationships. By integrating transaction management with a client-focused relationship platform, California REALTORS® can manage their entire business from a single, unified platform—empowering them to build stronger client connections and drive long-term success.”
Nice win! Looks like Lone Wolf’s Relationships is legit, straight off the heels of winning Inman’s Innovator Award for Best Lead Servicing Solution. Great to start seeing larger deals like this happening again. Congrats CAR and Lone Wolf.
“T3 Sixty is working with the Las Vegas REALTORS® to find their next CEO. This is an in-office position.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will lead a dynamic, member-driven organization representing over 15,000 real estate professionals. The CEO is responsible for developing and executing strategic plans, leading operational excellence, fostering strong relationships across members, staff, and the public, and serving as the primary liaison to the Board of Directors. This leader will help unify organizational culture, strengthen public engagement, and modernize operations in alignment with LVR’s long-term vision.”
“REcore already serves MLSs with tools that simplify compliance, track member issues, and streamline operations. Navigator fits naturally into this ecosystem—helping staff and members get the answers they need, when they need them. As an exclusive reseller, REcore will bring Navigator to a broader market faster, while Lundy continues to focus on building and evolving the product.”
Navigator AI is a great product. Justin and his team have been in this space of awhile and know the pain points that MLS and association have regarding support, rules, and data. Like a lot of AI tools it seems like magic. I think the possibilities are endless. I’m sure Katie Smithson of RECore would love to give you a demo.
“Who’s No. 1? For the first time since T3 Sixty began its rankings, there is a new player in the top spot: Bright MLS, with 101,000 members. Bright has moved into the position formerly occupied by California Regional MLS, which drops to No. 2 with 99,000 members, followed by Central Florida-based Stellar MLS with 81,453.
The shift at the top aligns with the bigger picture nationally, where every part of the country saw a drop in the total number of MLS subscribers — except the South Atlantic region (up 0.4%). That area is covered in part by Bright MLS and has seen ongoing population growth.”
The difference in subscriber count is just 2,100. I’ve said this before, but what Clint Skutchan does with T3 Sixty is an incredible asset to the industry. The RE Almanac sits on my desk and serves as an important reference every week.
You may have recently read that the Phoenix Association of REALTORS (PAR) and the National Association of REALTORS recently came to a settlement regarding PAR controversial “MLS Choice” membership option. As part of the settlement PAR will change the offering’s name to “Non-member MLS access”
“The new “non-member MLS access” offering “will eliminate any further confusion,” according to the statement, and will not give users access to the “Realtor” title. However, the non-member option will still give non-Realtors access to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS), as well as some products and services. Phoenix Realtors has had offerings giving non-Realtors ARMLS access since 1996, according to the statement.”
At our MLS Reset event Rob Hahn gave a presentation which he called “The Quiet Part Out Loud”. In it he posited that if the Phoenix Association or REALTORS (PAR) was successful that other local association would follow suit. I have to admit I really didn’t follow the presentation and it wasn’t until our latest podcast episode that I really understood the strategy behind PAR’s offering. I blame my lack of understanding to the naming convention PAR decided to use, “MLS Choice”. The new naming, “Non-member access” made it even worse. But I’ll come back to that.
Basically as I understand it, due to the the 3 way agreement if someone new joins PAR their membership dues would look like the following:
Phoenix Assn. of REALTORS Dues: $135/yr Arizona Assn. of REALTORS Dues: $175/yr National Assn. of REALTORS Dues: $156/yr
Which is a grand total of $466/yr
Membership to ARMLS would be $468 on top of those dues.
What PAR has done is created a new membership level (see below) that includes a different set of forms (but still passes all the legal smell tests) along with free continuing education classes, FastStats, Supra access and listing media services:
That’s $114 more than a regular PAR membership. Which translates to an 85% increase in revenue to PAR. But here’s the kicker, a current or new PAR member would save, $217/yr if they signed up/switched to the new plan. That’s real money.
Now I apologize to those of you who have read Rob’s posts and seen his presentation and already grokked this, but I was completely gobsmacked once I understood this fact. Here’s what I mean…
PAR is actually promoting not being a part of the Arizona Association of REALTORS and the National Association of REALTORS as a feature, not a bug! 🤯
Let’s assume about 95% of the 10,000 PAR members are on the legacy plan, paying $135/yr. Which is around $1.3M/ yr. If they get 50% to switch to “Non-member access” plan, then their annual revenue will jump to 1.8M/yr. An increase of $500K! That’s almost a 40% increase in revenue.🤯🤯
We’ve all been worried about how associations would survive without revenue from the MLS. And it turns out the answer is to offer a membership plan that doesn’t include State or National membership! 🤯🤯🤯
But here’s the problem. Nobody will understand this if you have names like “MLS Choice” or “Non-member access”. Yuck! 🤮 What do those names even mean?? You need better marketing if you are going to sell a plan like this. You need something sexy, and if you listen to the latest Industry Relations podcast you can hear Rob and I come up with the perfect name for this in real time.
“As Mr. Fisher’s first hire following NAR’s acquisition in 2003, James recruited our initial 100 Association customers in just our first 36 months of operations, laying the foundation for our growth as a leading technology company, serving over 400 Associations and over 400,000 REALTORS®.”
Legendary. One of the good guys. It’s hard to say if anyone ever “retires” from this business (that’s why we call it Hotel California) but maybe James will be one of the lucky ones that escape the gravity pull. Happy Trails James!
The industry owes the folks at T3 Sixty a lot of gratitude for putting this information together. Whether you are a vendor, MLS organization or Association this data is gold when it comes to planning.
“Ensuring an organization’s entire value proposition is front-and-center with every member log in, Relevate’s SSO Dashboard highlights all the tools provided by the association or MLS along with key benefits such as education, events, affinity programs, governance, and more. It is a powerful companion to Relevate AMS and Relevate for MLS that handles identity management, collects actionable usage data to guide management decisions, and sends targeted communications to drive user engagement.”
Mike Price at Relevate
The AMS, SSO, member communication space is going to heat up fast. I’m hearing about multiple solutions out there. This is going to drive innovation and be great for MLS organizations and their members.
