Council of Multiple Listing Services Names Denee Evans CEO
“As CEO, Evans will become the point person to implement the organization’s strategic plan and oversee its daily operations to raise the presence of the organization while empowering members to stay ahead of advancing technology, legal issues, and cutting-edge management.”
I had a chance to meet and work with Denee this past week. She is wonderful and is going to be a great fit for CMLS. Congrats Denee!!
It was the biggest CMLS conference by attendance and sponsorship. I remember when it was a small group (Northwest Council of MLS), say less than 90, for the whole conference. Compare that to today, where FBS took out over 90 of their customers to dinner on Thursday night. Things have changed. I may be biased but I also have to say it was the best location as well. The weather was perfect. The hotel was fantastic. The food was amazing. You have to give it up to Art Carter, Patty Connor and the rest of the CRMLS staff for pulling off such and incredible event.
Before the event I heard a few people complaining about the agenda. They were wondering why all the “non-industry” speakers. Art Carter made it clear from the beginning, he wanted to craft an event, “I would like to see”. As it turns out the outside speakers were a huge hit. So much so, I bet future conferences you’ll see more of them than less.
Then there were the parties. My company held an “Open House” at our W&R Studios headquarters down on Main Street on Tuesday night. It was a huge hit, even if it required you to go big on the first night. Trulia and Zillow held separate events, one at Red O restaurant in Newport Beach (very che’che’). And of course there was Mini-Kiss event at Hurricanes on Wednesday night (I heard the band was spotted later and a local I-Hop around 1:30am, can you imagine the stares?)
Again, I may be biased, and I think I say this every year, but CMLS 2014 was best CMLS conference ever.
And then Craig Cheatham took the stage.
It was about 4:15PM on Friday afternoon and Art had a big smile on his face. He even commented, “If you are wondering why I have a big smile on my face its because I see so many of out there.” Having Craig Cheatham, the CEO of The Realty Alliance, as the last presenter was no coicendence. It was a master stroke from Art and did exactly what he hoped, keep people in their seats for the entire conference.
It’s hard to blame Mr. Cheatham for what happen next. And I have to give him credit for showing up, the expectations were pretty high. But he seems to be just a messenger, and a poor one at that, to the whims of The Realty Alliance masters he serves. Kind of like a Roger Goddell, with much less pay and prestige.
The Realty Alliance had gotten the MLS industry’s attention with Mr. Cheatham’s declaration last year, of “You’ve got 10 days”. One year later they had nothing to show or really talk about. Mr. Cheatham’s responses were, at best, oblique. I think John Mosey, CEO of Northstar MLS, put it best in a follow up question, Mr. Cheatham’s statements were “clear as mud”.
The subsequent interview was, at best, awkward, at worst insulting and a waste of everyone’s time. It’s a shame because the audience was full of MLS professionals who truly wanted to help make things better. It reminds me of the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
But lets move on, and not waste anymore time on these Keystone Cops.
My thanks again to everyone at CRMLS, the CMLS board of directors (you too Sarah), for putting together a truly spectacular event. And see you next year in Kansas City!
Art Carter doesn’t think the problems we face in real estate are that different from what other industries are facing or have been facing. That’s the central premise of CMLS 2014, the premier MLS industry event being held in Huntington Beach, California next week.
Perspective
To prove his point Art (current President of CMLS) has gathered speakers from all over, including Zappos, Yelp, USC, and salesforce.com (just to name a few). This is a big change for a CMLS conference and I think will be a big hit with attendees. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing on the agenda for industry specific topics, but I think the central theme here is still geared toward outside perspectives.
We’re back.
But lets face it, CMLS is about people. It’s about community. It’s about lobby bars and great conversation. The real estate market is back, some of us made it through the valley, some of us didn’t. It’s been a tough time and I hope that we’ve learned a lot through those tough years. From what I hear CMLS 2014 will be the largest attended CMLS conference in history. Maybe its the location, the market, whatever, but we are back baby, stronger than ever.
Inclusion
To me this CMLS conference represents the first time the industry has turned corner on Zillow and Trulia. Its become boring to me to focus so much energy on whether or not these companies are good or bad for the industry. They are just another vendor, and they will be measured by their actions, not conspiracy theories. I hope we have finally gotten over it.
The Realty Alliance
Last year’s conference ended with Craig Cheatham, president and CEO, of The Realty Alliance proclaiming “you have 10 days!”, which expressed the large broker community feelings of unhappiness with the MLS industry. And lets face it, no matter how much back pedaling was done later, it was a threat. This caused a lot of MLS execs to retreat to hallways after the session to call on TRA members (many who served on their boards), to ask the question, “Are we cool?”
So, CMLS 2014 ends with the session aptly titled, “The Realty Alliance – One Year Later”. So it seems the tables are turned, so let me make the statement: “Realty Alliance, you’ve got 8 days.” Was it all just bluster? Are you upstream without a paddle? I can’t wait to see what ought to be a spectacular tap dance.
So CMLS 2014 seems to have it all. The sun, the sand, the surf, good friends and Mr. Bojangles.
I can’t wait!
CMLS 2014, Thursday September 25, 2014
“This exclusive event offers up-and-coming technology companies like yours the opportunity to get your product or service in front of MLS leaders and decision makers in a fun and casual way. Mingle with and demo your product to hundreds of CEOs and executives following the first day of sessions.”
Love this! Cost is $1,000. Seems like a great way for up and coming vendors to get exposure. If you are interested or know a company than might click below to download the form to reserve your space.
My congratulations to Marty Reed for being selected to join the Board of Directors of the Council of MLS Services. CMLS has some huge momentum going and its great to know a person of Marty’s caliber, experience and class to help them accomplish their goals!
Congrats again Marty!
See full Press Release Below:
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For more information:
Michelle Kersch
Black Knight Financial Services
904.854.5043
michelle.kersch@bkfs.com
Black Knight Financial Services Vice President Marty Reed
Appointed to Board of Directors for the Council of Multiple Listing Services
– Marty Reed is the first MLS vendor appointed to the CMLS board
– Reed will serve for a three-year term
– Reed’s focus will be on forging stronger partnership relations in the organization by engaging more vendors to support, resolve and drive adoption of CMLS initiatives.
– The CMLS is a premier forum and resource for MLS organizations across North America
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Feb. 12, 2014 — The MLS Solutions division of Black Knight Financial Services (formerly the LPS MLS Solutions division), announced that Marty Reed, the division’s vice president of business operations, has been appointed to the board of directors for the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) for a three-year term, which will run through Dec. 31, 2016. Reed is the first MLS vendor to be appointed to the CMLS board.
The CMLS is a volunteer-led organization that serves as a premier forum and resource for Multiple Listing Service (MLS) organizations across North America to provide information and ideas to members and their constituents about the challenges of changing technology, legal issues and organizational structures in the MLS industry. Reed has been a CMLS member for 11 years.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be chosen to work with the board on CMLS initiatives,” Reed said. “The MLS industry is facing significant challenges right now, and CMLS is providing essential guidance and resources to all the organizations that touch and depend on the MLS. I hope to continue to forge stronger partnership relations in the organization by engaging more vendors to support, resolve and drive adoption of CMLS initiatives. By helping to build on the mutually beneficial, collaborative relationship that real estate professionals and vendors share, both groups can operate more effectively and work collectively for the greater good.”
Reed has extensive business and MLS experience. Prior to her current position in overseeing Black Knight’s Paragon MLS systems, Reed served as CEO of Cooperative Arkansas Regional Multiple Listing Services, Inc. for almost 15 years. As a longtime member of the National Association of REALTORS®, Reed served on the Multiple Listing Issues and Policies Committee and on the Business and MLS Technology Committees for the Arkansas REALTORS® Association.
“Marty is a respected leader who understands the MLS and real estate industries and excels at consensus building,” said Art Carter, president of the CMLS and CEO of the California Regional MLS. “Marty’s drive and talent will be invaluable to the board as we work together toward our vision of the CMLS as a ‘go to’ resource for common interests across all MLSs, such as branding data integrity; improving agent competency and relevency; and increasing MLS value to brokers.”
About Black Knight Financial Services, LLC
Black Knight Financial Services, a Fidelity National Financial (NYSE:FNF) company, is the mortgage and finance industries’ leading provider of integrated technology, data and analytics solutions. Comprised of technology offerings from the union of LPS and ServiceLink, Black Knight Financial Services offers leading software systems; data and analytics offerings; and information solutions that facilitate and automate many of the business processes across the mortgage life cycle.
Black Knight Financial Services helps clients in the mortgage industry and beyond achieve their strategic goals, realize greater success and better serve their customers by delivering best-in-class technology, services and insight with a relentless commitment to excellence, innovation, integrity and leadership. For more information on Black Knight Financial Services, please visit www.bkfs.com.
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If you left Boise early you most likely missed the video highlighting next year’s CMLS 2014 Annual Conference. So well done (Great job Tracy and Art!)
Can’t wait to welcome you to my hometown!
What got lost in the brouhaha on the last day of CMLS 2013 was what an awesome conference it truly was.
My hats off to Greg Manship of Intermountain MLS and Jay Gordon of Willamette Valley MLS. They along with both their staff pulled off an incredible event. I should also thank Sarah and the CMLS BOD of directors. All of us were a little worried about holding the event in Boise, ID. Turns out we didn’t have to worry, Boise is awesome and everyone showed!
I’m told the attendance reached over 580 participants, which is huge! While the buzz on the last day was the most talked about it the overall event was fantastic. The side conversations and networking were as compelling as the sessions. And I think I had 2 hours worth of “10 Minute Martinis”.
The publicity around the broker panel along with the location (Huntington Beach, CA) should make next year’s conference break all records in attendance.
I took some pictures at the event you can check out here on the Vendor Alley Flickr Site. Enjoy!
In case you missed this from the Realty Alliance Facebook Page.
“October 14th: If you are expecting to hear word of a huge initiative today, you listened to the (incorrect) message of the online speculators, not the actual message we delivered to CMLS conference participants.”
October 8th: “Blogs take guesses and get it way wrong. And that’s okay. Floating ideas and potential scenarios can be a constructive exercise.
Let us be clear: No deadline was set. TRA is not acting alone. Solutions being considered have been vetted and are not self-destructive to brokers. TRA stands fully behind, with no amendment or apology, the presentation made at CMLS at the request of CMLS.
Brokers will continue to try to work with MLSs (even after October 14). But, the industry now has options that are feasible today that were not realistic a short time ago. If local and national policy/practices don’t change in support of the industry they are to serve, brokers will have no choice but to exercise those options. That’s not a threat, it’s a business reality. Decisions this fall will be about launching “phase one.” There still is time to work together to solve these issues and shift MLSs to being resources for brokerages instead of being competitors to brokerages.
Specific concerns have been published, so MLSs have what they need to address these locally with their stakeholders. Not all the items on the list are problems in every market, but most every MLS is creating conflict with one or more of those practices/policies/attitudes. And, some of these issues create real potential for intervention by federal authorities if not fixed.
The general gist of these issues lists and the broker message have not changed in several years — these are not new news.
It is a shame there wasn’t more listening and more attention to broker concerns before last Friday and that there hasn’t been more meaningful two-way communication before this week. And, why have MLSs waited until the industry had started down a road that could offer alternatives before getting serious about bridging the gap?
All that aside, we remain hopeful for constructive conversations and self-evaluation in the coming days and weeks.”
Eliminating MLS and Broker Conflict
The Realty Alliance and some other large brokers and franchises have invested money in R&D on a project that could dramatically affect MLS and several vendors that were in the room know the details of this project but are under NDA so they are not talking about it. And no, technology is not a hurdle.
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.
