“At its most basic, the CCP upholds the integrity of the MLS, which, considering the MLS serves as a broker cooperative, is necessary to foster collaboration and ensure that all parties have access to a transparent and fair marketplace—all critical for maintaining trust in the real estate community.”
I’m a little late in posting (been a bit busy lately) but I did want to comment. There are so many good quotes in this post by CRMLS, CEO’s Art Carter. If you haven’t read it, read it. If you have read it, read it a again.
So great to see such strong leadership about this issue. I hope this gives other MLS organizations the talking points and courage to not back down to any broker who wants to sacrifice the benefits of the MLS in service of their ever changing business models.
“Following the commission lawsuits of 2024, the industry has been in a state of upheaval, leading to anxiety and uncertainty among many real estate professionals. CRMLS has recognized the need to help those unsure of how to articulate their value better express what they can offer their clients. With the philosophy that the situation for real estate professionals is “different, not difficult,” CRMLS has outlined its major tenets and how they each assist CRMLS users with their day-to-day and long-term business goals.”
There is a vacuum out there. With organized real estate under scrutiny in the press and on social media, organizations like CRMLS must let their customers know they understand the challenges ahead. As an industry, our leaders need to communicate that while one chapter has closed, a new one is beginning.
If you’re not doing that, you need to start. We must rise above the funk these lawsuits have left us in and take control of the narrative. The question is: who will fill that vacuum?
“I’ve had the pleasure to personally see all the Thrive speakers present before, and I wanted to bring their combined expertise to California’s elite brokerage community,” said CRMLS CEO and Thrive speaker Art Carter. “There’s a lot of understandable tension in the air about all the changes happening right now. The vision of Thrive Broker Summit is to offer actionable insights and draw a map into the future so that we can all succeed together. As we like to say; adapt through change, thrive with knowledge.”
CRMLS
Great lineup. I’m hearing that this may the first interview Phil Hawkins will be giving since accepting the CEO post at California Association of REALTORS (CAR)
“Excited about this one! The MLS innovation trend has been a popular topic for awhile now. Looking forward to interviewing Katie Smithson about REcore, a tech focused initiative from CRMLS. Join us for a lively and informative chat!”
“The REcenterhub dashboard, developed internally by CRMLS, boasts new features to streamline productivity for real estate professionals. In addition to a completely new, modernized user interface, the dashboard offers customization options for both users and Associations, industry information such as market data trends and news articles, and enhanced interactivity for ease of use.”
I took a screenshot from a dev account (so it has limited product choices). My first impression is that I think they absolutely crushed it! I love the addition of market stats front and center, but it’s the easy access to critical tools/info that really nails it.
You can quickly add (and discover) products offered thru the MLS;
Quick access to the training calendar with one click registration!
I know I’ve been critical of MLS organizations building their own software but aside from a couple of minor things I would tweak, CRMLS has really done a great job.
I’ve written before about how SSO portals (dashboards), and training can have a huge effect on adoption and REcenterHUB is the closest I’ve seen to really hitting all the right marks. And to be fair I haven’t taken a serious look at any other competing SSO dashboard, but any vendor providing products through an MLS organization will love the improvements REcenterhub delivers.
“By working with Local Logic, CRMLS continues to expand our mission to provide as much property-centric data to our users by offering the most innovative data solutions,” said CRMLS CEO Art Carter. “Local Logic’s industry-leading data will provide our users with a competitive edge and empower them with incredibly comprehensive information that goes far beyond basics of a property.”
“CRMLS is known for its innovation and providing its users with industry-leading technology solutions to power their work,” said Vincent-Charles Hodder, CEO and co-founder of Local Logic. “We’re so excited to bring the power of our data insights to CRMLS users and clients.”
Local Logic has been on a roll lately. They seemingly have everything related to a property including demographics, location scores, neighborhood profiles, points of interest along with school and climate data. From the press release, this data will be available from CRMLS multiple MLS systems.
“This announcement marks the start of an evolution for NorthstarMLS with our mission of providing a collaborative marketplace of real estate data, tools, and services at the forefront,” said Tim Dain, NorthstarMLS CEO. “We believe that MLSs like NorthstarMLS and CRMLS have similarities that can and should benefit both MLSs and the customers we serve.”
CRMLS and NorthstarMLS have begun to work together to implement the necessary changes required to convert NorthstarMLS onto CRMLS SSO. The SSO integration is expected to launch later in 2023 within the new REcenterhub dashboard that CRMLS has designed and developed from the ground up.”
The trend continues as more MLS organizations are taking over their own tech stacks and in some cases like this one, successfully sell them to other MLS organizations who have the same/similar needs. MLSAligned so far is only interested in serving its owners, and other MLS-owned initiatives that are barely holdings on.
One thing is for certain, if MLS organizations are going to do this successfully they are going to need to invest in a good sales team.
“The data share is an important step forward in Bright MLS’ and CRMLS’ previously announced plan (February 2022) to collaborate on technology solutions for the MLS industry. The data share among Bright MLS, CRMLS and BeachesMLS is the latest in several innovative joint ventures that Bright and CRMLS are leading, including REdistribute, which provides brokers transparency on the distribution and consumption of their data while ensuring fair-market compensation for its usage, and Nestfully, a new leading consumer portal developed and run by the residential real estate industry, the source of principled and pristine data for home buyers and sellers across the country.”
“Styldod’s technology has proven to be amazing at sophisticated detection,” said Art Carter, CEO of CRMLS. “Styldod has served CRMLS extremely well as a staging product, so we’re confident that expanding our relationship to include business intelligence will be fruitful. We’re looking forward to how this new integration will empower agents and brokers with useful, harvested image data and help them avoid compliance issues.”
I’ve seen a demo directly from the Styldod team and this is some pretty cool tech. I’m looking forward to seeing how these photo recogintion software companies, including Restb.ai, go beyond the compliance use cases.
Thank you, next? In another sign that MLS organizations are starting to take control of their own destinies, Katie Smithson has left Zillow and taken a senior position at CRMLS.
CRMLS Appoints Katie Smithson as new Chief Revenue Officer
CHINO HILLS, Calif., November 7, 2022 — On November 15th, California Regional MLS (CRMLS) will welcome their latest executive appointment, Katie Smithson in the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Smithson is a long-time veteran in the real estate industry with a history of MLS relation management and product innovation. Smithson has been in the real estate industry for 14 years, most recently as Director of MLS Relations for Bridge Interactive with Zillow.
In her new role, Smithson will be directing revenue operations, ensuring proper communication and collaboration between all the revenue-generating departments at CRMLS. She will be charged with improving customer satisfaction, product strategy, and sales performance.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming Katie to the CRMLS Executive Team,” says CRMLS CEO Art Carter. “Her experience is invaluable, and I am confident that she will be a great addition to the company as the MLS industry evolves and CRMLS moves forward as a company. “
“I am excited to join the extremely talented team at CRMLS,” says Smithson. “I’ve worked with them for years and always admired the caliber of leadership, so when this opportunity came along, it only made sense to say yes. I am inspired by the vision CRMLS has and can’t wait to help shape the future of our industry.”
As a vendor in the MLS Industry Smithson has an extensive track record of success in building B2B relationships, increasing returns, and developing product offerings. She has also served as a NAR REACH mentor, a board member for the Council of MLS with a CMLX 1 certification, and RESO Board Secretary.
About California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS)
California Regional MLS is the nation’s largest and most recognized subscriber- based MLS, dedicated to servicing more than 110,000 real estate professionals from 41 Associations, Boards, and MLS organizations. CRMLS is the industry powerhouse and thrives on providing the most relevant products and services to its subscribers. For more information on CRMLS, visit www.crmls.org.
