Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

OJO Labs acquires WolfNet

OJO Labs acquires WolfNet Technologies

“Specific financial terms were not made public but the deal involved a mix of equity and stock.

The founders of both companies, who had previously been working together on a partnership wherein OJO was using multiple listing service (MLS) data from Wolfnet, said that the deal made sense because of the synergies to be found between them, merging a new consumer-facing property search tool in the form of OJO with a trusted agent-and-broker focused software and data company in the form of WolfNet.”

Seems like every week a deal gets announced and this is a pretty big one! I con only think of one other vendor that currently aggregates the amount of MLS data WolfNet does. I don’t know much about OJO Labs but they are VC backed.

Joel is definitely an O.G. in the industry and a big congrats to him and his team.

Florida MLS provider kicks Homesnap to the curb

Florida’s Space Coast listing service ditches its Homesnap site

“In an Oct. 2 announcement and email to members, Space Coast MLS said the Homesnap-powered public search on its new association website “wasn’t the right fit for our needs” and had been replaced by a search tool from Financial Business Systems’ (FBS) Flexmls, a previous vendor, while Space Coast MLS works on a permanent solution.”

Looks like Space Coast was iframing Homesnap as their public facing site, which according to Steve Barnes..

““This is really kind of a fringe case related to Homesnap,” Barnes said in a phone interview, adding that none of the other MLSs that iframe Homesnap’s site have chosen to turn it off.

“What it might say is a very local MLS needs unique flavor and a more seamless [tool]. Iframe might not be the best solution for them, but it’s not something that’s actually core to the Homesnap brand,” he added.”

But here’s the rub. According to the article whether you iframe or not you still can’t filter on pools? WTF?

Also, something else. Did you know that you can’t get listing alerts via Homesnap? That’s right you have to login on to the site run a saved search manually (like a caveman) and then find out if properties match your criteria. Unless of course if you just wanted a home with a pool because there is no way to do that currently.

Think about it, it’s 2018 and Homesnap can’t

1. Search for homes with pools
2. Create and send listing alerts (which is ironic because this.)

2 things, I’m sure 99% of IDX vendors have been able to do, for the last 19 years.

Who the fuck cares about “fair display guidelines” if you can’t search for homes with a pool or get listing alerts?

And this is supposed to be “the real estate’s industry answer to third party sites like Zillow and realtor.com”.

I bet they are laughing their asses off in Seattle and Silicon Valley.

But hey, “downloads”, right?

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

“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

FBS fights screen scrapers to protect MLS data

Flexmls IDX: First to Gain Security Against Screen Scrapers

“In 2013, Clareity Consulting Chief Technologist, Matt Cohen wrote a blog that laid out the need for an industry-wide solution with important criteria for evaluating solutions available. In the end, he announced Distil Networks met that very specific criteria and endorsed them as a preferred partner for industry professionals seeking protection from screen scraping.

Here at FBS, we’re focused on delivering the very best product supported by world class service. Naturally, providing the highest level of security is part of that equation. To this end, we’re proud to be the first MLS provider to implement Distil’s powerful product as an extra security layer protecting Flexmls IDX websites.”

What I like about this is the industry collaboration aspect. Matt at Clareity has been banging the security drum for awhile now. Nice to see an MLS vendor is listening and take the lead on this. Gives me hope that more best practices will be implemented. Great win for Distil as well.

Recommendation to MLS Policy – November 2014

Good breakdown from Matt…

Recommendation to MLS Policy – November 2014

“While attending RESO meetings last week in Las Vegas, I heard that the RETS standard data dictionary would soon be ratified by RESO, and that the new Web API would be ratified by the middle of 2015. This is great news! While the data dictionary will continue to be improved, even adopting what we have in the data dictionary now will be a big deal, making it far easier for publishers, brokers, and other aggregators of MLS content to build applications and combine content from multiple MLSs. But, without adoption of these standards at the local level, this great promise will go unfulfilled. So, it is with great pleasure that I share the following information:”

Homes.com adds MLS direct feeds from 9 MLS providers.

Homes.com Adds Nine Direct MLS Feeds
Consumers visiting Homes.com will see more accurate listing information

“The display agreement provides Homes.com with data from the following MLS organizations: Houston Association of REALTORSÒ, California Regional MLS, MetroList Services (Sacramento area), Southland Regional Association of REALTORS (San Fernando Valley, CA), BAREIS (North San Francisco counties), MLSListings (Monterey to Silicon Valley), Intermountain MLS (Boise, Idaho), MLS Property Information Network (New England), and Midwest Real Estate Data (greater Chicago area).”

Super Impressive. Those are some of the largest and most respected MLS providers in the country. Plus think about the number of listings they have. This is a HUGE deal for Homes.com and win for consumers. If they keep this up their ListHub feeds might be regulated to just smaller MLS markets.

Then there’s this…

“Homes.com is an industry partner with a deep commitment to creating connections between real estate professionals and consumers. We believe that this starts with a direct relationship with local MLSs,” said Brock MacLean, executive vice president of Homes.com. “Through agreements with these nine MLS organizations, more than 200,000 MLS members will now be able to leverage traffic from more than 12.5 million homebuyers who visit Homes.com monthly, better connecting their member agents and brokers with active consumers.”

Riiiiight. It took a super connected dude like Brock McLean to get these deals done.

Zillow as Craigslist

Zillow: The most comprehensive list of real estate for sale in America.

“In addition, we all know that every house is for sale. As a consumer, what better place is there to research homes that are not on the market? It doesn’t matter if the data is perfect. As a consumer, it’s the *best* I can find. Go ahead and tell me the data sucks. I don’t care. My bet is, neither do many of your customers.”

Spot on analysis from Todd. Looks like he doesn’t care to “find it first“. Also, I wonder why he used Zillow in his analysis instead of Trulia?

Agent gets sued, for someones else’s listing on his IDX site.

This is making the rounds and I thought it was interesting enough to post.

Jeff Launiere

“I have found an interesting question has arisen. Can a real estate agent who has an MLS feed, be sued for a listing with illegal language in the listing, even if that listing is not that agents? Up until recently I would have said no.

However, last year I had a Federal Lawsuit filed against me for violations of the Fair Housing Act. Apparently, an Independent Fair Housing Tester went to my website, scanned the listings and found one with illegal language in it, then filed a Federal Fair Housing Lawsuit against me.

The lawsuit claims I am the listing agent. I am not, but obviously the Independent Fair Housing Tester believed because all 13,000 plus listings are on my website it must mean they are my listings.

The lawsuit then gives the property address, and I quickly realize that I have never listed a home, or sold a home in that city. So I contact my Broker, and then the company attorney. I send all documentation showing that I have nothing to do with this listing, and forward the actual listing, which shows who the listing agent is.”


Big mistake right? Now lets enter the Twilight Zone….

“I am told to ignore the lawsuit and they will handle everything, and will work to get the lawsuit against me dismissed.

It seemed that the lawsuit would be invalid, since the lawsuit says I am the listing agent, but I am not. It says that the wording in my listing, which said “Adults Only, No Children Under 16 Allowed,” has caused the Independent Fair Housing Tester pain, suffering and she will have to live through a lifetime of embarrassment. Since it is not my listing, and I never used these words, obviously I am not liable.

Suddenly this week I get a call from the Company Attorney who tells me the lawsuit is being settled, and she will send me the documents for me to sign. So I ask some questions.

So my name has been removed from the lawsuit? No.

There must be something in there clearing me of responsibility? No.

There will be no fee to me, right? Well the attorney fee will be paid by the E&O Insurance Company, and the settlement will be $5,000.

I will not have to pay any of the $5,000 correct? She said you need to call your office to find out if you have to pay a deductible.

So I call my office and they tell me I will be responsible for a $5,000 deductible. How convenient. The settlement is for $5,000 and the amount I will be required to pay is $5,000 all for language in a listing that is not even mine. So I get a $5,000 penalty, but the listing agent gets off without any penalty, or even a violation.”

His whole post is wort a read and he also has a few updates.

[Thx Russ.]

UPDATE 3.12.13 Lawsuit Dismissed.

“A bit later there was a new post by Laurie Janik, stating that the lawsuit against me had been dismissed. As I had received over 1,500 emails, and the phone never stopped ringing all weekend, but especially yesterday, I checked my voice mails and found the message from her, sharing this great news.”

CRMLS chooses Real Estate Digital’s reDataVault

California Regional MLS (CRMLS) Selects Real Estate Digital’s reDataVault

“reDataVault addresses the real estate industry’s pressing need to simplify, standardize and streamline the MLS listing data licensing process by offering a document workflow system for all licensing-related documents and contracts (e.g., IDX and broker participation agreements). The system also offers automated dashboard alerts and unlimited cloud-based document storage and retrieval for 24/7 access.”

Nice win for everyone at RED. Congrats!

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