Got my hands on an Apple Vision Pro and made a quick video to see how Cloud CMA worked on the new headset. And guess what? It works! Check out the video below.
Realcomp brings back TransactionDesk
Realcomp heads into 2024 with new MLS subscriber benefits from Lone Wolf Technologies
“In partnership with Lone Wolf Technologies (“Lone Wolf”), Realcomp is announcing expanded MLS subscriber benefits as the new year approaches. Beginning in December 2023, Realcomp will once again provide the agent edition of Lone Wolf Transactions (TransactionDesk Edition) (“Transactions”) and many connected digital tools, including digital forms, document storage, mobile access, single sign-on, and one-click access to MLS subscribers as a complimentary benefit, building on their existing access to Lone Wolf Authentisign. Through this partnership, Realcomp continues to demonstrate a dedication to providing MLS subscribers with access to industry-leading solutions, designed to support real estate professionals in meeting the demands of any market.”
Lone Wolf
Docs minus?
Lone Wolf gets Better
Lone Wolf invites mortgage lenders onto its broker-agent tech platform
“More than 30 technology companies are already integrated with Transactions, offering services including rental screening, earnest money deposit, commission advances, disclosures, home warranty, home insurance and moving services through the Lone Wolf Marketplace.
Better will be the first mortgage lender to have the same opportunity, with Loan Wolf planning to onboard additional mortgage partners over the next several months.
“Adding this integration to Transactions will bring our customers even more value in their trusted transaction management solution,” Lone Wolf CEO Jimmy Kelly said, in a statement. “When agents and brokers have everything they need for their client experience in one place, they can quickly capitalize on opportunities, cross every T, and dot every I along the way.”
Matt Carter, Inman News
Great to see all the pieces falling in to place. Lone Wolf is way ahead with their marketplace and has the product adoption to show their partners real value.
Listing Bits Episode 85: A Less, But Better Approach to Real Estate Software Design – with Damien Huze of Lone Wolf Technologies
Among Dieter Rams’ Ten Principles of Design is the idea that good design is as little design as possible.
Less, but better.
And Damien Huze believes that the next evolution of real estate software will apply this concept, offering fewer high-quality apps that work together in a fluid system.
Damien is Senior Design Manager and Principal Designer at Lone Wolf Technologies, a software company working to build an end-to-end solution for real estate.
Damien served as Chief Design Officer at W+R studios before the Lone Wolf acquisition, and he is responsible for the design of Cloud CMA, one of the most popular apps in real estate.
On this episode of Listing Bits, Damien explains how making design a priority benefits companies building web-based apps and why he defines design as a skill aimed at problem-solving.
Damien describes how Lone Wolf is working to combine the tools of proptech into a single streamlined experience and shares his team’s user-centric approach to the problem of simplifying real estate.
Listen in for insight on the power of relentless focus and learn about Damien’s vision for designing real estate software that delivers more with less.
What’s Discussed:
What Damien learned from growing up with creative parents who immigrated to the US
How making design a priority benefits companies building web-based apps (and why so few do it)
How Damien thinks about design as a skill aimed at problem-solving
What Lone Wolf is doing to bring several real estate apps together in a single end-to-end solution
Why Damien believes the next evolution in real estate software is ‘less but better’
Lone Wolf’s upcoming announcement at the T3 Technology Summit
What it means for good software to have an opinion vs. being too flexible or customizable
How Damien’s team brings a user-centric, design thinking approach to simplifying real estate
Greg and Damien’s take on the advantage of simple tools that get the job done
The well-designed product that’s had the biggest impact on Damien’s life
Why relentless focus boosts productivity and how Damien applies that tenet to design
Connect with Damien Huze:
Resources:
Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Design
Our Sponsors:
Less software?
Next week Lone Wolf Technologies will reveal its new platform at the T3 Technology Summit, and I’m super excited about it. Why? Let me tell you a story.
At W+R Studios we were bootstrapped, so we needed to grow organically. Our product strategy centered around making core features of an MLS system better.
CMAs on MLS systems suck? Let’s make a better one. Enter Cloud CMA.
MLS system’s client portals and listing alert emails are ugly. Let’s make them pretty (and easier to use). Voilà , Cloud Streams.
Searching on MLS systems too complicated? Let’s make something simple. Boom, Cloud MLX!
The problem was two fold. In order to grow we needed to add new products (more software) and at the end of the day is that we had 3 different software apps, each of them great in their own right, but they didn’t really work together. Also if you wanted all three you had to buy each one separately, and have 3 separate logins, and 3 separate onboarding scenarios, 3 different times you entered a credit card number, and 3 separate…you get the point.
We solved most of this by creating the “Cloud Agent Suite“, but really only scratched the surface of what was possible, then we were acquired in December 2020.
So this problem of “simplifying real estate” has been on the minds of our (W+R) design team for a very long time. How do we bring all of this together to create an end to end solution that makes sense, and still grow? Can “less software” be the answer?
Turns that the problem was about to get bigger. Starting in 2020 Lone Wolf acquired 5 companies in 9 months (including W+R); HomeSpotter, LionDesk, Terradatum and Propertybase. Now you had 9 (at least) separate logins, 9 separate… you get the point.
When I left Lone Wolf I was starting to see the green shoots of this work. Most of it on the backend led by Sean Wheeler, Lone Wolf’s CTO. One login, one credit card, one database of contacts for all products, etc. Jimmy Kelly, Lone Wolf’s CEO, talked about their effort and the concept of “less software” on a post on Inman News titled “Real Estate Doesn’t Need More Software“. I was also privy to see some of the earlier mock ups from the design group, which were super impressive.
But, like any good meal it all comes down to ingredients. Lone Wolf from my estimation has the best ingredients in the market. The products they acquired (and the teams behind them) are not only best of class but have high adoption rates and great partnerships. Now it comes down to presentation and taste. And I have full confidence in the design chops of the team behind this. I had a chance to interview, Damien Huze, who was W+R’s Chief Design Officer and now a principal designer at Lone Wolf on my Listing Bits podcast which should drop this week.
Am I biased? Absolutely. Am I still a fan of simple focused software applications? You betcha. But I’m a bigger fan of people. So I look forward to seeing how this particular group of talented people proves less software is better.
Listing Toolkit review with Cloud CMA integration
“Listing Toolkit is a resource for agents to attract more seller clients and uncover buyers seeking their homes, among other benefits. It’s for those with Realtor.com Pro accounts and has a full integration with Lone Wolf’s Cloud CMA to quickly build dynamic presentations that can be juxtaposed with a wide range of buyer traffic data to demonstrate demand across the entire Realtor.com coverage area. It enables quick property advertising campaigns and allows for self-promotion and branding using Realtor.com’s UpNest product suite, which allows for paid increases in reach. Overall, the experience is supported by a modern, consumer-facing UI and should pose little challenge to learn. It could be a nice value-add to the tech stack of agents with reasonable marketing budgets, and a good use of time for small, tech-forward brokerages and teams with marketing staff.
Craig Rowe for Inman News
Good write up from Craig. As I’ve written about before I think the realtor.com team did a great job with Lone Wolf with the integration.
Lone Wolf execs recognized in latest HousingWire Insiders list
Realtor.com partners with Lone Wolf to add Cloud CMA integration to its new “Listing Toolkit”
“Realtor.com®‘s Listing Toolkit, which is currently available for purchase across the country, helps agents win and sell listings, from elevating their brand to sellers and identifying matching buyers to promoting listings leveraging Realtor.com®‘s consumer audience. The integration with Cloud CMA means mutual users can add several premium report pages to their CMAs, including Realtor.com® reports with insights into matching buyers and buyer demand to showcase deeper market intelligence to prospective sellers.”
Via PR from Lone Wolf
This was one of the last things I worked on before I left Lone Wolf, and probably the most exciting.
Adding buyer demand data to Cloud CMA reports was just a no-brainer. Doing a listing presentation and ending with, “and I have 5 buyers I could contact right after this that are looking for a house just like yours” is a great way to help agents win more listings.
A couple of things to note. First I was super proud Realtor.com had chosen Cloud CMA. I was told they did a ton of research and in the end it was super obvious that Cloud CMA was the best choice to add as a partner. This is not only a testament to the product itself but all the MLS organizations that have supported Cloud CMA for so many years. Also, I was super impressed with design and development team at Realtor.com. The men and women on these teams were some of the best designers and collaborators I’ve ever worked with. Many thanks to Mohammed, Faisal and the rest of the team.
Lastly I just love the level of partnership here between these two vendors. Having been a part of the process I know that it took a little give and take, but ultimately both sides can be really proud of the work.
RIP Lorne Wallace
“A chartered accountant by trade, and the third generation of his family to be involved in real estate, Lorne founded Lone Wolf in 1989. Through a combination of passion, innovation, and sheer will, Lorne grew the company into the leading software provider for the residential real estate industry in North America. His vision for Lone Wolf guides us to this day.”
Lorne was a force of nature. He was an incredibly shrewd and talented businessman. Anyone who has been in this businesss long enough has a few “Lorne stories”, I have a couple myself. While our paths never crossed once W+R Studios was acquired by Lorne’s company, Lone Wolf (he had already left the business and board), I can see everyday the impact he made in people’s live. My greatest sympathies to his family and friends.
MLS PIN partners with Lone Wolf for Integrated MLS Digital Advertising Solution
“With this partnership, MLS PIN will integrate Boost into Pinergy’s Listings Manager and Tools page. This will allow MLS PIN’s more than 45,000 customers to create and launch digital ads to market their listings and agent profiles immediately through Boost, with their listing data channeling directly from Pinergy into the advertising solution for faster and easier ad creation.”
I’m really excited to talk about this new integration we just announced with MLS PIN. Boost is a drop-dead simple way for real estate agents to advertise their listings on top websites and social media. Major franchisors and large brokerages have been using this integration with their back-end systems for years now with great success.
MLS PIN is the first MLS organization in the country to bring this to their own MLS system Pinergy. Their members can go straight from inputting a listing right to that listing showing up branded to the agent on top websites and social media sites in just minutes. A huge thanks to MLS PIN CEO, Erminio Grasso for his vision in starting this effort and Aaron Kardell and his team for making it happen.
And last but not least Melissa Lindberg for keeping me and everyone on their toes.
See you at Midyear everyone!
