Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

RPR-RVM-BPP-CHA-CHA-CHA

RPR® and Broker Public Portal Collaborate to Bring RVM® Valuations to Participating Cribio Markets

“The integration brings together two industry-aligned platforms with a shared commitment to accurate data, transparency and consumer trust. BPP, owned by brokers and MLSs, was created to deliver a national consumer home search experience powered by real-time MLS data and guided by Fair Display Guidelines. RPR, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Association of REALTORS®, provides REALTORS® with parcel-centric property data, valuation tools, market insights and client-ready reports.

Through this collaboration, participating MLSs and associations that have partnered with BPP, may authorize the display of RVM® values within their local Cribio-powered consumer experience. RVM®permissions will be controlled by each MLS and enablement will require the appropriate authorization and permissions process between the MLS, BPP and RPR.”

I hadn’t checked out Cribio.com in a while. I have to say they’ve done a nice job with the site. Comparing their respective Listing Detail Pages (LDP) side to side with Zillow, it’s amazing to see how many pixels Zillow dedicates to their “Request a tour” button and ad for “Home Loans” product.

Without the ad space, Cribio is able to show a map of the area and a lot more information on the property.

Right now on Cribio you can search any off-market property and on the upper left of the right column you get a Zestimate button that goes to Zillow. The RVM, I’m told, will be displayed on the page (no clicking). I’ve also heard they might keep the Zestimate as is, and maybe add a third AVM — I believe Homes.com has four.

One other thing I appreciate about Cribio’s LDP is that the right column is scrollable, while the left column of property photos is static. It’s a subjective design choice, but I like it.

Will this RVM integration move the needle on consumer adoption? Probably not. But I do like to see the industry collaboration and some of the cool stuff Dan’s team is working on.

Looking for a new gig?

API Architect – Broker Public Portal

“As an API Architect at Broker Public Portal, you will be leading the creation, deployment, and maintenance of our RESTful APIs based on OData within a serverless cloud architecture. In this critical role, you will be expected to utilize AI tools and techniques to automate coding tasks, improve code quality, and accelerate the development lifecycle.”

To find out about this job and more please visit the Vendor Alley Job Board.

Clareity Security launches all new SSO Dashboard

CLAREITY RELEASED AN ALL NEW SSO DASHBOARD – AND IT’S BETTER THAN EVER

““Clareity’s new dashboard design is modern, mobile responsive and easy to navigate. Launching this new dashboard was a seamless transition for our customers. We’ve received positive feedback,” said Merri Jo Cowen, CEO of MFRMLS.
Clareity brought in design and user experience (UX) experts Iteration Group to ensure the most professional and modern UI and UX. Iteration Group is respected for various clients including Quickbooks, NBC Universal, and Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me – minions!) as well as popular apps Angie’s List and ChowNow. With Iteration Group’s design expertise and Clareity’s knowledge of the real estate industry, the two teams collaborated to create the “dream dashboard” for agents, brokers and other real estate professionals.”

Clareity changed their business model awhile ago, from an “app store”, to a site where agents can find out information about products then request more information. Those leads are then sent directly to the vendor They call this “Discover”. We have been testing this and getting a good amount of leads.

One quibble about this press release and maybe this is just an oversight. But, if you are going to tell how “modern” and “sleek” your new dashboard is, can you at least including a screen shot?

FBS wants real estate developers to spark it up at NAR.

Calling all Real Estate Technology Developers – It’s Time to Light it Up at NAR!

“The Spark Platform is the only way that (approved) real estate technology Developers can plug into 100+ MLSs via a RESO standards-driven listings API with one Terms of Use agreement , no up-front fees and gain product exposure with 100,000+ Agents via an App Store within the Agent’s MLS System.”

Not the post I was expecting to read from reading the title. I thought NAR’s Annual Conference had moved to Colorado.

Apple Pay and subscription based services

apple0132I’ve written about decreasing the “friction” of customers signing up for your products and services. My company still does a lot of transactions at live events (demos and trade shows). I found its much better to close deals at the event and not rely on them signing up when they get home.

To do this we still have to rely on paper order forms.

This is due to mostly crowd control issues. If a single presenter is doing a Cloud Streams demonstration to 40 people in a room there is no easy way for those attendees to sign up for the service asynchronously other than a paper order form.

I see more and more REALTORS coming to events with their digital devices, but filling out an online form by taping on a screen (whether an tablet or iPhone) is still a cumbersome process.

Yesterday Apple announced a brand new service called Apple Pay. They are also releasing an API for developers. With this service you can order online product with the Touch ID button on your iPhone. No forms to fill out, and a receipt is emailed you automatically.

Imagine the scenario at a presentation where after your demo you direct an attendee to a website address and have them click a choice of Monthly or Yearly Plan and then use Touch ID to sign up. That’s it. Boom.

I get goosebumps thinking about it.

NAR announces partnership with Clareity Security.

I heard through the grapevine (do they have grapevines in Arizona?) that last week at the 2015 Leadership Summit Dale Stinton announced a new partnership with Clareity Security, dubbed the “NAR Portlet Project“. Despite the unfortunate name it seems like another big win for Clareity. Clareity will begin implementing NAR Resource Portlets in about 18 to 200 local and state associations in August and September. Which should reach about 100,000 members. The new “Portlets” fit into’s Clareity’s SSO Dashboards.

A lot of members get to their MLS system through their local association’s website but its not clear whether 3rd party vendors participating with Clariety’s App Store will be displayed on this new association dashboards.

Overall I think this is great for NAR. They have a lot of resources that not a lot of members know about (REALTOR University, .Realtor domain name site, MVP member benefits, and of course RPAC). Clareity strategy seems pretty clear, they want their Dashboards to be in front of as many agents as possible. Makes a helluva a lot sense to me.

Eight11 launches full-service agency for MLS companies.

eight-eleven-logoLooks like Tracy Weir has been busy. After leaving Inman News she started a company called Eight11, which does consulting. On the Eight11 blog she has also been doing a great job of reviewing products in the real estate space. Tracy is now focusing her efforts on helping MLS providers with their own product offerings.

She plans on meeting with MLS providers at the CMLS 2013 in Boise this week. I asked her what she sees as opportunities and she replied:

Help launch and market products for technology companies and MLSs. For technology companies, that means positioning, messaging, outreach and full-service marketing communications. For MLSs, that means helping to adequately promote a new product (or repositioning or relaunching an existing product) and then doing all the things we do for technology clients for an MLS’s membership. The goal is to help products that are sold by technology companies get adopted by agents, so if MLSs happen to be in the mix, we can be like an extension of the MLS marketing team to strategize AND get stuff done.

Full service marketing communications: That means putting together all the high level stuff (like a strategic plan, creative ideation, branding, positioning, messaging) and then actually DOING the stuff, like website design, programming, SEO and content, social media campaigns; content marketing; email campaigns; print materials; print and digital advertising; event planning, production and communications; and all the other bric a brac people use to market themselves.

If Eight11 can help sell more products to agents through MLS providers, then we all win.

Clareity Store partnerships will reach 900,000 agents

LPS to offer Clareity app store to 250,000-plus subscribers.

Via Inman News

““The momentum is building every day with MLS operators and the vendor/merchant community. In addition to deploying dozens of regional stores in 2013, we are also adding three to four new merchants and numerous products to the Store’s master catalog each week. My team is looking forward to the Inman Connect conference as the place for us to build new relationships with the vendor community,” Larson added.”

900,000 is huge number!

Webinar – “How to Increase Your Chances of Success with eCommerce”

I sat in on the first one of these webinars that RET put on and was impressed.

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How to Increase Your Chances of Success with eCommerce
Reserve Your Seat Today!

Many MLSs are now considering offering additional products and services to their members.

Come to the RE Technology webinar on Wednesday, May 8th at 11:00 am PDT (2 pm Eastern, 1 pm Central) and learn how to increase your chances of non-dues revenue success with eCommerce.

Learn from Lauren Emery, CEO of IRES MLS, one of the first MLSs to offer eCommerce who will share her early experiences with eCommerce. Also, get a peek at RE Technology’s affordable solutions for eCommerce.

Click here to register now!

At this session you will learn:

What the fundamentals of eCommerce are and what does it take to be profitable
Discuss ways that you can make eCommerce a win/win for your subscribers and the MLS
How to avoid the “build it and they will come” trap
How to determine what products to sell and at what price
Identify ways to attract technology companies and valuable revenue sharing opportunities
How to entice subscribers to visit your store frequently and purchase often
Criteria you can use to evaluate which approach is right for you

Industry Panelists Include:

Lauren Emery, CEO of IRES MLS
Marilyn Wilson, Founding Partner of WAV Group.

What’s an “App”?

It’s not a web app. It’s an app you install from the web.

We received an email…

“I heard about Forecast, but I couldn’t find it in the App Store. How do I get it?”

“You don’t get it from the App Store: just go to http://forecast.io/ on your phone, and you’ll be given instructions on how to download it.”

“Wow, this is great! I didn’t know you could get apps outside the App Store!”

We’ve had conversations like this dozens of times since launching Forecast. They usually comes from people who have an iPhone but aren’t particularly tech savvy, and I’m fairly certain none of them will ever know that Forecast is actually a web app. To them, it’s just an app you install from the web.

Great insight in to the whole native vs. web app debate. You should also check out Forecast, its my favorite weather app and its not available on iTunes.

via @danwoolley

Sponsored By ICE