This is the ad on the back of the latest edition of REALTOR Magazine.
Priceless
It’s raining APIs
Now, along with AMP, two others have joined the fray. Zillow and CoreLogic. Zillow with its Retsly Connect initiative and CoreLogic with its Trestle initiative. So since a big component of these initiatives is to target software developers to make cool stuff, and I happen to run a software company that makes cool stuff I thought I would give a quick run down of the pros and cons of each.
AMP
PROS:
Owned by NAR. RPRs effort to provide a back-end database to MLS providers has announced they have MLS providers representing over 200,000 agents interested in AMP. That’s a lot of agents, and as a software company I like the size of that market.
CONS:
Owned by NAR. Nobody that I know have has seen any API documentation, and it still isn’t clear how the revenue model would work for 3rd party software developers integrating with AMP.
Zillow’s Retsly Connect
PROS:
Owned by Zillow. Sexy technology, we used their Public Records API in Cloud Streams and were impressed. Retsly Connect looks equally cool, and lots of bells and whistles I think MLS providers would like (which is why I think Bob Hale signed up).
CONS:
Owned by Zillow. They have a chicken and egg problem. They currently have only 6 MLS providers signed up (and I think a third of them are in Canada). So, they are going to need to get some sort of traction for developers to write for the platform, but also need more coverage to entice developers to do so.
CoreLogic’s Trestle
PROS:
Big company. Knows data. They have over 300 MLS databases. Some of them the largest MLS providers in the country. That a HUGE market potential. If the Spark API provided the “long tail” MLS markets, CoreLogic would provide the freaking Elephant.
CONS:
Big company. Not launching until Q3 of this year. No API info, no revenue model announced.
For the record our plans at W+R Studios is to be platform agnostic and make our products work on any platform our customers want. But, I still want to give
a couple words of advice:
1. Try and stay away from an App Store model. I’ve been a big proponent of an “Agent App Store” in the past but it has been very brutal to get agents to change their purchasing behavior. Maybe in the post “front end of choice” world things might change, but that’s a big if.
2. Your initiative must include data access rights AND permission to sell. Make it an opt-out for MLS providers. One without the other will not scale. If I build something fast and it takes 6 months to get approval from your MLS committee to sell it, then these initiatives are essentially worthless.
In the end competition is a good thing. I think the next few years are going to be very exciting times for real estate technology. Sometimes all it takes is just a spark.
Modern Family and N.A.R.
Kudos to N.A.R. for this great product placement in Modern Family. So good!
More on this at ADWEEK
The National Association of Realtors Finds Its Perfect Pitchman in Modern Family Dad The integration explains the need for a real estate agent.
“We have done only a handful of integrations because they tend to be intrusive and frankly make the show look like it’s selling out,” Christopher Lloyd, co-executive producer of Modern Family, told Adweek. “This was actually one of the easier ones we’ve done, since it lent itself to a joke. Phil is bemoaning his career choice as a Realtor, and it’s his Realtor skills that ultimately save the day.”
Lloyd said he wouldn’t have approved the concept, “if it seemed like we were just wedging in a pro-Realtor’s Association testimonial. We only agreed to do it when we thought of a way to actually use the distinction between what a (NAR-certified) Realtor is and what a real-estate agent is in a funny way.”
Hanlon’s razor
“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
Seems appropriate this week.
UtahRealEstate.com now has over 94% of Utah’s REALTORS
UtahRealEstate.com Welcomes REALTORS® from Carbon and Emery Counties
UtahRealEstate.com, Utah’s largest regional Multiple Listing Service, recently welcomed the Carbon Emery Chapter of the Utah Central Association of REALTORS® to its MLS on February 23, 2016. This consolidation makes UtahRealEstate.com one of the most comprehensive statewide MLSs in the nation, serving approximately 94% of Utah’s REALTORS®.”
Pretty amazing stat. I know a lot of other MLS execs would love to see this.
Stefon reviews…
via @huze
REach is looking for a few good women
Reach ™ | Accelerating Real Estate
“We have decided to extend our final application deadline to March 15 and we have a special favor to ask you: of the hundreds of companies that applied for REach 2015, one noticeable group of applicants was missing: women! Only two female-led companies applied. “
This is legit. If you are or know of anyone give Constance at NAR’s Second Century Ventures a call.
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:”
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.
NAR double downs on RPR.
NAR will dip into reserves as RPR funding boosted to $22 million per year
Andrea Brambila for Inman News:
“Since 2009, NAR has spent $85 million on RPR, including $19 million in expenditures last year alone, according to NAR Finance Committee reports. By the end of 2014, the trade group will have spent $98.9 million on RPR, an amount that is projected to rise to $120.8 million by the end of 2015 and $142.7 million by the end of 2016.”
Almost 100 million dollars? What happens when you login to RPR, do you shit gold?
“RPR provides property information and data tools to all Realtors, but its business model originally assumed that the venture would become self-sustaining by 2012 by selling analytics products such as property valuations to lenders and government agencies. In the four years since its launch, RPR has struggled to make money, generating a total of $586,270 in revenue from analytics as of December 2013.”
$586,270 – $100,000,000 is a loss of -$994,137,730. Yup, sounds about right.
“The NAR Finance Committee approved net reductions to reserves in order to provide members with “exciting new and enhanced programming.”
Someone famous once said, if you are in a hole and want to get out, the first thing you do is stop digging.
“She said RPR will also use the funding “to add additional data sources, such as walkability scores, support the release of RPR’s mobile application for iPhone and Android (currently being tested), and enhance the RPR platform to include new user-requested features and advanced functionality.”
Just of the record, I pay less than $400 per month for Walkability scores in Cloud CMA. The fact they even mention this speaks volumes.
“NAR expects its 2015 operating budget will consist of $154.8 million in gross revenue and program expenses of $158.9 million. RPR is by far the program with the biggest budget.”
The National Association of REALTORS is not a technology company, but RPR has the biggest budget? Someone is getting rich here.
