Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

ShowingTime launches MarketView, new product for Brokers to help with recruiting and market knowledge.

ShowingTime Introduces MarketView Broker, a Browser-Based Application for Brokers to Recruit Top Performers and Determine Market Share

“We believe MarketView Broker will become an essential tool for brokers to recruit top agents, gain market share, have a deeper knowledge of the markets they serve and provide a clear competitive advantage in a highly competitive marketplace,” said ShowingTime President Michael Lane.
“It can be accessed on any device from anywhere, and will be available to customers and prospective customers looking to grow their presence in the 300+ markets where ShowingTime offers services.”

I’ve always been impressed with ShowingTime. They are doing a lot of things right and you can tell there is a lot of thinking from the top down. Here’s a few observations.

1. They invest in themselves – They’ve made some savvy acquisitions to increase market share of their core product ShowingTime.

2. They made their data an asset – They are creating a proprietary dataset based on the data they collect through their own products. Their ShowingTime Showing Index tracks the average number of buyer showings on active residential properties on a monthly basis.

3. They give their customers better ways to leverage their data. – They are also creating (or acquiring) other products that leverage that data with products like MarketStats, and now MarketShare.

A couple small quibbles – Their UI, mostly on their MLS product, and having an API (iframes are not cutting it anymore). While I think they are doing a good job in data visualization in reports, I think that some focus on UI would really pay a lot of dividends. And making it easier for developers to access their data (via an API) for other apps would only increase its value.

Triangle MLS selects ShowingTime

TRIANGLE MLS, INC. SELECTS THE SHOWINGTIME APPOINTMENT CENTER

““ShowingTime’s advanced technology will be a great resource for our subscribers,” said Tessa Hultz, CEO at TMLS. “The ShowingTime Appointment Center is a service that aligns with our vision to provide subscribers with the most innovative tools available. We’ve been using MarketStats from ShowingTime for several years and have greatly benefited from the predictive analytics it provides, which will now include showing data for our market area. It just made sense to select ShowingTime.”

ShowingTime’s showing-related products and services – which improve efficiency by streamlining the appointment scheduling process – are used to schedule more than four million showings per month in 190+ MLSs across the U.S. and Canada representing 900,000+ real estate professionals.”

And according to the press release this is the 33rd MLS they signed up just this year for its showing management and market stats product. Super impressive. Hats off to Mike and his team.

LIBOR and BNAR implement RealSafe

LIBOR and BNAR getting serious about REALTOR(R) safety

The Long Island Board of REALTORS® and the Buffalo Niagara Association of REALTORS® are joining the growing list of libor_logoMultiple Listing Services and REALTOR® associations deploying the Real Safe Agent system, which includes the Northern Ohio Regional Multiple Listing Service and the Fort Smith Board of REALTORS®. “Staying safe means preventing a crime, not reacting to one. So, when I presented the Real Safe Agent system to my BOARD, we knew we needed to purchase the system for our members”, stated Dave Legaz, President of LIBOR. “As a former NYPD Sergeant, it’s clear to me that Real Safe Agent understands both REALTOR® and criminals; and allows the agents to prevent a crime without jeopardizing a sale.”

Good to see Lee and Susan making progress on this. Also check out this post about The Beverly Carter Foundation.

FBS doubles MLS user base

FBS Doubles Real Estate MLS Customer Base to 200,000+ in Four YearsFlexmls System Fuels Company’s Record Growth

Michael Wurzer, who is celebrating his 20th year as CEO at FBS, says, “I’m proud of the growth we’ve experienced welcoming in so many new customers while fostering deeper partnerships with existing customers — many of whom have been with us for more than 20 years.” FBS’s growth is further bolstered by a client attrition rate that’s less than 1 percent — an unprecedented accomplishment for a technology company in any industry. “We’ve set some impressive benchmarks and we’re definitely looking forward to the next twenty years,” Wurzer added. He expressed that FBS’s notable growth is the result of FBS being an employee-owned company focused on serving its customers.

“…less than 1 percent”. That’s beyond impressive. Congrats to all the owners of FBS.

If you missed my conversation with Michael Wurzer on Listing Bits you listen to it on iTunes.

FBS taps AgentSquared as solution for its Broker Services Team

FBS Broker Agent Services Team to Offer AgentSquared180,000 Realtors Gain Access to Instant IDX Websites

“With an AgentSquared IDX website powered by the Spark API, Flexmls users can register their domain and have a beautiful, live IDX website in minutes that’s modern, branded, mobile-responsive and integrated with their Flexmls contacts (so they don’t have to manually enter lead information from their AgentSquared website into their Flexmls CRM). Because the listing data is coming from a real time API, any changes to the listing record are reflected instantly on AgentSquared websites so consumers have the freshest and most comprehensive listing information possible.”

I’ve been meaning to write about Troy and his company, AgentSquared, for sometime now. It’s really the first API only solution I’ve been impressed with. You have to see it to understand that when they say an “instant IDX website” it really is that simple, and instant. The brilliant part about this solution is the way AgentSquared leverage the API data for setup. I don’t think that has been talked about much.

The only caveat is that things are much quicker and simpler with FBS’ Spark API platform which has agent info in their API and handles both the data and permissioning. That doesn’t mean that an MLS provider with an API could grant that permission for the product as part of the solution.

The MLS™ touts strong customer satisfaction numbers

The MLS™ 2016 Customer Survey Reveals Increased Overall SatisfactionShare Article

“Overall satisfaction with The MLS™ has grown in the past year, with 89% of members reporting satisfaction, compared to a satisfaction rating of 83% in 2015.
The survey results also reveal that 97% of members feel The MLS™ meets their needs, compared to 94% in 2015. Among other key findings, 95% of members would recommend The MLS™ to a colleague or friend.

Further, the 2016 results imply that member feel that The MLS™ provides them with increased value for their money when compared to 2015 results. In 2016, 92% of members reported feeling extremely or somewhat satisfied with the value of The MLS™ for their money, as compared to 66.65% in 2015. The MLS™ offers numerous complimentary tools to members including Property Websites/Virtual Tours, Cloud CMA, 10K Infosparks, RatePlug and more, along with support through various channels such as a Help Desk, a compliance team, hands-on classes, Webinars and more.”

The real estate in The MLS™/CLAW’s territory is some of the most expensive in the world and its no easy task keeping those brokers satisfied. Kudos to Annie and her team for these impressive results.

CLAW’s has been working on upgrading their existing MLS software to something totally new. This and other “home grown” MLS systems, including IRES and RMLS Portland were featured in a recent article by Matt Cohen called, “MLS: Homegrown and Happy“. In this post Matt listed out the main reasons these MLS providers have chosen to go this route.

-Vendors can be difficult to work with. Most of them have gone through periods where they are less than optimally responsive to enhancement requests and even to bug-fix requests.
-Vendors are acquired by a company that doesn’t provide the same level of service.
-Vendors go out of business (though all the current major vendors are quite stable!)
-Vendors ‘retire’ well-liked systems
-Licensing a shared code-base can mean waiting months or years for enhancement requests – or the vendor may just say, “No.”

“Well-liked”. High praise indeed. : )

Listingbook and RLS2000 now part of new firm, Elm Street Technology

Elm Street Technology Poised for Growth, Launches Elevate for Real Estate

“Two best-in-class acquisitions, including one of the most established real estate marketing brands used by millions of consumers — Listingbook, has catapulted Elm Street Technology into the real estate industry spotlight. Headed by a team of well-known real estate industry entrepreneurs, Prem Luthra and Randall Kaplan, Elm Street Technology today launches Elevatetm, a new Digital Marketing System that uses advanced automation to move Elm Street Technology towards delivering “everything real estate agents and brokers need for new leads and client-for-life retention, all in one place.”

Lots to chew on here. I’ve always thought Listingbook had a lot of promise but was hampered by a flawed (and ever changing) business model and poor design. That being said, they have a large MLS footprint and I know some agents have sworn by it. I’ve never heard of “RL2000“. Reading the press release I’m not sure if both brands/products are going away and now becoming “Elevate”, or what. If that’s the case then it sounds like MLS permissioning nightmare.

“According to Luthra, Elm Street Technology is in the process of rolling up other successful technology and marketing services companies. “We will be able to deliver everything a broker or agent needs from lead generation, to customer for life retention solutions,” he says.

I wonder who’s next?

This “roll up” strategy is interesting, others have tried with mixed success. I think it all comes down to the fit of the products and people. Ideally playing to each others strengths while complementing any shortfalls.

I also respect Prem for getting in to the mix again. Pulling something like this off isn’t easy and will be full of challenges. Having people in this industry that aren’t afraid of hard work and have a strong entrepreneurial spirit is what makes this industry so great. Best of luck to Prem, Randall and Todd.

Boston Logic has a few things up their sleeve.

New Real Estate Marketing Solution Delivers Tech Plus TalentAce by Boston Logic Fills Resource Gap For Agent Teams and Boutique Brokerages

“Boston Logic (http://www.bostonlogic.com), the technology platform that powers enterprise brokerages nationwide, announced the launch of Ace (http://ace.bostonlogic.com), a powerful technology solution that ties together a brokerage or team’s website, online lead generation, lead routing/follow up, CRM and online marketing, while also providing a skilled marketing person who can help drive these initiatives and campaigns.

Ace is tailored for agent teams and boutique brokerage companies, who often lack a dedicated staff person to lead their online marketing programs.

“Through many years of working with brokerages, we’ve learned that one of the biggest obstacles that brokers and teams face is having the staff to help drive the technology in which they invest,” said David Friedman, founder and CEO of Boston Logic.

“We designed Ace to include marketing support because we want to provide not only great technology, but impactful outcomes, even when the brokerage or team doesn’t have the full time staff to do so in-house,” Friedman said.

Boston Logic is doing a great series of presentations at ICSF next week in what they are calling the “MarTech Salon“.

On Wednesday Tuesday at 11am I’ll be speaking with David Friedman, CEO of Boston Logic, on “Building an RE Tech Company”

You can see Tuesday’s full schedule here: http://sched.co/7qr9

You can see Wednesday’s full schedule at: http://sched.co/7ktS

Thursday’s schedule is also pretty strong.

At 8:30am Alex Lange, newly appointed CEO of Upstream will tell us “The Truth about Upstream”

At 2:15pm Errol, Curt and Jonathan Bednarsh (president of Onboard) will answer “What does the future look like for the MLS?”

You can see Thursday’s full schedule at : http://sched.co/7mta

CoreLogic’s Trestle nominated for Inman Innovator Award

Chris Bennett

CoreLogic Nominated for INMAN Real Estate Innovation Award

“We’re honored to be nominated for this prestigious award,” said Chris Bennett, general manager of real estate solutions for CoreLogic. “Helping multiple listing organizations achieve RESO certification was the catalyst for developing Trestle, but the vision has become so much more. For multiple listing organizations, Trestle provides data standardization, distribution control, contract management, and fee processing. We’re already in discussions with several third parties who want to deliver their content via the Trestle marketplace and API. For brokers, Trestle offers a single source for all their listing data, as well as access to unique CoreLogic property content that the big portals don’t have. For technology providers, Trestle provides access to a national data source and the opportunity for greater innovation. The idea is to make working with real estate data easier than it’s ever been.”

Congrats to CoreLogic on this nomination. I still think adding some sort of permissioning default would make it a homerun.

Cloud MLX -Bringing sexy back

mlx blog image

Yours truly…

W+R Studios launches Cloud MLX, an alternative front end to existing MLS systemsNew product can also serve as a hub for existing products, Cloud CMA and Cloud Streams.

“Greg Robertson, W+R Studios co-founder, stated “Real estate professionals can’t do business without access to MLS data, yet most traditional MLS systems are difficult to use and hard to navigate. We believe MLS members deserve more choices.”

Cloud MLX is designed to get agents up and running and searching the MLS with little or no training. It’s intuitive search bar, mapping, and the use of hashtags gives MLS members better tools to connect with other agents and work smarter with clients.

Super proud of the W+R Studios design and development team. The product is amazing. Cloud MLX follows what we always strive for in our software; simple, fast and beautiful. Here’s one of our on-boarding videos highlighting searching.

We are up and running in CRMLS and would love to add your MLS. We will be giving demos at NAR Midyear this week. Please get in touch with Katie if you want to schedule a demo (during or after the convention).

This release is just the beginning. I can’t wait to show all of you what we believe is going to be a great asset to your MLS.

Sponsored By Paragon Connect