Upstream Revealed

As many of you know, WAV Group has been working with a group of brokers and franchises for more than a year on a project called Upstream. Today, Upstream is a corporation with one of the strongest board of directors in our industry. It has been an honor to work with the board along with the CIOs and CTOs of their corporations to define the Upstream application and talk to enterprise level technology firms who have the capacity to deliver such an enormous solution. Until now, very little information has been shared openly across the industry. Until the company’s governance [...]

Getting The Word Out Through Agents

WAV Group works with a number of different company types. We work with large brokerage and franchise organizations, technology firms, MLSs, and Associations of REALTORS. Our specialty is enterprise strategy and enterprise systems. For a long time now, we have seen our customer segments struggle with communications. “Agents Don’t Read” The chief complaint with communications in our industry is that agents don’t read. At WAV Group Communications we call that stinking thinking. Agents do read, but only things that they consider to be important to them. Most communications strategies are deployed through bulk email with open rates that rarely go [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:33-07:00October 15th, 2015|Broker Technology Research, Main category|0 Comments

Understanding the MRIS-TREND Project

The highlight topic for the CMLS conference last week was the overview provided by Tom Phillips, President and CEO of TREND; Gene Millman, TREND Board Chair and David Charron, President and CEO of MRIS on their shared vision for bringing their two regional MLSs together. The keynote for me is that these organizations and their boards of directors started with a clean whiteboard. Nothing was held back from the development of the strategy, including dissolving both companies. The two organizations do not have the answers yet, but they are on the path to figuring it out. Why would they do [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:33-07:00October 14th, 2015|Main category, MLS Insights|3 Comments

Better Market Reports

Graphs, Actives, Pendings, Recently sold, yadda, yadda. I have been reviewing the market reports across a variety of brokerages recently. They all seem to be missing the same little touch of information – an AVM. What Is A Market Report? The definition of a market report is hard to pin down. They are automated reports that tend to change based upon the state of the consumer. If the consumer is actively looking to buy or sell, the market report is like a listing alert. If the consumer is not in the market, the market report is like a stock portfolio [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:33-07:00October 13th, 2015|Broker Technology Research, Main category|0 Comments

Brokers Must Immediately Audit Mobile

Mobile traffic is 50% for most brokers today. Sadly, the mobile solution that you purchased a year or two ago is probably behind the times. Not only does your website need to be “responsive” to any mobile browser, but you'd better have a damn good app too. The first thing that you should do is try it. Make sure that you download your app, and use it every time you need to look up something on property. Moreover, be sure to use the mobile browser. This consumer experience is lost on most brokerage operating principles. The second thing to do [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:33-07:00October 12th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment

Quarterbacking the adoption of the RESO Data Dictionary

An inside look with the Workgroup’s Chair, Rob Larson of CRMLS By Jeremy Crawford He’s at the helm of what has been hailed as real estate’s “Rosetta Stone.” Rob Larson, the Chief Information Officer of the nation’s largest Multiple Listing Service, CRMLS, chairs the RESO Data Dictionary Workgroup. The Workgroup is responsible for the real estate industry’s new and growing set of property data listing standards, which is quickly approaching the NAR mandated deadline of January 1, 2016 for Data Dictionary adoption. Larson and CRMLS are testaments to the old adage “Practice what you preach.” At CRMLS, Rob has lead [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:33-07:00October 8th, 2015|Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Industry Veteran, Rich Igou, Named Solutions Architect for the WOLFconnect Division of Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies

CAMBRIDGE, ON (OCTOBER 7, 2015) – Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies, the North American leader in real estate solutions and services, announces the appointment of Rich Igou as the Solutions Architect for their office productivity platform, WOLFconnect. WOLFconnect integrates listing data from associations and real estate boards into the front and back office components of nearly 10,000 real estate brokerages in North America. “Rich joining our technology team is part of our strategic growth plan and continued investment in the eco-system of technology, partners and real estate boards that integrate with the Complete Enterprise Solution,” says Rob Overman, Chief Technology [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 8th, 2015|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

Heading to CMLS? Know your BBQs

It was Wilbert Harrison in 1959 who sang “Kansas City, here I come, I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City, here I come . . . I'm gonna be standing on the corner 12th Street and Vine, With my Kansas City baby and a bottle of Kansas City wine…” (song is here) I don’t know about Harrison, but I’m going to Kansas City for CMLS and some barbecue. If you’re going to Kansas City too, I thought you might want to brush up on your barbecue. So I did a little research on the different types of BBQ, because I [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Main category|0 Comments

7 Things every executive must know before taking questions from reporters

One thing that most executives are not trained for is talking to reporters. Some have a natural talent for it, but most learn the hard way. Having spent more than 25 years coaching executives on how to best work with reporters, here are the seven most important thing that all executives must know before they talk to the press. Getting ready The first thing to remember when a reporter calls is that most of them are writing on a deadline. Even though you may have sent them the material days ago, and they may have already contacted you with a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Main category, Our Services|0 Comments

MLS As A Communication Tool

Years ago, real estate agents gathered for breakfast with wrinkled sheets of paper culled from notes that took at listing presentations. Of course, they were not listing presentations at the time. It was more like a walk around the place. Someone in the area, often a relative or a neighbor, was trusted for selling property. There were not a lot of transactions then. Many families homesteaded their land, like my great grandfather. Today the decedents of that family occupy that property, subdivided as necessary to provide homes for grown children. Real estate information is something that people knew long before [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Main category, MLS Insights|4 Comments

Brokers need full data transparency and unified standards, not self reporting

The room was filled with brokers, eager to hear how the real estate industry is beginning to make great strides in wrangling Big Data to the benefits of everyone: Brokers, agents and consumers. The three panelists on stage represented a broad spectrum of the industry: Rainy Hake, a well respected brokerage leader who oversees the Technology, Marketing, Training and Strategy departments for Alain Pinel Realtors; Trent Gardner, the CEO of ListTrac, known as the “Google Analytics for Listings;” and Jeremy Crawford, the dynamic MLS leader who heads up RESO (Real Estate Standards Organization) and the chief evangelist for the Data [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Broker Technology Research, Main category|0 Comments

WAVes of Change Update

Our third installment of our quarterly webinar series called WAVes of Change is set for October 21st. The purpose of the WAVes of Change Series is designed to help Associations and MLSs across North America make well-informed decisions that will help propel their organizations forward. It is designed to keep your team up to speed without having to travel to multiple events around the country spending significant time and money. The primary topic for this session will be a wrap up of the Council of MLS meetings along with updates on new benchmarking strategies and industry projects like Upstream and [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Main category, Our Services|0 Comments