The MLS Was Built to Protect Your Data. AI Is Its Hardest Test Yet.
For 50 years, the cooperative kept listing data inside a black box. The internet opened the door. AI walked through it. Here is the roadmap back to control.
Serious About Merging? How a Letter of Intent Helps You Take the Next Step
Today, many REALTOR® associations and MLSs are getting serious about merging. They've had some productive conversations, recognize the potential benefits of coming together, and believe they could build a stronger organization by joining forces.
Kendra Murray Takes the Helm at New Mexico’s Largest Local Association and MLS – GAAR and SWMLS
Congratulations to Kendra Murray on her appointment as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Albuquerque Association of REALTORS® (GAAR) and Southwest Multiple Listing Service (SWMLS)! I have had the pleasure of working with Kendra in several of her previous leadership positions, and I could not be happier to see her take on this exciting new opportunity.
Your Listing Data Is Copyrighted. Start Acting Like It.
Nobody disputes that the raw facts of a transaction are not copyrightable. A house exists at an address. It sold for a price on a date. Those are facts, and facts belong to everyone. But an MLS listing is not a pile of facts. It is a curated work. An agent writes a property description that frames the home, chooses which features to emphasize, and crafts language designed to attract buyers. A photographer composes shots, selects angles, edits for light. The MLS compiles all of this into an organized database with fields, taxonomies, and search structures that took decades to build. That is editorial labor, the same kind of labor the court protected in Westlaw's headnotes.
A Family Business Done Right: Peter and Mary Jo Hunt Join the Western New York Business Hall of Fame
Peter and Mary Jo Hunt will be inducted into the Western New York Business Hall of Fame at Buffalo Business First's 10th annual C-Level Awards and Hall of Fame ceremony on Wednesday, October 14, in the Golden Ballroom at The Statler Buffalo, honoring business leaders whose vision and accomplishments have made a lasting impact on the region. As Buffalo Business First put it, the husband and wife team have grown a $100-plus million family business while shaping Western New York through decades of leadership in business and philanthropy. For anyone who knows this industry, the recognition is long overdue.
Want to hire the Best MLS Leaders? Stop Making Them Move.
With fewer MLS organizations and an increasingly limited pool of experienced executives, hybrid and remote work may be one of the smartest recruiting strategies available.
Inside AI – Episode 9 with Meagan Fowler: Why an AI Leader Is Still an AI Skeptic
Inside AI – Episode 9 with Meagan Fowler: Why an AI Leader Is Still an AI Skeptic By Kevin Hawkins What happens when someone helping build AI for the real estate industry admits she still doesn't completely trust it? That's what makes my latest Inside AI guest, Meagan Fowler, Chief Operating Officer of Voiceflip, so interesting. She's spent more than 15 years in technology, co-founded a software company, helped bring new technology into real estate and now works with MLSs and associations deploying AI-powered member support. You might expect someone with that background to be among AI's biggest cheerleaders. Not [...]
eXp’s “MCP First, AI of Choice”
Here's the idea in one sentence: instead of building another AI assistant that agents try once and forget, eXp is opening standardized connections between its platform and the AI assistants agents already use.
Stop Sounding Like Every Other Brokerage in Their Inbox: 8 AI Prompts for Better Recruitment
Every agent you want to recruit is already being recruited. Their inbox is full of messages promising better splits, better tech, better culture. A lot of those messages were written by AI, and most of them sound exactly alike.
Niki Rapattoni Set the Standard
Niki Rapattoni passed away last night. Our prayers go out to her family and all of her employees. Niki was the heart and soul of Rapattoni Corporation, living every day to deliver the legacy of the company she and her husband built.
How REMAX Victory Broker Created His Own AI Operating System
Tyler Morton runs REMAX Victory + Affiliates, just under 200 agents across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. When we talked at the RISMedia CEO & Leadership Exchange, he described an AI strategy I have not heard from any other broker in America. He did not buy an AI platform. He built one.
MRED and NoCoast MLS: A New Model for MLS Collaboration Across State Lines
I love seeing two of my favorite MLSs find new ways to work together across state lines! Les Sulgrove, who leads NoCoast MLS in Iowa, is one of the most passionate and committed MLS leaders in our industry. He is always looking for ways to deliver more value to the brokers and agents he serves.