Blog - Page 166 of 251 - WAV Group Consulting

Choosing the Right Right

Real estate business consulting firms wear a lot of hats. When we are hired, our goal is to serve our clients goals as master - never our own goals. It's a unique mindset. National Association of REALTORS® annual conventions are a keen reminder of this paradigm. In a single day, it was commonplace to speak strategy with technology companies; brokers; Associations of REALTORS® (National, State, Megaboard); Association governed MLS, broker governed MLS, broker owned and governed MLS. Perhaps the only oddity is that there is no example of a broker owned, Association governed MLS. Same Issue, Different Rights I think [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:21-07:00December 18th, 2013|Main category|1 Comment

Jason Raya Joins RE Technology

Arroyo Grande, CA (December 16, 2013) – The real estate technology leaders at RE Technology (www.RETechnology.com) today announced the appointment of Jason Raya as Manager of Business Development. Raya will be maintaining the company's key relationships with advertisers and technology partners and onboarding new companies to the portal. "We're excited to have Jason on board," says Victor Lund, CEO of RE Technology. "It's challenging to find someone who is well-versed in our industry. Jason's real estate and communication expertise will only enhance our ability to support our technology vendor relationships." Raya brings six years of internet marketing and entrepreneurial expertise [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:21-07:00December 17th, 2013|Main category, Press Releases|1 Comment

MOVE and AOL Part Ways

This is probably snooze news, but the agreement between realtor.com and AOL that powers http://realestate.aol.com is going by the wayside. The two companies terminated their agreement mutually. Zillow jumped in and will not get that traffic - so if you publish your listings to Zillow today, they will also appear on realestate.aol.com. Here are the details that were just circulated to the media. When will this agreement end? · December 18, 2013 @8 am PST Why is this relationship ending? · AOL and Move have mutually decided to discontinue our relationship. In 2014, Move will be focused on connecting more directly with [...]

By Victor Lund|2017-12-27T12:56:09-08:00December 16th, 2013|Main category|1 Comment

Some Brokers Really Suck
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Some Brokers Really Suck

Broker-Agent Information, Main category

Some Brokers Really Suck

LoserWAV Group is blessed to work with some excellent brokers. We have never worked for an agent unless it was through their broker. Regardless, we try to keep the agent in clear perspective because agent retention and recruiting are the mantra of the best brokerages in America. Yesterday, I ran across the path of a brokerage that really sucks. Here is the story. A young family with three children struggled with a stay at home mom who nurtured each babe through adolescence and into first grade. The mother was raised a dancer and supplemented her sanity and the family income [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:22-07:00December 16th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off

How Great Companies React To Feedback

AgentMatch from realtor.com was a solution that was tested in two real estate markets – Boulder, CO and Las Vegas, TX. The pilot program was developed as a service to connect consumers with agents based on performance, interests and recommendation data. Putting aside the debate about the strengths or weaknesses of this form of rating an agent, there is plenty to learn from how it was rolled out, how feedback was generated, and how the company reacted to the feedback. Pre-roll Out Decisions With any new service, the first question should be opt-in or opt-out. WAV Group has always recommended [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:22-07:00December 13th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

Top 5 Broker Website Trends for 2014

There is a significant gap in the depth of information found on listing portals vs. broker websites today. Aside from marketing acumen and marketing investment, the quality of the experience is simply better on many portal sites. A few years ago, portals dominated brokerages with map search. As brokers got a handle on that, portals evolved with the single, Googlesque search bar. Most good broker sites have gotten a handle on that now too. But the bar continues to move in new directions. The biggest gap seems to be the information contained on the listing detail page. I had a [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:22-07:00December 11th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|1 Comment

Support MLS Domains Association

WAV Group would like to share an update that was released today from the MLS Domains Association. If you are not familiar with the initiative, it is a collaboration of companies that seek to buy the domain extension of DotMLS. ICANN, which is the international group that determines domain extensions is in the business of licensing domains to legitimate parties. Determining what a Legitimate Party is can be quite a cumbersome (and expensive) task. .Com, .Biz, .Gov, and all of the county domains like.CA.IT and the like have already been issued. ICANN became widely known when they issued.XXX. ICANN is [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:23-07:00December 10th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases, Strategic Planning|2 Comments

It’s Your Data – Make Sure You Can Use It!

I do a lot of work helping MLSs choose their next MLS technology vendor and I also work with brokers that use multiple real estate technology tools. The one thing both sets of technology have in common is the fact that without good data the technology is worthless. Numerous roadblocks exist today, however, on the data front that often derails the best software. Some roadblocks come from within the MLS but some come from the technology vendors themselves. MLSs can serve as roadblocks to listing and sales data at the source, meaning they may put arbitrary restrictions on data use [...]

By WAV Group|2018-05-03T21:24:23-07:00December 9th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off

Brokers Losing Agent SEO Battle to Portals

Years ago, when consumers searched for keywords like City Name + Real Estate, an actual real estate broker would appear in the search results. Those days are long gone for most cities in America. Unless a broker has invested richly in the goal to appear on page one, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and Homes.com dominate. With the advent of mobile search and the consumer awareness of long tail search, the goal of SEO strategies by portals expanded to include property address. Again, four or five years ago, if you searched for a property by address, and that property was for sale, [...]

By Victor Lund|2024-01-05T21:02:41-08:00December 4th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, SEO|1 Comment

WAV Group 2013 MLS Technology Survey Report

It is our pleasure to share the results of the WAV Group 2013 MLS Technology Survey report with you. The WAV Group 2013 MLS Technology Survey was fielded on September 13 and closed on October 16. 11,176 staff and users completed the survey. Survey results are only included for those MLSs that provided both staff and user ratings. Staff and user results are presented separately in the report. Overall, MLSs are happy with their MLS technology but there is some churn in the industry. 43% for the participating MLSs have been with their vendors for 10 years or more. [...]

By WAV Group|2018-05-03T21:24:23-07:00November 27th, 2013|Main category|1 Comment

Happy Thanksgiving!

All of us at WAV Group would like to wish all of our friends in the industry a happy, healthy and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. We all have very much to be thankful for in our industry and this is a great time to take stock of our blessings. Our real estate market has turned around from a period when things looked very dark and gloomy to one where the future looks very bright. Our real estate system for all its imperfections is the best in the world. All of you who have had the opportunity to live abroad know what [...]

By WAV Group|2018-05-03T21:24:23-07:00November 27th, 2013|Main category|Comments Off

Fear of Agent Ratings

The real estate industry seems to want to avoid judgments and ratings of any and all kinds. It may be for good reason, or it may be for fear. The reality is that agents resist ratings for fear and reason. Most people react to change with emotion and justify that emotion with logic. Fear According to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat that causes entities to quickly pull far away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:23-07:00November 25th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Technology Evaluation|8 Comments