Bad broker strategy found everywhere

Having been to the parade of broker meetings in Las Vegas, there is one conclusion that stands about the strategic direction of real estate brokerages. Strategy is lagging the market shift for far too many brokerage owners. Oddly enough, the topic was not even discussed. I worked elbow to elbow with brokers through 2012 as we lived and rejoiced through a market rebound. Buyers returned to the market to buy homes with little support from the tight lending standards of mortgage banks. Prices rebounded enough to put sellers into the market. Broker's profits rebounded and discretionary spending budgets emerged. The [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:40-07:00March 14th, 2013|Main category|1 Comment

Brazil – Ready for MLS?

Over the last year I have had the pleasure of working with a very talented and visionary team of business people in Brazil, who realize it is time to take real estate in Brazil to the next level.  Today, like much of the world, buying and selling real estate in Brazil is a frustrating, fragmented affair, where sellers always feel they have not reached the right buyer and sold their property for too little and sellers always feel they have not seen the right property to buy and, of course, they worry they paid too much.  Why? Because in Brazil [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:40-07:00March 7th, 2013|Main category|1 Comment

Monetizing Listing Data…Is it Possible? Let’s find out in 2013

To Syndicate or not to Syndicate, that is NOT the question! WAV Group Response What an exciting day in real estate media. 1000Watt Consulting is having a spirited discussion blog to blog with Dale Ross of NAR's RPR. And, in an exciting development, Zip Realty did a data accuracy study that somewhat mirrored the WAV Group data accuracy research performed for brokers, Redfin, Windermere, and Long and Foster. They concluded that 30% of the listings on Zillow and Trulia are not on the market. To keep things rolling along, my friend Saul Klein from Yardi published a spirited article about [...]

Move releases the new Realtor.com Brand

We have seen some re-branding released recently from leading real estate consumer brands. Today we see the release of the new Realtor.com – where home happens. Last year saw the rebirth of Century 21 – Stronger, Bolder, Faster. These are very well recognized consumer brands. MOVE EVP Marketing, Barbara O’Connor and her team took a close look at the Realtor.com brand within a year of her arrival at the company. I am excited to see how this new treatment works out. I can assure you that they have likely exhausted focus groups to predictably make a selection that reaches their [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:40-07:00March 5th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments

IRES MLS Launches Tablet Solution

WAV Group MLS Customer Satisfaction Surveys have demonstrated that agents want the ability to access all of their MLS services on the iPad or other tablet device. It is refreshing to see IRES MLS in Colorado take on that need and address it by launching their own iPad app for members. IRES built their iPad application themselves, proving that some MLSs with strong developers can accomplish the delivery of MLS services on an iPad quickly and cost effectively. The IRES app supports the most meaningful and highly used features of the MLS service, including full listing search of all MLS [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:40-07:00March 4th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on IRES MLS Launches Tablet Solution

Brokers harvesting business from their data

Real estate brokerages are way behind in the curve of excellence in lead management. This report is not about best practices of routing leads to agents, it is focused on measuring lead quality, and appending lead information with business intelligence that will convert more leads to drive more revenue. WAV Group’s brokerage business is focused on enterprise brokers, 500 agents or more – and usually a brokerage that also has some type of relationship with a mortgage or an insurance company. We use the term “home services” or “ancillary services” to refer to a brokerage that provides a full suite [...]

Indiana Regional MLS Is Born

In a press release yesterday, Indiana Regional MLS announced the selection of LPS as the vendor for consolidating 13 MLS systems into one. The effort was led by Kevin McQueen of Focus Forward Consulting. McQueen successfully managed to get 13 different MLSs serving an aggregate of 5000 subscribers to combine their MLS. The subscribers should be very excited about this. It is likely to reduce their costs and improve their services. There will be some bumps along the way as they accomodate change - but this is a great opportunity to advance the industry. Well done by all! There is [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 23rd, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights|1 Comment

National MLS Sales Opportunity With Mobile Realty Apps

Mobile Realty Apps has experienced outstanding growth over the past 12 months and has established itself as a leader in mobile technology for MLSs and real estate companies.  Winner of the 2012 “Most Innovative Real Estate Startup” at the Inman Conference in July 2012, Mobile Realty Apps offers a full set of leading edge mobile products for real estate professionals and the consumers they serve, from their custom branded native apps to their augmented realty technology HomeSpotter. Mobile Realty Apps is currently interviewing individuals who will lead their  sales to MLSs  nationally.  This individual will work closely with the national Broker sales manager [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 22nd, 2013|Main category|Comments Off on National MLS Sales Opportunity With Mobile Realty Apps

TheMLS/Claw seeking Senior DBA

  Senior DBA Job Description Los Angeles based company is conducting interviews for a permanent, full time Sr. Database Engineer who will be responsible for the design, development, coding, testing, optimizing, debugging and documentation of database applications. Candidate must be able to thrive in a fast paced, team oriented environment. Your Nature: Ability to work independently with minimal supervision as well as a team player Self-motivated  Ability to manage support tickets through to completion. Ability to prioritize workload and manage time effectively. Excellent communication skills and customer service skills. Exceptional problem solving and results oriented Take ownership of your work [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 21st, 2013|Main category|Comments Off on TheMLS/Claw seeking Senior DBA

Is the MLS In Danger?

I do not really know Alain Pinel as well as I would like to. He sold the company that bears his name and pursued other interests. He is back now and runs the Luxury division of Intero Real Estate, one of Alain Pinel Real Estate's chief competitors in San Jose, along with Coldwell Banker and others. What I do know of Alain Pinel I like and respect a lot. I have a similar level of respect for the maverick efforts of Intero, who used passion combined with technology (AgentAchieve) to launch a powerful brokerage in a very competitive marketplace. In a [...]

Could MLS Mobile Technology Create Another Leapfrog Event?

  For years now we have been pointing out that in the not too distant future mobile technology will be the most important part of an MLS system.  In fact, we have noted that mobile technology will, in fact, be the MLS system.  That distant future is here and mobile is finally coming of age.  We are seeing more advances in MLS mobile technology over the last year or so than we have seen since mobile was introduced.  These advances in mobile, however, also bring some very interesting questions. All MLS vendors today have some form of a mobile solution. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 19th, 2013|Main category|2 Comments

METROLIST® SELECTS CORELOGIC® MATRIX™ MLS SYSTEM––Colorado’s Largest MLS to Provide New Product Suite to 15,000 Real Estate Professionals–

IRVINE, Calif., February 6, 2013—CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading residential property information, analytics and services provider, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Metrolist, Colorado’s largest multiple listing service (MLS) and provider of REcolorado, to provide the CoreLogic Matrix MLS system to 15,000 Colorado real estate professionals. For more than 25 years, Metrolist developed and hosted its own proprietary MLS systems. “The pace of innovation has profoundly accelerated since the company was originally founded in 1984 and we found that a transition to a vendor-based product suite made a lot of sense,” commented Metrolist President and CEO, [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 13th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on METROLIST® SELECTS CORELOGIC® MATRIX™ MLS SYSTEM––Colorado’s Largest MLS to Provide New Product Suite to 15,000 Real Estate Professionals–