Edina Realty Says Goodbye to Non-Broker-Controlled Websites

Edina, Minn. – May 22, 2012 –Edina Realty announced today that it will no longer send its property listings to Realtor.com. However, due to technical issues, the company advises that it could take 10 days or more for its entire listings database to disappear from Realtor.com. Last November, Edina Realty also made a strategic move to stop sending its real estate listings to Trulia.com, a non-broker-controlled real estate aggregator. Edina Realty is participating in a nationwide outcry against non-broker-controlled websites over concerns with data inaccuracy and consumer privacy. Another cause for concern is the fact that sales leads often go [...]

NAR Honors David Charron as Top Industry Leader

Charron is a 2012 Inductee to the National Association of REALTORS® Dr. Almon R. (Bud) Smith, AE Leadership Society  Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. (MRIS) today announced that its President and CEO David Charron has been named to the National Association of REALTORS® Dr. Almon R. (Bud) Smith, RCE, AE Leadership Society (Smith Society) - one of the real estate industry’s most coveted awards for excellence in industry and professional leadership. Charron, along with the other 2012 winners, will be awarded the honor today at the NAR Midyear Conference in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the Smith Society is to recognize those [...]

By |2018-08-20T07:19:04-07:00May 22nd, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on NAR Honors David Charron as Top Industry Leader

DotLoop Announces Release of Freemium Product and New Round of Funding

DotLoop, a real estate technology company that assists agents, buyers and sellers through the transaction process, announced a new round of funding and the release of their Freemium version of their product. On the funding side, DotLoop announced a $7 million Series A round of financing from Trinity Ventures. The company will use the financing to accelerate sales and marketing, make strategic hires and open an office in San Francisco.  As part of the financing, Noel Fenton, general partner at Trinity Ventures, joins the DotLoop board.  "DotLoop has an opportunity to become an industry standard platform for conducting real estate [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:01-07:00May 22nd, 2012|Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off on DotLoop Announces Release of Freemium Product and New Round of Funding

Are App Stores the Next Zillow or Trulia?

I have been giving a lot of thought lately to the idea of App Stores in the real estate technology industry and it has raised a number of questions that I want to put out there to inspire a conversation with the industry. Let me say right up front that I am not neutral in this discussion, as I am one of the founders of RE Technology which has, as an option, the ability to create an eCommerce store which is different, but related to, an App store. My partner Victor did a great job of discussing the differences in his [...]

Mobile MLS

(This article ran previously in the WAV Group Newsletter released on Friday. We received feedback that despite our rant, some MLS iPad apps are quote good. If you would like to nominate an iPad app that is great, leave a comment below. It should, at a minimum, offer add/edit capabilities - adding photos would be a home run) Some MLS providers and Associations have heard just about enough excuses when it comes to mobile. Vendors have been dragging their feet on supporting full mobile MLS, and it is a real problem. Only one MLS vendor with more than a dozen customers [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:01-07:00May 15th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Mobile MLS

A Case of Concern Embedded Search and Display

IDX for Facebook There is some degree of discussion about the notion that the IDX rules may be expanded to support Embedded Search and Display on websites or displays not under the apparent control of the broker. I believe that this is too risky, too hard to control, and beyond the bounds of IDX as currently discussed. New thinking is needed and proposed herein. The foundation of new thinking is that MLSs may approve certain websites for embeddable display as a matter of local rule. Embedded Search and Display Defined Many real estate technology thinkers have discussed the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:01-07:00May 14th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments

Rapattoni and iHomefinder Partner on VCCAOR Website

Rapattoni has long offered Association websites and MLS consumer property search solutions in the markets that they serve. I believe Rapattoni may have been among the pioneering MLS vendors at offering such a solution. Having said that, there has been little attention paid toward innovating the search component of that platform. In the deployment of the new website, Rapattoni and iHomefinder collaborated to deliver an elegant solution. This week, the California based Ventura County Coastal Association of REALTORS (VCCAOR) debuted their new website powered by iHomefinder. Board President Cindy Diaz-Telly spoke with the WAV Group about the site. According to [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:02-07:00May 14th, 2012|Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Rapattoni and iHomefinder Partner on VCCAOR Website

MLSs and the Marketing Center

MLSs have long been a marketing center in some small way. Agents working with buyers and sellers create reports that are organized to provide listing information to clients. The reports are very useful, but aside from the ability to insert a broker logo, agent photo, and contact information, the design of these reports often falls short of achieving the goal of a well-branded and unique marketing piece. Some MLSs have begun to partner with providers to enhance or augment this MLS system functionality, and offer marketing systems that have full feature functionality. MRIS, Metrolist Colorado, MLSListings, MLSLI, and a handful [...]

PWR Launches 10K Reports

The Minneapolis Association of REALTORS developed a company called 10K a few years ago. The mission of the company is to offer REALTORS outstanding market analytic reports. They have been canvasing the country offering the product through MLSs and REALTOR Associations. Pacific West Association of REALTORS (PWR) is a large and recent new customer for 10K. WAV Group had a Q&A session with Lalaine Castillo, PWR VP Marketing and Communications to understand the strategy behind their vendor selection. Question:What differentiated 10K from other stats vendors? Answer:10k understands the business of REALTOR associations and our members,  having deployed similar solutions for [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:02-07:00May 13th, 2012|How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off on PWR Launches 10K Reports

Syndicator Trademarks MLS Brand

Point2 announced the granting of a US Trademark for "MLS Certified™". This comes at a rather interesting time. The Council of MLS is in the midst of doing some branding of its own, but has not announced or launched the program yet. It is on the agenda for the meetings next week in Washington DC. At the last Council of MLS meeting on this topic last year, there were numerous ideas discussed about branding MLS data. Homes.com offered their ideas, Point2 offered theirs, and Trulia offered theirs. They were all very interesting, but none captured the enthusiasm of the CMLS members. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:02-07:00May 11th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Syndicator Trademarks MLS Brand

RPR “Best Practices” Case Studies – Keys To Adoption

Every MLS and Broker in the country knows how difficult it is to successfully roll out new products to REALTORS®.  There are so many technology options out there and it’s so difficult to get a busy agent’s attention. It’s even more difficult to convince them to try out a new service that may help project a more professional image when they are in the throes of trying to conduct business. WAV Group has watched Realtor Property Resource® (RPR®) with interest as more and more MLSs and Associations have signed up for this service. From its early beginnings, the product has [...]

RPR Broker Case Study – Helping Brokers Understand and Use Realtors Property Resource®

WAV Group provides consulting services brokers across the country to help them find the most effective ways to leverage the technology tools they have chosen for their agents. Some of those tools are provided by MLSs as part of their monthly subscription fees. In working with brokers we have learned how stressed the life of a broker is. Their agents, clients, accountants and office staff pull them in a million directions.  Their daily tasks make it virtually impossible to keep up on all of the latest technologies being offered to them. Today, WAV Group is introducing the third in a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:02-07:00May 10th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Product Management, Reports, Suveys and Research|Comments Off on RPR Broker Case Study – Helping Brokers Understand and Use Realtors Property Resource®