Blog - Page 196 of 256 - WAV Group Consulting

MLS iPad apps have NOT gone far enough yet

Recently, WAV Group has completed several customer satisfaction surveys from around the country in the Southwest, Mid-West, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. In every case there has been a lot of discussion and requests for more MLS access via smartphones and especially for iPads and other tablet devices. While many MLSs think of their iPad application as a property search tool, agents want their MLS iPad apps to go much further than that. Even for those that have launched Tablet solutions, there are two major areas of dissatisfaction that MLSs need to address to make mobile MLS applications truly useful for [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:14-07:00February 19th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights, Suveys and Research, Technology Evaluation|3 Comments

MLS Domains Association acknowledges likely competing bid for MLS Name

MLS Domains Association acknowledges likely competing bid for .MLS Operator of real estate website MLS.com appears poised to apply to ICANN Minneapolis, February 20, 2012: MLS Domains Association announced today that at it will likely not be making the only application to ICANN for the new .MLS top-level domain on the Internet. ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and is responsible for managing top-level domains worldwide. Its window for applications for new TLDs is open from now until April 12, 2012. “We know of one other likely applicant,” said Bob Bemis, president of the Association. […]

By WAV Group|2018-05-03T21:25:14-07:00February 17th, 2012|Main category|Comments Off

MLS strategy to diversify revenue

WEBINAR RECAP WAV Group, RE Technology, and Zuora sponsored a webinar on the topic of non-dues revenue on February 15th, 2012. Panelists for the webinar included Jeremy Crawford of MLSListings.com, Melissa Olson of Metrolist Colorado, John Heithaus of Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Kevin Green of Real Estate Digital, and Travis Hutch of Zuora. Victor Lund of WAV Group was the session moderator. Overview Associations and MLSs have been in the business of offering non-dues related products for some time now. They have sold yard signs, closing documents, certification training, and lock box products for years. [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:14-07:00February 16th, 2012|How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category|8 Comments

GLVAR hires longtime association leader Nelson Janes as CEO

LAS VEGAS – The Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) announced today that it has hired seasoned real estate association executive Nelson Janes as its new chief executive officer. Janes, who previously ran the Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, expects to start work at GLVAR on May 7. He was hired after GLVAR leaders conducted a national search to replace Irene Vogel, who is retiring after guiding the association for nearly 30 years. Devin Reiss, chairman of GLVAR’s CEO Search Committee, said Janes “brings extensive experience building successful associations and REALTOR® programs, considerable experience as a legislative advocate, expertise in [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:14-07:00February 15th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off

Illinois Bans Real Estate Agents

Catchy headline. What the State of Illinois is doing is similar to what Colorado, New Mexico and possibly other States have already done. All real estate agents will need to become real estate brokers to retain their license. Brokers who manage agents will need to become Managing brokers. Oh, and did I mention that the state licensing fees go up 83%. Many view this move simply as a way to tax professionals. Illinois real estate agents have until March 15th to complete the training (15 hours) and take a competency test to meet new rules. By the way, the 83% [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:14-07:00February 14th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|3 Comments

Keller Williams Family Reunion a Huge Success

Give credit where credit is due. Keller Williams may not be the largest franchise organization in the US or the World – but they are working hard to get there, and are awfully close. They recruit like crazy. Keller Williams is a franchise organization whose core focus is on the agent. They consider themselves mentors, trainers, and solution providers to support the agent in reaching their potential. Moreover, they profit share. If the company makes money, the agent wins. Last year, they made a profit of $38M across all 75,000 agents. The profit share works out to be about $506 [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:15-07:00February 14th, 2012|Main category|2 Comments

Bob Bemis Joins Zillow as VP of Partner Relations

Zillow announced today (full press release below) that Bob Bemis, former CEO of the Arizona Regional MLS, has joined Zillow as the Vice President of Partner relations. This is a major event in our industry on multiple levels. Having known Bob personally and professionally for many years I congratulate Zillow for an outstanding hire, well done! As a consultant in the industry watching the march of Zillow this hire tends to fuel some of my concerns about where this is actually leading. In almost every strategic planning session I lead we talk about threats to the industry as well [...]

By WAV Group|2018-05-03T21:25:15-07:00February 14th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights, Our Company, Press Releases|1 Comment

Howard Hanna Syndication Announcement

Another shoe is going to drop today. Howard Hanna, one of America’s largest brokerages will announce their new listing syndication strategy. This is an important announcement because it brings forth a new chapter to the ongoing saga of finding an online advertising paradigm that balances the broker’s needs with the publisher’s needs, in the best possible way. Howard Hanna has spend the past 15 – 18 months studying. They study their website. They study the website of similar size brokerages. They have studied publisher websites. They became experts. Howard Hanna has been testing. Howard Hanna ran lots of experiments with [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:15-07:00February 13th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|8 Comments

How Metrolist, MRIS, and MLSListings are wining with eCommerce

Join us for this special webinar with some of America’s leading MLS system operators, John Heithaus from MRIS, Melissa Olson from Metrolist, and Jeremy Crawford from MLS listings. MLSs have abundant opportunities for delivering the best products to their subscribers for lower costs, but it is difficult. In this webinar, you will learn how MRIS, MLSListings, Metrolist and many other leading MLS are consistently amplifying the reach and effectiveness of their services to their subscribers with powerful new communications and eCommerce platforms. WAV Group partner Victor Lund will moderate the panel as each expert outlines their programs for success: Reason [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:15-07:00February 11th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments

Syndication as in insolent teen
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Syndication as in insolent teen

Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning

Syndication as in insolent teen

I received a call yesterday from a sage MLS executive. He saw the article in RE Technology about Sandicor adding a new syndication field into their MLS. We had discussed this a few years ago after some broker focus groups. At the time, the brokers did not seem to care too much about syndication, so the idea did not go anywhere. That changed. Adding the field is on the agenda at their next board meeting. He is probably not alone. Aside from that, he shared with me his vision for how syndication is going to play out in the long [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:15-07:00February 10th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|11 Comments

Integrating MLS tools into Agent Browsers

Until today, MLSs have been walled Internet gardens. The MLS is accessed through the browser, but is entirely separated from the rest of the open Internet. iMapp just released an innovation that may begin a trend to change all of that. With iMapp, real estate agents with accounts may install a search plugin into their browser. This plugin puts a layer of MLS tax data on top of any website. With the search plugin, agents can look up tax on any property address found on any website – this includes the MLS, Agent and Broker Property Search Websites, Consumer property [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:15-07:00February 6th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights, Product Management, Strategic Planning, Technology Evaluation|4 Comments

Non Dues Revenue for MLS

WAV Group Webinar Feb 15th at 10:00am PST This WAV Group webinar will focus on a panel discussion about the topic of non-dues revenue. Numerous MLSs around the country have launched or are in the process of launching these programs to provide lower cost business solutions to MLS subscribers. According to the recent CMLS survey - 54% of today's MLSs offer some form of non-dues revenue. "These companies are pushing the boundaries of their non-dues revenue programs," says Marilyn Wilson, WAV Group Partner. Topic: Why MLSs pursue non-dues revenue Different options for generating non-dues revenue How it is positioned to their [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:16-07:00February 6th, 2012|How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|1 Comment