Keller Williams had another great family reunion, their annual convention in Anaheim drew more than 17,000. Perhaps the most remarkable information conveyed is that they have hit a lot of their ambitious targets for growth, and are now re-targeting to leverage data and technology as their next conquest. According to Teresa Metcalf, their big bet is on the underlying framework and Platform – and the AI component is on top of that.
I will always vividly remember riding to a meeting with a large broker in Marin County, California back in 2002ish. We were discussing the brutal competition among brokers in Marin County. At the time, Keller Williams did not have much of a presence in San Francisco or Marin. I was wondering why Keller Williams had failed to grow as they have in other markets. Moreover, Century 21 was conspicuously missing from the market altogether. Coldwell Banker was huge, along with Pacific Union. A bunch of independent brands like Frank Howard Allen and Melissa Bradley Real Estate were performing well in upper Marin. Decker Bullock held their own with the large firms in Southern Marin.
It seems like every week we’re hearing about a new announcement from a large brokerage or franchise telling us they are spending millions on technology and re-positioning their brand story around their technology suite.
You’re sitting in your board room thinking through a tough decision that needs to be made. Many of the board members are passionate, engaged real estate professionals who have lived in the local area for their entire careers.
As a leading consulting firm, WAV Group operates deeply inside the complex technology stacks of MLSs, Brokerages, Franchises, REALTOR® Associations, and technology firms. From this experience, we recognize the pain that these groups face because of the lack of connection between the systems and applications that agents and consumers need. Upstream aims to deliver a better data management foundation for the data that brokers are entrusted for safe handling.
WAV GROUP has gotten acquainted with myPlanit and it's CEO Adrienne Meisels. Adrienne is a fantastic person who is super smart and developing a very creative application that lets agents look at a map to see the places they have gone (like listing appointments, open houses, etc) and visualize their journey on a timeline. It's a lot more than that, but you can appreciate how this example would benefit an agent. Adrienne uses the term The Internet of You. myPlanit does the work for you by privately and securely tracking the things that you do, for you. Inman News gave [...]
Another member of The Realty Alliance is kicking up activity on the acquisition trail. As Real Trends CEO Steve Murray has spotted, large firms are getting larger. HUNT Real Estate, the second largest ERA franchise in the world has expanded from the Upstate New York market into the Boston, MA market by acquiring ERA Key Realty. WAV Group congratulates the Hunt family and the Taylor family for opening another major demographic market area. I would expect that HUNT Mortgage and other affiliated companies in commercial, property management, insurance, and title will get added to the Boston market area. HUNT will [...]
I just love to see great companies in our industry get recognized BEYOND the real estate industry for their hard work and dedication to building a strong corporate culture. eXp REALTY’s growth over the past year has been unprecedented, They have grown from 1000 agents to over 5000 agents in less than 18 months. Revenue growth, according to their Q3 earnings report was up. Revenue increased 203% to a record $48.1 million from $15.8 million in the third quarter of 2016. This represents 22% growth quarter-over-quarter, from $39.6 million in the second quarter of 2017. Gross margin grew 96% year-over-year for [...]
“Let’s modernize IDX by linking to the listing broker!” IDX or Internet Data Exchange is a thesis that was developed by the collaboration between Brokers and MLSs that outlines a set of display rules for listings on broker websites. The idea behind IDX is that of cooperation among brokers. Fundamentally, the IDX policy states that a broker allows all other brokers participating in an MLS to display their listings on any broker (and usually Agent) website. Over the years, the IDX policy has evolved. And today, Redfin CEO, Glenn Kelman suggests a radical new change. Kelman would like the IDX [...]
Remember a time when a fishing rod, some bait, and a lake was all that was needed for a quiet afternoon of relaxation and fun. Today, we need to deal with a different kind of “phishing”. This phishing has gone wild in the digital world and has become the preferred method by the bad guys in obtaining easy access to your corporate email platform. Access to a wealth of desirable information that includes transactional information, wire-transfer directions, and personal identifiable information (PII) of your Agents, Staff and Customers. The question becomes, “How can I protect my brokerage from becoming a [...]
RE/MAX Results is one of the crown jewels in the RE/MAX franchise group. With more 1100 agents across Minnesota and Wisconsin. RE/MAX Results is among the largest franchises RE/MAX has in the world. The company recently switched website vendors and launched a new custom site developed by TRIBUS. This represents the largest broker to deploy a custom TRIBUS website. Growth in Search Engine Traffic WAV Group met with Brenda Tushaus, RE/MAX Results Chief Operating Officer to learn more about the success that they experienced in such a short period of time. “For years, our firm has been investing a lot in [...]
The smart money is on brokers who figure out how to differentiate themselves online by leveraging MLS data in new and exciting ways. Brokers really DO have the power to take back their leadership position online if they fully take advantage of the rich and engaging MLS data that is available today. What’s the best way to learn how to make your website more interesting than other online sources? Learn how to leverage standardized real estate information that has been built by the Real Estate Standards Organization. Thanks to the great work of four brokers that serve on the RESO [...]
