Major Changes In Real Estate

Behold, changes are taking place in real estate. We are seeing significant efforts like Project Upstream, RPR AMP, Broker Public Portal, Fair Display Guidelines, and RESO mandates that are shaping the future of our industry. It makes you wonder what is driving this explosive cocktail of industry wide initiatives. At the heart of many of these developments are brokers. When they survey the world around them, they rue the existence of poor data management and profit taking by others. Poor Data Management I believe that it was MRIS CEO, David Charron who coined the term Overlapping Market Disorder. He was [...]

Listing Syndication now Part of Broker Office Policy Manuals in Colorado

Loveland, CO — April 8, 2015 — Colorado Real Estate Commission Position 21 (CP-21) was officially revised this week to include Listing Syndication within office policy manuals. CP-21 is a long standing position statement that covers a variety of topics suggested for real estate office policy manuals such as handling earnest money, contract review and, as of April 7th, listing syndication. Timing is perfect considering the recent changes between listing syndication giant, Listhub, and consumer portals, Zillow and Trulia. As of April 7th, Listhub and Zillow Group ended their contract with one another, leaving brokers and agents wondering how their [...]

Has Online Marketing Peaked?

In one of my favorite articles from 2008, WAV Group suggested that newspapers are like nursing homes. At that time, newspaper advertising was in a steep decline as a result of the emergence of more affordable online options that promised better reach. My argument was, “This obsolete technology sucks millions of dollars away from more cost-effective marketing tools while delivering less every year. There are better uses for your budget, especially if you market goods and services to people who don’t remember the Truman Administration.” Job seekers go online to Craigslist, Monster.com, or Careers.com to find employment. Consumers go to [...]

Fox and Roach Internal Marketing Excellence

Fox and Roach is among the largest real estate brokerages in America. They recently published an internal communications piece that is a great case study for how brokers stay connected to their agents using video, and move the needle on adoption of brokerage services. Watch this short 2 minute video https://youtu.be/cy_UUGiKcao Why I like it. First, its short. To many people try to say too much. Make your video quick, clear, and drive action. Second – its familiar – Fox and Roach does a great job of promoting people across the organization – staff, team leaders, top agents. Message – [...]

One Broker’s Experience with Digital Transaction Management

A broker friend of mine downloaded the WAV Group 2004 Broker Transaction Management study recently and gave me a call. Like every real estate broker in America, she has long adapted her business to online forms. Like most brokerages, she also confesses that they have a forms box of printed forms in every office. A few years ago, she made a decision to purchase digital signatures for all of her agents. Today, she is considering transaction management. Again. This is not her first visit to this consideration, but rather an annual trek that is part of her end-to-end customer experience [...]

Forward Looking Technology

2015 and 2016 will be years of incredible change in real estate technology. For too long, the real estate industry evolved in an eggshell whereby data, applications, and presentation layers were composite to one another behind most fragile and isolated shell walls. Today, we see systems that separate these three components of the technology to maximize the usefulness of this information to the industry and the consumers it serves. We Got You “We got you” is a statement that can have two meanings when a technology provider speaks it. It can take on the meaning of “we screwed you” or [...]

RETS Servers and Direct Feeds

The National Association of REALTORS MLS Issues and Policy Committee made a bold move to require RESO data dictionary complainant by Jan 1, 2016, and RESO RESTful web API by June 30, 2016. Further complicating the matters is the groundswell of considerations with third party portals making requests for MLS direct feeds. Data sharing between MLS systems, RETS Update, and system conversions taking place across the industry today deepen the data transport considerations. Wrapping it all together with a lit match could easily lead to mass hysteria. WAV Group took a look at what the largest MLSs in the nation [...]

REALTORS® Federal Credit Union Update

At the New Orleans National Association of REALTORS® Convention in Expo, I had the chance to catch up with Chief Executive Wes Wiggins of JTHS REALTORS® in the great State of Florida. Wiggins has a long career of being on the forefront of operating leading MLSs around the nation. He is among the few who understand how excellence is developed in the Association of REALTORS® and in the Multiple Listing Service. After a long discussion of our industry, the conversation turned to the REALTORS® Federal Credit Union, as Wes had spoken with one of their representatives while ordering our beverages. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:51-07:00January 21st, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|4 Comments

Keep your organization ahead of the WAVes of Change happening in 2015!

As we end 2014 now is a great time to sit back and reflect on the best ways to help prepare your organization for the inevitable evolutions and revolutions we may experience next year. Do you sometimes feel like your Board of Directors and key staff are out of touch with what’s really happening in the real estate industry today? Do you sometimes feel a bit isolated and would like to know if other organizations are facing the same challenges you are? Is your organization suffering from stifled and cumbersome decision-making? Here’s what can happen when an organization is out [...]

WAV Group Windermere and Long and Foster Sales Excellence Case Study

[ File # csp3602041, License # 1272585 ]Licensed through http://www.canstockphoto.com in accordance with the End User License Agreement (http://www.canstockphoto.com/legal.php)(c) Can Stock Photo Inc. / italianestro The two valves that constitute the heart of consulting are benchmarking and case studies. Benchmarking is measuring an industry norm. Case studies focus on telling the story of new strategies deployed by pioneers for products or tactics. Both provide organizations with insights that sharpen their aim or expand their aspiration. A great example of a benchmark is WAV Group’s report that 4 in 10 real estate professionals have not done a transaction in more [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:55-07:00November 19th, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|0 Comments

Broker Non-Compete with Portals

The great real estate portals of America are trusted partners to brokers. As trusted partners, they are able to collect a lot of information that brokers have held close. For example, portals have access to a broker’s agent roster. They know which agents respond to consumer inquiries the fastest and the best. They even know which agents sell the most number of homes and which ones have the best consumer reviews. Beyond the information portals have about listings and agents, they have collected a massive amount of consumer information including the identity of the consumer. Moreover, with direct consumer email [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:56-07:00October 29th, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|0 Comments

Tedesco Moves From Tucson to RI State Association

Phil Tedesco is one of those senior level MLS and Association Executives that everyone wants to lead their organization. He has a depth of experience across many large Associations and Mid-sized MLSs that have led him to his new role as the CEO of the Rhode Island State Association of REALTORS® and Statewide MLS. He will be departing his current position at the Tucson Association of REALTORS® at the end of this year. Interestingly enough, the Tucson Association and the Rhode Island State Association (4000 members) have nearly identical membership numbers with Tucson having a slight lead (4700 members) as [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:57-07:00October 14th, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|4 Comments