Broker-Agent Information Archives

Why Brokers Get Upset With Their MLS

Some of our time at WAV Group involves supporting brokers and their technology vendors at problem solving. Yesterday we encountered an issue with the data feed to a vendor. The vendor claimed that everything was working. The broker knew this was not the case. So we got on a call and did a screen share to match the listings in their system to the listings in the MLS. The marketing staff member for the broker is not a savvy expert of using the MLS. But the broker does pay associate fees every month so she has access and she goes [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:18-07:00January 22nd, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Our Services|1 Comment

Agents Only Get 12 Leads a Year

Returning from the Real Estate Connect Conference (aka Inman NYC), you would think that any agent or broker who is not 100% dedicated to cultivating the online customer is doomed. Yet surprisingly, nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, if you read between the lines of a recent press release from Realogy, the global leader in size for a real estate group, your take away might be that online marketing and lead generation is a complete distraction and waste of time and money. Headline: Realogy's LeadRouter System Delivers Record 3 Million Online Leads to Its Affiliates in 2013, [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:18-07:00January 21st, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Our Services|5 Comments

Cartavi Adds Gusto to Version 3.3

Since being acquired by DocuSign, Cartavi has been working away at developing the golden triangle of the real estate document management echo system: Forms, Signature, and Storage. Better yet, they focus on making it happen on mobile first. Before this new release, signing a document was kind of clunky. You had to open your document in DocuSign, add signatures, sign it, then pull the completed document back into Cartavi. Now, you can sign any document right inside of Cartavi using DocuSign Ink. New Integrations They took a complicated workflow and narrowed it down. When you look at a document today [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:18-07:00January 20th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Press Releases, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off

NAR REach Program Accepting New Applicants

Here is a note from Constance Freedman, Managing Director of NAR's venture capital arm, Second Century Ventures. If you have a business that would benefit from NAR support, be sure to submit your application. It is an online process at www.narreach.com On 01/06/14 12:42 PM, Constance Freedman wrote: -------------------- Friends, Applications for NAR’s 2014 REach™ class are now open - please help us spread the word! REach™ is a strategic accelerator launched last year in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors® to help great technology companies gain access to the $1 trillion real estate industry. The opportunity for companies to [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:20-07:00January 6th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off

The December Slump
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The December Slump

Broker-Agent Information, Main category

The December Slump

In the final hours of the year, real estate hits the skids. Even in 2013, when the threat of newly imposed mortgage regulations gave consumers strong reason to buy before year-end. The WAV Group index measures month-to-month changes in online performance across its brokerage clients. Given that the traffic is in the millions, it is probably statistically relevant, but you may want to use this data more as a benchmark to contrast against your data. Listing counts are down about 30% between November and December. This is a common reality. Many sellers living in their home have little interest in [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:20-07:00January 6th, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off

Broker Intellectual Property At Risk

Many real estate brokers are being asked to sign new MLS Participant Agreements. The cause for a new agreement is based upon the MLSs efforts to support real estate brokers to protect their intellectual property. This is a very important initiative that every broker should take very seriously. Every broker should also consult with their attorney to discuss ramifications and meet with the MLS in a forum to discuss the best path. There are a couple cases before state supreme courts (MD and MN) that are ruling on the ability for the MLS to defend the intellectual property rights when [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:20-07:00December 20th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

Some Brokers Really Suck
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Some Brokers Really Suck

Broker-Agent Information, Main category

Some Brokers Really Suck

LoserWAV Group is blessed to work with some excellent brokers. We have never worked for an agent unless it was through their broker. Regardless, we try to keep the agent in clear perspective because agent retention and recruiting are the mantra of the best brokerages in America. Yesterday, I ran across the path of a brokerage that really sucks. Here is the story. A young family with three children struggled with a stay at home mom who nurtured each babe through adolescence and into first grade. The mother was raised a dancer and supplemented her sanity and the family income [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:22-07:00December 16th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off

How Great Companies React To Feedback

AgentMatch from realtor.com was a solution that was tested in two real estate markets – Boulder, CO and Las Vegas, TX. The pilot program was developed as a service to connect consumers with agents based on performance, interests and recommendation data. Putting aside the debate about the strengths or weaknesses of this form of rating an agent, there is plenty to learn from how it was rolled out, how feedback was generated, and how the company reacted to the feedback. Pre-roll Out Decisions With any new service, the first question should be opt-in or opt-out. WAV Group has always recommended [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:22-07:00December 13th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

Brokers Losing Agent SEO Battle to Portals

Years ago, when consumers searched for keywords like City Name + Real Estate, an actual real estate broker would appear in the search results. Those days are long gone for most cities in America. Unless a broker has invested richly in the goal to appear on page one, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and Homes.com dominate. With the advent of mobile search and the consumer awareness of long tail search, the goal of SEO strategies by portals expanded to include property address. Again, four or five years ago, if you searched for a property by address, and that property was for sale, [...]

By Victor Lund|2024-01-05T21:02:41-08:00December 4th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, SEO|1 Comment

Fear of Agent Ratings

The real estate industry seems to want to avoid judgments and ratings of any and all kinds. It may be for good reason, or it may be for fear. The reality is that agents resist ratings for fear and reason. Most people react to change with emotion and justify that emotion with logic. Fear According to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat that causes entities to quickly pull far away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:23-07:00November 25th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Technology Evaluation|8 Comments

SEM and VTs
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SEM and VTs

Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category

SEM and VTs

SEM and VTs, sounds a little more than conspicuous. It's code for using some Internet strategies to do a little more with online marketing. There is a gaping area of unexploited territory available to cleaver brokers who understand how to leverage unbranded virtual tours in real estate. As WAV Group has discussed before, the unbranded virtual tour allows a broker to publish a Virtual Tour to other broker and agent websites. If done correctly, that virtual tour provides a link back to the broker’s website. It is not a link that the consumer sees or can even touch, but search [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:24-07:00November 25th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category|2 Comments