Defense of Commissions

American business is founded on the principal that pricing for a product or service is based upon what a willing seller will accept, and what a willing buyer will pay. This happens on an individual basis with each transaction, and price fixing is not allowed. Recently, Casey William Hyland who purchased a home from a Home Services of America brokerage, Semonin REALTORS brought a suit challenging the 6% commission rates on real estate transactions. His claim indicated that the 6% rate was price fixing and is a Sherman Anti Trust Act Violation. When there are multiple transactions of commerce, pricing [...]

Brokers pulling out of IDX

Game changers happen when businesses test radical strategies. When a company breaks from the pack they learn things that none of their competitors learn. They understand a strategy that nobody else as any experience with. They grow their business wisdom and often find new ways to edge out the competition. By studying the impacts of strategies like withdrawing from listing syndication; launching single listing websites or virtual tours; and, withdrawing from IDX, marketers can learn volumes about how these strategies impact their online strategy. Listing Syndication Strategies that work WAV Group has been studying listing syndication strategies for more than [...]

Loyalty Marketing in Real Estate

An innovative concept known as loyalty marketing was heralded by the launch of American Airlines AAdvantage in the early 80’s and has since evolved to become competitive table-stakes as loyalty programs have saturated the business landscape. It is curious that an industry like real estate, powered by 80% repeat and referral business has missed the mark on loyalty marketing. Real Estate is not the only industry getting it wrong. It’s safe to say that the majority of programs consumers experience today have been designed “By Boomers for Boomers,” all while fundamental shifts in consumer purchase behavior demand that new models [...]

Scott Dixon and Partner buy The Real Estate Book

WAV Group congratulates our friend Scott Dixon and his colleague Stewart Christian for purchasing The Real Estate Book and affiliated publications. Scott and WAV Group partner Victor Lund have been friends for years. Lund has always admired Dixon's vision for the role that highly targeted and well produced print publications play in real estate. "Certainly, The Real Estate Book has done a great job working with their national footprint of publications. We are excited to see the next chapter of the company development under its new ownership," says Lund. The new company name is NewPoint Media Group. Here is the press release [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:56-07:00July 12th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off on Scott Dixon and Partner buy The Real Estate Book

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Stewart® Ranks in the Houston Chronicles’ Chronicle 100 for Top-Leading Companies

HOUSTON, TX (June 25, 2012) – Stewart Information Services Corp. (NYSE-STC) has been recognized by the Houston Chronicle as one of the best-performing companies in the Houston area. Stewart ranked 83 out of 100 in the Chronicle 100. The Chronicle 100 ranks publicly traded companies in the Houston area using four performance criteria for 2011. The score is based on the average of the rankings for these criteria: total revenue, annual growth in earnings per share, annual revenue growth and one-year total return. “Stewart has served the Houston market for more than a century, and we are truly honored to [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:56-07:00June 26th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Press Releases|Comments Off on FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Stewart® Ranks in the Houston Chronicles’ Chronicle 100 for Top-Leading Companies

Market Leader Ships SharperAgent to 100,000 customers

Market Leader had a reseller agreement with Imprev, the leading Agent, Broker and Franchise marketing services provider for years. It was successful, and the relationship ended amicably when Market Leader purchased Imprev's competitor, SharperAgent. The effort was in concert with Market Leader's strategic vision of building an end-to-end platform that supports real estate professionals from lead generation to closing and customer retention. Market Leader announced today that the Sharper Agent marketing suite has been integrated into all of the Market Leader products and made available to all 100,000 agents who are registered to that platform. In concert with the release, [...]

Attention Real Estate Professionals

WAV Group Webinar: Midyear Update Staying in touch with critical industry issues is essential for today’s real estate leaders whether they are managing an MLS or running their own real estate company and it isn’t easy. To help you better understand these key issues essential to your organizations, WAV Group founding partners and industry experts Marilyn Wilson, Mike Audet and Victor Lund will be sharing valuable on-the-spot insights gained while attending the annual Midyear NAR Conference held in Washington D.C. from May 15th – 19th, 2012 via two webinars on June 5th & June 7th, 2012 from 10:00 - 11:00 AM [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:59-07:00June 4th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Attention Real Estate Professionals

New, simple way to keep your Board of Directors up to date on key issues facing MLSs

When we facilitate strategic plans for MLSs across the country, we often hear that board members would like their MLS to do a better job of keeping them up to speed on the key issues facing MLSs today.  With today’s budget crunches it is virtually impossible to send all of a MLSs leadership to conferences and workshops. We thought that maybe there’s a way for WAV Group to bring the conference to MLS boards so that each board member can stay up to speed without having to spend the time and money attending conferences all over the country. That’s why [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:59-07:00June 1st, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Our Company, Our Services|Comments Off on New, simple way to keep your Board of Directors up to date on key issues facing MLSs

ListedBy.com Appoints Roger Noujeim as Vice President of Marketing

Former Point2 executive brings extensive industry experience to help guide ListedBy’s direction and growth NAPA, Calif. – May 31, 2012 – ListedBy (www.ListedBy.com), the real estate industry’s first free online marketplace and social network with integrated live bidding and auction functionality, today announced the appointment of Roger Noujeim as vice president of marketing, to lead the company’s global marketing and branding strategy. As member of the executive team, Noujeim will play a key role in guiding ListedBy’s direction and growth, with a focus on accelerating market penetration and adoption. “We are ecstatic to have someone of Roger's caliber join our [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:59-07:00May 31st, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, Press Releases, Product Management|Comments Off on ListedBy.com Appoints Roger Noujeim as Vice President of Marketing

Webinar: WAV Group Midyear Update

Looking for an easy way to provide your Board with an update on important industry trends and programs?  Don’t miss out on the big news that came out of the National Association of REALTORS® Midyear conference. The WAV Group team was on the spot in Washington, D.C., and they have prepared a webinar that shares all the must-know details, as well as analysis of the issues that are going to shape the future of your business and our industry. To register for the webinar on register for Midyear Industry Update on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM [...]

Texas Brokerages Go Paperless with the HAR-branded SureClose® Software

PRESS RELEASE:  HOUSTON (May 14, 2012) PropertyInfo Corporation®, a Stewart company, announced today the successful adoption by Heritage Texas Properties of the Electronic Transaction Solution (HAR-ETS), powered by SureClose, to go paperless.  Available only since January, Houston Association of REALTORS®'s HAR-ETS has already increased efficiencies for many of the organization’s 24,000 real estate professionals and their clients, and has enabled companies such as Heritage Texas Properties to remove paper from the closing process.  “Heritage Texas Properties is committed to providing our customers with the most efficient and economical solutions available, and HAR’s Electronic Transaction Solution powered by SureClose has enabled us to vastly [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:00-07:00May 23rd, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Main category, Press Releases, Product Management, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on Texas Brokerages Go Paperless with the HAR-branded SureClose® Software

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 [...]