News Corp buys MOVE operators of Realtor.com

And so it goes. Move, the operators of the National Associaton of REALTORS portal called Realtor.com have agreed to sell the company to News Corp in an all-cash deal valued at $950 million. MOVE's board of directors were swift to approve the offer, representing a 36% bump in the value of the company. News Corp owns other real estate assets including The Wall Street Journal ( a popular spot for luxury property advertising) and Australian real estate portal - realestate.com.au (part of the REA Group). REA Group will apparently pay for 20% of MOVE, and News Corp will pay the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:58-07:00September 30th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on News Corp buys MOVE operators of Realtor.com

Coldwell Banker Chooses Imprev

Today's real estate firms, franchise or otherwise, need to provide a robust marketing solution for agents that especially support them with digital marketing tools: Video, virtual tours, eMail marketing, and social media marketing. In an announcement today, Coldwell Banker announced a partnership with Imprev to power their digital marketing suite for all of their franchise companies. There are a number of firms that offer marketing solutions, but the two firms that have dominated the selection among franchise organizations in the past years include Marketleader and Imprev. Strangely enough, until a few years ago, Imprev was Marketleader's partner for their marketing [...]

Is your Board out of touch?

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 of touch.  They can delay decisions because they seem difficult or controversial causing the organization to fall behind or lose its competitive advantage. Boards that do not stay close to trends can enforce outdated [...]

The Lasting Value of Knowing What Your Customers Are Looking for 

The Case for Measuring Customer Satisfaction Regularly MLSs are monopolies right?  They OWN their territory so they don’t have to worry about customer satisfaction.  Few in the industry would ever agree to this statement but in reality, many act as though they are a monopoly – not paying close attention to what their customers are asking for.  Can you honestly say you know what your MLSs strengths and weaknesses are?  Do you know what frustrates your customers or how you might hinders them from selling real estate as effectively as they could?   Do you occasionally get a board member that [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:59-07:00September 23rd, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Our Services|Comments Off on The Lasting Value of Knowing What Your Customers Are Looking for 

Allre Causes Brokers To ReThink Strategy

The FSBO dam just sprouted another leak, and brokers better pay attention. If you have not heard about Allre, you better watch the video below right now. It is a collaboration between banks like Prime Lending, Home Insurance providers, home warranty companies, and even a lock box vendor to facilitate FSBO sales. The fee to the consumer is ZERO – nothing. There are no brokerage services at all, so they completely surpass all RESPA regulations. It is 100% FSBO. The only thing that will sit between Allre and success is venture capital. If they attract enough venture capital to attract [...]

MOVE acquires Point2 Syndication Contracts

It looks like MOVE, operators of Realtor.com have taken a stride that is not altogether different from the success that Zillow is garnering with their acquisition strategy. MOVE is doing their best to control the pipelines that deliver advertising to portals in the United States. MOVE already owns Listhub, the largest syndicator of listing content. Now they pick up their nearest competitor - Point2 - much in the same way that Zillow picked up Trulia. The biggest difference, beyond taking out a competitor, is that they will removing a layer of duplication of listing syndication. Spencer Rascoff of Zillow describes [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:00-07:00September 4th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on MOVE acquires Point2 Syndication Contracts

Your Spam Filter May Be a Lead Source

Leads sometimes come from humans. That’s a light joke. The point it is that when technology companies test lead capture and routing systems, they typically test them with stock lead content. Unfortunately, many real human leads do not contain stock text. Real humans write real questions and sometimes use language that may not be whitelisted for your spam filter. **It happens! One of the good ways to check your lead generation and a delivery engine is to compare reports. Look at the lead reports that you get from publishers like Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com or Homes.com. Look at them carefully and [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:03-07:00July 23rd, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing, Reports|Comments Off on Your Spam Filter May Be a Lead Source

WAV Group 2014 Road Map to Listing Syndication

 Listing syndication to online portals is in the throws of a revolution in real estate today. Listing syndication has followed a philosophical pattern first envisioned by the German philosopher G.W.F. Hagel in his triadic process - thesis, antithesis, and then synthesis. This paper will walk though the first two phases of the process, discussing the evolution of the original thesis of listing syndication followed by the new roots of today's chaotic antithesis. The industry is developing a plethora of new models to transmit listings for online advertising at a pace that is eroding the effectiveness of the process in a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:03-07:00July 22nd, 2014|Broker Technology Research, MLS Insights, Our Services, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on WAV Group 2014 Road Map to Listing Syndication

Top 5 Articles of the Week

WAV Group partners, Mike Audet, Marilyn Wilson, and Victor Lund are founders of RE Technology and RETechnology.com. Today that site reaches 750,000 real estate agents and brokers through partnerships with more than 90 MLSs who deliver subscriptions to RE Technology as a member benefit. Each week, RE Technology publishes a notification to MLSs that lists the top 5 most heavily viewed articles of the week. This list goes out to our MLS partners who may, in turn, republish the articles in their own newsletter, blog, or develop content ideas for their training or communications programs. Below is the RE Technology [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:05-07:00June 24th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Top 5 Articles of the Week

Inman Real Estate Connect SF

WAV Group and RE Technology is looking forward to attending Inman Real Estate Connect in San Francisco next month – July 16th – 18th.  The annual industry gathering in one of America’s great cities to discuss issues is among our favorites. Unlike a lot of industry conferences, Real Estate Connect addresses topics in an “in your face style” which is unique. I remember Billionaire Barry Diller sitting on stage getting booed by the audience when he said,  (my paraphrase) “At LendingTree, we take your listing data, generate consumer leads, we sell them mortgages, and we sell you the real estate [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:10-07:00June 5th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing, Our Services, Press Releases|Comments Off on Inman Real Estate Connect SF

Increase Home Listings By 27 Percent

  How would you like to increase your business garnered from your website by 27%? That’s right, 27%. I had to say it again because people often do not believe in testing or research to determine what works best for their business. In fact, many companies today “take the high road” and completely ignore trends and tactics that can improve their business because they get stuck with their fondness for what they have and stop moving ahead. Here is the example of how research and testing can drive improvements in company online effectiveness. Thankfully, the company the largest broker in [...]

Top 5 Articles of the Week

How to Market Yourself on Facebook WITHOUT Annoying Your Family Learn from special guest Realtor® Shaun Nilsson as he diagrams his time-saving formula for attracting tons of clients through social media whole completely avoiding annoying your friends and contacts. We'll show you exactly how to close more real estate commissions right now - using only your Facebook - while effortlessly projecting the confident business savvy of a seasoned professional. PLUS you'll learn how to outsource your online marketing to others and avoid wasting even one more minute of your valuable time each day on it!  4 Great Mobile Apps to [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:11-07:00May 19th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on Top 5 Articles of the Week