Broker Technology Research Archives

Is the MLS In Danger?

I do not really know Alain Pinel as well as I would like to. He sold the company that bears his name and pursued other interests. He is back now and runs the Luxury division of Intero Real Estate, one of Alain Pinel Real Estate's chief competitors in San Jose, along with Coldwell Banker and others. What I do know of Alain Pinel I like and respect a lot. I have a similar level of respect for the maverick efforts of Intero, who used passion combined with technology (AgentAchieve) to launch a powerful brokerage in a very competitive marketplace. In a [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 20th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|4 Comments

Are my listings going everywhere – Zillow Front Door

Whenever an announcement like the Zillow-Front Door announcement is made, brokers have questions about their data and where it is going. We call this the issue of re-syndication, and whenever an announcement is made made about one party sending data to another party - brokers should know. Zillow is not re-syndicating to HGTV's Frontdoor.com website. The first thing that I would suggest to any broker providing data to any publisher is to have a contract with the publisher that defines what they can or cannot do with your data. Most of the franchisors like REALOGY, Keller Williams, RE/MAX, and others have such [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 13th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing|2 Comments

Where is the Genius Bar for Real Estate Tech?

There is no doubt that consumers trust an expert more than they trust themselves. If you look back at breakthroughs that have lead to consumer success and major increases of consumption and adoption, it always occurs when the vendor provides a local expert. Apple was not the first company to figure this out. There are many examples, but certainly Rite-Aid did it with an in-store pharmacist; Home Depot did it with in store builders and remodelers; and Best Buy did it in technology. What Apple did was take it all to a new level with product super heros. The Strategy [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:42-07:00February 11th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, MLS Insights|Comments Off

Zillow to power HGTV

I have always been a fan of HGTV’s strategy to marry their television audience and content with property search. I do not watch TV much, but I do tune into HGTV from time to time and have run some analysis on the comprehensiveness of the listing data on their site. From our point of view, HGTV did not go far enough to put timely calls to action into programming to drive the television audience to search for homes on their property search portal. This is my opinion, not grounded in any facts. Suffice it to say that Zillow is going [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:42-07:00February 8th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off

Listing Input Forms Rise Again
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Listing Input Forms Rise Again

Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights

Listing Input Forms Rise Again

If you are like me, you recognize that it was not very many years ago that agents relied on completing a listing input form as a primary method to submit a listing to the MLS. Indeed, in many markets today, MLSs still allow agents to fax in their listing, or broker administrators enter the listing for the agent. This is all happening at a time when many agents are clamoring for MLS listing input using their mobile device or tablet. In a tale of new school meets old school, Instanet is providing a new listing input service; the very service [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:42-07:00January 31st, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|4 Comments

CREA Integrates Digital Signatures Into WEBForms® For All REALTORS

WAV Group had the opportunity to speak to Marc Lafrance of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) about their launch of digital signatures to all REALTORS in Canada. In an announcement, CREA is now offering REALTORS Instanet’s Authentisign and soon the DocuSign Electronic Signature products tightly integrated in their proprietary real estate forms product, WebForms®. Canada has been successful at offering a national forms solution as a driver of REALTOR professionalism for more than a decade. Today, more than 51,000 REALTORS are using WEBForms®out of a total membership of about 116,000 REALTORS across Canada. WEBForms® is considered the second most [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:42-07:00January 31st, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Product Management|Comments Off

Trulia tries harder, Alon Chaver speaks up

WAV Group works with brokers and MLSs who have been fed up and frustrated with the data quality on third party listing websites like Trulia, Zillow and others. We study and measure the problem in detail - and have published countless articles, papers, and reports on the topic. Frankly, the discussion about the ills of listing syndication are getting tired and laborious. It is the same stuff regurgitated over and over again. But today, a shining light appeared in an article on RE Technology. Trulia launched a dedicated effort to make a difference. Today, Trulia announced that they are moving to a [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:43-07:00January 30th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments

Time is Running Out!

RE Technology is hosting an exciting 60-minute webinar with Cartavi and DocuSign on: January 29, 2013 at 10:00 am PST, 12 pm CST, 1 pm EST to learn how you can leverage your iPad and become mobile and paperless agent. The presenters of this interactive webinar will show you how to take advantage of the cloud, your iPad and technology such as DocuSign and Cartavi to better serve your clients from wherever you are. Take your business to the next level by saving time, saving money and providing your clients with an exceptional level of service when and where they [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:24:43-07:00January 25th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off

REALTORS Really Hitting It Off A Few Rows Back On Airplane

PHOENIX—According to sources currently seated in rows 14 through 18 aboard flight 763, two middle-aged REALTORS® are really hitting it off during the trip to Inman in New York. Using terms like “AVM” and “CMA,” the slightly overweight, average-looking men are reportedly engaged in a detailed discussion about overwhelmingly exciting work-related topics and, sources said, seem to be getting along great. “They got to talking as soon as we boarded, and you could tell they just clicked right away,” said 31-year-old Camille Catteano of 16B, adding that one of the men, upon looking up from his REALTOR Magazine™, immediately recognized [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:44-07:00December 28th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category|Comments Off

Broker Profitability POD concept

This may be the real future of real estate brokerage. You will need to endure a series of short product stories to understand the POD concept for real estate brokerage. The coffee industry hit a home run with coffee pods. As it turns out, consumers would be happy to pay more for coffee if they do not need to deal with filters, scoops, and cans. The coffee pod industry was able to sell less coffee for a higher price by offering convenience. The pod revolution did not end with coffee. The rather smart dudes and dudettes at P&G took one [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:44-07:00December 20th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Strategic Planning|1 Comment

iPad Is What Agents Want For Christmas
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iPad Is What Agents Want For Christmas

Broker Technology Research, Main category, Technology Evaluation

iPad Is What Agents Want For Christmas

2012 was an outstanding year for real estate technology embracing mobile. 2013 will be even better. However, all of this new freedom functionality will be for naught if agents do not buy iPads. In November, WAV Group did a number of research projects that included information about the adoption of mobile in real estate. By our average numbers, 60% of agents now have a smartphone. 40% of agents have a tablet computer like an iPad. We would have served ourselves well to break out the types of devices that agents use by sorting Apple devices from Android devices, but we [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:45-07:00December 20th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off

The Role of Mortgage on Broker Dollar
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The Role of Mortgage on Broker Dollar

Broker Technology Research, Main category, Strategic Planning

The Role of Mortgage on Broker Dollar

Only the largest brokerages in a given region provide loan solutions through joint ventures or wholly owned mortgage companies. This provides these companies with a distinct advantage in many areas of providing a full array of consumer services around home ownership. For these companies, it is a generous source of additional revenue and the consumer loves the convenience. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that independent mortgage banks earned between $2150 and $2450 profit per loan in 2012. The average production profit in basis points ranged between 107 and 120. The average production was between 1700 and 2000 loans per quarter. [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:46-07:00December 17th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Strategic Planning|Comments Off