Understanding Your ListTrac Report
ListTrac is now reporting metrics from nearly every major IDX vendor, the major portals, and the MLS systems.
Data Sharing Done Differently with Trestle and RESO
If you are considering a data share, we hope you find inspiration from WARDEX. WARDEX has positioned itself for data sharing to resolve the problems of overlapping market disorder.
Howard Hanna Opts Out of IDX and Tests VOW
All brokers and agents in the market have the option to upgrade their website to a VOW website. Given that Howard Hanna is the leading firm in the market, consumers will quickly realize that they are not seeing all the listings from IDX only sites.
Former HomeSeekers CEO, John Giaimo launches New Venture
In the early 90s, John Giaimo founded HomeSeekers and took the company public. Since then, Giaimo has been an active real estate entrepreneur launching Realty Times, Realty Times TV, cable and satellite TV shows, and numerous other ventures. I was able to catch up with John to learn a bit more about his new venture, BringitHomeCommunities.com.
Brokers Need to Revisit VOW Websites
From 2009 to 2013, WAV Group spent a significant portion of our brokerage consulting on explaining what a Virtual Office Website (VOW) is and how it is different from an Internet Data Exchange (IDX) website. Now VOW websites are being discussed again in brokerage meetings and for good reason. Digital paper only brokers have been able to build spectacularly successful businesses that leverage IDX to develop referrals that take a 30% bite out of agent commissions. Brokers who care about the income of their agents should review this carefully.
Is it time for a National IDX?
Here’s an idea to think about…. Today, we have robust rules in place that allow a broker to share their active, pending and in some cases, sold listings with their fellow practitioners via a local IDX policy. What if we took that idea to another level?
MLS Improvement Requires Broker Support
There is a progressive MLS leadership group that is fighting on behalf of brokers to make dramatic improvements in data management that needs broker support for their efforts. The group is called MLS Roundtable, made up of eight MLSs representing 300,000 brokers and agents. In an article published this week called Measuring Success for MLS Executives, Kathy Condon, President and CEO of Massachusetts regional MLS PIN scribes an eloquent synopsis of the status of migrating data feeds from the RETS transportation method to RESO Web API. She urges the industry to move forward quickly and responsibility. They need brokers to support the effort by encouraging more MLSs to focus their attention and treasury to RESO Web API adoption.
WolfNet speeds up Property Alerts to benefit 250,000 agents, brokers and their clients
WolfNet Technologies LLC has become the quiet data giant in real estate. Think about it. WolfNet provides Websites/IDX to Keller Williams (a client since 2002), the largest real estate brokerage in the world. WolfNet also is believed to be the leading company that normalizes MLS data. WolfNet’s digital footprint is massive: it’s a data goliath managing over 100 million property recordsthat covers 99% of all active MLS property listings in the U.S. and Canada. It hosts 89 million property photos for IDX solutions alone and provides more than 100,000 IDX and Websites to real estate agents and brokers – reaching [...]
Data Talk and the Consumer Experience
Over the last month, a lot of people are talking about data. Inman Disconnect crafted a data statement as one of its Parker Principles, Real Estate Standard Organization (RESO.org) Spring 2018 Conference was all about data, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) held a panel to discuss how real estate can be more competitive with technology, which included data as a component of its theme. Here are some thoughts on the good, bad and ugly uses of data.
A Tech View on Consolidation
Consolidation of Associations and/or Multiple Listing Systems (MLS) at any level has its pros and cons. Consolidation can tip the scale in the way that it improves the business, the industry and most importantly, how it impacts all the stakeholders. This of course includes the consumer who is at the top of pyramid!
NAR Gets Serious About RESO Compliance
The National Association of REALTORS® Chief Executive Officer, Bob Goldberg has been making some impressive moves this week. The first move is to send threatening letters to about 90 MLSs who have not adopted the RESO Standards or are not adhering to the MLS Policy required to maintain NAR affiliation. Some of the MLSs are being cited for not being certified with the RESO Data Dictionary and some do not yet have availability with the RESO Web API. While many MLSs still believe that RESO is not critical to their business, we hear from brokers regularly that they are requesting [...]