Real Estate Digital Spins Out of LPS Real Estate Group

Real Estate Digital (or RED), announced a management buy-out of select assets of LPS Real Estate Group and the formation of the new company. RED, the new privately-held corporation, will focus on the support of 12 core technology products offered to the real estate industry today: rDesk® Websites, rDesk®  CRM, rDesk®  CMA, rDesk®  IDX, Real Estate & Living Media®, reDataVault, TransactionPoint®, DocCentral, FormCentral, Data Aggregation System, Neighborhood and School Reports and MLS Portal. Executive leadership of the company includes current LPS Real Estate Group President Jay Gaskill, CTO John Hensley, CSO Prem Luthra, and CFO Mike Kovar. The company expects [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 14th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Real Estate Digital Spins Out of LPS Real Estate Group

National Representative for Listing Copyright Infringement

I read a funny story over the weekend that embarrassed a rather “less than upstanding” member of the legal community representing newspapers in copyright infringement cases. I will recap that story in a minute, but it did make me think about a few rather important comments made by Brian Larson of Larson/Sobodka at recent conferences. I cannot paraphrase Larson effectively, but summarize that he believes that MLSs should take the issue of Copyright infringement very seriously. (Larson and other legal colleagues are sure to be discussing this at the Legal Symposium as part of the upcoming CMLS Conference). MLSs need [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 12th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on National Representative for Listing Copyright Infringement

WAV Group Week in Review September 10 2011

In real estate technology this week, there were two announcements that caught our attention regarding Automated Valuations (AVM). Trulia launched Trulia Estimates, their version of property valuations for consumers that competes with public website rival, Zillow  and Zestimates. Along the same lines, CoreLogic announced this week that they have licensed more than 1 million active property listings from MLSs through their Partner InfoNet program (PIN) powering their institutional AVM products. CoreLogic is in a race with NAR’s initiative called Realtors Property Resource or RPR. Lender Processing Service (LPS) licenses active listing data from RPR to power their commercial AVM product. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 10th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on WAV Group Week in Review September 10 2011

Communication Strategy for Real Estate

One of the fundamental core values of the MLS (beyond offers of compensation) is the organization and communication of property information database. The role of the MLS as a communicator is a hotly debated topic, because the communicator becomes the identity and spokesperson to a wide range of agents and consumers alike. The MLS as a communicator is largely predicated by the governance of the MLS, its bylaws, and the standards set by the MLS shareholders and board of directors. Today, most MLSs have one or more REALTOR Associations as their shareholders. The board of directors is typically appointed by [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00August 30th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Communication Strategy for Real Estate

Melanie Blakeney Selected as MAAR’s New Leader

MEMPHIS, Tenn., August 25, 2011 – Today the Memphis Area Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors named Melanie Blakeney as its Executive Vice President, effective Dec. 1, 2011. She succeeds long-time Executive Vice President Jules Wade, who will be retiring this fall. Blakeney currently is Executive Vice President over MAAR’s Commercial Council and MLS. She came to MAAR in 1999 from the Lafayette Board of REALTORS® in Louisiana, where for a decade she served as President/CEO. Previously, she was Executive Officer over the Norman Board of REALTORS® in Oklahoma. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00August 29th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on Melanie Blakeney Selected as MAAR’s New Leader

Dot MLS is the right side of the dot

Dot MLS Domains I was provided with a couple of previews of articles written by Judith Lindenau of the .MLS DomainAssociation today. Judith is a key member of the team volunteering their energy to pursue a top level domain name for the real estate industry called .MLS. You will see them on RE Technology next week (email me if you need an account). A Top Level Domain is what happens on the “right side of the dot.” a metaphor that I really like. On today’s internet, .com or .net are pretty meaningless. The concept of the new release of top level [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00August 26th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Dot MLS is the right side of the dot

Marty Reed Promoted at LPS

WAV Group would like to extend a sincere congratulations to our friend, Marty Reed of LPS. LPS Executive Rich Lull announced today that Marty Reed has accepted a new position expanding her role with LPS Real Estate Group’s MLS business. “Marty and team has done an incredible job with the development and launch of Paragon 5, currently being deployed by LPS’s 200+ Paragon accounts, and being presented to a number of MLS’s for consideration for conversion,” says Lull. Effective immediately, Ms. Reed will assume the role of VP ParagonSolutions, taking on responsibility for P&L management of the Paragon suite of [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:31-07:00August 17th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Marty Reed Promoted at LPS

AOL-MOVEing in on property portals

Large consumer search portals like Google, Yahoo, and AOL have had an interesting, if not mystical strategy toward real estate. Today, AOL made an announcement to become a syndication channel for real estate listings. Perhaps AOL is going against the grain, or perhaps they finally found a great partner who made it easy for them to get enough quality listings on their site to make it a viable search solution for property. In today’s announcement, AOL Real Estate search will be powered by Move through the ListHub Syndication Network. No doubt, the strategy for AOL and Move fits. Both companies [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:31-07:00August 17th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on AOL-MOVEing in on property portals

FBI Targets REALTORS

I caught an article published in the Kansas City Star this morning that blew my mind. The Federal Bureau of Investigations reports that there are an estimated $10 Billion in fraudulent loan applications each year in America. The problem is so bad that they have launched a sting initiative called Operation Stolen Dreams. This may be no surprise to many MLS executives. If you operate a large or mid-sided MLS, the FBI has already contacted you to gain access to MLS data. This is the front door approach. In some cases, the FBI gets a real estate license and joins [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:32-07:00August 12th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on FBI Targets REALTORS

Purpose Built Data for Listing Syndication

Over the past three years, I have spent time with listing publishers, real estate brokers, MLS executives, and real estate agents collecting information on the strengths and weaknesses of listing syndication. At the core of these conversations was the topic of data quality, terms of use, the value of the listing, the effectiveness of online marketing, and overlapping syndication disorder. Without dissecting each issue, suffice it to suggest that listing syndication is not meeting the needs of todays stakeholders. The systems in place today need to evolve to meet everyone’s needs. This article will suggest that IDX data was not built for [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:32-07:00August 11th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Product Management, Suveys and Research|Comments Off on Purpose Built Data for Listing Syndication

Arizona forms largest statewide MLS in the Nation

By a margin of 3 to 1, the Arizona Association of REALTORS voted to acquire the assets of ARMLS today forming the largest statewide MLS in the nation and possibly one of the top 5 largest MLSs in the nation. By our accounting, only MRED in Chicago, MRIS in the Mid-Atlantic would be larger. CRMLS in Los Angles, SoCAL MLS in Los Angles, MFRMLS in Central Florida are all smaller, but possibly in reach. Not that the numbers matter all that much. The difficult next step will be to encourage other Arizona MLSs to join the party. Bob Bemis, current [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:32-07:00August 8th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Arizona forms largest statewide MLS in the Nation

Building Member Value with IDX and Websites

Across America, WAV Group has recognized that MLSs and Associations have been working with MLS vendors and IDX vendors to develop property search solutions for their members. These solutions are offered in one of three ways: Free, Freemium, and Premium. What follows is a basic description of how these programs are comprised along with a shortlist of MLSs and their partners.   Free: In some Associations or MLSs, the IDX solution is offered as a complimentary (free) product for agents and brokers. This is unconfirmed, but we think that Rapattoni may have the most subscribers to the free solution. Rapattoni [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:32-07:00August 4th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Building Member Value with IDX and Websites