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1 07, 2015

Departing Trulia Executive Joins Broker Public Portal Board of Managers

By |2018-05-03T21:23:40-07:00July 1st, 2015|Main category|1 Comment

Arroyo Grande, CA – June 30th, 2015 – In the wake of the Broker Public Portal’s first board meeting comes the announcement that Alon Chaver, former Vice President of Industry Services at Trulia, has agreed to join the company’s Board of Managers. The governance of the LLC allows the Board to nominate two outside directors. Mr. Chaver is the first of those two. Mr. Chaver has deep roots in the real estate industry as the co-founder and CEO of iHomefinder, a pioneering technology firm that helped shape innovative applications for MLSs, brokers and their agents. Chaver stepped down from that [...]

28 04, 2015

Major Changes In Real Estate

By |2018-05-03T21:23:46-07:00April 28th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Our Services|Comments Off on Major Changes In Real Estate

Behold, changes are taking place in real estate. We are seeing significant efforts like Project Upstream, RPR AMP, Broker Public Portal, Fair Display Guidelines, and RESO mandates that are shaping the future of our industry. It makes you wonder what is driving this explosive cocktail of industry wide initiatives. At the heart of many of these developments are brokers. When they survey the world around them, they rue the existence of poor data management and profit taking by others. Poor Data Management I believe that it was MRIS CEO, David Charron who coined the term Overlapping Market Disorder. He was [...]

17 03, 2015

Struggling with your Direct Feeds?

By |2018-05-03T21:23:48-07:00March 17th, 2015|MLS Insights, Strategic Planning, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on Struggling with your Direct Feeds?

Direct to portals, syndication platforms, virtual tour companies, online marketing products…the options for brokers to distribute listings seem endless. They all offer varying features, benefits and service levels, making it hard to determine what will give their businesses a competitive edge. Many brokers are at the mercy of agents using services that distribute listings without their knowledge; creating inaccuracies and liabilities, and eroding their brands. MLSs are in the unique position to offer brokers unmatched listing distribution services through strong data licensing agreements. A key benefit that only MLSs can offer is faster listing updates. When listings are not delivered [...]

20 02, 2015

RETS Servers and Direct Feeds

By |2018-05-03T21:23:50-07:00February 20th, 2015|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on RETS Servers and Direct Feeds

The National Association of REALTORS MLS Issues and Policy Committee made a bold move to require RESO data dictionary complainant by Jan 1, 2016, and RESO RESTful web API by June 30, 2016. Further complicating the matters is the groundswell of considerations with third party portals making requests for MLS direct feeds. Data sharing between MLS systems, RETS Update, and system conversions taking place across the industry today deepen the data transport considerations. Wrapping it all together with a lit match could easily lead to mass hysteria. WAV Group took a look at what the largest MLSs in the nation [...]

23 09, 2014

And the Lead Goes Round and Round

By |2018-05-03T21:23:59-07:00September 23rd, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on And the Lead Goes Round and Round

I had a rather interesting conversation about lead management and lead sales today. The story went something like this. A broker enhances listings and purchases zip code leads from a portal. The broker believes that there is some form of exclusivity on the leads generated through the system in so far as the lead is only distributed once. In his case, he distributes the leads as they come into one of his agents. To test the system, the broker had a staff member go to the publisher site and generate a lead. The lead came through to the broker as [...]

21 04, 2014

Broker AVMs

By |2018-05-03T21:24:13-07:00April 21st, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Our Services|2 Comments

One of the core services of brokerages and their agents is pricing property. In the olden days, it was less scientific than it is right now. On an individual property, agents deliver CMAs or BPOs. Today, using MLS data, brokers are now automating their services. Sometimes this service is called Automated Valuation Modeling, or AVMs. There is a healthy and robust marketplace for AVMs in the financial services industry. Banks want to know the debt-to-equity ratio on homes they hold mortgages on. They also want to use AVMs as a method to validate home appraisals. The government uses AVMs to [...]

23 12, 2013

Will 2014 Be a Break Out Year

By |2018-05-03T21:24:20-07:00December 23rd, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Will 2014 Be a Break Out Year

For the last half of a decade, the real estate industry has taken blow after blow. Through grace, we have recovered as an industry and that has a profound impact on homeowners and REALTORS® alike. The number of families losing their home to foreclosure has reset to reasonable levels. WAV Group facilitated nearly two-dozen strategic plans for some of our industry’s most significant market makers. In many cases, boards of directors are thinking pretty big. They are taking on difficult policy issues including syndication, data licensing, and data management. If these organizations accomplish half of what they have set as [...]

14 08, 2013

Revenue Generation Emerges in MLS strategy

By |2018-05-03T21:24:29-07:00August 14th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Product Management|Comments Off on Revenue Generation Emerges in MLS strategy

MLSs are for profit entities. They have investors and a board of directors and have a stated goal of providing returns. Normally, the investors in the MLS are the Associations of REALTORS® or brokers that put up the initial funding for the MLS. The MLS was the natural extension of sharing property listings between real estate professionals pre-dating the founding of NAR. When printed listings were replaced by the electronic MLS, the business model, payment per month by members continued. That model still exists today and is in line with how software as a service (SaaS) is typically delivered across [...]

17 06, 2013

More MLSs launch FIND search from MOVE

By |2018-05-03T21:24:33-07:00June 17th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on More MLSs launch FIND search from MOVE

Move spread the news this morning that MRED (Chicago) MLS PIN (Boston and most of Mass) and SFAR (San Francisco) have all entered into agreements to offer the FIND product. If you are not familiar with FIND, it is a product that was the early candidate for the National Association of REALTOR's Property Library. It ties all of the active listing data on Realtor.com to a suite of extensive property attributes ranging from demographic data to flood maps to airplane fly over zones and noise. The Find products sits at the top of the page when the agent is logged [...]

29 05, 2013

Welcome Back Mr Foley

By |2018-05-03T21:24:35-07:00May 29th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Welcome Back Mr Foley

What do you do when your $6B company (Fidelity) has an extra $1.5B in cash languishing in your bank accounts? You buy back a company (LPS) that you spun out and you start all over again. If you ever doubted the value of providing software and data services to the financial industry, Mr. Foley just answered it. He is now officially back in the MLS business…. Almost. Deal is not quite done. But wait, there is more. Foley is a self made Billionaire who may perhaps be best known for his personal investing in the wine industry – having purchased [...]

26 12, 2012

Larson Sobotka selected as general counsel for CMLS

By |2018-05-03T21:24:44-07:00December 26th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on Larson Sobotka selected as general counsel for CMLS

Minneapolis, December 26, 2012: The Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) announced that it has selected the law firm of Larson/Sobotka, PLLC, as its general counsel. Larson/Sobotka, led by managing member Brian N. Larson, brings substantial experience in MLS matters to the service of CMLS, the leading association representing multiple listing services in North America. "We are pleased to assist an important leader in the real estate industry," said Larson, who was chief staff officer of an MLS for nearly a decade and has served MLSs as outside counsel for more than a decade. "We have a unique set of skills and experiences," he [...]

20 09, 2012

Mitch Skinner Now Partner at Larson Sobodka

By |2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00September 20th, 2012|Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off on Mitch Skinner Now Partner at Larson Sobodka

WAV Group is please to extend congratulations to Attorney Mitchell Skinner who has become a member of the legal firm Larson Sobodka. Mitch as been working with the firm's founder Brian Larson and first member, Elizabeth Sobodka for about two years. Clients of Larson Sobodka have undoubtedly had a solid experience working with Mr. Skinner. Skinner has been helping the firm with their core speciality: data licensing and vendor contracts. It is an area of expertise that has made the firm renowned throughout the industry. Vendor contracts has long been a speciality of the firm - and they have foraged new paths over the past [...]