Breaking News! NAR hires two heavyweights!

NAR hires two heavyweights to take organization to next level! I recently had the pleasure of working with Victoria Gillespie.  When I saw NAR’s announcement about her become their new Chief Marketing and Communications Officer I was thrilled!   She is the consummate professional and she knows a TON about the effective ways to leverage today’s marketing techniques to help an organization engage with its direct customers and their clients!     I’m confident she is going to bring a ton of fresh thinking about the ways to make the REALTOR® brand stronger, while finding ways to deliver content to consumers that will [...]

By |2018-10-03T08:09:31-07:00October 3rd, 2018|Press Releases|Comments Off on Breaking News! NAR hires two heavyweights!

Association Powered Open House Surge in Florida

The National Association of REALTORS® put forth a great concept for REALTOR® Associaons to launch in their local markets called Open House Weekends™. The idea is born around cooperation between advertising companies and local Associations to pull together an open house blitz.

By |2018-09-17T14:35:55-07:00September 14th, 2018|Broker-Agent Information|3 Comments

Takeaways from the first NAR iOi: Innovation Opportunity & Investment Summit

Eric Forsman, Vice President of Technology Services of the Florida Realtors, echoed what I was thinking when I bumped into him at the inaugural National Association of REALTORS® iOi conference in San Francisco. “I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. And like Eric, I had the same reaction: we were both remarkably impressed.

By |2018-09-04T08:19:16-07:00August 31st, 2018|Uncategorized|6 Comments

NAR Opens Registration for the iOi Summit

One of the many ambitions under the leadership at the National Association of REALTORS® is to engage in establishing a beachhead for companies to introduce innovative new solutions in real estate. The manifestation of this strategy is the launch of a conference that will invite innovators to connect with industry leaders to foster collaboration. The conference is called iOi. It was recently brought to my attention by Chris Bennett of CoreLogic is his monthly communication. The conference takes place in San Francisco August 29th-30th.

By |2018-07-23T06:00:55-07:00July 23rd, 2018|Main category|Comments Off on NAR Opens Registration for the iOi Summit

Three Stories for You to Read: Amazon, Cybersecurity, App Dev

In the advent of Inman Connect this week, these were three stories I found which piqued my interest this last week. Will Amazon Uber-ize the Real Estate Industry? Cisco and Juniper Networks stocks slipped last Friday on news from The Information that Amazon was entering the $14 billion data center equipment business. While searching for more news I stumbled upon investment firm, TwinRock Partners, article about Amazon and real estate.

By |2018-08-04T18:15:52-07:00July 16th, 2018|Cyber, Strategic Planning, Technology|Comments Off on Three Stories for You to Read: Amazon, Cybersecurity, App Dev

Missing Data Points

It was a great week at NAR Midyear to re-connect with fellow colleagues, have sonorous discussions about the industry, and – of course – chitchat about the current controversial brew-ha-ha that seems to occur around these types of events. Over the last month – especially last week – I had the pleasure of talking to many real estate technology companies who provide products and services to brokers and agents. When the discussion would lead to back office architecture, the discussion was segmented into two groups.

By |2018-07-02T02:01:30-07:00May 21st, 2018|RESO|2 Comments

NAR Midyear: Looking For The Tech Enablers

Tech enablers. That’s what I will be looking for at the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo, May 14-19 in Washington DC this week, best known as NAR Midyear. I’ll head down to the trade show floor and spend the rest of my time shuttling between the Marriott and the Omni lobbies talking to influencers and tech leaders.

By |2018-05-14T06:38:05-07:00May 14th, 2018|Main category|4 Comments

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 [...]

By |2018-02-02T10:21:56-08:00February 2nd, 2018|IDX, MLS Insights, NAR, RESO|Comments Off on NAR Gets Serious About RESO Compliance

NAR’s Goldberg Kills Amp and Powers Up Upstream

We’re starting to see the impact of a new leadership team at the National Association of REALTORS® led by Bob Goldberg, a strategic, yet practical leader that is SERIOUS about making the industry function more effectively.  He also seems to be critically evaluating every investment in technology and making some bold moves to re-focus efforts. NAR announced yesterday that is shutting down development on its Advanced Multilist Platform, or AMP. AMP was under development for a few years at a burn rate of $6 Million per year. The concept behind AMP was solid – consolidate MLS data into a single [...]

By |2018-02-02T09:43:31-08:00February 2nd, 2018|Broker Technology Research, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, MLS Insights, Technology|Comments Off on NAR’s Goldberg Kills Amp and Powers Up Upstream

What’s on your NAR Chicago Checklist? A Pre-NAR must read

My theory about conventions is this: if you plan your schedule well, your convention will go well. If you don’t, it won’t. It’s as simple as that. With Second City, our next destination, good planning could make or break how you measure the success of your NAR experience in the Windy City. Each year before I head out to the largest annual gathering of real estate agents and brokers, an estimated 20,000+ from across our nation, I like to look for some of the golden nuggets tucked away in the schedule and on the Expo floor. I cull through the info [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:35-07:00October 30th, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on What’s on your NAR Chicago Checklist? A Pre-NAR must read

Highlights and Lowlights at NAR Midyear

The REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo is a mouthful, so we all just call it NAR Midyear. This one was a scorcher: both inside, as Upstream was the hot topic, and outside, as the temperatures were in the 90s in mid-May and the humidity made me remember why everyone leaves D.C. in August (except the tourists). CMLS Brings it to the Table For me, this was the highlight of the conference and it really isn’t even officially part of Midyear. It’s a tangential track that the Council of Multiple Listing Services hosted at American University, about 15 minutes north [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:47-07:00May 25th, 2017|Main category, MLS Insights|1 Comment

The Industry Has Risen

I had a feeling during the recession that the pillars that held our industry in trust had cracked. The first of two pillars of trust is the National Association of REALTORS® as fully constituted by its local, state, national, and international chapters. The second pillar of trust is the Multiple Listing Service. History has taught us that when you apply pressure to any society or organization it is likely to fracture. No doubt, these industry pillars came under massive scrutiny from their constituents. The real estate brokers who founded these noble entities became conscientious objectors to the organizations and their [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:50-07:00May 10th, 2017|Main category, MLS Insights, WAVes of Change|Comments Off on The Industry Has Risen