In Search Of A Perfect Broker VOW

WAV Group is conducting research to discover if there is any broker in the United States who has pulled out of IDX and only offers a Virtual Office Website to consumers. Presumably, it would be a large enough broker who would display their listings publicly without the need to register to the site. If consumers wanted to see other broker listings, they would need to register. No other broker would be able to display that brokers listings to the public. If you know of such a site here in America, please direct me to it and you will be handsomely rewarded. My loving relationship [...]

NAR REach Program announces 6 companies joining accelerator

For those of you who do not know, there is a derivative initiative of NAR's Second Century Ventrures venture capital fund called REach. The REach program has a grand board of advisors, and a board of mentors. The program requests submissions from companies who are looking to enter the real estate industry. If selected, the REach programs provides support and advisory services to these businesses so that they hit the ground running with some industry awareness. Here are the top 6 BombBomb - Provides a complete e-mail and video marketing platform for developing, sending and tracking results of traditional and video e-mail [...]

Move releases the new Realtor.com Brand

We have seen some re-branding released recently from leading real estate consumer brands. Today we see the release of the new Realtor.com – where home happens. Last year saw the rebirth of Century 21 – Stronger, Bolder, Faster. These are very well recognized consumer brands. MOVE EVP Marketing, Barbara O’Connor and her team took a close look at the Realtor.com brand within a year of her arrival at the company. I am excited to see how this new treatment works out. I can assure you that they have likely exhausted focus groups to predictably make a selection that reaches their [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:40-07:00March 5th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments

SFAR hires Association Vet Baczkowski from Point2

Congratulations to Walt Baczkowski as he returns to his roots in Association Leadership, taking the helm in San Francisco. Walt is departing his post at Point2 where he was VP of Marketing and wingman to division leader Saul Klein. San Francisco is a great Association and MLS - the crown jewel of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco covers about 49 square miles, pinched between BAREIS to the north and MLSListings to the south. East Bay and Contra Costa are in the East Bay. They share some data, and most agents are members of more than one Association or [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:45-07:00December 18th, 2012|Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off on SFAR hires Association Vet Baczkowski from Point2

CMLS brainstorms new approach for MLS Rules

The CMLS meetings (Council of MLS) were held on Wednesday, November 7th. There were numerous presentations but one in particular seemed to engage the Nation's leading MLS executives in attendance - ReThink MLS. The question before the panel was "What If We Started from Scratch?" As we all know, MLS rules (including Broker Reciprocity) provides structure for how brokers and agents will behave when sharing listings with one another: Two problems have arisen since these rules were first crafted more than a dozen years ago. The MLS rules have become cumbersome in length and somewhat unwieldy to manage and enforce. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:47-07:00November 12th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|1 Comment

Update on Dot MLS Domains Association

There is some interesting news on the effort of a bundle of MLSs to procure the Internet Top Level Domain of MLS. But first, let me begin with a sidebar about Canada and trademark. In Canada, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) filed a trademark on the brand, MLS®. To avert a long winded discussion of the implications – think of it as a trademark that provides CREA with all of the rights that the REALTOR® trademark provides to the National Association of REALTORS®. It was a brilliant move that prohibits anyone from using the term MLS® in Canada. In [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00October 2nd, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|6 Comments

Your company is a mess and that’s ok

If you look around your business and recognize a mess, everything is probably working a lot more smoothly than you imagine. It sounds counter intuitive, but companies that are progressive and evolutionary are likely to have many things left undone. Here are three things that you are likely to recognize in your company that are unseemly, but good. Wrong People There is no such thing as a perfect business team. When you evaluate your team, you will recognize that they all have strengths and weaknesses. Everyone is always working on improvement in some area of their professional responsibility. In today’s [...]

Matt Consalvo named as ARMLS CEO

WAV Group is pleased to congratulate Matt Consalvo for his newly appointed role as the Chief Executive Officer of ARMLS in Phoenix, Arizona. Matt was named Chief Operating Officer in May, 2011 and then stepped in as Interim CEO in February, 2012. Matt is a second generation Supra employee  He interned for Supra keybox systems in the 1980’s. Later he sharpened his customer service skills in variety of opportunities, including owning his own retail business. In 2003 he returned to GE Security/Supra to administer the Supra Field Offices, joining ARMLS in 2009 when ARMLS took over keybox administration. His passion [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:52-07:00September 12th, 2012|Main category|Comments Off on Matt Consalvo named as ARMLS CEO

RPR Working to Bridge the Gap with the Mortgage Industry

Dale Ross, head of RPR published a very interesting article today that I thought would share with you about the company's efforts to have a positive impact on the mortgage industry. One of the key goals of RPR is to help improve the accuracy of the valuations of properties by providing more comprehensive, accurate and up to date information.  Here it is: Today, RPR is available to the majority of NAR’s REALTOR® members.  In 2011, RPR began to place greater focus on the communications and relationships needed to engage the entities responsible for mortgage liquidity.  With the support of NAR’s [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:52-07:00September 12th, 2012|Main category|Comments Off on RPR Working to Bridge the Gap with the Mortgage Industry

What is a participant

NAR published revised guidelines this year that outline the definition of a Participant in the MLS. It is a long description, so I will put it at the end. One key element is that the mere possession of a broker's license is not sufficient, the broker must actively endeavor to make or accept offers of cooperation and compensation with respect to properties of the type that are listed on the MLS. If you are an NAR affiliated MLS, you probably have already adopted this language and amended your rules and regulations. Some MLSs go further. They require the broker to take training. Some state [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:53-07:00September 4th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on What is a participant

The Unproductive Agent Exposed

In today’s Real Trends eMail update, Steve Murray talks about an important topic for REALTOR Associations and Brokers – the unproductive agent. The unproductive agent is both a blessing and an anchor on our industry. However, taking advantage of the unproductive agent may be a great source of new business for an emerging business model in real estate brokerage. The unproductive agent is a great source of revenue. Lets face the reality – without the unproductive agent paying dues to REALTOR Associations, the Associations would fail, or at least be delimited. The nation’s largest trade association, which does the most [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:53-07:00August 31st, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on The Unproductive Agent Exposed

Last Day for Midyear Webinar!

Tomorrow we will bring attendees up to date on critical industry issues and trends via our last Industry Update Webinar, including: Economic forecasts for the real estate industry in 2013. Hot NAR topics and policy issues like the new proposed IDX rules. CMLS updates on new industry initiatives. Broker topics like syndication and online marketing effectiveness. Emerging technology trends for brokers and agents. MLS technology update. Promising non-dues revenue for MLSs to offset declining membership...and much more WAV Group founding partners and industry experts Marilyn Wilson, Mike Audet and Victor Lund will be sharing valuable on-the-spot insights gained while attending [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:58-07:00June 6th, 2012|Main category|Comments Off on Last Day for Midyear Webinar!