National Association of REALTORS Archives

Consumers Prefer Referrals

WAV Group Research does a lot of consumer research on behalf of MLSs and Associations. We also do research for State Associations of REALTORS and the National Association of REALTORs. One of the best member benefits is the research that is provided to the real estate professional by these groups. The National Association of REALTORS has a great research team. The data that they publish on consumer attitudes about Real Estate and the process of buying and selling homes using a REALTOR are awesome sources of education, training, and strategic development for your business. One of my favorite ways to [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:17-07:00January 18th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information|Comments Off

Putting the teeth back into the REALTOR® Brand
Gallery
Putting the teeth back into the REALTOR® Brand

Main category, MLS Insights

Putting the teeth back into the REALTOR® Brand

Real estate agents in our industry spend millions of dollars as a group annually to become a REALTOR® and to stay a member of the REALTOR® family. As someone who cut their teeth working with some of the most highly trusted brands in the world like Fisher-Price, Sesame Street and others, I have a few observations of the real estate industry’s branding efforts. First, when I ask most REALTORS® what makes them different than non-REALTORS® they say “the code of ethics”. While I appreciate the fact that those that live to the letter of the code of ethics may treat [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:22-07:00November 21st, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|3 Comments

Why MLS sold data is bad, and a note about the comma

Oversights are interesting. They are even more interesting when they are fixed. Let me explain a little bit about “reporting Sales to the (MLS) Service” in the model MLS rules. Up until the recent meeting of the MLS Issues and Policies Committee meeting at the NAR Annual Convention, agents were required to change the listing status to Sold when a transaction closed. This is a case whereby the rule did not clearly indicate the behavior. As written, the agent was required to update the status of the listing, not enter the sale price from the contract. This is a significant [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:22-07:00November 16th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights, Virtual Office Website Series|Comments Off

Nielsen credits HAR and Zillow among others

When it comes to measuring marketing effectiveness, there is little argument that Nielsen is the leader. Nielsen believes that providing clients with a precise understanding of the consumer is the key to making the right decisions — decisions that can lead to profitable growth. At Nielsen, they are always innovating to keep pace with emerging market trends and the increasingly diverse, demanding and connected consumer. Joining Nielsen is the Houston Association of REALTORS, Zillow, a few dozen brokerages, and about 500 of the more than 1 Million REALTORS in America today. These REALTORS are the bold, the true, the transparant, [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:23-07:00November 7th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off

CMLS reviews pending IDX policy changes

I am a big fan of CMLS, the acronym for the Council of MLS. The Council does more than any other organization to support best practices among MLS service providers. Today, CMLS hosted a member webinar that provided a 360-degree overview of the pending IDX rule change, a consideration that will be discussed and submitted to the NAR Board of Directors for approval at the NAR Convention in Anaheim. The suggestions to the NAR Board of directors from the call were simple. Cathy Holefelder of Heartland MLS provided a great summary of the call and suggested this synthesized overview. – [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:23-07:00October 31st, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off

Change hurts

Perhaps there is a new chief executive, a new business strategy, an MLS conversion, a new product launch, a merger, a new data share, or a dramatically altered competitive landscape, in the real estate world, big change means big risk. In other words, company performance may rise like a rocket or fall like a rock. The only thing it’s not likely to do is stay the same. Change may be inevitable, but big change is scary, nevertheless. And how you deal with it plays a big role in the outcome. In just the past few weeks, we’ve seen big change in the works [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:25-07:00October 28th, 2011|Main category|Comments Off

It’s time for Gutsy Leadership – Marilyn Wilson’s observations of the CMLS conference

The CMLS Conference in Tucson was absolutely the BEST EVER in my view! First, there were over 550 attendees – the largest in conference history. The conference continues to grow in popularity year after year due to the relevant and timely content delivered coupled with well-organized and FUN events. This year was no different. The CMLS Board led by Merri Jo Cowen and the fabulous hosts at the Tucson Association of REALTORS® led by Phil Tedesco and Wes Wiggins, formerly of Tucson created a very memorable event. Jim Harrison, CEO of MLSListings was also elected as the latest board member [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:26-07:00October 13th, 2011|Main category|Comments Off

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 Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:32-07:00August 12th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

REALOGY to become Syndication Site

At the Inman Data Summit, many of the hot topics concerning MLS and broker data policies were rehashed. Perhaps the most radical statement of the conference came from Bob Bemis, CEO of the Phoenix area MLS (ARMLS) “Scrap all IDX rules and use the Code of Ethics and State Law to guide data policy.” I believe that he gave credit to Marty Frame of RPR for originating the idea. Aside from that rather far fetched thesis, insight was shared by two of the members of the NAR MLS Policy committee on the possible outcome of the Franchise IDX issue. Rather [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:33-07:00July 27th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|Comments Off

Franchisor IDX issues continue

MLS System providers have been working hard on rapidly delivering a solution to support the NEW NAR policy for Franchisor IDX guidelines that is in place between June 13th and the NAR convention in November. Franchise Organizations lost the privilege extended to them at the last NAR meeting that permitted them to display broker listing data that would link to a franchise broker website. This is called Indexing. Non-Franchise brokers do not feel that the Franchisor – who is a third party and not an MLS member, should have these privileges. IDX data had previously [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:38-07:00June 22nd, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

FBS First to comply with new IDX Rules

FBS Flex MLS For those of you who attended the NAR Midyear Legislative meetings this spring in Washington DC, you may well understand that NAR Executive Committee passed a modification to the IDX model rules and regulations. Specifically, they altered the component of the rule that refers to the rights of Franchise Organizations to receive an IDX feed. Under the old policy, Franchise Organizations would receive a feed of all IDX listings. Under the new policy, a Franchise Organization may only receive IDX listing if an MLS broker as Opted In to sharing their listings [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:40-07:00June 10th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

NAR Announces 2011 30 under 30 Award Winners

As a former winner of a “40 under 40″ award in Buffalo, New York I know what an honor it is to receive a “30 under 30″ award. It’s a great way for the industry to recognize those that go above and beyond - the up and comers - the future of our business. Today, the National Association of REALTORS® announced its 2011 list of “30 Under 30″ honorees. This group exemplifies the personal drive many Realtors® have to be the best and provide a high level of service to their clients, despite tough market conditions and a constantly evolving [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:40-07:00May 31st, 2011|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Main category, Marketing, Our Company|Comments Off