As advocates and ambassadors of the Broker Public Portal, the WAV Group wants to encourage our MLS clients attending Inman Connect NYC to meet with the BPP. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get updated on the remarkable stream of success achieved in the last 12 months.

More importantly, meeting with the BPP will give MLSs a sneak peek at what’s next as 2020 will be a game-changing year for the Broker Public Portal with Homesnap. MLSs will get a first-hand account of what collaboration across our industry is producing.

MLSs and brokerages can book a 30-minute meeting time with Eugene Gilgor at the Marriott Marquis, January 28-31, by clicking here.

The Value of Meeting at Connect

Why meet? The industry is witnessing the massive appeal that collaboration around creating a national MLS consumer-facing website is producing. BPP with Homesnap is accelerating new ways to support agents and brokers, continuing to raise the bar to deliver a better solution than the third-party advertising sites offer.

Leaders throughout our industry over the last year have come together to explain why every MLS – and its members – benefits by supporting the BPP.

In January, Tom Hurdelbrink, head of Northwest MLS, in his column “Cost of a better future? It’s only a dollar with the Broker Public Portal,” details the decision NWMLS made in supporting BPP. He writes:

“We saw the BPP as an opportunity to help preserve — and even raise — the stature and reputation of brokerage firms with consumers. But the challenge for our MLS, which is broker-owned, was to overcome the resistance our owners have to anything coming between them and their consumers. Broker Public Portal, fortunately, did the opposite. The BPP was created by the industry, for the industry, to deliver consumers directly to our brokerages’ agents and teams.” – Tom Hurdelbrink

Jon Coile is the former CEO of Champion Realty and now Vice President, MLS & Industry Relations at HomeServices of America and Chairman of the Board of Bright MLS. In his March column, “BPP with Homesnap has a ‘secret sauce’ for earning customers for life,” he describes, in great detail, one of the most potent “customer for life” features Homesnap offers agents:

“When an agent invites a client to connect on Homesnap, that client automatically begins receiving a localized email each week with the latest listings in their market. These emails feature the agent’s branding and complete contact information. There’s nothing for the agent to set up. It’s all done for them, automatically.” – Jon Coile

Rebecca Jensen of MRED, who heads up one of the largest and most innovative MLSs in the US, offered 16 million reasons why the BPP – dubbed the “Million Agent Movement” – is growing in May. MRED piloted the first-of-its-kind consumer engagement campaign to promote Homesnap. Jensen writes:

“The most important result is the value we delivered to our members through our consumer campaign. Industry research tells us that the average cost of advertising on a major real estate advertising portal in Chicago is about $300 per lead. By that calculus, MRED was able to deliver to its members an estimated $16 million in client leads. MRED members did not have to pay third-party advertisers a dime for those leads. This is a glowing example of how effective the Broker Public Portal can be at driving a cooperative alternative to the advertising portals.” – Rebecca Jensen

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers leader, Craig McClelland, is blunt in his June column, “It’s time to take back the consumer,” writing:

“The real estate industry made a mistake: We let companies come in from outside the industry and offer what we should have offered the consumer for years.… Today, we have an opportunity to move back into the driver’s seat, supporting our consumers. They deserve to get their information directly from the people who list and sell homes, not ads. To those MLSs and brokerages not supporting BPP with Homesnap: Quit waiting to align with a win; align with a purpose. Stop sitting on the sidelines until we’ve won. It doesn’t matter if we win or lose, because if we’ve already lost, it’s over… Let’s come together as an industry and take the consumer back.” – Craig McClelland

In his July column, Gurtej Sodhi, Crye-Leike, Chief Information & Operations Officer, challenges the industry laggers who have not yet jumped on board to support the BPP in, “Is Your MLS Fueling Disruption Through Inaction?” He writes:

“The danger is real. When an industry faces technology disruption, doing nothing or waiting to see what happens before you act has negative consequences. History has taught us that. Just ask the folks who used to run Blockbuster, Kodak, and Tower Records. It’s time for every MLS and every broker who serves on an MLS board to take action to partner with the Broker Public Portal.” – Gurtej Sodhi

Chicagoland’s Matt Thomas, a Broker with Baird & Warner, gave us an agent’s perspective in his September column that details how Homesnap is a vital part of his success story in, “Getting a Bigger Bang for Your Buck with Homesnap,” writing:

“Spending thousands of dollars each month for a bunch of leads doesn’t help grow your business or refine your business processes—it just gives you names. If you’re good enough at hounding those people, you might get some leads out of it. Homesnap is different: It’s part of a process. It is how I add value to every transaction.” – Matt Thomas

Pat Shea, President & COO, Lyon Real Estate, explains in “Broker Success Story: Why Homesnap became Lyon Real Estate’s mobile solution” what advantages agents received when Lyon adopted the top app for its mobile solution:

“Lyon’s move to Homesnap is a win-win for everyone: the broker and the agent, but also the consumer. It presents a golden opportunity for our agents to get their listings in front of potentially thousands of people with no competing agent advertising interfering with their listings. This has been a pain point for agents with other national portals, where they must compete for leads on their own listings.” – Pat Shea

Last month, Jeremy Crawford, former CEO of RESO (Real Estate Standards Organization) and now the president and CEO of Georgia’s First Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (FMLS), shared his MLSs Success story in “How Homesnap is adding value to the MLS and Making the Market Work.” He writes:

“Every technology we offer must provide value to a broker’s business. Offering Homesnap helps support our role in making the market work. It’s a technology that “wows” clients… Every MLS that’s not already a member of the Broker Public Portal isn’t putting the broker at the forefront of their business decisions. They need to ask themselves why the broker isn’t their priority. If they do, every MLS will then make the obvious decision to support the BPP.” – Jeremy Crawford

A dozen other industry leaders have made their voices heard in support of the BPP in the last year. You can read what others said here:

Craig Cheatham, The Realty Alliance: “How did the Broker Public Portal Start?” – Feb. 2019

Paul Wells, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX of Barrington: “Why is Homesnap one of real estate’s hottest apps?” – April 2019

Victor Lund, Founding Partner, WAV Group: “MLS Basic Service: How the Broker Public Portal Helps You Win Back the Consumer” – Aug. 2019

A Q&A with Chris Beason, President, Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors: “Broker Success Story: How Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors found a trusted partner in BPP with Homesnap” – Nov. 2019

As you can see, don’t just take our word for how vital the Broker Public Portal is to the future of our industry. If you are attending Inman Connect NYC, set a meeting today. If not, reach out to a BPP representative to discuss the value your MLS delivers to members with the Broker Public Portal with Homesnap. Send your email to Eugene Gligor, egligor@homesnap.com today.