Many participants in the Broker Public Portal project were in attendance at the Council of MLS annual meeting in Kansas City. It was an extraordinary event, and one could not walk away without a sense that brokers and MLSs are communicating and working together better today than ever before.
The BPP, LLC leadership in attendance was able to have meetings with prospective and partner MLSs, providing status updates on our progress. We also spent the day before the conference to make progress on two fronts – the data license workgroup and the technology workgroup.
Data License Workgroup Update
Representatives from the legal advisors, Larson Skinner, attended the CMLS legal summit and there was some discussion of the data license agreement between the broker public portal and MLSs. Aside from some clarifying questions, there was strong support for the agreement template among all in attendance. No significant changes were suggested.
Technology Workgroup Update
The BPP, LLC will be among the first applications to be driven off of the RESO RESTful API that is mandated by NAR for MLS adoption by mid summer 2016. This will provide the opportunity to add new MLS markets in hours rather than days. A number of our more than 50 MLS supporters will be providing API access for development.
The Broker Public Portal product itself will be both responsive and come with native app support for iOS and Android.
Business Update
In October, three more brokers and two more MLSs joined the BPP. We welcome @Properties of Chicago, BHHS Bruce Mulhern, BH&G Gary Greene of Houston, and the Heartland (Kansas/ Missouri) and RealTracs/Middle Tennessee Regional MLS’s. Although we are getting strong industry support now numbering more than 50 Brokers and 50 MLSs, it will take more than that to be successful. Please check out this webpage to see the industry leaders who are participating. http://www.brokerpublicportal.com/founders.html – please encourage others to help.
Vision
The BPP aims to provide a home search experience as it was meant to be, simple, direct from the MLS, and based on the common sense principle of connecting consumers to the people who create the listings and are best able to help them. We will be successful through the support of our current community of BPP, LLC unit holders combined with the ever-increasing encouragement of brokers and agents all over the country. We aim to delight the consumer while adhering to Fair Display Guidelines.
The BPP has achieved a historic consensus between brokers and MLSs around the national initiative. Our board has made great progress on our product vision and other essential building blocks. Soon, we will be able to share these with you and the rest of the industry.
BPP is a project with a forward vision and an abiding focus on connecting homebuyers and sellers directly with the brokers and agents who are best positioned to help them. We are encouraged and excited by what we see ahead.
If you would like to meet with us at the National Association of REALTORS® meetings in San Diego, please contact Victor Lund – victor@wavgroup.com or 805-709-6696.
Merle Whitehead
CEO
Realty USA, Inc
Broker Public Portal Chairman
John Mosey
CEO
Northstar MLS, Inc
Broker Public Portal Vice Chairman
