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So far Kevin Hawkins has created 337 blog entries.

Austin Board of REALTORS® announces Tim Dain as new MLS Director

AUSTIN, Texas – Aug. 3, 2015 – Today, the Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABoR) announced the appointment of Tim Dain as Multiple Listing Service Director.   A seasoned MLS executive, Dain brings a unique combination of experience to ABoR, including leading a regional MLS, where he oversaw significant growth for the MLS; working as a REALTOR®, both as an agent and a broker; working in information technology outside the REALTOR® organization; and serving four years in the U.S. military. ABoR CEO Paul Hilgers commented on the announcement, “Tim’s extensive experience in evolving MLS organizations and his industry acumen will be [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:37-07:00August 3rd, 2015|MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on Austin Board of REALTORS® announces Tim Dain as new MLS Director

Learning from chickens: Are agents putting their leads in someone else’s incubator?

Who's incubating your eggs? I recently read an article about today’s modern poultry business. I was struck at the parallels between the real estate business and the poultry business and how both industries have changed with new technologies and automation. I was most fascinated to learn that the behavior of hens has changed with automated egg incubators: Hens have learned that they no longer need to lie on their eggs to incubate them, so they don't. This means that the modern day value of the industrial hen has been reduced only to its ability to produce eggs, not to incubate [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:38-07:00July 23rd, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|3 Comments

Listing ownership: Whose grass is it anyways?

“Who owns the listing?” appears to be a never-ending debate in real estate, despite a recent court case that certified the broker owns the listing and the MLS can protect it. Somehow there remains this belief among some incredibly intelligent people in the industry that real estate agents do the work, so they own the listing content. They do not. This has never been the case, and unless an agent becomes a broker/owner, it never will be. A listing was, is and will be owned by the broker/owner and not the agent. Whose grass is it? Think about your grass.  [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:38-07:00July 23rd, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on Listing ownership: Whose grass is it anyways?

Broker Public Portal Retains Larson Skinner PLLC

Arroyo Grande, CA – July 14th, 2015 – The Broker Public Portal (BPP) today announced that it has retained the Minneapolis law firm of Larson Skinner PLLC to assist in developing a broker-friendly and MLS-friendly content license agreement for BPP’s projects. BPP continues its progress to bring a national MLS consumer-facing website to market.  As with any other portal, multiple listing services that will be participating in the Broker Public Portal will need to enter into data license agreements that allow MLS-participant listing information to be displayed on the site. One of the founding covenants of the Broker Public Portal [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:39-07:00July 14th, 2015|Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off on Broker Public Portal Retains Larson Skinner PLLC

Listingbook Delivers A “Better than Zillow” Platform to 500,000 Agents

Greensboro, N.C. – July 8, 2015 – After four years and a six millions dollar investment in its commitment to deliver the best search experience that an agent can provide their clients, Listingbook has recently deployed its new platform in the San Diego MLS market. The addition of San Diego County’s MLS Sandicor marks the 35th deployment of the new Listingbook system, covering over 500,000 real estate agents nationally. Listingbook was designed for real estate agents to give consumers the most up-to-date and comprehensive search experience allowing them to “search like an agent”, while enabling the agent to view the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:39-07:00July 8th, 2015|Main category, Press Releases|1 Comment

ListTrac Breakthrough Allows Real Estate Professionals to Monetize Listings

ListTrac, known as the "Google Analytics for real estate listings," today unveiled its revenue model, a breakthrough for the real estate industry as it allows, for the first time, a method for real estate professionals to monetize their own listing content as it's distributed across the Internet. "Just as musicians are compensated each time their song is played on the Internet, ListTrac wants real estate professionals to be rewarded every time their listing is viewed on the Internet," said Trent Gardner, CEO of ListTrac. ListTrac is a free tool allowing real estate professionals to monitor their listing's online performance in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:39-07:00July 6th, 2015|Main category, Press Releases|2 Comments

5 Ways Towards a More Perfect Panel

The old cliché “You get one chance to make a first impression” still resonates with me, particularly when I attend a real estate conference and listen to panels and presentations Each speaker, moderator and panelist has the opportunity to make a powerful impression with the audience, but to do that right; most people can’t just wing it. Nearly everyone who speaks at a conference needs to take NFL Quarterback Russell Wilson’s advice: “The separation is in the preparation.”  You need to prepare, and not on the plane on the way to the conference. The hubris of so many executives thinking [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:40-07:00June 25th, 2015|Main category|Comments Off on 5 Ways Towards a More Perfect Panel

Putting Marketing on Autopilot

Today, not a single agent among the nearly 3,000 that staff 170 RE/MAX of New Jersey offices is marketing a single listing. That’s because their marketing is on ‘Autopilot.” That’s the name of RE/MAX of NJ’s new marketing automation solution. Not one of their agents has to lift a finger to market a listing: It is being done for them, automatically, for every single listing. Autopilot creates, publishes and distributes both digital and print marketing material, including a printed “Just Listed” flyer and postcard, a digital ePostcard, a Single Property Website for the listing, a Virtual Tour and posts a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:43-07:00June 10th, 2015|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Putting Marketing on Autopilot

What ever happened to Trade Show Etiquette?

It could be just me. I may have attended too many trade shows. Yet somehow I believe Emily Post would have been appalled if she walked the exhibits at NAR Midyear. To add a little context, I have attended, exhibited, sponsored and run trade shows. In fact, I’m afraid to count the number of miles I have walked on trade show floors, having attended many NAR-FAR-CAR annuals, NAR Midyears, HomeBuilders/IBS, PCBCs, COMDEX, CES, IBC and others. I have also been the lead for many firms exhibiting at these same shows, and have found myself staffing exhibits, including too many hours [...]

Brokers & MLSs: Collaboration vs. Confrontation

The real estate industry come a long way from the fall of 2013, when The Realty Alliance’s Craig Cheatham warned a crowd of MLS executives attending CMLS in Boise, “You’ve got 10 days.” That moment in time – described by blogger Notorious Rob as “the most interesting 30 minutes in the history of real estate conferences” -- poignantly captured the mood of real estate brokerages towards the MLS industry. Fast-forward to NAR Midyear 2015, and confrontation has clearly turned into collaboration. This week, RESO or Real Estate Standards Organization, heralded the great strides the organization has made in fostering participation [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:44-07:00May 14th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Brokers & MLSs: Collaboration vs. Confrontation

Rapattoni is First MLS System Offering Integration with ListTrac Nationwide

New Tracking Tool Shows Where Real Estate Agents Get Their Most Leads San Diego – May 8, 2015 – ListTrac, known as the “Google Analytics for real estate listings,” today announced that Rapattoni Corporation (Rapattoni), a leader in providing software and services for real estate associations and MLS organizations, is the first MLS system provider to offer ListTrac integration nationally for MLS customers who subscribe to the ListTrac analytics service. The move allows real estate agents and brokers using participating MLS systems powered by Rapattoni to track consumer engagement and measure online performance for properties listed across the Internet. With 100-plus MLS [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:45-07:00May 8th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Rapattoni is First MLS System Offering Integration with ListTrac Nationwide

What should we look for at NAR Midyear?

Real estate’s annual May pilgrimage begins in a couple of weeks. Its formal name is “REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo,” but I’ve never met anyone outside of NAR that doesn’t call it NAR Midyear. Even the url for the location on realtor.org labels it “midyear” (http://www.realtor.org/midyear.nsf). For several days – this year May 11-16 – local associations as well as state and regional associations leadership descend on Washington D.C. It’s a time largely filled with policy meetings, committee confabs and a full-court press for face-to-face meetings with legislative reps. Tucked in the middle of all this is a trade [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:46-07:00April 23rd, 2015|Our Services|1 Comment