Broker Public Portal Update Webinar

As part of our commitment to keeping CMLS members informed about industry initiatives, we want you to know there will be an upcoming webinar for the Broker Public Portal. By sharing and encouraging awareness, CMLS supports unified leadership, open communication, and market knowledge within the industry. All The Questions You’ve Wanted To Ask About The Broker Public Portal, Answered. Most people have heard about the Broker Public Portal and have questions about it. This webinar will allow you to ask your own questions and answer some common questions: What is the BPP? What is the relationship between the BPP and Homesnap? How much does it cost to join the BPP? What are [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:41-07:00August 17th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Broker Public Portal Update Webinar

The Short and Simple Road for an MLS to offer ONLY RESO-Compliant IDX Feeds

Key Takeaways The move for MLSs to transition to ONLY RESO-compliant IDX feeds is not that difficult. Moving to offering only a RESO-compliant IDX feed is not that difficult.  RMLS™, one of the first MLSs in the country to distribute only RESO-Compliant IDX feeds, made the move in just FOUR weeks. They launched a campaign to their IDX providers showing them the fields that needed to be transitioned to be RESO-compliant and requiring them to transition completely ONLY to a RESO-Compliant IDX feed. Promotion is Key According to RMLS™, to make the move MLSs will need an effective promotional campaign [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:43-07:00August 2nd, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Marketing, MLS Insights, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on The Short and Simple Road for an MLS to offer ONLY RESO-Compliant IDX Feeds

5 Ways to Eliminate “Headless Agents” on Your Listings

When was the last time you got a friend request on Facebook from someone who hadn’t bothered to upload a profile photo and was still using the grayed-out floating head instead? I’m hoping it was a while ago, but maybe you can remember how you felt when a faceless person reached out to touch you.  When I get one of those I simply delete the request and move on. If someone doesn’t care about enough about their friends and colleagues to even upload a picture I’m not really interested in connecting with them. Do you see how consumers may feel [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:46-07:00June 13th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information|Comments Off on 5 Ways to Eliminate “Headless Agents” on Your Listings

Big Data Can Drive Bigger Broker Margins

WAV Group spends a lot of time consulting with brokers on how to re-margin their business. We published a paper in 2013 called Harvesting Business From Broker Data.  That paper characterized the methods that we developed with a number of brokers to harvest business from across the enterprise of title, mortgage, residential, relocation, insurance, commercial, and property management businesses. It has worked very well for many brokers to recapture repeat transactions and new business though cross sell. In many ways, the rethinking that went into the thesis around harvesting business across the enterprise was the first intellectual break from the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:46-07:00June 9th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Big Data Can Drive Bigger Broker Margins

5 Technical Benefits to Upstream

  I think that a lot of people are confused about Upstream. Some people think that it is a consumer-facing site like the Broker Public Portal/Homesnap. Others think that it is some kind of brokerowned MLS. It is none of those things. It is a database for brokers to create, store, and distribute data. For the most part, every large firm and franchise organization is doing this today, but as an industry the process is broken. Every broker who is managing their data is doing it in different ways, and their data is not interoperable with applications without custom integration, data [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:47-07:00June 6th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, MLS Insights, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on 5 Technical Benefits to Upstream

Upstream Adjusts and Improves

WAV Group has played a humble role in the evolution of Upstream from a concept to where it is today. The effort has been shaped by the deep involvement of leading technologists from across the brokerage and franchise community. This week, we have been pummeled by questions arising out of their recent announcement during the 2017 Midyear REALTORS LEGISLATIVE MEETINGS & TRADE EXPO in Washington D.C. Upstream is a bright concept for improving data management in real estate today. If you understand the laws of America, you understand that Licensed Real Estate Brokers supervise agent and consumer real property transactions [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:47-07:00May 31st, 2017|Broker Technology Research, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Upstream Adjusts and Improves

New! FREE RESO Marketing Toolkit!

Help brokers understand how RESO standardized data delivered via the RESO Web API will help them bring new technology solutions to market and differentiate their messaging, lead gen, market statistics and green marketing. Thanks to MLSs across the country who have done a great job of embracing the Real Estate Standards Organization, the RESO Data Dictionary and RESO Web API. Today, 93% of all REALTORS® in America work with MLSs that are RESO Certified. Congratulations! In practical terms that means that brokers can now improve their ability to capture leads, save searches across multiple devices, promote green properties and take [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:49-07:00May 25th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Marketing|Comments Off on New! FREE RESO Marketing Toolkit!

Pacific Union Delivers On International Reach

WAV Group has been studying broker website effectiveness for more than a decade. One area of interest is global reach. When we look at Google Analytics, we study traffic to understand the level of visibility that brokers are achieving for their websites internationally. Over the past 12 months, Pacific Union International has been living up to their name by expanding their international reach. Driving International Reach International reach has largely been a listing tool in real estate. Even in global cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago or New York, we see that 85% of buyers come from the immediate [...]

By |2018-08-14T03:57:45-07:00May 25th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on Pacific Union Delivers On International Reach

ELM STREET TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC ACQUISITION OF CONSOLIDATED KNOWLEDGE

May 23, 2017 – Greensboro, NC – Today, Elm Street Technology (EST) announced the acquisition of Consolidated Knowledge, a technology platform provider to the residential real estate and multi-family industries. This acquisition is the next step in EST’s ongoing efforts to consolidate the real estate industry’s leading technology and marketing service providers. Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of strategic moves EST has made in recent months to create a portfolio of marketing and technology products and services that, when integrated, offer a single technology solution providing lead generation to client retention services for agents, teams, brokers and [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:49-07:00May 23rd, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Press Releases, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on ELM STREET TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC ACQUISITION OF CONSOLIDATED KNOWLEDGE

Help your Brokers Improve their Marketing with RESO Standards

MLSs have done a great job of embracing the Real Estate Standards Organization, the RESO Data Dictionary and RESO Web API. Today, 93% of all REALTORS® in America work with MLSs that are RESO Certified. RESO volunteers have worked tirelessly for years to get us to this stage.  MLSs have done the hard work to make RESO data standards available to their members and technology partners. We’re on the cusp of greatness with RESO. While just about all brokers in America can leverage RESO standards on their website, CRM and other marketing solutions now, very few are aware of the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:50-07:00May 10th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Help your Brokers Improve their Marketing with RESO Standards

Fixing Real Estate with People and 2.0 Technology

In Colorado there’s a modern brokerage called 8z Real Estate that has become known for its collaborative work environment and home to top producing teams that support one another. And despite all the competition – after all it is in RE/MAX’s backyard – it’s become a dominate player on Colorado’s Front Range. Most recently, 8z Real Estate garnered the attention of The Denver Post, which selected Boulder-based 8z Real Estate as the “Top Workplace” of 2017 for midsize companies in Colorado. And 8z and its founder Lane Hornung were also recently profiled in a Colorado Business Magazine story “8z Real [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:51-07:00May 9th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information|Comments Off on Fixing Real Estate with People and 2.0 Technology

Building a Seller Lead Funnel

In a conversation yesterday with a large brokerage firm, we discussed a $250,000 online ad campaign that was directed at generating buyer leads. If the vendor had not quoted a $100k price increase over the previous year, the client would have simply stroked the check for $150k without a meeting, as they had done over the past 13 years. The massive price increase caused them to rethink. What came out of the conversation was a brainstorm for innovation around developing seller leads. The brokerage supports and coaches agents around the common stuff – door knocking, farming, telemarketing, etc. What can [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:51-07:00May 3rd, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Marketing|Comments Off on Building a Seller Lead Funnel