MLS Insights Archives

Listings MUST include at least one photo, period.

The attached article from Anastasia Wilcott, a frustrated real estate consumer, points out the pain that is created when listings are published without any photos. I read the attached article on RETechnolgy this week and it inspired me to talk about a big issue that could be remedied very simply: lag time in listing photos. Every MLS has their own rules about requirements for posting photos. Some require a photo within 24 hours, some are as long as 7 days after the listing is live. The current rules harken back to a time when a photographer was needed to take the shot, [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:05-07:00April 27th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off

CoreLogic Executive Seain Conover provides insight

WAV Group partner Victor Lund interviewed CoreLogic® executive Seain Conover to learn his view of the MLS software business. Mr. Conover founded, and along with his dedicated partner, built up an MLS software development company called Tarasoft®. Last year, Tarasoft® was acquired by CoreLogic®. MatrixTM, Tarasoft’s flagship MLS platform brand continues to be offered globally. Why did you sell Tarasoft® to CoreLogic®? It is always fun to get the conversation started with a challenging question. If you know Seain, you know that he is a fairly reserved person with a kind heart, great work ethic and a big smile. He [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:06-07:00April 24th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

REALTOR.Com Shoots across bow of Trulia and Zillow

The industry knows the dirty little secret. Many third party listing websites are full of garbage data. In a major online marketing effort, REALTOR.com is telling this story. Inaccurate listings are not appearing here and there, but more than half the "for sale" listings on many sites populated from syndication are duplicates, already sold, expired, pending, or bank owned homes that are not for sale at all. Bad real estate listing information is bad for the real estate industry. So many of these sites claim to be consumer centric, but they blatantly and knowingly allow data to be fed to their [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:06-07:00April 23rd, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|Comments Off

MRIS providing aid to Homeless Shelter

I caught this article this morning on the Property Portal Blog. MRIS provides this inspiration to other MLSs around the nation. If there was ever a cause that the MLS and Associations of REALTORS should support - it has got to be helping the homeless. Print this article and bring it to your next board of directors meeting. Get approval to help out your local homeless shelter. Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), one of the largest MLS portals in the US serving the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area including Maryland, Washington DC, Northern Virginia, and parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, has announced that it has entered into a title [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:06-07:00April 19th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

Where have all of the leads from MLS Consumer Websites gone?
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Where have all of the leads from MLS Consumer Websites gone?

Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Reports

Where have all of the leads from MLS Consumer Websites gone?

Every time we conduct a survey with agents they tell us how little they know about the number of leads or listing exposure they are receiving from their MLS Consumer Websites. Some agents know the sites exist-some don’t even know that much. It is pretty much universal that agents are not getting regular reports telling them how valuable their MLS consumer website is to their business. When asked how interested they would be in getting a lead generation report from their MLS, there is pretty much unanimous interest in receiving this valuable information. In the most recent Member Customer Satisfaction [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:07-07:00April 9th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Reports|4 Comments

Set your plans now for CMLS

This year, the most exciting and fulfilling conference will again be the CMLS by the Council of MLS. It is a conference like no other, dedicated fully to excellence in providing Multiple Listing Services to real estate professionals. This year, the CMLS conference will be in one of America’s greatest cities – Boston! Our hostess for the event will be Kathy Condon and her team at MLS Property Information Network or MLSPIN. Men have hosted the conference the past couple of years and done a respectable job, but we all know that women rock in organizational skills. Thanks to Kathy, [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:07-07:00April 8th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

MLS Wins Mobile, or Fails the Agent

If you have been to a real estate conference in the past three years, you may have heard a session about mobile technology. Those strange phones that every person in America carries with them everywhere they go is also a computer. Only a few hundred million people know this secret today. MOBILE IS A CORE MLS SERVICE Sorry for shouting and pardon my sarcasm. Today’s MLS providers are failing to support agents (and consumers) with a mobile solution. This is not an opinion. It is a fact. We have surveyed agents everywhere in America, and at best, MLSs get a [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:07-07:00April 6th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|1 Comment

Does the Conflicted and Cynical Consumer even need an agent anymore?
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Does the Conflicted and Cynical Consumer even need an agent anymore?

Main category, MLS Insights

Does the Conflicted and Cynical Consumer even need an agent anymore?

I had a fascinating conversation with a friend of mine who was describing her hellacious experience purchasing and ultimately foreclosing on a home. Since we, at WAV Group, solidly believe that we do not listen to consumers enough, I thought it would be fun to share her story, word for word, uncut, to help all of us understand what, at least one consumer, is thinking these days. Sobering words….I hope it inspires every one who reads this to think about ways we can “make it up” to those consumers that we let down… Enjoy….. I don’t know a lot about [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:07-07:00April 4th, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off

AFIRE’s 2012 Conference Heats Up – Marilyn Wilson to speak

We know you’ve been to your share of boring real estate conferences, filled with lackluster speakers tackling the same topics you’ve heard a dozen times before. Breakout sessions, if available, offer the same-old, same-old. That’s not what AFIRE is all about. We’re just 9 weeks from the opening of our AFIRE conference, Courageous Leadership, in Scottsdale, Arizona...and we can’t wait! As a member of the AFIRE Advisory Board, I can't wait to share all of the exciting news about this year's event! AFIRE is a dynamic event created by women who are leaders in our industry. It's been created for [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:07-07:00April 2nd, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off

Mike Audet Speaks at Realcomp’s Tools of the Trade Expo

WAV Group partner, Mike Audet, spoke last week at Realcomp’s “Tools of the Trade Expo” in Dearborn, Michigan at the beautiful Michael Guido Theater complex, in the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. Mike gave an Industry Update to the Brokers on numerous topics from Syndication and Shifts in Real Estate Technology to Data Licensing Opportunities. This event could well be the model for other MLSs to follow in providing great outreach support to the members. From the keynote address by BravoTV’s Jeffery Lewis, star of “Flipping Out” and presentations including […]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:25:08-07:00March 26th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Main category, MLS Insights, Our Services|Comments Off

Reticence of luxury and second home market to join regional MLSs
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Reticence of luxury and second home market to join regional MLSs

Main category, MLS Insights

Reticence of luxury and second home market to join regional MLSs

We are lucky enough to work with brokers and MLSs around the country. It provides us with a unique perspective to notice trends that may not be readily apparent any other way. Here’s just one of the trends I have noticed in our work over the years. While many parts of the country have been successful in joining together to create highly successful and productive regional MLSs, there is one weakness I have observed again and again. Many times a luxury or second home market close to a larger metropolitan region will join the regional effort. I’m not going to [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:25:08-07:00March 23rd, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments