Arizona Statewide MLS initiative fails

With great hopes, a terrific plan, and strong leadership – the Arizona State Association of REALTORS set forth to unite the independent Associations of REALTORS under a common MLS. The dream was unification – all of real estate under one state law, operating on one MLS data system with one set of rules. It was August 8th, 2011 that the confederates of the initiative first waived their bunting. Sadly, it was announced today that there will be no United MLS of Arizona. As it turns out, only 2 of the 4 shareholders of ARMLS agreed to sell their state in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 15th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Arizona Statewide MLS initiative fails

RPR is in good hands with LPS and RED

It would seem that some MLSs were a bit concerned about the bifurcation of service being provided to RPR by LPS. According to the announcement, Real Estate Digital, or RED will be continuing to do what that group has always done in terms of data aggregation. Only now, RED will be a subcontractor to LPS. In a letter today, RPR CEO Dale Ross submitted the following: This e-mail is a courtesy message from RPR about the press release issued yesterday from Real Estate Digital (RED), announcing a management buy-out of select assets of LPS Real Estate Group and the formation [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 15th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on RPR is in good hands with LPS and RED

LPS issues announcement on MLS Services division

  Transfers Products to Newly-Formed Real Estate Digital (RED), and Enters into a Joint Marketing Agreement with RED. In an effort to expand its commitment to and focus on the MLS market, LPS has merged its MLS business unit into LPS Applied Analytics and has sold a number of its real estate products to Real Estate Digital, LLC (RED), with whom LPS entered into a joint marketing agreement.  This new alignment will enable LPS MLS Solutions to expand and streamline its current offerings to enhance MLS solutions and better serve our customers and their clients. “Our assimilation into LPS Applied [...]

Real Estate Digital Spins Out of LPS Real Estate Group

Real Estate Digital (or RED), announced a management buy-out of select assets of LPS Real Estate Group and the formation of the new company. RED, the new privately-held corporation, will focus on the support of 12 core technology products offered to the real estate industry today: rDesk® Websites, rDesk®  CRM, rDesk®  CMA, rDesk®  IDX, Real Estate & Living Media®, reDataVault, TransactionPoint®, DocCentral, FormCentral, Data Aggregation System, Neighborhood and School Reports and MLS Portal. Executive leadership of the company includes current LPS Real Estate Group President Jay Gaskill, CTO John Hensley, CSO Prem Luthra, and CFO Mike Kovar. The company expects [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 14th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Real Estate Digital Spins Out of LPS Real Estate Group

National Representative for Listing Copyright Infringement

I read a funny story over the weekend that embarrassed a rather “less than upstanding” member of the legal community representing newspapers in copyright infringement cases. I will recap that story in a minute, but it did make me think about a few rather important comments made by Brian Larson of Larson/Sobodka at recent conferences. I cannot paraphrase Larson effectively, but summarize that he believes that MLSs should take the issue of Copyright infringement very seriously. (Larson and other legal colleagues are sure to be discussing this at the Legal Symposium as part of the upcoming CMLS Conference). MLSs need [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 12th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on National Representative for Listing Copyright Infringement

WAV Group Week in Review September 10 2011

In real estate technology this week, there were two announcements that caught our attention regarding Automated Valuations (AVM). Trulia launched Trulia Estimates, their version of property valuations for consumers that competes with public website rival, Zillow  and Zestimates. Along the same lines, CoreLogic announced this week that they have licensed more than 1 million active property listings from MLSs through their Partner InfoNet program (PIN) powering their institutional AVM products. CoreLogic is in a race with NAR’s initiative called Realtors Property Resource or RPR. Lender Processing Service (LPS) licenses active listing data from RPR to power their commercial AVM product. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 10th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on WAV Group Week in Review September 10 2011

Communication Strategy for Real Estate

One of the fundamental core values of the MLS (beyond offers of compensation) is the organization and communication of property information database. The role of the MLS as a communicator is a hotly debated topic, because the communicator becomes the identity and spokesperson to a wide range of agents and consumers alike. The MLS as a communicator is largely predicated by the governance of the MLS, its bylaws, and the standards set by the MLS shareholders and board of directors. Today, most MLSs have one or more REALTOR Associations as their shareholders. The board of directors is typically appointed by [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00August 30th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Communication Strategy for Real Estate

Melanie Blakeney Selected as MAAR’s New Leader

MEMPHIS, Tenn., August 25, 2011 – Today the Memphis Area Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors named Melanie Blakeney as its Executive Vice President, effective Dec. 1, 2011. She succeeds long-time Executive Vice President Jules Wade, who will be retiring this fall. Blakeney currently is Executive Vice President over MAAR’s Commercial Council and MLS. She came to MAAR in 1999 from the Lafayette Board of REALTORS® in Louisiana, where for a decade she served as President/CEO. Previously, she was Executive Officer over the Norman Board of REALTORS® in Oklahoma. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00August 29th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|Comments Off on Melanie Blakeney Selected as MAAR’s New Leader

Dot MLS is the right side of the dot

Dot MLS Domains I was provided with a couple of previews of articles written by Judith Lindenau of the .MLS DomainAssociation today. Judith is a key member of the team volunteering their energy to pursue a top level domain name for the real estate industry called .MLS. You will see them on RE Technology next week (email me if you need an account). A Top Level Domain is what happens on the “right side of the dot.” a metaphor that I really like. On today’s internet, .com or .net are pretty meaningless. The concept of the new release of top level [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00August 26th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Dot MLS is the right side of the dot

Marty Reed Promoted at LPS

WAV Group would like to extend a sincere congratulations to our friend, Marty Reed of LPS. LPS Executive Rich Lull announced today that Marty Reed has accepted a new position expanding her role with LPS Real Estate Group’s MLS business. “Marty and team has done an incredible job with the development and launch of Paragon 5, currently being deployed by LPS’s 200+ Paragon accounts, and being presented to a number of MLS’s for consideration for conversion,” says Lull. Effective immediately, Ms. Reed will assume the role of VP ParagonSolutions, taking on responsibility for P&L management of the Paragon suite of [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:31-07:00August 17th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Marty Reed Promoted at LPS

AOL-MOVEing in on property portals

Large consumer search portals like Google, Yahoo, and AOL have had an interesting, if not mystical strategy toward real estate. Today, AOL made an announcement to become a syndication channel for real estate listings. Perhaps AOL is going against the grain, or perhaps they finally found a great partner who made it easy for them to get enough quality listings on their site to make it a viable search solution for property. In today’s announcement, AOL Real Estate search will be powered by Move through the ListHub Syndication Network. No doubt, the strategy for AOL and Move fits. Both companies [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:31-07:00August 17th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on AOL-MOVEing in on property portals

FBI Targets REALTORS

I caught an article published in the Kansas City Star this morning that blew my mind. The Federal Bureau of Investigations reports that there are an estimated $10 Billion in fraudulent loan applications each year in America. The problem is so bad that they have launched a sting initiative called Operation Stolen Dreams. This may be no surprise to many MLS executives. If you operate a large or mid-sided MLS, the FBI has already contacted you to gain access to MLS data. This is the front door approach. In some cases, the FBI gets a real estate license and joins [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:32-07:00August 12th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on FBI Targets REALTORS