CMLS 2009
Details are coming together for our fast approaching CMLS Conference in Lake Tahoe, Calif. Check the Web site as agenda, event and sponsorships are continually updated. Agenda Items: […]
Google Voice for Real Estate
Coming Soon, Google Voice will be available. The service has launched, but only available to a selected number of alpha users. Google Voice is simple to understand. Google will issue you a phone number. You can give that phone number to anyone – friends, family, work – everyone. Then Google Voice will allow you to configure your preferences for which of your phones rings depending on the caller, time of day, or however you like. Google will either ring all of your phones at once, or ring different phones for different types of callers. This will be great for real [...]
Replacing your Palm Treo – choose Blackberry
Reading agent conversations in the Real Town and Active Rain communities has suggested that many real estate agents may be at a crossroads in mobile technology. Real Estate practitioners have embraced the Palm Treo for years because of a single unique feature - the ability to use the Treo’s Infra Red port to open GE Supra Lockboxes. Now that the Treo has outlived its useful life, what will be replacement? Blackberry’s parent company, Research In Motion (RIM) has worked with GE to develop a work around called eKey for Blackberry, you can pair a key fob with your Blackberry to behave [...]
Would Brokers get better conversion on thier website with advertising?
I reviewed a report today conducted by the Online Publishers Association in cooperation with web traffic analytic company comScore. The report finds that display advertising on websites increases consumer engagement. This may substantiate that Brokers may actually be able to convert more consumers on their websites if they offer advertising. As a secondary benefit, brokers may also pick up a few extra dollars from advertisers. Historically brokers have believed that advertising cheepens thier site, and have recoiled from the concept of selling online advertising. Companies like Cyberhomes have developed ad networks that allow brokers to choose who advertises on the [...]
Closing.com Launches Online Source for Real Estate Closing Services
Consumers and Real Estate Professionals Can Shop and Save on Title Insurance and Real Estate Closing Costs at Closing.com San Diego June 24, 2009 – Closing.com, the most comprehensive source of information about real estate closing service providers ever assembled online, has announced the launch of its 2.0 Web site (in beta). Now consumers and real estate professionals can create instant closing cost estimates while shopping for and saving on all their real estate closing services. Visitors to the site can choose from a database of more than 140,000 companies providing real estate services in 11 major categories ranging from [...]
Closing.com launches new website and gets washington post review
Remember buying that last car - you negotiated the final price with the salesperson then they turned you over the the “Finanance and Insurance Guy” who hammers you for a warranty, mud flaps, car mats, rust proffing, chip guard and other stuff? Somehow they always get you to buy something. The back end costs of buying a home are not much different for home buyers - inspection fees, title escrow fees, attorney fees, insurance, yadda, yadda… all adding up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. When you purchased your last home, did you shop for the best provider with [...]
Do Members Want a National MLS? Has Anyone Asked Them?
Over the past few years the topic of regionalization and data sharing has been high on the list for most MLSs. During strategic planning sessions WAV Group facilitates this is always a major topic. At every real estate convention you attend you can find a panel on regionalization and data sharing issues. Even so, if you talk to 10 different people you may hear 5 different ideas on how to address these issues. Difference in opinion is a good thing, but what we see in our industry, at times, are parallel attempts to address the same issue by different individuals [...]
The spring increase in home sales may be yielding a slow summer crop
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released the latest mortgage data this morning. Bad news abounded. As a result of rates moving up over their record lows of around 4.6% a few weeks ago, all leading mortgage indexes fell. Applications fell by 15.8%, Refinance fell by 23.3% and purchase applications dropped 3.5%. This is a significant reversal from the March rise. The raise in rates was triggered by the bond market pushing the yield on the then year note up to 4%. This trend must be reversed immediately for the Fed's recovery plan to work. This issues is only compounded by [...]
Our ugly little secret called Days on Market
Every week I seem to find myself reviewing the business (not legal) implications of MLS Rules and Regulations. I believe that NAR does an admirable job in fostering good debate and considerations on rules revision and reform - but Days on Market is a nightmare. Organized Real Estate would benefit from adopting a rules standard, and publicly displaying Days on Market on every listing on Agent and Broker Websites. Days on Market is an important statistic in measuring two key performance issues in our industry - market performance and REALTOR performance. This morning, I read a set of rules that [...]
WAV Group releases Smartphone adoption rates for Real Estate
WAV Group has done a significant (perhaps the most significant) research on mobile phones in real estate. In a recent conversation with one of the nations’ largest MLSs, SoCalMLS - we took a look at the devices in use by their membership. This year has seen the release of some outstanding mobile phone applications by Trulia, Zillow, and new comer - C.A.R. Are they missing a big sector of the market by not offering apps for Blackberry and Palm? In SoCalMLS here is the breakdown 37.7% use a mobile phone running Blackberry O.S. 33.9% use a mobile phone running Palm [...]
calREDD™ announces intent to join CARETS
Press release is below - great news for CALMLS Regional Subscribers - they will also be part of CARETS - the nation’s largest data share. WAV Group recently completed a review fo CALMLS for one of California’s most prominent regionals. LOS ANGELES (June 5) - calREDDTM today announced its intent to join California Real Estate Technology Services (CARETS). calREDDTM anticipates becoming a full member of CARETS once its MLS services are launched in late summer. In the meantime, calREDD is actively working with CARETS to align slight differences in rules between the two entities prior to calREDD’s launch. “calREDDTM will [...]
10k Research Marketing Launches competition to cyberhomes-Altos-Clarus
As Real Estate agents divert traditional marketing tactics from showing photos of homes to becoming market experts, they rely heavily on the mining of real estate market data from suppliers like Cyberhomes, Altos Research, Clarus Market Reports and now, new commer 10K Research Marketing. I checked out their website and their reports look very nice. They plan to be at Inman Connect in San Francisco. Check out these prices and let me know what you think. Remember that Cyberhomes is $4 – $10 per report. Clarus is free if your REALTOR Associaiton picks up the site license. The prices look [...]