Is Data Sharing Still a Viable Option?

The world we operate in is getting smaller and more connected every day. Now that the real estate market is solid again, brokerages are reaching out and expanding into new markets.  Consumers are getting more sophisticated and expect their agents to be able to provide them access to all listings in their region. Homebuyers don’t care that there may be more than one MLS in the region where they live. They just want ALL of the listings available in their area from their agent. WAV Group thought it would be interesting to take a look at the state of data [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:05-07:00September 14th, 2016|Clients, Main category|Comments Off on Is Data Sharing Still a Viable Option?

CRM Tools Solve the Problem of Agent and Client Retention

Real estate brokerages waste valuable growth opportunities by over-focusing on new client adoption and agent recruitment instead of implementing solutions for the retention of both. Industry research shows that repeat clients spend 67% more than first-time clients, so agent and client turnover reduces a brokerage’s potential return-on-investment (ROI) for marketing and training dollars. The key to capturing these high yield sales is enabling agents to efficiently communicate with clients throughout the sales process and beyond. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution significantly boosts the ability of agents to foster long-term relationships, driving repeat—and more profitable– sales. The potential benefits of [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:06-07:00August 31st, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Clients|Comments Off on CRM Tools Solve the Problem of Agent and Client Retention

CRM Impact on Recruiting and Retaining Agents

WAV Group has deep experience supporting real estate brokers on the selection and adoption of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for their agents. Sometimes the best business strategy is a simple one. All research points out that successful real estate agents have 500 or more legitimate prospects in their CRM and they actively communicate with those prospects with a customer for life philosophy. Bearing this in mind, a broker or manager can better understand customer value of agent recruiting and retention. If you have been in the industry a long time, you may know the story of Intero Real Estate in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:12-07:00June 27th, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Main category|Comments Off on CRM Impact on Recruiting and Retaining Agents

Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Turns Buyers Into An Asset

About the Firm When outlining broker excellence, it is always helpful to begin by painting a picture of the company that is executing an effective strategy. There are many dimensions to operating a successful brokerage. Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International real estate finds its success by serving consumers along the North Shore of Long Island from Manhasset to the North Fork where they operate 25 offices to support about 850 agents. Real Trends ranks the firm 59th in the Nation across all brokerage for volume, and fourth in America among Sotheby’s franchises. They are among the first brokerage firms in the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:21-07:00March 16th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Press Releases|Comments Off on Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Turns Buyers Into An Asset

Three Drivers of Economic Growth

Sometimes, business owners fail to understand or focus on the basic elements of growing a business. As a consulting firm, we have a distance from the business that allows us to see things that business operators often miss. The funny thing is that we miss them in our own business. I remember talking to my Uncle Albert about this as a kid. He owned a house painting business that was very successful. It afforded him the opportunity to live on Plain Street in Historic Lewiston, NY. It is a charming street of grand, three-story homes with pillared center entrances. Because [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:22-07:00February 22nd, 2016|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Marketing, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Three Drivers of Economic Growth

Value of Buyers Agent Diminishing, Study Reveals

WAV Group has had the pleasure of working with the Houston Association of REALTOR®’s Consumer Research Panel for over a year now. The panel has helped the organization uncover many meaningful insights that have helped share technology strategies, advocacy efforts, and educational efforts. Today, the Houston Association of REALTORS® released the findings of their “DIY: Do It Yourself” consumer research panel study. The purpose of the study was to gauge how important Houston area consumers feel agents are to the transaction.  The survey, which was fielded to the 7,000 consumers that are now a part of the industry’s largest consumer [...]

MRIS Seeking Seasoned and Strategic Director of Marketing

Director of Marketing, Communications, Events & Education Position and Company Overview Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. (MRIS, Inc.), located in Rockville, MD, is the largest real estate information service in North America serving the information needs of nearly 40,000 real estate professionals in the Mid-Atlantic. The company helps facilitate over $60B in residential real estate transactions each year and provide breakthrough technology designed to create value and innovation for the real estate industry. The company offers a leading edge suite of real estate marketing tools and technologies to its customers available both via subscription and a la carte purchases. MRIS [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:13-07:00April 25th, 2014|Clients, Main category, Marketing, Our Services|Comments Off on MRIS Seeking Seasoned and Strategic Director of Marketing

MLS Data Standards

MLSListings is the MLS service provider in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, which includes; Silicon Valley, San Jose, Monterey County, Santa Cruz County, South San Francisco, and parts of the East Bay. It is a large region in the heart of the most daunting techno-consumers, techno-brokers, and techno-agents in America. Satisfying the needs of this audience is intense, but MLSListings has been doing it successfully for many years. They are a company that is constantly evolving to meet the ever-expanding demands of real estate information in their marketplace. MLSListings CEO, James Harrison published an excellent paper last week called [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:15-07:00March 17th, 2014|Clients, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on MLS Data Standards

Is too much Agent- Centricity at the heart of the industry dysfunction?

A couple of months ago I wrote a post called the “Challenge for Positive Change” that highlighted many of the relationship dysfunctions we are experiencing in the industry today. We have the honor of working with large brokers as well as MLSs, Associations, technology companies and even title and home warranty providers. We see misperceptions and distrust running rampant between each of these groups. It’s clear that there are many that are feeling as though our industry could be working together much better than it is at the moment. Fast forward a few weeks and we get to CMLS and [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:24-07:00October 24th, 2013|Clients, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Is too much Agent- Centricity at the heart of the industry dysfunction?

Listhub Offers New Terms HAR Agreement

Listhub has finally enrolled the Houston Association of REALTORS® in its listings distribution platform by matching the terms of HAR’s unique needs for listing syndication. Historically HAR has entered into direct agreements with major portals. Houston CEO, Bob Hale spoke briefly about the organization’s strategic shift toward Listhub during our discussion at the Council of MLS meetings in Boise, Idaho. “We track everything so our brokers can maximize their success in online marketing,” said Hale. The Houston Association of REALTORS® pioneered the STAR reports that have long provided their members with detailed reports on listings and leads displayed on HAR.com. What was missing was [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:25-07:00October 9th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Clients, Main category, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Listhub Offers New Terms HAR Agreement

Don’t Miss this Webinar on How to Make Your Business Explode with a Lead Generation Program!

Many consumers are looking to educate themselves on the housing market. They often end up on third party sites like Zillow and Trulia to see what listings in their area look like INSTEAD of your own site. WAV Group partner Marilyn Wilson is moderating this RE Technology webinar. This webinar is targeted to real estate brokers. Unfortunately, these sites can provide inaccurate data but time and again consumers head there because it’s the only location that provides them this information. Would you like to learn about an affordable program to attract potential new clients directly to your website, avoiding the [...]

Call for MLS Technology Survey Participants

WAV Group will be fielding the third annual WAV Group MLS Technology survey in September.  We are inviting all MLSs to take part.  This is a free, non-sponsored survey we provide for the benefit of the industry.  The more participation we have the more valuable the data will be for everyone. There is no cost to participate. Each participating MLS will in turn receive three reports: National Results for all MLSs Your Vendor Specific Results (i.e., All results from users of MLXchange); Your MLS Member results in a system generated report Your MLS will receive the reports prior to the [...]

By |2017-12-27T16:47:54-08:00August 15th, 2013|Clients, Main category, MLS Insights, Our Company, Our Services, Reports, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on Call for MLS Technology Survey Participants