Is your Board out of touch?

Do you sometimes feel like your Board of Directors and key staff are out of touch with what’s really happening in the real estate industry today?  Do you sometimes feel a bit isolated and would like to know if other organizations are facing the same challenges you are?  Is your organization suffering from stifled and cumbersome decision-making? Here’s what can happen when an organization is out of touch.  They can delay decisions because they seem difficult or controversial causing the organization to fall behind or lose its competitive advantage. Boards that do not stay close to trends can enforce outdated [...]

Another Broker-Governed MLS Gets RESO Certification

Perhaps its just because, or happenstance, or not. But MLSListings, based in the heart of the Silicon Valley in California, is the second MLS in the nation to join MRIS in RESO Server Certification. Like MRIS, MLSListings is a broker governed MLS. In truth, the title of the article was drafted to get you to read this article. The fact is that MRIS and MLSListings, along with many of the COVE Group MLSs repeatedly lead the industry in adopting best practices. Its in their DNA. And yes, Anne Bailey does a great job facilitating the COVE group and both of [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:00-07:00September 3rd, 2014|Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on Another Broker-Governed MLS Gets RESO Certification

WAV Group 2014 Road Map to Listing Syndication

 Listing syndication to online portals is in the throws of a revolution in real estate today. Listing syndication has followed a philosophical pattern first envisioned by the German philosopher G.W.F. Hagel in his triadic process - thesis, antithesis, and then synthesis. This paper will walk though the first two phases of the process, discussing the evolution of the original thesis of listing syndication followed by the new roots of today's chaotic antithesis. The industry is developing a plethora of new models to transmit listings for online advertising at a pace that is eroding the effectiveness of the process in a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:03-07:00July 22nd, 2014|Broker Technology Research, MLS Insights, Our Services, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on WAV Group 2014 Road Map to Listing Syndication

Consulting Minds Think Alike

On the eve of publishing a WAV Group paper on listing syndication, consulting firm Clareity Consulting published a paper on the same topic days ahead of us. They did a great job on their paper and Victor Lund considered delaying or eliminating the WAV Group paper from publication. But a read of both papers is probably healthy for today’s real estate brokers, MLSs, and publishers. Clearly, listing syndication remains an abrasive business struggle in real estate. Both Clareity and WAV Group address syndication issues with clients every day – which is certainly what prompted both firms to independently publish papers [...]

Can you Trust Your Digital Signatures?  Top 8 Ways to Know for Sure

Legal contracts are a critical part of real estate. Real estate professionals need to be sure they're providing tools to customers that protect their clients' interests as well as their own.   WAV Group with the cooperation of Docusign and Instanet have put together a set of best practices you can use to evaluate the Electronic Signature solution you may be using. Click HERE to download the information HERE. It's not always easy to sort out what those tools are, however. A simple search for "electronic signatures" on the App Store or Google Play will yield dozens of results. How can [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:04-07:00July 15th, 2014|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Can you Trust Your Digital Signatures?  Top 8 Ways to Know for Sure

What is Your Lead Conversion Strategy?

This is a guest post sent to us by Carl DeMusz of NORMLS - https://www.linkedin.com/pub/carl-demusz/4/749/249 Real estate markets are cyclical and change with the economy. They tend to be closely linked to employment which is also impacted by the economy. We have often observed times when the housing market can lead the economy out of recession. One thing that helps improve the housing market is a well-informed consumer who realizes that while housing markets are cyclical they always recover. They know that if they buy a home and hold on to it, the value will rise over time simply because people [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:04-07:00July 9th, 2014|Main category, Marketing, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on What is Your Lead Conversion Strategy?

Howard Hanna Promotes 5700 REALTORS on Realtor.com

Today’s real estate broker faces some difficult decisions when it comes to online advertising. The choices are often predicated upon what your competition is doing; what sellers demand; traffic and leads generated by your website or franchise website; website owner terms of use; who gets the lead; who pays – agent or broker. It is really quite a mess. It is so bad, that many large firms have walked away from it entirely and leave it up to the agent. Other firms have taken the proverbial bull by the horn and worked hard to market listings online is a very [...]

NAR Publishes Paper On Lead Management

The National Association of REALTORS® is not necessarily the first place that REALTORS® would turn to get advise on Internet Lead Management, but they have stepped up to the plate as a resource. Quite nicely I would add. In a paper published this week, Todd Carpenter, Managing Director of the Data Analytics Group at NAR, published a paper titled The Intelligent Internet Lead, Providing Context, Coaching & Confidence to Web Source Leads. Click Here for Download http://crt.blogs.realtor.org/2014/05/27/crt-white-paper-the-intelligent-internet-lead/ WAV Group has performed a lot of research on online marketing, mostly for the purpose of providing MLSs and brokers with good research [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:10-07:00May 29th, 2014|Main category, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on NAR Publishes Paper On Lead Management

The Speed Of Need

We know that companies are created when they meet the needs of their customers. But, what we fail to understand is the nature and complexity of Need. Need is a singular thing that is driven by a vast array of attributes. The most common attributes are Price, Functionality, Customer Service, and Relationship. But there is a new attribute of need which I call the Speed of Need. Price is a fundamental attribute of need. Customers must be able to afford a product or service if it is ever going to fulfill the need. Functionality is another fundamental of need. Even [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:16-07:00March 10th, 2014|Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on The Speed Of Need

How to Combat Misinformation About the Real Estate Market

Every day real estate agents and brokers have to battle a consumer who has built their beliefs about trends in the market, from prices to home value, on misinformation. The only way to combat this is to be more vocal with the correct information for today's home buyers. Previously there have not been tools available, but CoreLogic has tied together MLS data with the public record information to create a better forecast of the real estate market. WAV Group founding partner, Victor Lund is set to moderator an upcoming webinar to educate on the topic. This webinar invites Ed Finlan [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:19-07:00January 13th, 2014|Main category, Press Releases, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on How to Combat Misinformation About the Real Estate Market

Your MLS Technology Business Rules – Bet You Don’t Know Them!

I have worked with hundreds of MLSs around the world and been personally involved in over 100 installations and/or conversions and one thing I have discovered over the years is a little-known fact.  MLSs don’t know the business rules that are built into their MLS systems to control their data, member access and overall permissions and MLS vendors have never created a way for you to see them! When you consider the complexity of our MLS systems today this is both understandable on one level and really inexcusable on another.  Unfortunately, this lack of knowledge usually comes to light when [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:19-07:00January 12th, 2014|Main category, MLS Insights, Our Company, Our Services, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Your MLS Technology Business Rules – Bet You Don’t Know Them!

Howard Hanna and William E Wood Join Together

In a press release today, Howard Hanna and William E Wood have reached an agreement whereby Howard Hanna has purchased William E Wood. The Hanna family of companies now reaches from Michigan through Ohio, down through Pennsylvania extending into Virginia and the Carolinas. Following their successful acquisitions of the past with Smythe Cramer, Realty One, Edward Surovell Realtors and others. They do not have any plans to make changes at William E. Wood. The executive team will remain in place along with the brand. William E Wood is a great company and the Hanna's intended to work hard to keep [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:19-07:00January 9th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Press Releases, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Howard Hanna and William E Wood Join Together