Listing Publishers Are Not Responsible For Your Bad Data

A crazy phone call came my way today from a large third party listing website. It does not matter which one. The person was very concerned that the industry is on a mission to stop brokers and agents from syndicating listings to them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Marketing listings is a fundamental obligation that the listing firm delivers as a service to the seller. Certainly online advertising is a component of fulfilling that obligation. WAV Group has been very outspoken about problems with listing syndication. We have done countless studies that measure the percentages of inaccuracies on [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:19-07:00January 5th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on Listing Publishers Are Not Responsible For Your Bad Data

Inman ICNY Conference Preview

Inman News has been gracious enough to extend a $450 discount to their New York conference coming up in three weeks. If you have not already purchased your conference pass, you can buy one on this special webpage for $650. The conference is January 11th-13th, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. WAV Group will be arriving on the 10th. They had a schedule change and Brad Inman and other keynotes are speaking on the morning of the first day of the conference. Here are some other sessions I am excited about Bill Lublin – Whose Brand am I building? [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:20-07:00December 20th, 2011|Main category|Comments Off on Inman ICNY Conference Preview

Impacts of browser Geolocation technology on real estate

Real Estate brokers invest a lot of time and money into maintaining and sustaining a strong relocation business. Franchise Organizations and broker networks like Leading Real Estate Companies of the World connect brokers across the country. Advances in technology have enabled location aware Internet browsers. This allows technologists to create predictable outcomes on user visits.  If you are a broker in Ohio, and a consumer visits your website from California – you can say “We welcome Californians! Leading websites like Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com and Homefinder do this effectively. Why don’t broker websites do the same? Browser auto-detect allows website [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:20-07:00December 13th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on Impacts of browser Geolocation technology on real estate

Mobile Passes Print in Consumer Engagement

WAV Group joined the parade of consults declaring the death of print media in late 2006. Inman News confirmed its death during their conference in San Francisco in 2007 (one of my favorite events of all time). Believe it or not, print actually made a bit of a comeback in 2010. Nevertheless, the Internet is the place that consumers increasingly spend their media time. The new news is that people are actually spending more time on their mobile phones today than they are spending interacting with print media. According to eMarketer,  time spent on mobile devices is now an average [...]

The Bigger LPS Paragon 5 Story

LPS, developers of the Paragon MLS system, announced that they have secured an agreement to replace a competitors’ MLS system with Paragon 5. This only happens about 12 times each year. The news is less about just getting a win, but tells a larger story about the future of MLS and how one MLS vendor is positioning for long term success. WAV Group performs upwards of 40 MLS customer satisfaction surveys each year to help MLSs understand what agents and brokers expect from their MLS. The number one complaint is Apple compatibility and Mobile compatibility. LPS knew this many years [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:21-07:00December 1st, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on The Bigger LPS Paragon 5 Story

FSBO Sites Grow as Broker and Franchises Languish

One of the pleasures of working at the WAV Group is the barrage of business questions that we are tasked to answer on a regular basis. Often, the questions challenge conventional understandings about the effectiveness of strategies in real estate. A key strategy discussion among executives at large broker firms and at large franchise organizations surrounds listing syndication to FSBO websites. Syndication strategies that each firm chooses varies relative to local market competition and consumer behavior. I highlighted that last sentence because it is the most important statement in this blog post. Many brokers and franchises are looking at what appears [...]

Great Vendors Embrace Rules

There has been a lot of conversational concern about companies that enter into new verticals of data management and service offerings. Four such instances were announced this year. REALTORS® Property Resource contracts with LPS for data services and LPS subcontracts to Real Estate Digital. Zillow purchased an IDX vendor, Diverse Solutions. MOVE purchased Threewide, the providers of the popular Listhub syndication service. CoreLogic launched a new appraisal tool leveraging MLS data. In every case, the vendor has been virtuous and adhered to contracts and data use rules. In each of these cases, many feared that data could be misused or [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:22-07:00November 22nd, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing, MLS Insights, Product Management, Strategic Planning, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on Great Vendors Embrace Rules

CMLS reviews pending IDX policy changes

I am a big fan of CMLS, the acronym for the Council of MLS. The Council does more than any other organization to support best practices among MLS service providers. Today, CMLS hosted a member webinar that provided a 360-degree overview of the pending IDX rule change, a consideration that will be discussed and submitted to the NAR Board of Directors for approval at the NAR Convention in Anaheim. The suggestions to the NAR Board of directors from the call were simple. Cathy Holefelder of Heartland MLS provided a great summary of the call and suggested this synthesized overview. –       [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:23-07:00October 31st, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on CMLS reviews pending IDX policy changes

Change hurts

Perhaps there is a new chief executive, a new business strategy, an MLS conversion, a new product launch, a merger, a new data share, or a dramatically altered competitive landscape, in the real estate world, big change means big risk. In other words, company performance may rise like a rocket or fall like a rock. The only thing it’s not likely to do is stay the same. Change may be inevitable, but big change is scary, nevertheless. And how you deal with it plays a big role in the outcome. In just the past few weeks, we’ve seen big change in the works [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:25-07:00October 28th, 2011|Main category|Comments Off on Change hurts

WAV Group Webinar Today for brokers

WAV Group partner, Mike Audet published a widely acclaimed paper this year called the Shift in Real Estate Technology. The paper outlines the needs of large real estate brokers spanning multiple MLSs who are developing a single source solution that puts the brokerage back office solution in the center of the agents’ life. Like this year’s earlier WAV Group report on broker back office solutions, the task of aligning all of the company offices and agents using integrated solutions is no simple task. WAV Group partner Victor Lund will be moderating a free online webinar in which WAV Group partner Mike Audet [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:27-07:00September 22nd, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category|1 Comment

Jack Miller of the GoodLife Team in Austin Texas

Jack Miller of the GoodLife Team in Austin, Texas was featured in an article by RE Technology this week for his outstanding industry leadership.  All of the members of the GoodLife team have been supportive and outspoken about the best practices for agent and brokers. These REALTORS really give back to our industry and help make it better. Millers’ industry leadership comes from illustrating what great customer services means to real estate brokers today. I think that he also, perhaps unknowingly arrived at a new way to search for property. Put in the amount you can afford and view properties [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:31-07:00August 16th, 2011|Broker Technology Research, Main category|Comments Off on Jack Miller of the GoodLife Team in Austin Texas

Sonic Eagle Agent Achieve Marketlinx

Agent Achieve is only offered to brokers – sorry agents 🙁 But the good news is that it is likely to be among the best agent tools available for brokers to extend to their agents today. Leading brokers whose agents get access to Agent Achieve include Intero Real Estate and Coldwell Banker Northern California. In essence, what sets this apart are the integrated features that allow agents to convert leads into business. […]

By |2018-05-03T21:26:54-07:00October 15th, 2007|Broker Technology Research, Main category|Comments Off on Sonic Eagle Agent Achieve Marketlinx