IDX Policies Proposed to Go More Broker-Friendly

I am proud to say that WAV Group has been working with the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World to create a set of recommendations for ways to improve and update IDX policy. No, there have no bloody fights or name-calling on this one. Just a collaborative process led by Pam O’Connor, CEO of LeadingRE and the MLS Emerging Issues and Trends Committee. In April, LeadingRE sent a list of recommendations facilitated by WAV Group and drafted by their Technology Advisory Council of top Brokerage CIOs to NAR.  These were designed to streamline and update the NAR IDX Guidelines. The [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:56-07:00October 29th, 2014|Main category, Marketing|10 Comments
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Brokers Out-Marketing Competitors

I attended Luxury Connect last week in Beverly Hills. If you are not familiar with the event, it was expertly delivered by the team from Inman News that is host to the Real Estate Connect conferences held annually in New York City and San Francisco. I don’t think that anyone really appreciates how difficult it is to put on a great event. This group does it with ease and grace even when pitted against seemingly insurmountable challenges. There was so much fanfare about this event, it is speculated that the original property selected for the event was sold! A week [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:56-07:00October 29th, 2014|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on Brokers Out-Marketing Competitors
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The NAR and Top Level Domains

WAV Group has been participating in the MLS Domains Association as an advocate for the strategy for organized real estate to gain control of top level domains. These domains that represent organized real estate like .MLS, .REALTOR, and .realestate were available on the open market for anyone to grab. You can read our articles on the topic here https://www.wavgroup.com/?s=mls+domains There is a group called ICANN that organizes the top level domains on the internet. The most used top level domains are .com, .gov, .biz, .org. The top level domains have meaning like commerce, government, business, non-profit organization. Countries have top [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:57-07:00October 8th, 2014|Main category, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on The NAR and Top Level Domains
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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
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Choosing the Right Right

Real estate business consulting firms wear a lot of hats. When we are hired, our goal is to serve our clients goals as master - never our own goals. It's a unique mindset. National Association of REALTORS® annual conventions are a keen reminder of this paradigm. In a single day, it was commonplace to speak strategy with technology companies; brokers; Associations of REALTORS® (National, State, Megaboard); Association governed MLS, broker governed MLS, broker owned and governed MLS. Perhaps the only oddity is that there is no example of a broker owned, Association governed MLS. Same Issue, Different Rights I think [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:21-07:00December 18th, 2013|Main category|1 Comment
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Fear of Agent Ratings

The real estate industry seems to want to avoid judgments and ratings of any and all kinds. It may be for good reason, or it may be for fear. The reality is that agents resist ratings for fear and reason. Most people react to change with emotion and justify that emotion with logic. Fear According to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia, fear is an emotion induced by a perceived threat that causes entities to quickly pull far away from it and usually hide. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:23-07:00November 25th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Technology Evaluation|8 Comments
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Realtors® Reaffirm Commitment to realtor.com®

CHICAGO (July 24, 2013) – The National Association of Realtors® Board of Directors today reaffirmed NAR’s commitment to making realtor.com® the first, best online destination for home buyers and sellers. The board voted in favor of recommendations to modify an existing operating agreement that will help the site compete more effectively in an evolving online marketplace. “Over the years, Realtors® have invested a lot of time and millions of dollars in building information technology to give consumers online access to real estate information, and we know that consumer demand for all things ‘home’ has never been greater,” said NAR President [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:31-07:00July 24th, 2013|Main category, Press Releases|Comments Off on Realtors® Reaffirm Commitment to realtor.com®
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The Future of Anything

I would attribute the series of postures on The Future of the MLS to Saul Klein. He may not have been the first to coin the phrase, but he has embraced it and made it his own. It is with due respect that we leave that posturing behind and set forth on a new journey. Our industry is at an inflection point, and my fear is that we are too blinded by current affairs to look beyond the steps in front of us. This morning, I encountered a quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery, a French writer, poet, and aviator [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:35-07:00May 30th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning, Suveys and Research, Technology Evaluation|Comments Off on The Future of Anything
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Your Elected Friend

MLS and Association leadership brings forth an unusual ‘changing of friends’ on an annual basis. It is in the spring of each year that we begin to see these friendships take hold as CEOs arrive at NAR Midyear with their new Board Chairman in tow. It is all part of an important synthesis that takes place in our industry – one that often goes unappreciated. For five or more weeks each year, CEOs are on the road with their Chairman, building a friendship that is pivotal to a successful year, and in some cases, lasting a lifetime. WAV Group strategic [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:36-07:00May 13th, 2013|Clients, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, MLS Insights, Our Company, Strategic Planning|Comments Off on Your Elected Friend
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NAR REach Program announces 6 companies joining accelerator

For those of you who do not know, there is a derivative initiative of NAR's Second Century Ventrures venture capital fund called REach. The REach program has a grand board of advisors, and a board of mentors. The program requests submissions from companies who are looking to enter the real estate industry. If selected, the REach programs provides support and advisory services to these businesses so that they hit the ground running with some industry awareness. Here are the top 6 BombBomb - Provides a complete e-mail and video marketing platform for developing, sending and tracking results of traditional and video e-mail [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:39-07:00March 26th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|1 Comment
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Move releases the new Realtor.com Brand

We have seen some re-branding released recently from leading real estate consumer brands. Today we see the release of the new Realtor.com – where home happens. Last year saw the rebirth of Century 21 – Stronger, Bolder, Faster. These are very well recognized consumer brands. MOVE EVP Marketing, Barbara O’Connor and her team took a close look at the Realtor.com brand within a year of her arrival at the company. I am excited to see how this new treatment works out. I can assure you that they have likely exhausted focus groups to predictably make a selection that reaches their [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:40-07:00March 5th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments
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Update on Dot MLS Domains Association

There is some interesting news on the effort of a bundle of MLSs to procure the Internet Top Level Domain of MLS. But first, let me begin with a sidebar about Canada and trademark. In Canada, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) filed a trademark on the brand, MLS®. To avert a long winded discussion of the implications – think of it as a trademark that provides CREA with all of the rights that the REALTOR® trademark provides to the National Association of REALTORS®. It was a brilliant move that prohibits anyone from using the term MLS® in Canada. In [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00October 2nd, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|6 Comments
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