Arizona Statewide MLS initiative fails

With great hopes, a terrific plan, and strong leadership – the Arizona State Association of REALTORS set forth to unite the independent Associations of REALTORS under a common MLS. The dream was unification – all of real estate under one state law, operating on one MLS data system with one set of rules. It was August 8th, 2011 that the confederates of the initiative first waived their bunting. Sadly, it was announced today that there will be no United MLS of Arizona. As it turns out, only 2 of the 4 shareholders of ARMLS agreed to sell their state in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 15th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

RPR is in good hands with LPS and RED

It would seem that some MLSs were a bit concerned about the bifurcation of service being provided to RPR by LPS. According to the announcement, Real Estate Digital, or RED will be continuing to do what that group has always done in terms of data aggregation. Only now, RED will be a subcontractor to LPS. In a letter today, RPR CEO Dale Ross submitted the following: This e-mail is a courtesy message from RPR about the press release issued yesterday from Real Estate Digital (RED), announcing a management buy-out of select assets of LPS Real Estate Group and the formation [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 15th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

LPS issues announcement on MLS Services division

  Transfers Products to Newly-Formed Real Estate Digital (RED), and Enters into a Joint Marketing Agreement with RED. In an effort to expand its commitment to and focus on the MLS market, LPS has merged its MLS business unit into LPS Applied Analytics and has sold a number of its real estate products to Real Estate Digital, LLC (RED), with whom LPS entered into a joint marketing agreement.  This new alignment will enable LPS MLS Solutions to expand and streamline its current offerings to enhance MLS solutions and better serve our customers and their clients. “Our assimilation into LPS Applied [...]

Real Estate Digital Spins Out of LPS Real Estate Group

Real Estate Digital (or RED), announced a management buy-out of select assets of LPS Real Estate Group and the formation of the new company. RED, the new privately-held corporation, will focus on the support of 12 core technology products offered to the real estate industry today: rDesk® Websites, rDesk®  CRM, rDesk®  CMA, rDesk®  IDX, Real Estate & Living Media®, reDataVault, TransactionPoint®, DocCentral, FormCentral, Data Aggregation System, Neighborhood and School Reports and MLS Portal. Executive leadership of the company includes current LPS Real Estate Group President Jay Gaskill, CTO John Hensley, CSO Prem Luthra, and CFO Mike Kovar. The company expects [...]

WAV Group Webinar on Broker Backoffice Strategy

  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 [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 12th, 2011|Main category|0 Comments

National Representative for Listing Copyright Infringement

I read a funny story over the weekend that embarrassed a rather “less than upstanding” member of the legal community representing newspapers in copyright infringement cases. I will recap that story in a minute, but it did make me think about a few rather important comments made by Brian Larson of Larson/Sobodka at recent conferences. I cannot paraphrase Larson effectively, but summarize that he believes that MLSs should take the issue of Copyright infringement very seriously. (Larson and other legal colleagues are sure to be discussing this at the Legal Symposium as part of the upcoming CMLS Conference). MLSs need [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:29-07:00September 12th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

WAV Group Week in Review September 10 2011

In real estate technology this week, there were two announcements that caught our attention regarding Automated Valuations (AVM). Trulia launched Trulia Estimates, their version of property valuations for consumers that competes with public website rival, Zillow  and Zestimates. Along the same lines, CoreLogic announced this week that they have licensed more than 1 million active property listings from MLSs through their Partner InfoNet program (PIN) powering their institutional AVM products. CoreLogic is in a race with NAR’s initiative called Realtors Property Resource or RPR. Lender Processing Service (LPS) licenses active listing data from RPR to power their commercial AVM product. [...]

RE Technology launches VScreen Training Videos

Leading real estate technology media site, RE Technology, has partnered with VScreen to create agent training videos from top industry trainers. Arroyo Grande, CA (September 2011) – As a leading technology resource for the real estate industry, no one understands the value of video for websites better than the team at RE Technology. The company has partnered with VScreen, a leader in real estate training video creation and distribution, to improve their website’s home page: www.RETechnology.com. “We’ve published many articles about video on our website,” says Victor Lund, CEO of RE Technology, Inc. “We figured it was time to ‘walk [...]

Trulia launches Trulia Estimates

WAV Group spoke to Trulia to gain a preliminary glimpse into the new product offering that launched today. The areas covered in the beta include five San Francisco Bay area counties including San Francisco County, Marin County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County and Contra Costa County. Trulia indicates that they have been working on developing their property estimate algorithm from scratch internally, leveraging the strengths of their data team and property scientists. The company has been benchmarking the effectiveness and accuracy across multiple commercial and consumer AVM solutions for many months to gain confidence in the quality of the [...]

On Labor Day and the Role of Real Estate

CBS News published an article on Sunday talking about jobs growth in America. For the first time since 1945, the jobs report from the Labor Department reported that the net change in the number of jobs created was exactly…. zero. Given our population increases, this represents a serious problem for our nation’s economy. Like all industries, real estate needs a growth plan. The CBS article pointed to General Motors, a bankrupt company that is part of a bankrupt industry of manufacturing here in America. The automobile industry in America was once the crown of our manufacturing empire, fulfilling the aspirations [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00September 5th, 2011|Main category|0 Comments

Communication Strategy for Real Estate

One of the fundamental core values of the MLS (beyond offers of compensation) is the organization and communication of property information database. The role of the MLS as a communicator is a hotly debated topic, because the communicator becomes the identity and spokesperson to a wide range of agents and consumers alike. The MLS as a communicator is largely predicated by the governance of the MLS, its bylaws, and the standards set by the MLS shareholders and board of directors. Today, most MLSs have one or more REALTOR Associations as their shareholders. The board of directors is typically appointed by [...]

Melanie Blakeney Selected as MAAR’s New Leader

MEMPHIS, Tenn., August 25, 2011 – Today the Memphis Area Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors named Melanie Blakeney as its Executive Vice President, effective Dec. 1, 2011. She succeeds long-time Executive Vice President Jules Wade, who will be retiring this fall. Blakeney currently is Executive Vice President over MAAR’s Commercial Council and MLS. She came to MAAR in 1999 from the Lafayette Board of REALTORS® in Louisiana, where for a decade she served as President/CEO. Previously, she was Executive Officer over the Norman Board of REALTORS® in Oklahoma. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma in Norman. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:30-07:00August 29th, 2011|Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|0 Comments