Balancing exchange rates in listing syndication

Online listing syndication presents complex strategic challenges to real estate brokerage in America today. The structure of economic trade between real estate brokers and publishers has many variables that are often misunderstood and often hard to measure. At the heart of the conversation is an unresolved understanding of the exchange rate in listing syndication. Even people with business analyst certification may be baffled. Do brokers subsidize the success of publishers by providing listings? Do publishers subsidize brokerages by providing willing homebuyers? Some of the policies by publishers to create revenue have been deemed to be very damaging by some real [...]

Frugyl launches with great buzz and fanfare

A new company launched yesterday called Frugyl. It is the child of Jimmy Mackin and Chris Smith, creators of the “What should I spend My Money On?” Facebook Group. This will be of interest to those with analyst careers. The goal of Frugyl is to crowd source information and satisfaction on real estate tools and services used by real estate agents. Additionally, Frugyl will endeavor to provide group discounts on products purchased as a group. The Frugyl site had a great start yesterday when they announced the launch on Facebook. They exhibited excellence in social media marketing that many technology companies would be well [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:16-07:00January 27th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|2 Comments

The New World of Predictive Data in Real Estate – An Opportunity for MLS

Real estate professionals today, for the most part, advise clients on both buy and sell decisions with data that is, in many ways, inaccurate.  It is inaccurate because sales data is the result of offers that were made and accepted months earlier.  Things change quickly in our business, or at least they can.  We need to know what is happening today yet our basic MLS data model can only tell us historic sales information and current listing information.  Today, neither of these data sets necessarily reflect what is actually happening in our market in terms of buyer activity and interest. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:16-07:00January 23rd, 2012|Main category|4 Comments

ARMLS launches Rent Check with Heat Maps

ARMLS is the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. Centered in the Phoenix  metropolitan area, they are the largest MLS in the State of Arizona. They are among the largest MLSs in the United States and leverage MLS data resources in unique ways to deliver value to their subscribers. I recently became aware of RENT Check™. Rent Check is a monthly report that examines the residential single family leasing market. RENT Check also features the RENT Check Quotient™ (RCQ) which compares leasing activity to sales.  As a result of  our nation’s recession, housing resales have given way to a hot residential [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:16-07:00January 21st, 2012|Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Earthcomber sues real estate mobile app developers

Mobile real estate applications are the largest growth area in real estate technology. This is why so many people are attending online school to learn app development. Like anything expanding rapidly, there is big opportunity at stake, and pioneers who filed patents for methods of delivering mobile solutions are working hard to protect their intellectual property. We saw a similar pattern in real estate when mapping was experiencing great growth in real estate. As you may recall, that ended with the National Association of REALTORS® negotiating an industry wide settlement widely known as CIVIX. In that settlement, a combination of Associations, MLSs, and [...]

CoreLogic® Signs Multiyear Agreement with Realcomp

SANTA ANA, Calif., January 12, 2012 — CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today announced it has signed a multiyear agreement to provide multiple listing service (MLS) solutions to Realcomp II Ltd., Michigan’s largest REALTOR®-owned MLS. Serving nearly 11,000 members from more than 2,100 real estate offices in southeastern Michigan, Realcomp has selected the Matrix platform from CoreLogic to augment its current MLS system and to serve as its future replacement solution. […]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:16-07:00January 18th, 2012|Main category|0 Comments

Consumers Prefer Referrals

WAV Group Research does a lot of consumer research on behalf of MLSs and Associations. We also do research for State Associations of REALTORS and the National Association of REALTORs. One of the best member benefits is the research that is provided to the real estate professional by these groups. The National Association of REALTORS has a great research team. The data that they publish on consumer attitudes about Real Estate and the process of buying and selling homes using a REALTOR are awesome sources of education, training, and strategic development for your business. One of my favorite ways to [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:17-07:00January 18th, 2012|Broker-Agent Information|0 Comments

How Listhub’s Real Estate Network Works

It is not uncommon for detailed questions to arise whenever there is major change afoot in the real estate industry regarding data. Listhub’s announcement of the launch of the Real Estate Network precipitated many questions regarding a broker’s ability to manage and control websites that display their data. The Listhub Real Estate Network includes the opportunity for any broker to publish listings on Century 21, Coldwell Banker, RE/MAX, and the Realty Executives websites. WAV Group has researched this topic of the Real Estate Network with executives from Listhub and we have great news to report. They did it right the [...]

What real estate can learn from Zappos cyber attack

Zappos, a division of Amazon focused on online shoe sales announced that their customer database of 24 million customer records was hacked over the weekend. Fortunately, the credit card database was not accessed. This is a huge problem for Zappos. They will now need to go through a process of getting all 24 million customers to update their password, and notify each user that their username and password have been stolen. The implications of this hacker stealing this information is far reaching. Many consumers use a familiar username and password for accessing commonly used websites. If you have ever set [...]

Pacific Union International Announces New VP of Digital Marketing

Pacific Union International is proud to announce the arrival of CC Holland as Vice President, Digital Marketing. CC is recognized as one of the premier brand and content strategy marketing executives in the San Francisco Bay Area. “We outlined our digital media strategy last Fall and we will now begin to execute. Our confidence in our business strategies, marketing platform, CC Holland and this new digital media initiative should help to provide for exceptional performance in 2012.” CC Holland joins PUI with an extraordinary content strategy background and an intense familiarity with how to use content strategy to complement and [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:25:17-07:00January 12th, 2012|Main category, Press Releases|1 Comment

Real Estate Digital to build new MLSLI Consumer Website

Although Real Estate Digital is a new brand in the real estate industry, the management and owners of the company are industry vetrans whose consumer website prowess dates back to the first consumer property search solutions. Real Estate Digital was formed when former LPS company executives formed the new company with assets acquired from LPS early in the fourth quarter of 2011. Since Real Estate Digital began standing on its own, they have shown a remarkable, albeit somewhat predictable ability to transition customers over to the new company and continue the growth of the products under their new brand (THINK [...]

MOVE launches the Real Estate Network for Franchises

Franchise Networks have taken the first step to declare their independence from the MLS rules and regulations, and third party listing websites. Today MOVE, operators of REALTOR.com and the Listhub listing syndication network, announced that they have created a data sharing solution called the Real Estate Network. Participant in the network include the two largest REALOGY networks of Century 21 and Coldwell Banker along with Realty Executives and RE/MAX. Under the terms of the agreement, the four participating Franchise Organizations will reciprocate in a listing data share of property listings for public display each other’s franchise websites. New Century 21 [...]