MLS Mobile 2012 – White Paper – What You Need To Know

Mobile access to real estate information by both professional real estate agents and consumers is critical, but with few exceptions the real estate technology industry serving our professionals has been slow to react to these  mobile needs.  We still have MLS products that require you to use Microsoft Internet Explorer to access them and there are still MLSs that don’t have great solutions for using an iPad on the MLS. - Download White Paper Here This white paper looks at where we are today with mobile technology in our MLS industry and hopefully sheds some light on where things are [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00September 21st, 2012|Main category, Reports|2 Comments

Mitch Skinner Now Partner at Larson Sobodka

WAV Group is please to extend congratulations to Attorney Mitchell Skinner who has become a member of the legal firm Larson Sobodka. Mitch as been working with the firm's founder Brian Larson and first member, Elizabeth Sobodka for about two years. Clients of Larson Sobodka have undoubtedly had a solid experience working with Mr. Skinner. Skinner has been helping the firm with their core speciality: data licensing and vendor contracts. It is an area of expertise that has made the firm renowned throughout the industry. Vendor contracts has long been a speciality of the firm - and they have foraged new paths over the past [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00September 20th, 2012|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

Do you really think IE is the only browser out there?

A few weeks ago I gave the state of California gave credit for their proactivity in measuring consumer perspectives on the DMV. They are definitely focused on making the experience of renewing your license more pleasant.  Today, I’m going to have to give them a gig them for an issue I found on their website today….sorry guys. I just went online to download some paperwork for a permit I was applying for and I got this screen while using Safari as my browser - ARGGGGHHHHHH! My first thought was  “What organization that is designed to service of the needs of [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00September 20th, 2012|Main category|4 Comments

RVM helping bridge the gap between REALTORS and the Mortgage Industry

  While the real estate industry is intimately involved with the mortgage industry, I do believe that sometimes we(or at least I) do not understand the way the mortgage industry works as much as I would like to.  Furthermore, I didn't understand (until I read this article) how individual real estate agents working together through their MLS can impact the valuation of bank property portfolios.  Through this well-written article below from the RPR blog,  I think it may help all of us understand why the RVM, RPR's version of an AVM is working to help improve the overall value of [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00September 19th, 2012|Main category|0 Comments

Microsoft Explorer Threat Alert to MLS

Many of the nation’s leading MLS systems require agents to use the Microsoft browser in order to access the MLS. Although there are plenty of MLS systems that support cross browser capability, not all do – which is where the problem crops up. This issue is an example of the importance of cross browser compatibility in an MLS system. PC World released an article today indicating the following: “If you use Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, or 9 as your default browser, security experts are advising you to use a different web browser until Microsoft patches a critical vulnerability in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:52-07:00September 18th, 2012|Main category|3 Comments

Your company is a mess and that’s ok

If you look around your business and recognize a mess, everything is probably working a lot more smoothly than you imagine. It sounds counter intuitive, but companies that are progressive and evolutionary are likely to have many things left undone. Here are three things that you are likely to recognize in your company that are unseemly, but good. Wrong People There is no such thing as a perfect business team. When you evaluate your team, you will recognize that they all have strengths and weaknesses. Everyone is always working on improvement in some area of their professional responsibility. In today’s [...]

Matt Consalvo named as ARMLS CEO

WAV Group is pleased to congratulate Matt Consalvo for his newly appointed role as the Chief Executive Officer of ARMLS in Phoenix, Arizona. Matt was named Chief Operating Officer in May, 2011 and then stepped in as Interim CEO in February, 2012. Matt is a second generation Supra employee  He interned for Supra keybox systems in the 1980’s. Later he sharpened his customer service skills in variety of opportunities, including owning his own retail business. In 2003 he returned to GE Security/Supra to administer the Supra Field Offices, joining ARMLS in 2009 when ARMLS took over keybox administration. His passion [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:52-07:00September 12th, 2012|Main category|0 Comments

RPR Working to Bridge the Gap with the Mortgage Industry

Dale Ross, head of RPR published a very interesting article today that I thought would share with you about the company's efforts to have a positive impact on the mortgage industry. One of the key goals of RPR is to help improve the accuracy of the valuations of properties by providing more comprehensive, accurate and up to date information.  Here it is: Today, RPR is available to the majority of NAR’s REALTOR® members.  In 2011, RPR began to place greater focus on the communications and relationships needed to engage the entities responsible for mortgage liquidity.  With the support of NAR’s [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:52-07:00September 12th, 2012|Main category|0 Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Bean Group Appoints Richard Burbine as President and Andrew Werry as Chief Operations Officer

Bean Group Appoints Richard Burbine as President and Andrew Werry as Chief Operations Officer New England real estate brokerage expands C-suite to accommodate growth Portsmouth, NH, Sept. 12, 2012 – Bean Group, one of the largest independent real estate brokerage firms in New England, has appointed Andrew Werry as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Richard Burbine as its new President. Combined, these executives bring more than 50 years of experience to the executive team at Bean Group. “After evaluating our current business organization and strategy, we were quick to identify the need to expand the executive leadership team in [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:52-07:00September 12th, 2012|Press Releases|0 Comments

The funny economics of public companies

Zillow has a market valuation of over $1B. They are authorizing 3.5 Million more shares and raising north of another $140 Million-ish in cash (they can sell up to 4 million shares if they have heavy demand, and their stock is around $42 to $42 per share). It is amazing stuff. Smart stuff. With that kind of cash, Zillow can take strong positions in any area of the real estate industry that interests them: Buy a national brokerage, buy a national MLS vendor, buy leading companies that provide any number of agent or broker services, etc. Cash is King - [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:52-07:00September 10th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category|2 Comments

Homes.com partners with newspapers

Following in the path of Homefinder, Trulia, and Zillow, the Nation's 4th largest portal - Homes.com has announced that they are seeking to partner with Newspapers to offer online property search. Moreover, they are offering this service to Newspapers for free, in line with others. The new twist is that Homes.com seeks to leverage the relationship that Newspapers have with advertisers to develop a sales channel for their other products. The announcement of the new strategy is coupled with the launch of their first newspaper partner. In this case, it is actually an announcement of a partnership with 50 newspapers [...]

What is a participant

NAR published revised guidelines this year that outline the definition of a Participant in the MLS. It is a long description, so I will put it at the end. One key element is that the mere possession of a broker's license is not sufficient, the broker must actively endeavor to make or accept offers of cooperation and compensation with respect to properties of the type that are listed on the MLS. If you are an NAR affiliated MLS, you probably have already adopted this language and amended your rules and regulations. Some MLSs go further. They require the broker to take training. Some state [...]