Reproposed QRM rule eliminates down payment requirement

The relationship between home buyers and mortgage banks if fundamental to real estate. Nothing can be more of a barrier to home ownership then a big down payment requirement. The National Association of REALTORS® indicates that the average American family would need to save for 25 years to afford a 30% down payment on a home loan. Without a change in this requirement, the rule would have taken effect on January 1st, removing access to loans for half of America. The National Association of REALTORS® has been in congress fighting hard to strike the minimum downpayment requirement of 20% on [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:28-07:00September 5th, 2013|Main category|0 Comments

How SourceMLS Benefits Brokers

The Council of MLS, an industry trade group that allows MLSs to collaborate on common initiatives and share best practices, released a new initiative today called SourceMLS. The goal of SourceMLS is to develop an industry-wide method that supports brokers with listing source validation. Listing validation allows brokers to take credit for having the best data quality of any consumer-facing website. Listing data is widely distributed on the Internet today. Unfortunately, consumers do not have a way to know if the listing they are looking at is valid: really for sale, or if the listing information is accurate, or even if [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:28-07:00September 3rd, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|1 Comment

Advertising in an Association Owned MLS Webinar- Don’t Miss This!

Join WAV Group for an informational webinar on advertising in an Association owned MLS! This webinar will feature a Q & A session with GLVAR, BNAR, and GEPAR - three leading Association-owned MLSs who have launched advertising programs to help generate non-dues revenue. If your Association or MLS is considering adding or modifying your advertising strategy, be sure to register today! You are encouraged to prepare questions and invite your leadership to attend this webinar as well. There is no fee for attendance but the capacity of the meeting room is limited to 1000. Register early to ensure your access. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:28-07:00August 30th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Our Company|0 Comments

Product Overview of BombBomb for Real Estate VMail

BombBomb is a video mail program. You can record yourself talking on your computer or mobile device and send that recording as an email. It is a streaming email, so you are not sending a large file. Beyond vMail, BombBomb allows you to vLog or video blog. You can publish the recordings you make in newsletters, on your blog, website, or social media page. Suffice it to say, once the video is created, you can ship it anywhere. Using BombBomb for the first time was quick and easy. I entered a little bit of profile information and was off creating [...]

More Brokers Offering More Services

WAV Group consults primarily with enterprise brokerages who offer full services. We frequently refer to full services as home services, not to be confused with the Berkshire Hathaway company of the same name. Home services refer to the variety of needs that a customer has during a real estate transaction and beyond. In the residential real estate, this may take the form of Mortgage Services, Homeowners Insurance, Title Insurance, Home Warranty. Some residential companies even offer contractor services, maintenance services, landscaping services. Resort areas have brokers who offer concierge services where they will clean your home before and after your [...]

RE Technology Top 5 Articles of The Week

Each week, RE Technology publishes the top 5 most read articles. These articles may be republished by MLSs and Associations in newsletters or blogs for free. If you are not offering RE Technology as a member benefit, join more than 82 MLSs currently offering the service. There is never any charge. The top article of the week was submitted to RE Technology from listing syndication service provider Listhub, a product of MOVE, Inc. Agents Need To Leverage Marketing Remarks In The MLS More Effectively Since the information you enter in the MLS is the source of the marketing content that is [...]

QM QRM Shock Wave Set for January 1st

The National Associaton of REALTORS® and companies like Down Payment Resource have been sending information to real estate brokers for years now about the impact of QM and QRM in real estate. These new regulations are about to hit in January and they are are going to hurt. In all seriousness, I do not think that brokers or agents are prepared. The lending restrictions are going to impact the number of buyers who will qualify to purchase a home, significantly truncating demand. Moreover, the requirement that banks keep more loans in-house will restrict lending capital to fund loans. QM - [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:29-07:00August 21st, 2013|Main category|0 Comments

RE Technology Buying Guide

RE Technology published a Technology Buyers guide. Brokers, Associations, and MLS are welcome to pass it along to agents.  2013 Technology Guide! The 2013 Technology Guide provides information on leading technology companies and products, and is designed to assist real estate professionals in selecting the best technology solutions for their businesses. The guide is available in two formats–as a PDF for download and as a web based flip book. The web version offers extra functionality by giving users the option to create and download a custom version of the guide containing only the products that interest them most. Guide readers [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:29-07:00August 21st, 2013|Main category|0 Comments

MLS – It’s All About The Community by Carl DeMusz

If you know anything about the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) you know they are communities and they are better when they are more inclusive than exclusive. A more inclusive MLS will generally have more members, more listings to share with its members and more opportunities for those members to make sales. That makes members happy but it also makes their consumers happy. It would be hard to make the case that less members and less listing content would make an MLS better than a MLS with more members and more listing content looking at it from either the member or [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:29-07:00August 19th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning|1 Comment

RE/MAX, One Step Closer To An IPO

RE/MAX, one of the world's leading franchisors of real estate brokerage services, today announced that it has publicly filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. According to the press release from the company, the RE/MAX brand name has held the number one market share in the U.S. and Canada since 1999. The timing, number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. RE/MAX intends to apply to list its common stock on the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:24:29-07:00August 19th, 2013|Main category|0 Comments

Top 5 Ways to Become More Relevant with Consumer Research

The real estate industry suffers from what I call the “lowest common denominator” phenomenon. Every one of the business models in the industry – associations, MLSs and brokerages are built on attracting and retaining as many agents as possible.   Many real estate entities collect monies every month from every participant – regardless of their productivity.  While these models each have their own reasons to exist, they have created a major problem in my view.  Real estate organizations are so busy attracting sales professionals that many ignore the needs of the most important group – the customer. It’s no wonder that [...]

Call for MLS Technology Survey Participants

WAV Group will be fielding the third annual WAV Group MLS Technology survey in September.  We are inviting all MLSs to take part.  This is a free, non-sponsored survey we provide for the benefit of the industry.  The more participation we have the more valuable the data will be for everyone. There is no cost to participate. Each participating MLS will in turn receive three reports: National Results for all MLSs Your Vendor Specific Results (i.e., All results from users of MLXchange); Your MLS Member results in a system generated report Your MLS will receive the reports prior to the [...]