FBS Makes MLS System Conversions Much Less Painful

Love the news from FBS!  They have recognized that the move from one MLS system to another is not an easy process so they are helping out their MLS customers by doing the hard work to build the pre-conversion marketing materials.  We all know that you have to SELL a conversion – there is going to be at least one-third of your market that is NOT going to be thrilled about a system move. Flex is now providing the marketing support of FBS’ in-house marketing team to provide content, email blasts, social media posts, webinars etc. to help MLS members [...]

By |2019-02-12T08:45:50-08:00February 11th, 2019|Main category, MLS Insights|1 Comment

HomeSpotter Acquires Open House Innovator Spacio

Love to see smart strategic moves in the real estate technology community like the one we saw today from Homespotter!     Aaron Kardell, one of the best and brightest and CEO of Homespotter just acquired Spacio. For those of you that don’t know them Spacio is a tool that helps make the lead generation that happens at Open Houses much more effective.   With this new combination agents will be able to generate leads from their mobile platform and make the time at Open Houses much more productive. Love to see solutions that make it easier for brokers and MLSs to [...]

By |2019-01-17T11:20:03-08:00January 17th, 2019|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

What’s the Best Way to Announce Leadership Changes?

The real estate industry is undergoing massive transition in leadership. Top executives who have run major real estate brokerages, Associations and MLSs for decades are heading for retirement. Moreover, at the beginning of any new year comes a flurry of new leadership announcements.

By |2019-01-15T08:07:29-08:00January 14th, 2019|Main category|0 Comments

Words Matter

Welcome to the New Year! Have you performed a PR audit? What does your brand say? The inspiration for this article came from the new Realtor.com ads. The language that Realtor.com is using is “The Home for Home Search.” My first reaction was way didn’t they use “Your Home for Home Search?” When a brand like Realtor.com comes up with a slogan for a multi-million dollar ad campaign, there is purpose behind word selection. I bet that they evaluated dozens of slogans, consumer tested dozens of slogans, and did legal review on dozens of slogans. 

By |2019-01-15T08:13:39-08:00January 14th, 2019|Main category, Our Services|0 Comments

The “NOT INVENTED HERE” Philosophy Can Get You in Trouble with Technology!

I love it when CTO’s and technology leaders take pride in their work. They believe they can do anything and many times they are absolutely right!  A tech leader with a unique understanding of a company’s customer base coupled with the unique strengths of the organization is in a great position to create innovation that cannot be built by anybody else. There are sometimes though when technology teams take this philosophy too far. They believe they can build EVERYTHING their company needs.  They don’t trust or respect third party companies that possess a deep understanding of a particular type of [...]

By |2019-01-15T08:13:08-08:00January 9th, 2019|Main category, Technology Evaluation|1 Comment

CoreLogic Launches Curated Solutions Program

IRVINE, Calif., Dec. 20, 2018—CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today announced the launch of the Alliance Network, a group of third-party solutions that complement and easily integrate with CoreLogic real estate technology platforms such as Matrix™, Realist® and Trestle™.

By |2018-12-19T21:51:55-08:00December 20th, 2018|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

2019 Swanepoel Trends Report

Author Stefan Swanepoel began writing a series of Trends Reports in 2006. His 2019 report does not disappoint. The report chronicles the top 10 trends that he recognizes as material topics for our industry to think about. Swanepoel believes that this year will be “the single largest industry transformation in living memory.”

Best PR Quotes of All Time

My top favorite pastime is being a professional mentor of high school robotics team where I live, just a short ferry ride from downtown Seattle on Bainbridge Island. It’s a FIRST Robotics Team (4915 Spartronics) that I helped found six years ago. I’m the lead marketing mentor.

Upstream Charts New Direction

Seattle, Wash., 11 December 2018 – UpstreamRE, LLC, owners of Upstream, the comprehensive real estate brokerage data management project created by a broad-based industry coalition, is finalizing an agreement with a new vendor to power the brokerage data platform. As a result, UpstreamRE, LLC, has amicably agreed to part ways with the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and Realtors Property Resource® (RPR), its wholly-owned subsidiary and Upstream’s technology development vendor.

By |2018-12-11T08:41:46-08:00December 11th, 2018|Main category, MLS, Press Releases|0 Comments

Homebot Wins Realogy FWD Innovation Award

Realogy Franchise Group brought together 300 industry leaders to hear and vote on their 6th Annual Realogy FWD Innovation Award. Sherry Chris of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate is the brand sponsor of the event but it was really a team effort that fostered collaboration among all of their brands. Chairman Ryan Schneider kicked off the event with opening remarks that focused Realogy’s strategy for the event suggesting that Realogy always balances the decision of “Build, Buy, or Partner” in all of their technology decisions. He noted that for Realogy, it is “our opportunity to leverage technology,” remembering that real estate is a human focused business enhanced by technology.” Well said.

Lets Get Our Language Right

In real estate, agents and brokers talk about sales. They talk about how many and how much.   Time to get our language right. Instead, let's say.....   On behalf of our clients, we have negotiated XXX transactions for $xxxxxx.   Stop saying that you sell. Start saying that you negotiate. Reclaim your value.   Think about it.   Short post.

By |2018-10-25T18:24:19-07:00October 25th, 2018|Business Intelligence, Main category, Marketing|0 Comments

MLS Improvement Requires Broker Support

There is a progressive MLS leadership group that is fighting on behalf of brokers to make dramatic improvements in data management that needs broker support for their efforts. The group is called MLS Roundtable, made up of eight MLSs representing 300,000 brokers and agents. In an article published this week called Measuring Success for MLS Executives, Kathy Condon, President and CEO of Massachusetts regional MLS PIN scribes an eloquent synopsis of the status of migrating data feeds from the RETS transportation method to RESO Web API. She urges the industry to move forward quickly and responsibility. They need brokers to support the effort by encouraging more MLSs to focus their attention and treasury to RESO Web API adoption.