Since the announcement made by NAR on the formation of RPR and their public rollout at the NAR conference in San Diego, RPR and their proposed business model has been a major topic of conversation in MLSs across the U.S.  Some MLSs seem to think this is an idea long overdue while others have expressed “no interest” while most seem to be somewhere in between with a “wait and see” attitude.

c planning session we facilitated for a major MLS the topic of RPR participation was, of course, discussed.  Our approach to the discussion, as with any business issue, is to try to take the hype and emotion out of the discussion to look at it for what it is, a business decision.  To that end, we believe there are several points each MLS might consider as they decide whether RPR makes sense for them or not.  This is not intended to serve as a full review of the RPR opportunity but we hope it at least presents some questions to stimulate your MLS discussions. Click on the following link to download the paper.

Download RPR - Paper

In September 2009 the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) and WAV Group reached out to the entire MLS community for the second year to gather insights about a variety of elements of MLS operations.  The goal of the survey was to provide each MLS with a benchmark to compare its operation to. When considering the addition of new services or programs, MLSs throughout North America can refer to the report to help evaluate service offerings relative to MLSs around the country.

The survey was completed by 115 MLSs around North America representing approximately 750,000 REALTORSÒ.  The respondents represent a diverse sample of geographies and sizes.

The insights shared foreshadowed many of the risks and opportunities facing MLSs over the next several years.

Download the full paper here.

Should your MLS provide Transaction Management services?

In our recent study on Transaction Management Adoption, it is clear that many of the component parts of full Transaction Management are being used successfully today by a growing number of real estate professionals. The key point is that they are adopting this technology step-by-step.  Some vendors today offer the different component parts of Transaction Management separately, including:

• Internet Fax
• Document Management
• Online Forms/Contracts
• Transaction Scheduling/Managment
• Digital Signature

Transaction Management technology makes sense for many reasons.  

Read more »

WAV Group has been tracking the adoption of online transaction processing software for several years.   In the 2005 WAV Group Transaction Management Adoption Study, we identified a number of factors that were inhibiting adoption of transaction management solutions and recommended steps to improve adoption.  We are seeing encouraging adoption increases throughout the country.

 The WAV Group 2009 Transaction Management Adoption Study surveyed over 1700 brokers and agents from 22 different MLSs.  In addition, we worked with major Transaction Management vendors to look at their product adoption trends over the last few years.  The result is a much clearer picture of where online transaction processing stands today. 

 The study found that online transaction processing has come of age. User and transaction growth is significant.  Both survey results and growth trends from each of the key online transaction processing software vendors support this finding. 

Download the full report

Online Surveys

Surveys are an effective way for your organization to measure progress against your strategic objectives, to determine member satisfaction with technology or services and to take the pulse on any number of issues.  WAV Group Internet surveys are  fast, affordable and efficient.  Our state of the art survey tools allow for the ultimate in flexibility in survey design and our design team has extensive experience in building survey instruments that meet your objectives.  WAV Group has built surveys for NAR, MLSs and corporations to meet their specific business objectives.  Unlike some consulting companies that provide boilerplate surveys designed for some other MLS or company we create every survey instrument to each customer’s unique needs. 

Our survey reports are typically prepared within 48 hours of survey completion and are designed for board room presentation with executive summary of key results, question and response details in descriptive and graphical format, plus selective “cross tab” and “multi-filter” analysis.   Please contact us for more information or a detailed quote.

Survey Distribution

Electronic surveys can be  distributed to respondends in two ways:

1. They can be emailed to participants
   • WAV Group can manage the entire email process
   • You can email the survey links yourself
2. Links to a survey can be placed on your website

Branding

Surveys can be custom branded from your organization or can be released under the WAV Group logo.

Question Types

WAV Group surveys provide unmatched flexibility in designing questions.  Our survey instrument provides total flexibility in question design, including:

• Multiple choice (horizontal or vertical)
• Open ended - Short or Essay
• Rating scale -  from 2 to 16 rating levels (single choice)
• Drop down boxes

Custom Color Schemes

Surveys can be created in a number of attractive color schemes.  Some examples follow:

Cross Tabbing

Every WAV Group survey includes the ability to do cross tab analysis.  Cross tab analysis is the process where you isolate survey responses based on one or more previous answers.  

Example:
You may have a question on your survey that asks respondents to rate a particular service your association provides.  Without cross tabbing the results you get may look like this:

Question:   How would you rate the new agent orientation classes?

At first glance it would appear that only 25% of the respondents thought the classes were excellent while 35% reported them as poor.  With Cross Tab filters, however, we can analyze the data in ways that make it more meaningful.  With this example, when we cross reference the data by the number of years an agent has been in the business, we see that 75% of those who have been in business less than 1 year report the classes are excellent and only 5% in this group say they were Fair or Poor. The results are shown in the following chart.

This data would also be presented visually in the final report.  Here are two examples of how it might be represented:

Multi-question Data Filters

In addition to Cross Tabbing, WAV Group surveys provide multi-question advanced data filters that allow for analysis to be isolated according to several responses.

Example:
Your MLS in doing a technology survey may want to understand member satisfaction with a particular technology product provided by the MLS.  Let’s also assume that the MLS provides training on that product, but  the training is optional.  Several survey questions you may want to look at with filters could include the following:

With multi-filter analysis, we could isolate the response ratings for the product in different ways, such as:

• Comparing agents who use the product, that went to class versus those that have not attended class.
• Comparing agents who use the product, that went to class or not, and then by their overall technology skill level.

WAV Group will first design a survey instrument that asks the right questions to meet your objectives.  Then, using our data analysis tools,  we are able to provide views into that data that are truly meaningful for your organization. 

Survey Analysis Report

Full data analysis reports are provided with every WAV Group survey including:

• Executive Summary  - high level recap and analysis of key survey findings
• Graphical display of each questions results
• Descriptive analysis with each question and data set
• “Cross tab” and “multi-filter” analysis
• Conclusions and recommendations based on key findings

Survey reports are typically available within 48 hours of survey completion.  The following are some examples of questions and answers taken from NAR’s 2005 CRT MLS Technology Survey that was developed and fielded for NAR by the WAV Group.  If you would like to see or download the complete 2005 CRT MLS Technology Survey click the following link:  http://www.realtor.org/crtweb.nsf/pages/CRTsurvey?OpenDocument