Technology Evaluation & Selection
For Multiple Listings Services & Associations
- MLS vendor review and selection
- Contract negotiations
- MLS system conversion & implementation management
- Transaction management
For Real Estate Firms
- Broker systems/product review and selection
- Back office
- Accounting
- Front desk
- Transaction management
- Listing management
- CRM/lead management
- Broker/agent websites
- System conversion and implementation management
- Transaction Management Systems
Why Innovation Fails To Change Real Estate
02-21-2012
Every year, real estate sees the launch of beautiful products, offering awesome features, advantages, and benefits. Excellent marketing programs back them and the press creates a jubilee – Innovator of the Year! Then the product launches, and the industry shrugs its shoulder. It is the conundrum of new product development and innovation for real estate. Most of these companies are doing everything right. They are doing research, spotting trends, holding focus groups, testing usability, and modeling lovely financials. If they can only get 1% adoption Read more...
MLS iPad apps have NOT gone far enough yet
02-19-2012
Recently, WAV Group has completed several customer satisfaction surveys from around the country in the Southwest, Mid-West, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. In every case there has been a lot of discussion and requests for more MLS access via smartphones and especially for iPads and other tablet devices. While many MLSs think of their iPad application as a property search tool, agents want their MLS iPad apps to go much further than that. Even for those that have launched Tablet solutions, there are two major areas Read more...
Integrating MLS tools into Agent Browsers
02-06-2012
Until today, MLSs have been walled Internet gardens. The MLS is accessed through the browser, but is entirely separated from the rest of the open Internet. iMapp just released an innovation that may begin a trend to change all of that. With iMapp, real estate agents with accounts may install a search plugin into their browser. This plugin puts a layer of MLS tax data on top of any website. With the search plugin, agents can look up tax on any property address found on Read more...
How Listhub’s Real Estate Network Works
01-17-2012
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 Read more...
Why Dominant MLSs are Vulnerable
01-09-2012
Today, there are numerous MLSs that have become dominant companies relative to their smaller competitors. In the world of survival of the fittest, one would assume that the large and strong eat the small and weak. But this is not necessarily true. For the purposes of this writing – I am using the term MLS to refer to MLS vendors and Regional MLSs. Most MLSs in the United States grew through merger and acquisition than through organic growth. As these companies began to reach dominant Read more...
RE Technology Plans Joomla 2.5 Launch
01-06-2012
Real estate technology portal, RE Technology (www.RETechnology.com) is working to utilize the benefits provided by the Joomla community to develop their second generation website on the new Joomla 2.5 platform. RE Technology, a business education and product research portal for the real estate industry is among the most visited Joomla websites in the world. Other major companies developing on the Joomla include Tesco, the third largest retailer in the world, Avis, Nikon, Citibank (intranet), and Harvard University. ‘The new Joomla 2.5 is being released this Read more...
The Bigger LPS Paragon 5 Story
12-01-2011
LPS, developers of the Paragon MLS system, announced that they have secured an agreement to replace a competitors’ MLS system with Paragon 5. This only happens about 12 times each year. The news is less about just getting a win, but tells a larger story about the future of MLS and how one MLS vendor is positioning for long term success. WAV Group performs upwards of 40 MLS customer satisfaction surveys each year to help MLSs understand what agents and brokers expect from their MLS. Read more...
MLS Staff and MLS Users See MLS Technology Differently
11-23-2011WAV Group recently completed our 2011 MLS Technology Survey where we received feedback from nearly 11,000 respondents, from 66 MLSs around the US and Canada. Most importantly, the feedback was from both MLS staff which is always important, and the actual users. In fact, we only included results for MLS systems that had both staff and user ratings. The results were very interesting! We will be publishing an Executive Summary of the results next week for download but one of the more interesting things Read more...
Great Vendors Embrace Rules
11-22-2011
There has been a lot of conversational concern about companies that enter into new verticals of data management and service offerings. Four such instances were announced this year. REALTORS® Property Resource contracts with LPS for data services and LPS subcontracts to Real Estate Digital. Zillow purchased an IDX vendor, Diverse Solutions. MOVE purchased Threewide, the providers of the popular Listhub syndication service. CoreLogic launched a new appraisal tool leveraging MLS data. In every case, the vendor has been virtuous and adhered to contracts and data Read more...
CMLS reviews pending IDX policy changes
10-31-2011
I am a big fan of CMLS, the acronym for the Council of MLS. The Council does more than any other organization to support best practices among MLS service providers. Today, CMLS hosted a member webinar that provided a 360-degree overview of the pending IDX rule change, a consideration that will be discussed and submitted to the NAR Board of Directors for approval at the NAR Convention in Anaheim. The suggestions to the NAR Board of directors from the call were simple. Cathy Holefelder of Read more...
RE Technology launches VScreen Training Videos
09-08-2011
Leading real estate technology media site, RE Technology, has partnered with VScreen to create agent training videos from top industry trainers. Arroyo Grande, CA (September 2011) – As a leading technology resource for the real estate industry, no one understands the value of video for websites better than the team at RE Technology. The company has partnered with VScreen, a leader in real estate training video creation and distribution, to improve their website’s home page: www.RETechnology.com. “We’ve published many articles about video on our website,” Read more...
Online Reputation for Brokers and Agents
06-27-2011
In real estate, QSC is the leader in Agent Ratings, but today, Facebook is raising the bar and having an impact on the online reputation of agents and brokers. Facebook is big, really big. In fact, it is the most heavily trafficked website in America. It is bigger than Google! And it has an impact on your broker and agent brand – especially if you do not have a facebook page. Although Google is the leader in search, Facebook is catching up and they have Read more...
Googles Next Step in Real Estate Search
06-25-2011
Last July, search and technology giant, Google announced an agreement to acquire ITA Software for around $700 Million. ITA software is a company that cut its teeth in the travel industry powering websites like Orbitz and Kayak. Google has been struggling with supporting consumers in real estate search for many years. They have had many fits and starts, including Google Base. With Google Base, the company tried to aggregate listing data and sort it out. Google Base was a failure and they shut it down. Read more...
Move makes a move into Rentals
11-23-2010It is no surprise to anyone in real estate that the rental market has caught fire. Many MLSs are scrambling to expanded offerings to meet the needs of brokers who have focused on growing their property management business to meet demand. “Nobody wants to own a vacant home,” says Amy Gallagher of Century 21 Hometown. “We represent investors in buying rental property, and attract them with our strong property management business – we capture a side or two of the sale, and an ongoing business relationship that Read more...
FBS - A Model For Cooperation
05-06-2010Having grown up in the MLS business and seeing it evolve from the days when we replaced books with MLS systems to today, where MLS sales are only made through taking a competitor’s account, I know how competitive the MLS technology landscape is. Over the past 20 years or so, we have also seen this market mature and with that maturation we have also seen intense price pressure placed on our MLS vendors to the point today where I question whether we have gone too Read more...
FBS - A Model For Cooperation
Having grown up in the MLS business and seeing it evolve from the days when we replaced books with MLS systems to today, where MLS sales are only made through taking a competitor’s account, I know how competitive the MLS technology landscape is. Over the past 20 years or so, we have also seen this market mature and with that maturation we have also seen intense price pressure placed on our MLS vendors to the point today where I question whether we have gone too Read more...
RPR - To Join or Not to Join is Not the Only Question!
02-01-2010
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 Read more...
MARKETLINX LAUNCHES MOBILE MLS AUDIO SEARCH-Press Release
01-11-2010MARKETLINX LAUNCHES MOBILE MLS AUDIO SEARCH –VoicePad Technology Lets Agents “Search Any Home from Any Phone™”– SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 11, 2010 MarketLinx, Inc., a leading provider of information technology to the residential real estate industry and a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) family of companies, announced today that it has partnered with VoicePad® to offer a mobile audio search tool to its MLXchange™, TEMPO™ and InnoVia™ multiple listing service (MLS) customers. Called VoiceLinx, the solution allows MarketLinx MLS users to hear Read more...
Real Estate CRM Company seeks venture partner
11-07-2009For the past four years, Technology Concepts, a veteran MLS provider, has been developing a Customer Relationship Management product for the real estate industry. The company has leveraged their experience serving MLSs, brokers and agents to architect and build one of the industry’s most advanced enterprise level CRM solutions. The product, named Eventus, is operational, installed and has realized outstanding results for the first tier users. Now that the product is ready for full deployment into the market place, the company is seeking a business Read more...
Industry Vet Joins Instanet to Lead Sales
10-23-2009Instanet Solutions, based in London, Ontario recently announced the addition of industry veteran Steve Mapes as their new Vice President of Sales. Joe Kazzoun, who previously ran the sales group has taken on the position of Vice President, Business and Product Development. Martin Scrocchi, CEO and owner of Instanet Solutions tells us that growth throughout their product line mandated the change. “With our growing customer base, the increasing interest in Transaction Management products and businesses wanting to go “Green”, the timing to bring Steve on Read more...
MLSs and Transaction Management - Take Small Steps First
10-21-2009Should 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. It provides Read more...
Paperless Process Comes of Age in Real Estate
10-12-2009
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 Read more...
Contract Negotiations
12-17-2007Our executive team has personally negotiated hundreds of MLS and broker software contracts over a span of 24 years. We understand MLS and broker contracts from both the vendor and customer side and can help you successfully navigate through this process. We will make sure you have the right support and product guarantees at the best possible price. A good contract will make sure that any new installation, conversion or extension provides the necessary safeguards your members deserves. It also will take into account changes Read more...
MLS System Conversion and Implementation
Selecting the MLS vendor is only one part of a successful technology solution. Managing the actual system conversion and installation has more impact on member satisfaction than the actual technology in many cases.Understanding exactly what the roles of the vendor, the MLS staff and the membership are and coordinating resources appropriately is not something many MLS staff have time or training to do effectively. The process of launching a new product or service is very different from the ongoing management of products and services. We have experience Read more...
RFP Process
12-16-2007Request for Proposal Process Our RFP process is a comprehensive program that begins with understanding your needs and objectives and ends with system conversion and implementation. The key is to start with a clear understanding of your specific needs and objectives. Then, with a good foundation we move through the vendor selection process in a way that allows your leadership to clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various vendors and systems available. The result is an optimum vendor selection and a negotiated Read more...
Request for Proposal Process
Our RFP process is a comprehensive program that begins with understanding your needs and objectives and ends with system conversion and implementation. The key is to start with a clear understanding of your specific needs and objectives. Then, with a good foundation we move through the vendor selection process in a way that allows your leadership to clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various vendors and systems available. The result is an optimum vendor selection and a negotiated agreement that will meet your Read more...
For Real Estate Firms
12-15-2007Broker Management Systems/Products – Review – Selection – Conversion – Implementation Transaction Management Systems – Review – Selection – Conversion – Implementation
Transaction Management
Your company has likely thought about transaction management and considered whether your organization should be implementing this service. Transaction management continues to evolve and there are many technology options and partners available. The vendor and product you choose is very important but how transaction management is rolled out and ultimately delivered is also key to adoption and success. We have done extensive research on not just transaction management products but also on “best of breed” practices. We can help you make the right vendor choice and have a successful Read more...
