Future of Realty

The Devolution of the NAR National Database...

2008-11-13T19:22:00.000-08:00

NAR announced that it has chosen Move, Inc. for development of the application that will become "the artist formerly named TREC/REAL" now going by the name RPR (Realtor's Property Resource). Sounds like a shady character that takes on many aliases to mask their activites. Several people have already commented on the fact that this selection did not seem to involve any type of RFP process. Nothing like no-bid contracts to build confidence in a membership organization.

In the initial stages the national database concept had some very altruistic goals: mainly to become a shared resource of true property information. Making this data available free to its members in many different formats and feed types would solidify NAR's place as an extremely beneficial service for its members. Instead, it seems there are comments from people close to the project that "We don't know how the model is going to work, yet," when discussing the revenue model.

Move, Inc. has been successful building online brands, not backend data aggregation systems. I have to believe that there is a website in the works here. One where agents are upcharged to claim recent sales and active properties, leads are captured and sold to the highest bidder... rinse, repeat.

What should the RPR be?
A massive centralization of data into a property database with the goal of turning the data into a commodity... equitable, uniform, and accurate... universally. Then allow the innovators to develop products and services to address every niche of implementation. With the vision of the consumer finding every qualified property when they search, no matter what search tool they use.

Where is the RPR heading?
A centralized, single interface that will attempt to become a national MLS that will not fairly display (nor distribute) its consolidated database. Instead, they will sell their influence to the highest bidder. This will do one thing... discourage innovation.

Future of the MLS? Are We Ignoring the Elephant in the Room?

2008-08-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

preface: I have been away from the blogging scene for far too long. The "Future of the MLS" topic seemed a perfect opportunity to throw my hat back in the ring.

A brief recap of the posts on the "Future of the MLS":

Matt Cohen - Posted "MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution" way back in the ancient days of 2007. Matt highlights some of the key issues around listing/content distribution that brokers and MLS's need to consider. Most of his comments have a protectionist slant and are commingled with some self promotion.

Brian Larson also hits many of the same issues with his white paper "Tales of an Industry Lost at Sea" from May, 2008. He paints the MLS actions in a reactionary light, acting more on a "me too" strategy instead of a coherently thought through one (that would obviously benefit from his firms' consulting services).

Saul Klein takes a more holistic approach to the MLS future. He does a good job of summarizing so many of the issues facing MLS's including listing syndication, sold data, security, public services, transaction management, agent ratings, etc. (including a glancing blow at "social networking"). His article seems to ramble on these issues with 3 or 4 cleverly inserted plugs for Point2 and RealTown, but doesn't really offer anything new except calling MLS influencers "to action" who haven't acted yet.

Greg Swann gets his undergarments in a wad in uncovering a secret collusion between Saul and NAR to promote the "National Real Estate Library / Archive". I frankly don't give them that much credit. His focus on the "single point of entry" statement is incorrect. I read it as single point of entry for "each agent" versus each agent going to many sites and cutting and pasting. Not a national point of entry (unless you take Saul's title literally "The" MLS of the future... in singular)

Mike Wurzer is my brother-in-arms when it comes to promoting THE common standard known as RETS as a key piece in the MLS's future. In fact, the NAR MLS Policy Committee expects the MLS's to have RETS as a part of their system by June 2009.

Ok, ok, ok, so enough with the roll call and get to the "Elephant in the Room" comment, right? Well, here goes....

The internet is the most competitive environment in the planet for what... your eyeballs.

Listing data will be a commodity (if it isn't already). Not saying it isn't necessary, just putting it in the class of tap water and electricity, everyone will have it but life would still suck without it.

The "MLS" exists for the benefit of its dues paying members, drifting from that core concept will get you confused with the Zillow / Trulia gang (an exciting party until the money runs out).

And those dues paying members want what? To make more money faster by using the MLS. And if you look at it from that perspective, almost everything from listing data quality, system security/reliability, IDX, etc either play to the speed or value aspect.

But what kills me is that the typical MLS system takes the most "social" species on earth, the Realtor, and puts them in a virtual sound proof, solid walled cube the moment they log into the MLS. The number of agents that login to the MLS at least once a day is dramatic; Facebook/LinkedIn/Etc spend millions to try and achieve the "stickiness" that the MLS has enjoyed since day one. Mike posted a story about some "MLS Juice" that his blog got from a one time link from the homepage of the FlexMLS system.

Does no one else really see the power of allowing these users to interact in meaningful ways "within" the MLS (and yes, I know about reverse prospecting... but is that all ya got?) I will post a few ideas here just to illustrate what I am talking about:

Imagine the listing agent setting their "status" to online within the MLS so that agents looking at their listing (possibly with a prospect) can jot a quick note to them and get a question answered on the spot.
Imagine being able to review search criteria by time frame/ geographic area / etc. so that as you are working with a listing you can let your owner know what is hot and what is not, and who is getting the most "juice".
How about being able to "watch" your competition and see how much "traffic-share" you have against them and compare the number of times your listing is "saved" versus theirs, etc. Almost like doing SEO within the MLS.

To me, this is what the "next generation" MLS system will do: mine its treasure chest of usage activity and present it to the membership in ways that will make them more productive and profitable.

"Social Saturation" covering Beer with Bloggers at Inman

2008-01-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

First of all, I loved all the coverage of Inman Connect New York last week. Between all the blog posts, message boards, and live Twitters, it allowed me to feel like I was there listening to the speakers myself. Bill Wendel as RealEstateCafe used Twitter during the conference to ask questions via proxy, very nice use of technology.

But probably the highlight of all the coverage was the multiple-angle almost real-time coverage of the Beer-with-Bloggers event. Here are some highlights:

Daniel Rothamel of RealEstateZebra.com posted this video recap of the event

Around the 45 second point of this video, this picture was taken by Jeff Turner

And the video being shot by Rudy Bachraty of Sellsius that appears in the zebra video is posted here:

Jay Thompson of PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com pointed me to a video by Rachel Natalie Klein

And the flash you see around 53 seconds into this video was this photo from Jeff Turner:

So this is what happens when you get a bunch of uber-documentarians together for one event. What's next? Live streaming videocast from the event in real time... we will see in San Francisco I guess.

My thoughts on the recent Zillow, Trulia, and Yahoo! news release...

2008-01-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

Zillow has officially posted a news release about "the adoption of a new standard data format for the distribution of real estate listings online." Titled:

Yahoo!, Zillow.com And Trulia Adopt Common Real Estate Listings Data Standard

Some of the key points that I want to highlight:

Leading online real estate companies Yahoo! Real Estate, Zillow.com, and Trulia.com today announced the adoption of a new standard data format for the distribution of real estate listings online. With this standard, real estate franchisors, brokers, multiple listings services, and other listings providers will be able to distribute their listings data to several of the leading real estate sites in one common format, making it easier to get critical information to consumers faster and more efficiently.
....
With this new standard, it will be much easier for brokerages and listings providers to distribute their listings in one format to the largest online real estate companies.
...
The data feed specification will be based on the XML format and will comprise all the requisite components of a listing, such as address, price, square feet, beds, baths, and additional descriptions of the home. Where as today, brokers and listings providers would need to create upwards of a dozen different formats for one listing, the new standard model will significantly reduce the amount of time spent preparing the content for distribution online

and finally...

The companies participating in the new standard will work in close collaboration with the Real Estate Standards Organization to ensure that the data specification interoperates with the Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS).

[emphasis added by me.]

I guess the most important question I have in my mind, what is wrong/missing/etc. with our current Listing XML schema? Don't make something that "interoperates" with RETS.... use RETS! And if you need something added/changed, let's talk about it. If an entirely new payload needs to be developed, let's consider it.

I was really excited when TechCrunch posted an announcement concerning Zillow and included:

The other big news is that Zillow is joining Yahoo Real Estate, Trulia, Oodle, Homes.com, Realestate.com, Vast.com and others in adopting a standard way for brokers and multiple listings services (MLSs) to send in their real estate listings in a feed format. That way brokers can use the same data format for all the different real estate search engines and Websites. It is called the Real Estate Transaction Standard (RETS). That should make it easier for brokers to propagate their listings everywhere.

But then David Gibbons from Zillow posted this comment:

Erik -
A minor correction; RETS is not the standard listings distribution format. RETS is a real estate data standard used for broader use cases than just listing information. We have however partnered with the RETS group to ensure that these standards will be interoperable. (emphasis again by me)

Which prompted TechCrunch to make this correction:

[Correction: RETS is actually a different, pre-existing, standard that the new listing feed standard will interoperate with].

Is everyone confused now? I am. In my opinion, RETS is not a "different, pre-existing standard" to the one that Zillow, Trulia, and Yahoo! "plan to launch ... later this year. " It can be the exact same thing.

I know that Mike Wurzer (RESO Board Chairman) is meeting with ZYT while at Inman Connect NY and the discussions are just beginning, but I wanted to comment on the press release today and let the Real Estate Data Community know that there are other options.

RETS is in use in several hundred MLSs already, which means thousands of brokers and agents have already invested in data distribution tools based on RETS, and would rather have that investment be used by ZYT instead of having to start all over again. If you feel that you would benefit from ZYT using RETS versus creating a separate protocol, the best way I see to make your feelings known is to email the address they set up specifically for this project feedstandard@yahoo-inc.com.

Jott is my personal dictation assistant...

2007-12-20T18:33:00.000-08:00

Liz Caraway introduced me to Jott with this post, and I haven't stopped since.

How often have you received a text message asking you a question while driving and not able to respond without risking life and limb? Now, I can call Jott's toll free number (1-866-JOTT-123) from my registered cell phone number, speak the person's name I want to text, and then say up to a paragraph of words and Jott will transcribe it to an SMS message to them.

Adding my friends to my contact list was easy, Jott provides a field for me to type the phonetic spelling of their name. I can use Jott to post updates to my Twitter and even my blogger blog.

The most amazing thing about this service is the amazing accuracy of the transcription. Here is an example one that I sent to a friend tonight:

"Hey Jay, I left the office before I got your text about the 360(?). Do you want me to pick one up at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. Just call me otherwise."

Jott heard "three sixty" and converted it to 360 (added the ? to indicate it wasn't sure). Notice how my friend's name is capitalized, and Jott recognized the proper names of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club... very cool. Plus, I didn't say "stop" or "period"... it interpreted the inflection in my voice. It didn't catch that I asked a question, but I can live with that.

Now the best part of all.... its free....

David

Calling all to the RETS workgroups...

2007-12-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

I know, sounds exciting eh? But seriously, if you (or someone you know) could participate, it would be great. I am sure many of you now know that NAR has a new rule “Realtor owned MLSs must comply with the current version of the RETS specification by June, 2009”. I bet that sounds as vague to you as it does to me. So, the RESO Board is calling all interested parties to participate and help make sure that the way we put this new rule into practice is best for all.

Workgroup membership does not necessitate any travel. Periodic conference calls and online discussions is where most of the activity will take place. At a minimum, I recommend giving it a try, and if it doesn’t work for you, have your name removed, no harm done.

So, everyone is now saying “Where do I sign up?” right? And here it is:

http://www.rets.org/cms/workgroup/sign-up

Check off the one (or ones) you wish to participate in. If you have questions about the workgroups, comment on this post and I will get them answered for you. Some groups are brand new, so part of the first activities will be to better define their “charter”

Thanks in advance,
David Harris
FMLS
RESO Board Member

RESO Board - humbled and excited...

2007-12-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

We just finished up the December 2007 RETS Conference. The RESO Board spent most of the first day discussing our plans and priorities. Michael Wurzer was elected the Chairman and Gregg Petch the Vice Chairman. Michael presented our initial structure and goals at the start of the second day. The board is committed to addressing the issues that surround the RETS specification effort as it stands today.

One thing we want to make perfectly clear, we want your input! Everyone's opinion is valuable. Historically, Agent and Broker participation in RETS has been nearly absent. As a quick first step, we have set up BOD[a]rets.org to allow anyone to send a note to the entire board of directors.

We are in the process of reviewing and evaluating everything including version naming, workgroup structures, and compliance testing and procedures. With the new NAR Policy concerning MLS and RETS, we want to reach out to as many affected MLSs as possible. If you are involved with any MLS, I invite you to list your RETS offering on the RETS Wiki (don't forget "None" is an extremely valuable response).

With the weight of the real estate technology community resting upon our shoulders, we will strive to be as thorough and deliberate with every decision we make.

Kiva - The gift that gives to many...

2007-12-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

We all have those friends and relatives who are tough to buy for. They always get the things they want when they want them, leaving you to have to find some lame substitute or gift card.

Along come Kiva.org, a great option for people who say "don't get me anything, just donate in my name". But it is definition of a hand up.... not a hand out.

Kiva is a microloan service to 3rd world entrepreneurs. Kiva works with local "field partners" that take applications, evaluate business plans, select ventures to fund, and monitors their performance.

In my opinion, no one is more dedicated to helping people in a community, than those that live in that community. To seek out and find those driven individuals who wish to better themselves and make their communities more self sufficient, is finding the most valuable resource. And the field partners have to report periodically on a journal about each projects progress, which is emailed to you if you are a lender. You can participate in many projects for as little as $25.

Some examples are:

Narciso Chincay - A furniture maker in Ecuador
Patricio - A general store owner in Mozambique
Mukaddas Dadaboeva - A bakery owner in Tajikistan

This is just 3 of over 3000 entrepreneurs Kiva has helped.

RETS RESO Board off to a great start...

2007-11-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

Just came from our first conference call. Man, what a great group of smart people, I was honored to just listen in. The group is made up of a great cross-section of the real estate technology industry. The names are officially posted here, but here they are again:

Technical:

Sergio DelRio (T4Bi)
Jaison Freed (FBS)
Paul Hethmon (Clareity)
Dan Mills (MarketLinx)
Dan Woolley (Dominion Enterprises)

Business:

Kristen Carr (RMLS FL)
David Harris (First MLS)
Chip McAvoy (First American)
Gregg Petch (MRIS)
Michael Wurzer (FBS)

Some of the first steps we hope to accomplish:

Get a full-time Executive Officer (EO) who will be the first employee of the RESO Corporation, a wholly owned non-profit corp of NAR. So if you or any one you know would be a great candidate for this awesome opportunity, contact Mark Lesswing.
Evaluate our current workgroup structure, and decide which ones are working well and which ones need to be restructured. And appoint an official Chair and Vice-Chair of the committees that will be formed from the working groups.
Decide on the proper naming of RETS2 and RETS 1.x. Most of the community agrees that the two are enough different that they both have a purpose in existing long term. So their names should not indicate succession. Maybe RETS 'apple' and RETS 'orange' (you get my drift).
Set some Goals for 2008. With the NAR MLS rules now requiring a compliant RETS server (link to come to soon), RESO is perfectly suited to assist the MLS's in this effort.

Please comment on this post with any ideas and/or suggestions you have for the RESO Board, we are all ears. Also, join the active and passionate community that exists on the RETS Forums.

Sneek Peak at Realtor.com's new "Find a Neighborhood" Site

2007-11-09T14:22:00.001-08:00

I just got a pre-release bulletin today about Realtor.com's new "Find A Neighborhood" tool that will be announced at NAR next week. The link to it is:

http://neighborhoods.realtor.com/

The announcement stated that they will be launching with data for 34 areas. So far, it seems to pack in a lot of data that you can get in pieces on different sites. They make extensive use of Microsoft Virtual Earth throughout the different features. In Atlanta, one of the listed neighborhoods is Berkeley Lake in the Norcross area, which I will use for my feature links.

Heat Maps. Realtor.com has used the overlay method on Virtual Earth. Like this one that covers average home price

School Info. Realtor.com has partnered with GreatSchools to provide some ratings on schools. They even integrate the parent reviews feed from their site.

Active Listings. Of course you knew they would integrate the listings feed into this.

Crime Data. Ah the one statistic you love to hate. Be prepared now that your buyers can see the house they are interested in is specifically shaded a different color than the surrounding area.

I could keep showing, but go check it out for yourself because... you know your home buyers (and home sellers) will be...

Marketlinx's RETS Connector - a huge step forward.

2007-11-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

As RETS continues to achieve greater and greater levels of adoption, the uses of the data retrieved will continue to expand. As I see it, RETS has 3 main sources of use in the data retrieval arena:

1. Client Tool access
2. IDX vendor access for daily website refresh
3. Ad-Hoc data needs.

Client Tool Access
Many of the client tools out there (WyldFyre, Top Producer, HP Real Estate Marketing Assistant) have a connection tool built in them to access data via RETS. Which makes using those products that much easier, eliminating to pull the data externally, format the file appropriately, and then import into each application.

IDX vendor access
This by far is the most popular use of RETS. The more traditional method for data access has been FTP. But RETS has several advantages over FTP:

1. RETS is near real time, you get the data with updates often just a few minutes before, whereas FTP is usually a static file from the night before.

2. RETS is only what you ask for. If you want the $10 million homes, then you get just those records. With FTP, you have to pull ALL the listings, then extract the ones you want.

Historically, RETS has been more difficult to schedule. FTP has several software packages that allow for you to schedule a daily data pull. Since RETS is real estate specific, you usually needed to construct your own (often complex) method to schedule a periodic data pull that does not require you to manually start.

Ad-Hoc data needs
This is the newest type of data access. As more and more agents/brokers/etc. get more tech-savvy, they will need more specific and immediate data needs. Being able to pull a specific set of records from the MLS, and analyze them using spreadsheet software such as Excel, will allow them to gain insight about the market that they would not have been able to in the past. In fact, CRT even has a RETS-to-Excel tool that does this job very nicely.

So... what does all of this have to do with Marketlinx's RETS Connector? Marketlinx has produced a RETS download client that provides a very easy to use, reliable, and robust method to access the data within your MLS. It has a "Metadata-aware" interface, which means it can interpret what fields and values an MLS has available to you by reading in the RETS Metadata.

And, more importantly, you can schedule this to run however often you need it to (and forget it). And yes, if you install this on a server, it will run as a service and not need to be run under a user session.

Bottom Line, if you are an agent/broker who is a member of an MLS that offers RETS, download this and give it a shot. RETS Connector is primarily designed for customers of the MLXchange or TEMPO systems, but is written to comply with the specification, so should concievably work with any RETS server.

Alternatively, MRIS (the largest MLS in the country) has developed an equally powerful RETS client called Conduit. Try them both out, and see which you like better...