A few years back, I watched MLSNI turn off their consumer facing website because members took the stance that this was reducing broker/agent centric website exposure. Ironically, seemingly overnight, this almost perfectly coincided with the flash flood of Syndication Portals (Trulia, Zillow, GoogleBase, etc).
At first, the industry was very apprehensive to giving their listings away for free. Over time they eased up, and saw how they can leverage these advertising vehicles. In all essence, they are just a more refined online classifieds model (such as the newspapers, but focused). More and more of these advertising sites began to appear, somewhat diluting the benefits, increasing the work for exposure (see Andrews Syndication Article to battle this issue) and calling more attention to what was really going on. These sites were filling a critical void in the consumer marketplace.
Continue reading ‘Is it a sine?’
The new year is here and already it has brought about huge changes! Earlier this month, RESO Chair Michael Wurzer wrote an open letter to Yahoo!, Google, Trulia and Zillow to get them to support RETS as a common data standard for everyone in the industry. I was going write about this topic anyway but a recent press release makes it even more relevant. Today, Yahoo!, Google, Trulia and Zillow as well as several other aggregators have all agreed to work with RESO to adopt common data standards to make it possible for brokers to send a single listings feed to multiple web sites.
This is a big win and opportunity for RETS. With the influx of a large amount of new blood into RESO, The RETS schema has the potential to grow into THE data standard for real estate data sharing. But I also see a danger here for RETS. If the RESO and the RETS community does not seize on this opportunity and run with it, these companies will work together and create something else. The reason they are all willing to work together on this is because there it a huge need, and if RETS is unable to fill that need, something else will. So, lets hope that RESO and the RET community see this opportunity seize the data!
First, Thank you all for voting for my previous blog post in the Bloodhound Blog People Choice’s. That was a nice little treat to learn about over the weekend! Now onto your regularly scheduled programming.
As the person that is conceptualizing an application, you may be so close to it, that you start to get tunnel vision. Often times there are sleaker, better, more appropriate choices that just go unconsidered because of this. This concept is probably better visualized than explained.
The example also spurred the idea of the post - so its real world, and not Jedi Sorcery.
Continue reading ‘Your way, isn’t always the best way…’
A while back, I made a little Gadget to deliver a rotating image from the Google Image Index. It is semi-popular, usually from those that just need a little distraction while couped up in cubicle world.
Continue reading ‘Images From The Index’
If tracking advertising success was as simple as using Where’s George a marketers job would be pretty cush! There are just so many places to advertise Real Estate, its tough to know which is providing you the best bang for the buck.
So where are you putting your advertising money, and is it really giving you the best return on investment? Is optimizing your ROI of importance, or are you sticking with traditional conventions?
Continue reading ‘Where’d That Dollar Go?’
This is a short post but I thought the community might be interested.
If MLS issues are your thing, you should checkout the new blog sponsored by FBS. The tag line of the blog is “Conversations about the MLS industry, creating software, and employee ownership.”.
Their first post, “Death of the MLS?” is a great start.
A friend of mine and his family are moving back into the West Chicago suburbs after living elsewhere for a few years. He had a comment about a field that he feels the Multiple Listing Service needs:
They need a new field/attribute for broadband availability, so I don’t have to call 3 or 4 companies every time I consider a property. Also they should include area code and exchange in MLS listings to check DSL.
Yes, he is a geek, but he’s a full time work-at-home geek. As internet connectively is becoming more and more important in our lives for everything from telecommuting to entertainment delivery, this will start to be something that more and more people consider when they are looking. 4 years ago when my wife and I were looking for a house, one of the things on our checklist was this connectivity issue, but I had forgotten about it until the comment today.
This leaves me with a question or two: Are any MLS’s starting to include information like this? I haven’t heard of it, but its something I might not hear often. If they aren’t, what are they waiting for?
[Update 2/9: Robbie over at Rain City Guide has expanded on this with some additional data ideas.]
RETS, the Real Estate Transaction Standard, has been in active development for over 8 years signaling the industry’s, as well as the National Association of REALTORS®, vision to simplify data access of Real Estate listing information. Although RETS intended effect on the industry is apparent on many levels, its impact on it has only started. However, over the past 6 months, RETS has seen a major transition in every aspect of its development - ranging from leadership down to the aesthetics of the website. This marks its transition from infancy to adolescence.
Continue reading ‘RETS Renewed’
Google at NARdiGras this morning, announced a much
anticipated tangent to GoogleBase.
I am trying to figure what Obi-Wan would have sensed. Would it have been:
“as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced…”
or
“as if millions of voices cried out in joy and were suddenly found on Bourbon street…”
I guess we will see, but that is the beauty of the Force.
