“Shelly Vincent, vice chair of REcolorado, on Monday night confirmed that the owners of the MLS — Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) and the South Metro Denver Realtor Association (SMDRA) — shared a letter of intent to sell REColorado to a newly formed LLC from outside the real estate space.
The sale could be final in weeks.”
Stephanie Reid-Simons, RealEstateNews.com
Holy shit! But if I’m reading between the lines the deal isn’t done.
I’m hearing from a couple sources that something big is afoot. And the unconfirmed rumor is that REColorado has been sold to an “outside party”.
I don’t know who this “outside party”. A person, a private equity firm? But, I don’t think its another MLS organizations or association. In fact for this to happen I think the shareholders of REColorado, meaning Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) and South Metro Denver Realtor Association (SMDRA), etc. must be involved.
Can anyone confirm this?
Do Denver area brokers know about this? Do they care? I would think so. 🤯
“The Product Support Analyst is responsible for evaluating current FMLS products, identifying areas for improvement, and assisting with developing internal products to meet member needs.”
“The Data Integrity Representative is responsible for administrating Data Integrity compliance by the set Rules and Regulations to ensure data accuracy. This position responds to all phone, email, and Live chat queries including escalation calls, and helps resolve the relevant data violations.”
“The Marketing Specialist plays an integral role in developing and executing marketing plans designed to expand FMLS brand awareness, promote our products, and grow the company strategically. “
A couple of things from Stuart’s opinion post on Inman News I thought were interesting.
“The network effect has provided a dependable listing and buying network — creating a singular destination where an area’s buyers and listings are in the same place. The network effect has always been more important to consumers (and professionals) than publishing compensation and will continue to benefit consumers (and professionals) after the settlement. “
Stuart White
We don’t really think about how much the network effect matters in our business. We are just so used to it.
“MLSs must continue to make platforms easier to use. Designing an accessible and intuitive interface with user-friendly features allows seamless navigation, as both real estate professionals and consumers will be seeking enhanced productivity and efficiency. By making their products more accessible, MLSs reinforce their role as indispensable tools and empower users to achieve their goals with ease.”
Stuart White
Making MLS system easier to use has been a thing since I started in the business in 1992. I believe the industry has done a good job with point solutions based on features of MLS systems, but coming up with a new take on a MLS system itself is something I think about a lot.
“Director of NSAR’s MLS® System, Bonnie Wigg says, “With the most common barriers people with mobility issues face being in the built environment, NSAR worked with several key partners to look at how we could make a difference in searching for an adaptable home. Everyone’s definition of an accessible home is different, so adding more information to listings will enable people to determine if a home is adaptable for them.”
Have you been keeping up with the latest updates in MLS policies? Rob and Greg break down the key details of Bright MLS’s clear cooperation policy and NWMLS’s decision not to remove compensation data from their system. But it doesn’t stop there. They also dive into the potential legal consequences for fair housing violations and federal antitrust claims.
They also touch on the Department of Justice’s involvement, implications for the industry, and potential risks for Northwest MLS and other players in the market.
“It seems like Zillow and Redfin started a relationship with Microsoft to leverage innovative OpenAI technology to deliver some interesting consumer benefits to people searching for homes on Zillow and Redfin. It is hard to ascertain how this relationship started with Bing Chat and evolved into Bing.com/realestate providing a full listing display breaking so many MLS rules, that links out to advertisers, and points to Zillow and Redfin as the sources of the data rather than the brokerage or MLS. It’s not Zillow or Redfin’s data to give!”
Victor Lund, WAV Group
Great write up from Victor regarding the Bing controversy, go read the whole thing. Sam DeBord was the first to start posting about this and Marian at Inman News did a story as well. Good reporting.
Okay so let’s first let’s get something straight right from the top, Bing.com/realestate is a mother fucking real estate portal, not a search results page.
I can like properties
I can save a property
I can setup a saved search
I can see multiple photos (sans watermark) – WTF?
I can “claim ownership”
I can see an “estimated value”
I can even get a mortgage!
And it appears that Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com may be complicit in powering Bing. From Victor’s post,
“Here is how easily Zillow and Redfin can stop bing from accessing and republishing content – code courtesy of OpenAI “<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>.” Inventory is turning in 30-90 days in most markets, rendering search on Bing irrelevant in a short period of time. If current listings are not displayed to active home buyers in today’s tight market, consumers will abandon them. Of course, this would be a poison pill for Zillow and Redfin who rely on search engines for a significant amount of their consumer traffic.”
Victor Lund, WAV Group
Shout out to Homes.com for not being a part of this scheme, as Victor also points out.
But MLS organizations need to step up, more from Victor.
“MLS must protect the assets contributed by each broker, or firms will simply contribute their content to OpenAI for free, and access the listing content of other brokerage firms using OpenAI. CMA vendors like Inside Real Estate, Delta Media and dozens of others can stop paying $5 Million a year in Data License fees and access the data from OpenAI. An OpenAi driven CMA would work like Cloud CMAs revolutionary 1 Minute CMA, only it would be almost instant. Moreover, consumers could simply run their own CMA without a professional.”
Victor Lund, WAV Group
“AI” is the new “lion over the hill”. If MLS orgs want to protect their data licensing revenue you need to nip this in the bud now.
This partnership ensures that Trackxi’s cutting-edge deal and task tracking platform will be available to all members of these prestigious associations. Real estate professionals can now efficiently manage their deals from start to finish, streamlining workflows and enhancing transparency to clients and partners. Agents and teams can now cut down up to 90% of their time on routine tasks and communications while significantly enhancing their professionalism at the same time.
“We are committed to providing our members with innovative products and resources to help them thrive in today’s real estate market,” said DaVina Lara, CEO at bridgeMLS. “We believe that Trackxi’s platform will be a valuable asset to our members, allowing them to manage their deals more effectively and deliver exceptional service to their clients.”
Trackxi
Wonderful tool that is so necessary right now. Not only does it help agents be more productive and mindful but also helps them demonstrate their value to their clients. Congrats to Vijay and the rest of the Trackxi team.
“In 2023, nearly 40% of CRMLS’s Closed listings included concessions, i.e., monetary payments that a seller agrees to contribute towards the buyer’s expenses and other costs a buyer is responsible for in the transaction. Historically, concessions were only included in Closed listings. The new CiP fields will provide concession information at the listing level and be directly available in the MLS, so seller agents can fill them out when adding a listing. CiP fields will benefit all parties as those on the selling side can more easily market listings while those on the buying side receive a clearer idea of financial options.”
CRMLS
CRMLS has taken the leadership position on these “CiP” fields. Very smart of them to launch prior to the deadline. This will give them some real world experience on implementation and make necessary adjustments if need be.
