{"id":7772,"date":"2018-01-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/california-brokers-mlss-need-to-catch-up\/"},"modified":"2018-01-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T00:00:00","slug":"california-brokers-mlss-need-to-catch-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/california-brokers-mlss-need-to-catch-up\/","title":{"rendered":"California Brokers: MLSs Need to Catch Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

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California Association of REALTORS\u00ae CEO Joel Singer led a panel of industry experts Wednesday in search of ideas for how to move the multiple listing<\/a> services industry forward. \u201cCan this current structure survive?\u201d Singer asked after outlining the many issues MLSs face, from technology to competition and changing consumer behavior. \u201cShould<\/em> this current structure survive, if it doesn\u2019t alter?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Art Carter, CEO of California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Rebecca Jensen, president and CEO of Midwest Real Estate<\/a> Data, and Mark McLaughlin, CEO of Pacific Union, at Wednesday’s event. Credit: California Association of REALTORS\u00ae.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The event, held in Los Angeles, included a dozen professionals from the brokerage and MLS worlds, and was sponsored by CAR\u2019s Center for California Real Estate. The two-hour discussion was streamed live and is now available for playback on CAR\u2019s Facebook page.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Singer asked if any attendees disagreed that there is a need for a national back-end technology for listing data, regardless of the quantity of MLSs that remained on top of the system offering access to local\u00a0brokers and agents; none objected. But there was little agreement on what group or system might step into such a role. Dale Ross, CEO of REALTORS<\/a> Property Resource\u00ae, was on hand to talk about the well of property information from RPR that bolsters\u00a0initiatives such as Upstream and AMP, which he said would both be launching this year. While both tools are designed to help enable access to MLS data, neither was conceived as a platform from which to launch a national or regional MLS.<\/p>\n

Another tool for smoothing the ripples between listing databases that plans to launch this year is called MLS Grid. It\u2019s a data-sharing partnership that\u2019s envisioned as a single, standardized data access point for MLSs and brokers. MLS Grid board member Rebecca Jensen, who is also president and CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data, a regional MLS in the Chicago area, said the system will represent 150,000 real estate professionals and offer<\/a> standardized license agreements.<\/p>\n

But regardless of how a widespread back-end MLS technology might be provided, the call for a wider-reaching data source was universal. Even panel members from the MLS community agreed. \u201cThere needs to be one database for the whole state of California\u2014possibly the entire West Coast,\u201d said Art Carter, CEO of the California Regional Multiple Listing Service. He said that this year, CRMLS will be moving aggressively to merge or at least share data with other MLSs across the state. \u201cWe could have one database in the state of California in three months\u201d if all MLSs were willing to participate, he said.<\/p>\n

That was on the minds of many on the panel and those in attendance at the event Wednesday. Smaller MLSs are often resistant to consolidation talks because they have less leverage than\u00a0regional offerings such as CRMLS<\/span>. Many of the\u00a0board members on small MLSs, who would have to agree to consolidation, could be signing their own pink slips. \u201cThe fight for maintaining those jobs is incredible. How do you overcome that?\u201d asked panel participant Sandra Deering, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Irvine, Calif.<\/p>\n

The effort to create Bright MLS out of nine MLSs\u00a0on the East Coast\u00a0was one of the more closely watched stories in 2017 for the listing services industry. David Charron, chief strategy officer of the new company, was on hand to offer his experience with the merger. He noted that while it needed \u201call hands on deck that first year,\u201d Bright MLS does plan\u00a0to reduce staffing by around 20 percent in 2018.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Crawford, CEO of the Real Estate Standards Organization, struck a hopeful note about how the demographics of the industry could benefit the consolidation effort. \u201cThere are a lot of people looking to retire,\u201d he said, adding that CEOs of smaller MLSs may be more interested in cementing their legacies by forging a path toward \u201cregional databases for multiple MLS marketplaces,\u201d as long as they\u2019re provided with a succession plan.<\/p>\n

While the story of Bright MLS offers an example of how MLSs can quickly and successfully merge, some on the panel expressed concern that such a route to listing innovation would be too slow. \u201cI have significant concerns about whether that path gets us over the finish line in time,\u201d said panelist Wes Burk, broker-owner of Patterson Realty in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He worried that if consolidation took too long, the real estate community would work to find ways around the \u201croadblock\u201d that MLSs represent.<\/p>\n

Mark McLaughlin, CEO of Pacific Union, a brokerage headquartered in San Francisco, told attendees his company has been working to create its own database to get around the problem of not being able to get its listing data back from MLSs. He said Pacific Union is building on the limited listing data it was able to acquire back from MLSs by asking agents custom questions and gathering data that will help them understand their local market better and compete with listing portals. McLaughlin predicted other brokerages would soon follow suit if MLSs fail to innovate fast enough. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for alternatives to the MLS,\u201d he said. \u201cWe might have moved early, but we\u2019re not going to be the only one.\u201d<\/p>\n

One persistent concern throughout the event was the idea that the entire MLS system is out of sync with today\u2019s market and should be rethought entirely. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about perfecting a VCR in a world of streaming video technology,\u201d said David Silver-Westrick, a partner at Keller Williams OC Coastal Realty in San Clemente, Calif. Silver-Westrick warned that a separate national database, along with an app-based lockbox and offer-making system, could arrive soon to challenge the real estate industry. \u201cThe world has moved on, and we\u2019re unwilling to.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the forum moved back to the realities on the ground in California, both panelists and audience members called on the state association to take charge. Attendee Virginia Butler of Coldwell Banker\u2019s Palos Verdes-Beach Cities office in California told the story of a seller who came to her a few days ago with valuations from Redfin, Trulia, and Zillow in order to convince her of the correct listing price for his home. \u201cWe\u2019re the ones who sit at the kitchen table and take the listing,\u201d she told the panel. \u201cWe should start with California, because we may not be able to wait for the rest of the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deering agreed. When asked what she\u2019d like to see happen in the next year on the topic of modernizing MLSs, she replied, \u201cI would like to see CAR spearhead discussions between the MLSs.\u201d And on the issue of MLSs who aren\u2019t interested in talking? \u201cLeave the others behind and move forward with the ones who are willing to cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Meg White, REALTOR\u00ae Magazine<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Realtors <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California Association of REALTORS\u00ae CEO Joel Singer led a panel of industry experts Wednesday in search … California Brokers: MLSs Need to Catch Up<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[695,480,1335,12908,543,41,818,84,1429,479,15282,61],"class_list":["post-7772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opportunities-in-new-markets","tag-agent","tag-broker","tag-credit","tag-home","tag-home-buying-guide","tag-property","tag-real","tag-real-estate","tag-real-estate-industry","tag-realtor","tag-ross","tag-seller"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jan18_DN_mlspanel.jpeg?fit=425%2C227&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4582,"url":"https:\/\/amazingproperty.com.ng\/blog\/upstream-listing-management-tool-to-simplify-mls-integration\/","url_meta":{"origin":7772,"position":0},"title":"Upstream Listing Management Tool to Simplify MLS Integration","author":"Amazing Property","date":"May 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"[ad_1] Brokers using the new Upstream data management tool\u00a0have the option to enter listing data\u00a0through either Upstream or their\u00a0MLS. 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Elizabeth Mendenhall Elizabeth Mendenhall has become the first president of the National Association of REALTORS\u00ae to make a repeat appearance on the annual Swanepoel Power 200 list of the most powerful leaders in residential real estate. 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