FBS Blog

DreamPro: New Release and New Price (Free!)

Michael Wurzer — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:02:58 +0000

DreamPro is one of the best native iPhone and iPad apps in the Spark Store and now it’s even better, both because they’ve added several new features and also because it’s now free (you can get custom branding and referral code options for $15/month).

One of my favorite features of DreamPro is the photo display and search or what I like to refer to as visual search. DreamPro indexes all the photo descriptions and captions and allows then allows you and your customer to browse through and compare the photos of kitchens, master bedrooms, pools, media room, or other key features. We all know that photos sell the house and this visual search takes it to the next level.

The visual search works best in MLSs where the agents have described and captioned photos well, but it’s definitely a cool feature when the descriptions are good and it really highlights the value of great photos for communicating the unique value of each home.

DreamPro has a lot of other cool features, including map search, full screen photo views, and their innovative DreamScore feature for comparing homes based on your customer’s preferences. These are all reasons to download it to your iPad or iPhone today. Did I mention that it’s free?

Update: DreamPro is hosting a webinar on May 1 at 11 a.m. Pacific time. Click here to register.

Android and Java Spark API Clients Now Available on Github

Michael Wurzer — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:08:26 +0000

We’re pleased to announce the addition of Android and Java clients for the Spark API, both available on the Spark API repository on Github. The Android and Java client are in addition to the iOS, Ruby, and PHP clients that were already available.

A Stand-Alone MLS Store is Like iTunes Without an iPod or iPhone

Michael Wurzer — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 21:25:42 +0000

Greg Robertson has a good post up on Vendor Alley comparing the Spark Store to the Clareity Store. Go check it out.

I agree with Greg that stores like the Spark Store and the Clareity Store are not going to dramatically improve the sale of real estate software, rather it will remain a belly-to-belly business. One area where I’d depart from Greg’s post is in his comment that there is room for a stand-alone store in the MLS industry. To be frank, an MLS store, by itself, simply adds additional cost (i.e., a middleman) to an already too complex and costly sales process. If you’re an MLS or developer, why inject that extra cost of a middleman into the sales process when it really isn’t going to significantly improve the process? Greg offers a a couple of good ideas for how stores may help developers with inside and outside sales (and those are good ideas we’ll definitely be exploring) but, in the end, a stand-alone store is just a middleman and not the long-term solution MLSs or developers need.

As Greg points out in his comparison, the additional cost from the Clareity Store is significant with a startup fee of $250 ~~per MLS~~ (Amy Geddes from Clareity contacted me after this post to let me know that the fee is not per MLS store) per application (I’m not sure if it’s per application or per developer) plus 30% fee on sales (or, for subscriptions, 100% of the first 3 months and 10% thereafter). Given that a store isn’t likely to substantially change the sales process, 30% (let alone 100% of the first 3 months) is a lot of extra cost. Moreover, though the $250 startup fee per MLS per application may seem nominal for access to a large MLS, it’s a significant barrier for the overwhelming majority of the 800 MLSs out there currently.

For example, W&R Studios already has both Cloud CMA and Nudge (in conjunction with 1000Watt) in the Spark Store, which has been launched to over 50 MLSs and 30,000 members. If FBS had that same $250 per application per MLS fee, W&R Studios would have had to pay $25,000 just to get into the Store before even one sale occurred. $25,000 isn’t chump change for any developer and we’re only talking about 50 MLSs. Once you get nationwide coverage, the startup fees would be $200,000 per application. I’m pretty confident W&R wouldn’t have put their applications in the Spark Store if they had to pay such fees.

The differences in the fee structures between the Spark Platform and the Clareity Store reveal a profound difference in the intended goals of the two approaches. The Clareity Store is trying to preserve the status quo. In contrast, the Spark Platform is trying to create an eco-system for long-term innovation by helping MLSs implement the RESO data dictionary, which will expand the products and services to all MLSs, not just the super-large ones that already have the attention of developers.

As the title of this post states, a stand-alone MLS store is like iTunes without an iPod or iPhone or the Android Market without Android. Having one without the other simply adds a middleman and doesn’t create an eco-system for innovation. One response to this analogy will be that the MLS system itself is the iPod or iPhone and, therefore, the platform, but that’s exactly the problem, we need implementation of standards to make that true, which is exactly the point of the Spark API. The Spark API and Spark Store together constitute the Spark Platform, which offers MLSs a means of implementing the RESO data dictionary and gaining access to products leveraging those standards, a true platform for more choice, more competition, and more innovation.

In conclusion, implementing a stand-alone store adds cost to both MLSs and developers without adding value for MLS members, who can already fill out a form on the vendor’s web site to purchase their product. If you’re a developer and wondering whether or not you should participate in a store, be sure to compare the fees and know that sales from MLS stores are still hard work and no guarantee of success. If you’re an MLS looking to implement a store, know that the store itself is not going to generate significant revenue in the short-term (if ever) and instead ask what are your long-term objectives. If you’re an MLS interested in long-term innovation and adoption and implementation of data standards to ensure your members are constantly on top of technological change, contact us about the Spark Platform.

New Feature Friday: The Gumshoe Automatic Escalation Feature

Michael Wurzer — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 23:16:28 +0000

I’m starting a new series of posts that I’m hoping will occur at least one Friday a month, where I’ll be highlighting new features for Flexmls Web. Historically, I’ve tried to avoid that because the FBS Blog mostly has focused on industry-level discussions but I’m hopeful a post a month won’t be overkill or alienate too many readers here just for the industry-level goodness. So, if you’re not a Flexmls user, just ignore the New Feature Friday posts, and check in with us on other days. For those of you using Flexmls, please read on!

Gumshoe Detective Report

For a few years now, we’ve had a report in the administrative module of Flexmls called the Gumshoe Detective Report. The purpose of this report is to flag users who may have had their login compromised or exposed to someone not entitled to use it. We pour all sorts of metrics into an algorithm that ranks logins by probability of compromise and confidence level in that probability. The report then provides the MLS with all sorts of details regarding activity on that account, such as:

Login from San Diego, California, United States on 2013-02-27 15:34:02 was 7407 miles from the login from Makati, Manila, Philippines on 2013-02-27 19:08:52. That means [user] would have had to travel at 2,068 MPH for this to be possible.

These reports have been very helpful to MLS administrators to ensure login security, but we wanted to take it a step further and automate the follow-up and follow-through process on the reports.

Gumshoe Automatic Escalation

The automatic escalation feature improves the Gumshoe Report by allowing MLS administrators to set a variety of parameters for when to send users an email alert about the possibility their login has been compromised. After the user has been notified a specified number of times with no action, the MLS can then be notified to take further action or the system also can be set to automatically disable the compromised account after a specified number of warnings have been sent.

If you’re an MLS administrator using Flexmls and you’d like to learn more about this feature, you should be getting an email in the next day or two about a webinar Melissa will be doing on this and some other new admin features. If you don’t get the email and would like to attend the webinar, comment below and I’ll send you the link.

Russell Shaw Rips Into Zillow and the Limits of The Agent Revenue Model

Michael Wurzer — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 23:00:48 +0000

Russell Shaw (a top producing broker in Phoenix) spends over $800,000 a year on promotion and so he knows the value of what he’s buying. Several years ago, we saw Move (Realtor.com) struggling to sustain revenue growth and Russell tore into them for their “change in business model.” Now we have Zillow running hard to sustain revenue growth, and Russell is taking them to task as well with a new site called ZillowRipsOffAgents.com.

As I wrote a week or so ago, the stock market clearly thinks Zillow and Trulia can keep up their revenue growth for some time, but Russell’s complaints and others like it are at least anecdotal evidence that we’re not seeing a new model but rather a rehashing of an old story that’s already played its way out for Move and may just be playing itself out again for Zillow and Trulia.

Update: Teresa Boardman has a hilarious post all about this same topic.

Contactually Raises $1 Million Seed Round

Michael Wurzer — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:14:16 +0000

One of the first apps in the Spark Store, Contactually, is reported in TechCrunch today as having raised a $1 million seed round of investment to grow their company. Congratulations to Tony and everyone at Contactually!

Everyone who has access to the Spark Store in Flexmls definitely should check out the free trial of Contactually (login required)!

The MLS Value Disconnect

Michael Wurzer — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 02:43:33 +0000

Zillow is valued at around $1.4 billion, Trulia at $700 million, and Move at $380 million, all of which, when added together, seems to dwarf the perceived value of the nationwide network of MLSs. For example, a few years ago, ARMLS, one of the largest MLSs in the country with 30,000 members (and an FBS customer), was considering selling to the Arizona Association of REALTORS for $4.75 million (in what likely was not a market or competitive sale price). In this post, I want to examine this perceived difference in value.

Of course, the primary content on all of these sites is real estate listings and MLSs have the most and best. Nonetheless, Zillow recently reported something like 70%+ revenue growth based on 29,000 Premium Agent Subscribers at an average revenue of $267 per agent per month. More importantly, based on the strong stock performance of Zillow and Trulia, the market clearly thinks they are in the early growth curve and will continue to grow revenue from agents and brokers. In the words of Rob Hahn, Zillow is killing it.

In contrast, MLS providers typically charge that amount per year, and, if anything, the pressure is to constantly lower that charge instead of increase it. In this post, I’d like to delve into some of the differences in the perceived value propositions between the MLS and sites like ZTR. I also will suggest toward the end that MLSs can and should shift their mindset regarding the value being offered to compete better against the ZTR juggernaut. (There’s a lot more value in MLS than anyone currently is realizing, but that value may disappear if it isn’t realized.)

One of the primary reasons for the different pricing or value propositions simply is scale. The MLS essentially serves all the agents in a given market, whereas ZTR is only serving a small fraction (approximately 3% or 30k/1M) of the membership in any given market. Many members of the MLS are essentially consumers and never actually have any transactions or only have a few per year, and so they have no need for marketing or other tools or software and little or no tolerance for extra fees.

Given the lack of transaction volume for most MLS members, typical penetration rates for non-MLS products are often less than 10% of the users whereas MLS services are paid for and extended to the entire membership or 100% of the market. Again, that higher volume means a lower price and lower tolerance for price increases. This can easily be confirmed by anyone who has ever negotiated an MLS-wide site license for a product. Whereas a typical CMA program may cost $30 per month when sold one by one, an MLS-wide site license may be able to be procured for $1 or less per member per month because of the lower sales costs and 100% penetration.

No matter how you slice it, a significant amount of the difference in price or value proposition between the MLS and ZTR products is volume, which the MLS has and ZTR does not. In fact, if the traditional pattern holds true (low penetration rates from individual agent or broker sales), Zillow and Trulia likely won’t be able to sustain their current growth rates and will settle into more of a revenue pattern like Move’s current pattern (though their revenue models are quite different).

However, if the market is right and Zillow and Trulia are able to sustain their growth rates, that means there remains another explanation for the different value proposition. Certainly the success Zillow, Trulia, and Move have had in achieving consumer attention and traffic is a significant difference in value. Agents and brokers need to connect with consumers and these sites help them do that. Of course, many MLSs also have public facing sites but that hasn’t seemed to stem the tide of traffic to ZTR, especially on mobile devices.

Does the consumer connection explain the difference in value entirely? Put differently, does the value difference suggest that brokers and MLSs should be working together to develop a stronger brand for MLS data? After all, the content at the center of all of these sites remains listings and the MLS remains the best source for listing data. Of course, the long-debated question is whether dominance by a ZT or R with consumers ultimately will result in a shift from MLSs to those sites regarding who is the source of listings. If ZT or R becomes the central hub for a critical mass of agents and brokers, why pay the MLS at all? The challenge to date has been that no entity other than the MLS has achieved that critical mass or deep penetration in any given market, and so the question looms.

Of course, another looming fact is that most MLSs are not run as for-profit businesses, and, as Greg Swann long ago argued, that’s what holds them back from realizing their true value. On the other hand, given that no other entities have managed to achieve critical mass in helping agents and brokers cooperate, perhaps the lack of a profit motive is the missing ingredient. Certainly what remains to be seen is whether a for profit entity can achieve critical mass of cooperation.

Given this on-going disparity and debate, I think it remains vital that MLSs continue to explore ways to collaborate with brokers to win the battle for the consumer. Too much value is at stake. I also humbly and selfishly suggest that innovations like the Spark Platform, and, more specifically, the Spark API provide the backbone for quickly and inexpensively building a compelling consumer experience on the web and mobile.

—-
P.S. I wrote this on a flight to Mexico for a week of vacation with my family, so I won’t be able to approve or reply to comments until I return. Those who have commented before will be auto-approved, so I hope you comment and I’ll join the discussion when I return.

Zillow Partners With Google. Game over? For who?

Michael Wurzer — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 22:31:12 +0000

Zillow has made a ton of news lately, and seen it’s stock price soar to a $1.4 billion valuation as a result. The string of announcements was capped off yesterday with news of a partnership with Google to power Google Now, a search tool for mobile devices.

The Google partnership and a new partnership with HGTV prompted Zillow’s CEO, Spencer Rascoff, to tweet yesterday:

So to recap, if listings aren’t on @zillow, they’re not on Zillow.com, Zmobile, Yahoo, Hotpads, HGTV or Android (Google Now)

— Spencer Rascoff (@spencerrascoff) February 14, 2013

The same announcement prompted Robert Drummer from iMapp to tweet:

Game over for Realtor.com. Zillow will power real estate in Google Now. techcrunch.com/2013/02/13/goo… Congrats to @spencerrascoff & co

— Robert Drummer (@rqd) February 14, 2013

Jim Duncan, a well-known real estate blogger in Virginia, said the announcement huge:

“@zillow: (NEW) Zillow Powering Real Estate Information for Google Now Search. zlw.re/6019nJhc #Android #RealEstate #Mobile” [HUGE.]

— Jim Duncan (@JimDuncan) February 13, 2013

He then follows that up with a great question in a blog post today:

We’re not to the point where zestimates replace market analyses – there are so many unzillowables that can’t be quantified by an algorithm – view, smells, neighbors, proximity to work, stuff, groceries, etc but the question that marginal real estate agents need to be asking themselves (that great ones have been asking themselves for years) is this:

Why should my client trust me more than Google/Zillow?

(my answer to this question coming next week)

Perhaps a better question is whether an agent or broker will ever be found or heard with all the noise and popularity of Zillow. Or, as Spencer Rascoff says, as a practical matter, will every broker and agent need to be on Zillow or, as Jim says, will Zillow simply become the de facto standard simply by ubiquity? I think these are very real possibilities and, as an MLS software vendor, I wonder if this is yet another version of the story we’ve all seen before about the Death of the MLS, which started this blog nearly six years ago?

I didn’t think so back then but the success of Zillow in building a juggernaut that is changing our industry is undeniable. The only question is how far and successful will they be, and will MLSs, brokers, and agents find themselves in the no-win position of having to partner with Zillow to not be marginalized?

What do you think? Same story different day, or is this something new?

Developers, Check Out The New iOS client for the Spark API

Michael Wurzer — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:54:07 +0000

We’re excited announce the availability of SparkiOS, which is an open-source Objective-C implementation for the Spark API. You can check out the code and documentation on Github. Here’s a quick description from the repository:

The SparkAPI object is designed as a standalone Objective-C interface for use with the Spark API. It implements Spark authentication via the Hybrid or OpenID methods. API calls per HTTP method provide a high-level Spark API interface and return a JSON results array on success while handling errors like session expiration for the client.

This project includes an example iPad and iPhone app that makes use of SparkAPI object to authenticate via Hybrid or OpenID methods, search listings, view listings, view an individual listing with photos and standard fields, and view a user account. View app screenshots for iPad and iPhone.

Also, don’t forget, we also have clients written in Ruby and PHP for you Rails and PHP developers. We also expect to have an Android client available shortly, so stay tuned.

Awesome Competitors

Michael Wurzer — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:15:25 +0000

Competition is fierce in the MLS software business. We’re constantly waging battles for new customers, new features, and improved service and market share. Yet, I’m proud and happy to say that our relationships with our competitors sometimes transcend business, as it did for me just recently with the passing of my father.

In addition to numerous condolences from friends, family, and customers, I’ve been contacted by many others in the industry with kind words in remembrance of my dad. While being cognizant and thankful for all the kind thoughts and prayers coming our way, two stand out for me from the many because they come from two of our competitors, Rapattoni and Solid Earth.

Andy and Niki Rapattoni were two of the earliest to send their condolences, with individual messages from each. Matt and Bill Fowler from Solid Earth also reached out by email and sent a card that I received today. The card was signed with personal notes from Matt, Bill, Kayla, and Lauren, all from Solid Earth. These aren’t just competitors, they’re class acts. Sometimes competition is less important than recognizing the people involved, and I’m incredibly touched by their kindness.

I’m proud to compete against these companies and to call them friends.