The teams have divvied up.

On one side you have a mishmosh of broker websites, the occasional MLS public website (all hail the HAR experience, and curse having to discuss endlessly how to recreate it on 1/100th the budget), some good (some bad) IDX vendors, and ROOST. Representing billions of dollars of shared interest and knowledge, yet fractured by our divisions.

On the other side, you have Google. Yahoo (and hence Microsoft), Trulia. Zillow.

Personally I would change the channel. Sounds like a mismatch to me.

Wake up or get creamed, traditonal Real Estate industry. I sat in a room today as a man in a $2000 dollar suit told a group of my past presidents that my association needed to develop core competencies at a staff level in blogging, SEO, internet communications, web presence and services, etc.

ummm… let’s take a moment to look under our noses. We have the competencies. We have the skills. What we lack is the vision to get ahead of this curve. Display sold price to the consumer. Let them rate the transaction experience. Embrace the 21st century consumer. Do not make the same mistakes as the recording industry in fighting the mp3 content revolution.

I am 38. After 7 years of feeling locked out of the market, I am a buyer. Traditional RE, meet the new x-gen consumer. My next series of blog posts will detail the real estate transaction in this market from start to finish from my perspective. While I necessarily have more access than the typical consumer to real estate listings, I will of course use a REALTOR professional on this all import transaction. Some time back my president elect, Steve Reiser, stood up to me on an initiative. I still think he was wrong, but his zealousness impressed me, so he is now my agent. In this transaction I will be behaving as, I believe, most of my x or y gen cohorts would behave. I hope that the real estate industry serves me well in this capacity, but I fear that I may turn to external tools in need of deeper information.

I am beginning my search on MyListSearch.com (still beta). Mark and I built this together, which I am particularly proud of. This sort of inter agency cooperation within the real estate industry is precisely what is needed to compete. Unfortunately, getting out of beta has proved difficult, in some ways a reflection of the baggage that the traditional industry carries when it comes to measuring agility.

The initial reaction from many at the table was like watching a car slam into a wall at 50 miles per hour. After an awkward moment of silence someone asked why would we want to do that? Mark did a really good job of addressing the market forces that were propelling us toward this point as well as some of the potential benefits of being involved in defining the standard.

I for one think it is a great idea and a long time in coming. Currently we allow vendors and IDX subscribers to download a raw (very nearly unformatted) chunk of listing data and deltas throughout the day. Due to the density of the content and layout it makes it very difficult for DIY designers to create their own data sources. So consequently subscribers in our market are limited to some pretty narrow choices when deciding how to integrate idx into their website. To further confuse the matter some of the larger national brand idx services require frameable links for their idx solutions so agents feel like they have very little choice in the matter.

Now granted I don’t think the typical agent is going to be setting up their own idx solution no matter the standard. However, they can if the standard is clear enough hire a programmer and develop a solution which is unique to their needs and built for their site rather than building their site around their idx solution. With enough resources and time local brands could build highly specialized systems to meet the needs of their target market and compete with larger national brands and I think everyone can agree competition is a great thing.

The other and less obvious reason I believe standardizing the data is a good thing is because we give too much of the information and not enough of it away.

What I mean is that most of these online data aggregation services would like only the barest minimum of data to work with and push the consumer off to the broker site or a landing resource for more information. Often these vendors end up getting way more data then they actually need this overhead increases the cost of transmission and also devalues the remaining compilation of data. As to not giving away enough of the data well I may be a bit of rebel here but I believe we should give a subset of the data to anyone who asks. As long as the attribution and lead goes to the Broker owner then sharing marketing information is valuable to agents who are seeking the widest exposure to marketplace.

While data standardization won’t fix all the problems with the current data sharing model. I believe that as a community we should embrace any option that gives us an opportunity to work with potential partners in a responsible way. I really hope the GTZY standard is embraced (not just because I like saying Gitzy) but because I think that it makes sense to be part of the solution instead of acting to delay the inevitable.

In closing I know data sharing is a hot button topic so let me conclude with the following observation.

REALTORS will continue to define their value through local knowledge, market expertise, and other services not because they have a user name and password to the local MLS. I prepare the stats for the association, troubleshoot it on a very high level, develop supporting services and create training programs for REALTORS seeking to increase their marketability. Now if you asked me for advice about buying or selling a home or what the market is doing I will be the first say “I dunno”. I am not saying this as industry pundit; just as the value of the association extends far past billing and mls the value of REALTORS extend far beyond gathering properties from the MLS and presenting an offer.

If you want to get a sneak peak into what the future Real Estate Data standard will look like check out the video below.

Direct Link

http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/archives/2008/02/real_estate_standard.html

Two quick notes before I get back to the pool, er, I mean conference.

Our friends over at FBS won the best blog award here…well deserved.

And, ironically, REALTOR® blogging in general won the award for the most OVER hyped technology for 2007. I heartily agree that the silly Exhortation that I Kept hearing - Blogging will distinguish you, help you to Stand out form the crowd, is just plain bad logic and bad advice.

Good communicators with something interesting to say should take advantage of this medium. If you find it is not for you, then don’t do it, or hire someone who has the talents in that vein to do it for you.

I needed gas on my commute home. So I stopped at a 76 station just off the freeway, sidled up to the one armed bandit, and got out to start the painful transaction.

I stood up and looked straight into the face of a gorgeous, sexy, high resolution flat panel screen embedded atop the gas pump. It’s fun when the posts just come right to you. Seems to happen to me a lot when I am driving, although this was a first for me.

If you have read any of my posts here you will realize how fun this was for me. I love marketing, and examining and evaluating marketing angles. Much of my writing imagines technologies to bring information to us more ubiquitously, which of course opens the door for a whole new level of penetration in marketing and advertising. In particular read my posts on Microsoft Surface, WiMAX, synch, and even my very first post on this site referenced a half mirror half LCD that can be toggled from LCD to mirror mode (coincidentally I read about one of these in a custom designed home today).

So it was rewarding and fascinating for me to watch this screen while I got my gas (and of course perhaps get lost in it and pump more gas than I really wanted to or could afford)… distraction is a marketing technique, make no mistake.

But then it got cool. Local traffic on a dynamic map courtesy of yahoo flashed up… all the while the business news channel was embedded on the left third of the flat panel. This was not a static low res display on a programmed loop… this was live information. And of course you can have your advertisements on the screens, for the right price.

That starts to get fun… what a fantastic advertising angle for local open homes. As the Director of Technology for CCAR, I manage our HomesOpenToday.com (HOT) website (sorry, shameless plug). My mind was already whirling with the possibilities of that sort of hyperlocalized advertising… a new layer of functionality for the HOT website was roughed out by the time I got home. Contact the vendor, work with them to establish some preferential pricing for my members in return for a stream of recurring ads each week as members opt into syndicating their open house publication from that definitive content source to the 76 (and soon others to be sure) gas station nearby blanketing the time of their open house.

Like I said, sometimes the posts are really easy to come by. This was a new and fun experience for me, however. Wathing tv at a gas station standing outside your car isn’t something I want to do every day, but it beats just plain old standing outside your car at a gas station by a long shot, at least in my book.

Add this little wrinkle to your marketing and advertising repertoire.

Enter Leaf Networks a new peer-to-peer application which allows anyone to create simple VPN connections.

To get started:

1. Download and install the software
2. Create a user account
3. Click share

As with hamachi files are shared by selecting the folder then setting access permission for members of your network. Additionally, you can invite friends to view and modify shared folders and you can even chat with the members of your network. Leaf is not limited only to folders you can also share attached devices such as attached drives and printers. This is a useful feature if you would like to print a document out on your home printer for you to review when you get home.

One caveat, while it is a private tunneled connection it is not encrypted so I would recommend against transferring or exposing confidential information. A simple acid test would be if you feel comfortable emailing the information then you can feel comfortable sharing it between trusted computers using leaf.

In the dark corners of the web there has been a growing debate regarding how social networks expose their users to more risks. The premise behind this is that by and far most social networking platforms are built on open platforms. These platforms let their users create plugins, access APIs, and share their created content with the rest of the world.

The concern to my perspective is two-fold first you will have users (black-hats) who maliciously want to raise havoc either for entertainment, or some sort of gain be it financial or political. Sites that allow users to freely develop and distribute content using their systems and networks do so without the liability or the auditing of traditional development environments. Furthermore the concern is that these developed systems may lure casual users into trusting the code merely based off of association with the parent site. However is that necessarily a bad thing?

These holes will still exist and if you try to actively obfuscate the issue and prevent the creative growth of these systems then you are in the end exposing the users to more risk, in my opinion. There is always going to be a bad element someone who is doing something out of malice or is simply seeking personal gain. However, if we let the malware and spyware authors dictate our actions on the web haven’t they some degree achieved their goals?

Consistently the number one technical support issue we face at the association is aiding customers in configuring all-in-one security solutions, take your pick for my opinion they are all horrible. For people who make their living using web based applications these systems which take blanket approaches to security (assuming everything is bad) rob their customers of productivity. What is worse when you call the vendor to point out the issue they push back on the security solution vendor and vice-versa the security vendor says it is web application developer’s fault.

Don’t get me wrong I am a strong security advocate I teach courses on physical and software security and I truly believe security should be everyone’s priority.

However, when do we go too far? I will admit I have found very few useful applications on facebook and if I get poked one more time I am going to scream, but the free and open development platform has transformed facebook from an online college after party to a central hub of social interaction. Can companies do a better job policing what their applications are used for, yes of course. Though to a certain degree I believe that responsibility should fall to the user community.

If there is anything we can learn from this it is this. First of all open development foster innovation and growth. Openness does not increase the security risks, if you want to argue this I got one word for you Linux. As an operating system it still needs to mature and there are some inconsistencies in the way the system is designed however by and far they handle security issues and patch management much better than closed source vendors. Still not convinced check out Firefox, open source you can browse the entire application at your leisure have fun poke holes in it make a slight different version and post it as your version whatever.

I am not saying that Facebook opening its API is the same as downloading and compiling your own Firefox. What I am suggesting is that if we are going to continue to enjoy the rapid pace of development we need to allow these DIY developers to create their bush whack-a-mole, mapping programs, and whatever else strikes their fancy because you know what - the next big idea is out there just waiting to be found.

Picture a utility to integrate your social network (facebook) with your Customer Relationship Management. Like LinkedIn, it simply piggybacks off an existing data source, to create your ‘network.’ Instead of using email addresses as LinkedIn does, it uses facebook connections. It mashes those connections into salesforce and maintains that information integration.

According to their website:
“True business relationships are personal relationships. With Faceforce Connector for the AppExchangeTM, you can for the first time unleash the power of your personal network on Facebook to build better relationships with customers, colleagues, and business partners.

Faceforce Connector for the AppExchangeTM complements traditional CRM data with dynamically updated personal data and photos. The seamless integration pulls critical Facebook profile information into your Salesforce Account, Lead, and Contact records in real time, providing you with an instant 360º view of customers, prospects, and business associates.

In today’s competitive business landscape, relationships have never mattered more. Whether you are in sales, business development, or some other role, gain an instant edge with Faceforce.”

I am curious to know if anyone is doing anything with this. I can see tremendous capabilities here, but also some problems. Will this sort of thing put a damper on social networking - if everyone starts to use it as a marketing tool? I had a similar notion a while back, to simply create a LinkedIn group of all my members, and create our own network. But that is somewhat different, somehow more pure than marketing off of existing social networks.

Thoughts?

So the blogosphere has been lighting up with references to the recent launch of Roost^sm. It has been quite interesting to read the reactions to the product on many levels.

Having played some small part in helping to bring this product to market, I though I would make an effort to give a description of the technical and business model.

Please understand that I am going to attempt to remain neutral on the topic, identifying both potential strengths and weaknesses in what I think is a fascinating, buy side enabling technology.

Roost^sm; is essentially a virtual IDX directory that feels like a vertical search, but fortunately is not. That is important, so I need to take a moment to elaborate.

First, a bit broader of a statement. Roost^sm is a very effective real estate search interface that is fast and quite intuitive. It is a well branded, well funded product designed to allow an interested broker to sponsor a property search which ultimately showcases properties on that local brokers site.

In a sense it allows a broker to directly control their marketing expenditure in a manner that closely resembles modern SEM models.

The site launched January 23rd, and is currently running with live content in several markets and I am told expanding rapidly.

A vertical search in this context is a bad thing. Vertical searches are a way to describe a search engine that delves straight into specific content gleaned from other websites (this is the traditional definition in my view, and can certainly be argued).

Yahoo Shopping is a very good example. When you search from this search engine, the results returned are a subset of what Yahoo sees on the web.

It is a vertical search that pulls the searcher straight down to content on that plane - in this case things to buy.

In the case of Yahoo, this sort of vertical search is great, because the websites that they glean this content from A) Want that information to be consumed by aggregators like Yahoo so that you can find it and purchase it, and B) because those sites are the definitive source of that information.

Since they are the definitive source, they are well incented to have ample quality control measures in place to ensure that the aggregated content is accurate.

In the case of real estate, this is not true. Property information exists in so many places, some ‘legitimate’ sources of data with at least an effort to be current and accurate, some not so much so.

‘Gleaning data’ from these sort of disparate, non-definitive sources is a losing proposition.

There IS of course a definitive source of this information, but often the MLS is divorced from the public display of the information, and I think this is a good thing. MLS applications are challenging enough in their own right to not have to be concerned with display, which is a venue that is changing frenetically.

Consider. Two weeks ago I got a call from broker asking why we (my MLS/Association) were sending bad/old data to a website. I won’t name them here, but we can just call them site x. I replied that of course we are not, and have no affiliation with site x. The ‘data’ displayed there was from his listing three years ago. Site x is a prominent ‘deep vertical’ search engine.

I have a theory that with enough examples I can provide a formula to accurately predict the degree of listing data error as it diverges from the source, specifically because of all the steps involved in acquiring and/or moving the content from place to place.

Even the best syndication will see an echo as details change at the source and flow downstream… if you don’t ask the source directly every time, it is wise to limit yourself to one step removed from that source.

So, Roost^sm, again, feels like a vertical search but is not. ‘Feeling’ like a vertical search is a very good thing. Vertical searching is cool.

Many definitive content sources, one search result interface. I don’t have to go ford.com and toyota.com I can just go to cars.com and get them all. But in real estate it just doesn’t work.

Even large search engines like Yahoo and google have suffered from the vertical search dilemma I have described above. If they want to know the solution to that problem, I have access to the working prototype, but cannot divulge the details. Drop me a line and lets talk.

In the case of Roost^sm, it feels like you are having a vertical search experience. The content is ‘market fresh,’ with rich listing content flowing in from many areas.

But this content is not gleaned from other sources. It is official, quality controlled content (not data). The search is therefore modeled on top of the source content - one step removed - in the care of a highly reputable and responsible vendor. That vendor IS in the business of displaying content well and rapidly adapting to the needs of the market for search solutions.

This makes the Roost^sm search a plugin.

So lets examine that plugin to this ‘official’ content store. The integration is so seamless and essential that in the end Roost^sm cannot really be called a search at all. Roost^sm is really a hub of activity to relay a public consumer (lead) to an interested broker’s own IDX website.

The exchange from Roost^sm down to that individual brokers site feels so much like a vertical search because of the richness and quality of the content AND because the experience is so seamless and smooth. This fluidity is due to the use of a virtual IDX site that then passes you directly on to that interested brokers own website when you click an individual property.

Roost^sm takes the consumer, passes them to a cities worth of results via a plugin to an IDX virtual site, branded precisely like the interested brokers site. The next click is a seamless transition into that interested brokers site.

Let me give you an analogy from the consumers perspective. Picture a river. You are fishing for properties in your kayak. And of course there are lots of kayaks on the river. All by yourself, it is hard to ensure sufficient quality properties to make for the best fishing (searching). Some searches are all fished out, others results need to be thrown back.

Now picture a riverboat. Very Mark Twain’esque, with the revolving paddlewheel like a windmill on the back to propel it.

Instead of scooping water to propel the boat, it lifts listing content up to the group of well dressed, well informed consumers sitting on the riverboat enjoying a nice search outing. The interested broker simply places some modicum of her advertising budget into controlling how fast that wheel rotates to pull the listings content up to different consumers on the riverboat.

The more she wants to invest, the more likely her interest in representing a qualified buyer will be expressed by her position at the top of the search page and the fact that the consumers clicks will navigate to her broker idx webpage. If she is not represented to the consumers waiting for the content as the interested broker, then she is not charged.

Let me try it from the reverse (the brokers side). Picture a series of turnstyles (like you find at the transit station). Hundreds of them. And lined up looking at them are brokers eager to serve a consumer that they know is out there. To try to meet that consumer, they have to invest in a choice… which turnstyle to go through.

The only caveat is that some of the turnstyles don’t really work well, and some just don’t work at all. So you need to invest wisely in that choice.

What Roost^sm attempts to do is provide a very well oiled, high performance, centralized turnstyle. This mechanism takes one interested broker at a time, and places them on a well funded marketing platform. If you don’t want that service, then you simply don’t opt in. You still get the benefit of additional traffic to the network of IDX sites powered by your MLS and its content, which in the end brings you buyers.

So lets take a look at the interested broker. Why is she interested?

Well, of course because she is trying to help you to buy a property, and she knows that you are looking online. She may be trying to get leads for her own listings as well as qualified buyers to work with, or she may just be a great farmer of territory and has a laserlike focus on the buyer. As a listing agent, you WANT her, you NEED her. This is her specialty. She can bring you the qualified buyer and get the deal done, but she has to be able to find the buyer. She has to be able to spend her dollars advertising her listings and soliciting qualified buyers intelligently.

The prospect of an effective search that feels like it is vertical, but has quality real estate content (and of course has a mix of the latest technology and blazing speed), appeals to her greatly. What appeals much more is the fact that this single portal allows her to both market her listings well, as well as enable her to express her interest in marketing her own services. The degree of her interest can be carefully controlled by her investment in sponsoring searches.

I hear agents all the time referring to trying to nail their business plan down in terms of their ideal volume of transactions. That may sound like a bad joke in this market, but regardless of how many are actually moving, the dedicated agent needs to keep marketing themselves and their content.

For many in this market, it is they - themselves and their ability to work to find an ideal buyer for your listing - that IS the content they offer. Being able to tightly and carefully throttle that interest level, and examine in detail the return on that investment, would seem to be desirable.

I have heard the critique “I am not sure listing agents are going to want to be having leads sent to another brokers site when someone clicks on details for THEIR listing.” I can understand the sentiment. In an ideal world, you could pocket all of your listings and still sell them yourself by generating the immense amount of traffic to your own resources required to serve your clients well.

Certainly, if that is your goal, you would want to opt your listings out of internet display and market them solely from your brokerage. There are some other suggestions that I could make, and possibly some development work that could be done for you; but in the end isn’t that just the point? It is easier and usually better done by those that focus on this as their core business.

However, knowing that you as the listing agent are always given proper attribution according to the rules for public display of MLS content, and that this is ensured by one of the most reputable vendors in the industry, would seem to be soothing.

Knowing that this model can bring the sort of leads that typify the vertical search experience, e.g. people genuinely interested in precisely and solely what you have to offer, as opposed to the stumbleupon sorts, would appear to be comforting.

Knowing that the investment in quality is matched by an investment in bringing the traffic to warrant interested brokers’ attention, would probably feel empowering.

If, in the end, the worst criticism that can be leveled at the application is that it creates a sort of ‘prisoners dilemma’ whereby brokers feel the need to shift some of their advertising dollars to this venue, I suspect that the authors will happily accept that.

Of course, this dilemma already exists across the spectrum of advertising choices that brokers make daily. The fact that this venue at least offers the ability to tightly control the expenditure and map it back to metrics and results, would seem to be a huge step in the right direction.

So that is my take on the Roost^sm model. I heard it described by someone as magic. It is not magic, because of course magic doesn’t truly exist. It is a very well thought out, seamlessly executed prestidigitation to get the consumer to the brokers website.

The search is invoked from Roost.com, but actually served on the content backbone of a very reputable vendor (iHomefinder. Having personally inspected their content provisioning and compliance system, I can tell you that they are precisely the state of the art). The first click takes the search to the sponsoring brokers existing local IDX search page, and you have landed. The transition is smooth and effortless.

It is a fascinating way to bring quality content and targeted searching together, while appearing to honor the rigor and rules of the traditional real estate industry.

Now just to add my own little additional wrinkle… What I really think would be fascinating is if Matt and Alex over at Roost^sm could give the sponsoring broker some criteria to choose from about what sort of properties they can most effectively help connect someone with. They have obviously already nailed the geographic localization part of this riddle. The ability to express your interest as a broker to represent buyers in hyper local focus but with national presence and SEO is quite a nice combination.

But what else can be done in this regard? If you gave brokers a list of twenty questions about the types of buyers they can most effectively represent (e.g. SRS designees would presumably identify servicing that generational cohort as a specialty), but only give them the choice of 5 or so specialties. Now that would be really interesting. At that point you are qualifying the lead somewhat by the search mechanism itself, and qualifying the broker to the consumer by affirmation.

The interested consumer and interested broker both walk away from the experience feeling like they just met their perfect match. And then the turnstyle turns for the next interested broker.

If this sort of capability can meet a changing market in 2008 as the best time to buy becomes ‘apparent,’ then a lot of folks will be coming home to Roost^sm.

Love it or hate it, Roost^sm seems to offer a next generation platform for buyers agents to market their services against the most powerful backdrop of all - compliant, ‘market fresh’ MLS content. I have to hand it to them; Roost^sm gets an A in my book. If for nothing else than the elegance of the model.

Product review: A

If you are on the fence about hiring a virtual assistant I would suggest you consider Sandy.

Sandy is a web application which will notify you of upcoming meetings, remind you about a call you need to make or a listing presentation you promised to get ready. Better still she will even keep you informed as to anniversary dates, birthdays, doctor appointments etc..

My favorite part about Sandy is that she never gets sick, never has a bad day, and personality conflicts never enter the mix. As an employee Sandy is dream simply send her an email and she will take care of the rest even syncing with your Calendar and mobile management tools.

Here are just a few examples of how Sandy can keep you on task:

• Remind me of Joe Customer birthday on 2/16 @yearly
  Every year, Sandy will send you an email that Joe Customer’s birthday is coming up
• Remember grocery list eggs, milk, butter and cheese
  Sandy will send you mid-day reminder that you need to pick up the milk
• Remind me I have a Listing Presentation on 2/28 at 3-4pm
  Sandy will send you an appointment to add to your Calendar and remind you the day of as well as prior to the appointment
• Remind me I have a Dentist appointment Tomorrow
  Sandy will send you digest reminder the next day and add the appointment to your calendar

The best part of Sandy is she is dirt cheap ie. she works for Free. I have been using Sandy for a year now and it makes it easy for me to establish a strong work-life balance. My wife loves Sandy because she takes care of the reminders and I love Sandy because she keeps me on task. So if your in the market for a virtual assistant make sure you give Sandy a try.

Already using Sandy below is a cheat sheet to help you get the most out of her.

Remember something:

remember JJ’s wife’s name is CJ

r alaska air mileage card #1234567

Set a reminder:

remind me to move the car in 15 minutes

r take out the garbage sun eve

Add an appointment to your calendar:

remember Marketing meeting tomorrow 9-10am

remind me about lunch with Pat at noon on 12/10

r Yoga class thur 4pm

Make any reminder, appointment, to-do, or list repeat:

remind me to take out the garbage on Sunday evening @weekly

remember to pay the credit card bill on 9/1 @monthly

r Sam’s birthday 10/2 @yearly

Specify how you’d like a reminder sent (overrides your default reminder settings):

remind me to pick up a pizza on the way home from work this evening @email

remind me to call Susan during my commute at 7:30am @sms

remind me to head downtown by 9:30am for my coffee date with Brad @twitter

remind me to leave work at 5pm @email @twitter

Remember to mow the lawn on Sunday @noreminder

Add a to-do:

remember to pick up the dry cleaning @todo

r clear out the gutters @todo

Mark a to-do as done (or to do again):

update @done

u @todo

Make a list:

remember groceries @weekly

* eggs

* milk

* bread

Add to and remove things from a list:

update * cheese

update -* milk

update

* rolls

-* bread

Add someone to your contacts:

remember Dad’s number is 503-555-1212

r Frank Fitzwilliam frank@example.com, 123 Couch Street, Portland, OR 97212

Tag (label, file) something:

remember eggs @groceries

r Southwest Airline #123 @travel @”hawaiian holiday”

Look something up:

lookup Frank

look up @errand

l appointments

lookup this week’s to-dos

Update something:

update Meeting in Chicago

update #1 4-6pm

u @home

u -@oldtag

Forget (delete) something:

forget

forget #1

f #1

Tell time:

• 12- and 24-hour time (1:30pm; 13:30)
• Specific dates (May 14, 2007; 5/14/07; 5.15)
• Relative dates (today; tomorrow; next Thursday; Thu; next week)
• Relative times (this afternoon; tomorrow morning; next thursday evening)
• Relative date intervals (in 2 days; in 3 weeks; in a month)
• Relative time intervals (in 15 minutes; in an hour; in 4 hours)
• Date ranges (May 14-16; 10/14-10/22)
• Time ranges (1-4pm)

(Sandy interprets “monday”, “this monday”, and “on monday” as the very first Monday coming up and “next monday” as the Monday after that.)

Ignore time sometimes:

remind me to talk to Sue tomorrow about my “December 1st” trip

remember to buy tickets on Friday for local performance of “Next Monday”

remind me to ask “June First” out for Friday night

Make things repeat:

• By day: @daily, @bidaily (every 2 days), @weekends (Sat and Sun), @weekdays (Mon through Fri)
• By week: @weekly, @biweekly (every 2 weeks)
• By month: @monthly, @bimonthly (every 2 months), @quarterly (every 3 months)
• By year: @yearly, and @biyearly (every 2 years).

Ask Sandy to reply — or not (overrides your default email reply settings):

• Remember to replace the back-porch lightbulb @reply
• remember Pride and Prejudice @noreply

Set a goal:

Remember Anywhere is walking distance if you have the time @goal

(Your latest goal appears in both the web and email versions of your Daily Digest.)

Get help:

help

h

help guide

Some Background:

I was trolling through industry related press releases when I saw that the National Auctioneers Association released their own MLS aimed at keeping consumers informed about auctions in their area. At the recent NAR conference I had several discussions with members from my own association and other associations regarding auctions and MLS policy and in the MLS breakout sessions much of the topics of discussion were centered around auction properties.

As an aside I have noticed an increase in the number of auction properties on our own MLS and would like to be proactive in gathering information when I am asked to advise on policy decisions that will define how we handle/treat auctions within the MLS so that I am well prepared to offer a solution that best serves our members.

From my perspective the issue comes down to the following points

1. Pricing - the null price of an auction can cause issues with comps
2. Category - as a solution to the pricing issue it has been suggested to create a separate category to contain auctions but the concern is then the auctions won’t get equal exposure
3. Commission - how do you handle the commission in auction property
4. Common Fields - auction properties share much overlap with the non auction properties they represent but there are some unique differences.

On the NAA MLS they seem to focus on the basic facts about the property and some information as to the opening bid and terms. Within that perspective it seems like members would be best served if we simply separated auctions into their own category much like residential income and lease rental. My concern is that we would have to create an auction property category for each property type residential, commercial, lots and lands etc.. Obviously this would increase administrative and training overhead and additionally make the information more difficult to gather unless the agents used a multi-class search functions.

I also understand the concern that if we separated auctions into categories then clients may not be exposed to these properties when doing their search and as IDX goes it would require re-engineering of applications that use IDX data. On the other hand if we leave the information co-mingled then are creating issues for agents when searching for comps. A solution to both concerns is to create a separate feature category so that agents can include or exclude auction properties when searching for comps in the area. The biggest issue to this solution is that we will need to train agents how to list, search, and exclude auction listings depending on their need also it does not address the issue of commission and common fields in listing input.

So that is where I am at; I am leaning towards recommending the the feature code solution and working out a conditional logic solution to the common field question. If you have implemented a similar or different solution in your company, mls, or association I would love to hear the pro cons of each solution and would welcome any solutions I have not considered.