Real Estate Tech and You

Search Everywhere Optimization Content Structure 2026 Real Estate Edition

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 08:07:00 -0700

Key Takeaways: Search Everywhere Optimization for Real Estate Webmasters Direct Answer Blocks: With AI Overviews now appearing in over 60 of informational search queries, real estate pages must answer user intent immediately by placing a direct, 40 to 60-word Answer Block within the first 100 words of the page. Schema Markup: Tell AI Exactly Who You Are: To make sure AI systems recognise your brokerage as a trusted, established business, add structured data to your pages — specifically LocalBusiness, FAQPage, and Author schema — so AI can verify your expertise and build a clear picture of who you are. Conversational Heading Hierarchies: To capture AI assistant prompts and snippets, H2 and H3 tags must not skip levels and should be phrased as natural language questions that users typically ask. Core Web Vitals (WPO): Using Google Page Speed or Search Console core web vitals, it's important to ensure your website ranks in the top 5 of speed, accessibility, SEO and best practices scores, especially on mobile. FAQ's and Tabular Data: AI loves frequently asked questions and tabular data. If you can find a good way to blend these elements into your blog post or article, AI will often reference your post and you as an expert on a topic. Direct Answer Blocks If you look at the top of this page, you will see a direct answer block. Sometimes these summary blocks are called TL;DR blocks Summary Boxes Position Zero Boxes AI overview bait No matter what you call them, the logic is simple here. AI and search engines want to get straight to the point. If your content can answer the main question being asked by your article or the purpose of your page right up front (if you can make it easy) you'll have a better chance of showing up in the answer results of Google (right at the top before the SERPS) or being recommended as the answer for ChatGPT, Claude or NotebookLM. In my case, this article is about search everywhere optimization for Realtors in 2026 and so that is what I covered in my answer block. How should you use schema markup for SEO in 2026? Scheme markup is intimidating for non-technical Realtors (it can even be intimidating to more technical webmasters), fortunately now that we have AI (artificial intelligence), especially generative AI, creating schema is super simple. I recommend completing your article, blog post or CMS first and then working with an AI like Claude in order to have it parse your entire article and recommend scheme markup for the head tags. Pro tip: Keep a list of schema markup types handy or have them pre-written and saved as a prompt, and then use AI to determine what other schema might be appropriate for your post or page by asking it to recommend any additional scheme based on the content and context of the content you have created. Here is an example of schema markup from this blog post using the person entity. What Heading Structure To Use for SEO in 2026 Heading structure for SEO has always followed writing best practices, and this continues for the search everywhere paradigm. If you think of your writing like a book, the H1 you might consider something like this: H1 (heading 1): This is the title of the book. For your page, it is the main theme of the page and should always have your keyword H2 (heading 2): In most cases, you'll want to break up your content into organized sections "on that page" - this is where H2's come in. They provide a large, visible break between concepts or ideas within the theme. H3 (heading 3): This is for larger subheadings, where inside that heading, you might need to break down your content further, but just within that subtopic. I'll give you an example below) H4 (heading 4): These and those past them really shouldn't be used in almost any cases. It means you have sub-sub topics, which unless you're writing an incredibly long or complex research paper or legal summary, we wouldn't use these much in the real estate world. Example of a subheading and H3 Above, I just used an H3 - why? Because I'm still talking about headings (which was one of my subtopics for this page), but I want to break my content about headings into a few buckets as well. In real estate, let's say you had a website about Nanaimo Real Estate (that's your H1), and you broke your content into the sections: About Nanaimo, Nanaimo Listings, Community Statistics, and FAQ's. These are your H2'sNow let's say you wanted to further break down just your listings section into: "New Listings, Luxury Listings, Waterfront Listings," whatever you can think of. Those are "sub topics of the topic listings, and so you would use an H3. Similarly, if your community section had things like: Walkability, Crime Rate, Restaurants, whatever you can think of. If it's more than just a bullet point, and you plan to speak about it in paragraphs instead of sentences, it probably justifies itself as a subcategory, which is H3 When not to use subheadings or H3's If something is not truly a subcategory of a main idea on the page, then it doesn't justify itself as an H3. In addition, you should not use heading 3 for design or aesthetic purposes. What you should do instead is use CSS or have your designer give you classes and styles that allow you to get a look that you want without having to break the rules of proper context structure. Core Web Vitals (why WPO Matters) Why does WPO matter? Understanding the value of web performance optimization is quite easy. Think about it from the perspective of a user on the internet. You're likely (most often) on your phone. If you Google something, or AI suggests a link and you click on it, and it's slow, what do you do? You leave, right? Because it's a bad user experience. Now, what about if you had a disability and the website you were trying to visit was not accessible to you? You'd look for something more accessible so that you could interact with it. At it's core, Google (and AI) care about providing a great user experience. If you have a slow site that is not accessible or has technical challenges loading, it's simply not a good user experience and Google and AI will not choose to present you to thier visitors. Conversely, if your website is fast, technically proficient and fully accessible to all visitors (especially on mobile) then both Google and AI are going to want to serve your website and your content to their visitors. It's that simple. Using FAQ's For Search Everywhere Optimization in 2026 AI loves to give answers (great answers), and it also loves it when content is easy to read and understand. By leveraging FAQ's or frequently asked questions on your pages, you ensure that artificial intelligence bots or LLMs can process and understand your content as authoritative answers. It's important that you ensure whatever FAQ's you have on your page are also reflected in your schema markup or JSON so that your content is presented for both users and as an easily understood, readable and digestible format for LLMs. They should match. Pro tip: If you don't know how to do schema, just grab your FAQ's and head over to your favourite GPT (Chatgpt, Claude etc) and say "make this into scheme markup for the head section of my website. Frequently Asked Questions Why is it called Search Everywhere Optimization? The acronym SEO was expanded from search engine optimization to search everywhere optimization in order to address the fact that Google (a search engine) is no longer the only place users are searching. In 2026 consumerse are searching many different platforms from AI and GPT engines to social media. You need to be everywhere (and in different ways) in order to maximize your exposure. Is Traditional SEO for Google or Bing dead? No traditional SEO for Google or Bing is not dead. In fact, it may be more important than ever since many of the AI-based engines use Google and Bing search results in their decision-making process on who to recommend and what sources to cite. Also, Google still has a huge amount of traffic available in the real estate space for Realtor websites and brokerages who rank well. Will search everywhere optimization require a lot more work? The short answer is yes, but not more time. The reason for this is precisely because the very AI you are trying to show up in is also a tool that can 100x the speed of content deployment. So while you do have to have more content in more places now (and that content needs to be context specific) you can create it far faster and with greater precision. Search Engine Optimization vs Search Everywhere Optimization Search Engine Optimization Search Everywhere Optimization Goal Rank 1 on Google Show up everywhere your buyer is searching Where it works Google search results Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Podcasts Content format Long-form blog posts and landing pages Blog posts, short-form video, social posts, podcasts, Q&A pages Keywords Exact-match keywords stuffed into content Natural language, questions, and conversational phrases AI understands Who you're optimizing for Google's algorithm Humans first — then every algorithm that serves them Schema / structured data Optional nice-to-have Essential — it's how AI knows who you are and what you do Backlinks Primary ranking signal Still important, but authority now also comes from social proof, mentions, and AI citations Local search Google My Business and local landing pages GMB plus Apple Maps, Yelp, AI assistants, and voice search Success metric Page 1 Google ranking Visibility, citations, and leads from every platform your audience uses

AI at REW: Upgrade your old website for free before it's too late.

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 07:21:00 -0700

Why You Need to Upgrade Your REW Website in 2026 (And Why Waiting Is Costing You Deals) Let me be direct. If you’re still on one of our older platforms, you are not just many versions behind. You are missing the biggest shift in real estate technology we’ve seen in over 20 years. And that shift is artificial intelligence. AI Isn’t Coming — It’s Already Here At Real Estate Webmasters, AI is not a side project. It is the core focus of our platform in 2026 and beyond. We are actively building AI-powered tools, including call transcription and grading, 24/7 coaching systems based on real conversations, smart follow-up suggestions, advanced CRM automations, lead intelligence, and behavioral analysis. These are not concepts. These are live initiatives being developed and deployed. But there is one critical point you need to understand. None of this is being built on our old infrastructure. The GCE vs GKE Reality Some REW customers are still hosted on older infrastructure built on Google Compute Engine (GCE). All of our modern platforms, including Renaissance, our CRM, and all AI tools, is built on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). This is not a minor upgrade. It is a completely different architecture. GKE is scalable, containerized, and designed for modern applications, including AI. GCE, in its legacy form, is not where new development is happening at REW. Our AI systems require modern orchestration, real-time processing, and flexible compute environments. If you are on GCE, you will not have access to REW’s AI tools. What We’re Building Next This is where things get particularly exciting. We are launching what we believe will be the world’s first real estate-specific AI agency. This will allow visionary agents and team leaders to connect their CRM data, combine it with deep real estate data and MLS insights, and work directly with our developers to bring their ideas to life. This includes custom AI tools, custom workflows, and custom automation built specifically for your business. This is not generic AI. This is real estate AI built by real estate experts, on top of your actual data. Use Your Own AI API Keys Another major initiative coming out of REW Labs is the ability for clients to use their own AI API keys. You will be able to connect providers such as OpenAI or Claude directly, giving you full control over your usage and token spend. For those who prefer convenience, REW will also offer usage-based access directly through the platform. This gives you flexibility, control, and scalability as AI becomes a larger part of your business. The Hidden Cost of Staying on Old Platforms Staying on an older platform is not neutral. There are real and increasing downsides. Performance Degrades Over Time Older systems slow down, which directly impacts SEO rankings, conversion rates, and overall user experience. Security Risks Increase Legacy systems rely on older dependencies, which creates greater exposure to vulnerabilities and ongoing maintenance challenges. Spam Becomes a Bigger Problem Modern platforms use advanced CAPTCHA systems, AI-based spam detection, and behavioral filtering. Older platforms do not, which results in more junk leads and lower data quality. You Fall Behind Competitors Agents who adopt AI tools early will gain a significant advantage. Those who delay will find it increasingly difficult to catch up. Forced Migration Is Likely Coming At some point, likely within 2026, one of two things will happen. Google may deprecate support for older services such as legacy PHP or MySQL versions, or they may begin charging significantly more to maintain outdated infrastructure. If that happens, we will either need to migrate customers to the new platform or pass those increased costs directly to those who remain on legacy systems. Upgrading now allows you to stay ahead of that curve on your own terms. The Good News for Existing Clients A brand new Renaissance install is completely free for existing REW customers. This includes access to the latest website framework, CRM, AI tools, and modern infrastructure built on GKE. We also handle database migration, lead migration, and saved searches. You are not starting over. You are upgrading to a better system. What About Custom Work? This is the most common concern we hear. In many cases, front-end custom work built years ago is now less performant than what is available out of the box in Renaissance. Backend customizations were often created to solve problems that are now addressed more effectively through built-in features and automation. In situations where specific features or designs must be retained, some redevelopment may be required. April Upgrade Promotion To make upgrading easier, we are offering a promotion for clients who renew. This includes complimentary development hours and significant discounts on any additional work required for more complex implementations. In most cases, this will cover the majority of the work needed to transition successfully. Final Thought The gap between agents who are using AI and those who are not is about to widen significantly. This is a moment where early adopters will gain a meaningful advantage, while those who delay will struggle to catch up. If you are on an older REW platform, upgrading is not just a technical decision. It is a strategic business decision. Upgrade to Renaissance and Unlock AI Let’s review your current setup and map out what an upgrade would look like for your business. We will walk you through what carries over, what improves immediately, what may need to be rebuilt, and how to take full advantage of REW’s AI tools. Book your upgrade consultation today. REW Platform Upgrade FAQ Why should I upgrade my REW website to Renaissance? Upgrading to Renaissance gives you access to the latest REW technology, including AI tools, improved performance, enhanced security, and a modern CRM. Older platforms do not support new development, which means you will miss out on current and future features. Will I lose my leads or database when I upgrade? No. REW handles database migration, including your leads, contacts, and saved searches. The upgrade process is designed to ensure continuity so you can transition without losing valuable data. What is the difference between GCE and GKE? GCE (Google Compute Engine) is older infrastructure used for legacy hosting, while GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) is a modern, scalable, container-based system. All new REW development, including AI tools, is built on GKE, not GCE. Can I access AI features if I stay on my current platform? No. REW’s AI tools are built on the new GKE infrastructure. Customers on older GCE-based platforms will not have access to these features unless they upgrade. Is upgrading to Renaissance really free? Yes. For existing REW customers, a standard Renaissance install is free. This includes access to the latest platform, CRM, and infrastructure. Additional costs may apply only if you require custom redevelopment. What happens to my custom website features? Many older custom features are no longer necessary, as Renaissance includes improved functionality out of the box. If specific features need to be retained, they can be rebuilt within the new framework, which may require development time. Will my website perform better after upgrading? Yes. Renaissance is optimized for speed, SEO, and modern user experience. Upgrading typically results in faster load times, better search rankings, and improved conversion rates. Can I use my own AI tools or API keys with REW? Yes. REW is developing the ability for clients to connect their own AI API keys, including providers like OpenAI and Claude. This allows you to control your usage and costs while still leveraging REW’s platform. What risks do I face if I stay on an older REW platform? Older platforms can experience slower performance, increased security risks, and higher levels of spam. In addition, they will not support new features, including AI tools, which can put you at a competitive disadvantage. Will REW eventually require all customers to upgrade? While upgrades are currently optional, changes in underlying infrastructure and third-party services may require migration in the future. Upgrading now allows you to stay ahead and avoid potential disruptions or increased costs. How long does the upgrade process take? The timeline depends on the complexity of your current site and any custom work required. Standard upgrades can be completed relatively quickly, while more customized projects may take additional time.

How running a team has changed REW's business model

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 13:53:00 -0700

Everyone knows running a team is where the real money is At least that is our premise going into this thing as we launch the Carly Carey Real Estate Team. Over the past 20+ years running Real Estate Webmasters Inc., I have had the great fortune of bearing witness to the rise and growth of some of the most successful teams in the world including 1 for RE/MAX Gary Ashton, and World 1 For Exp Realty Justin Havre. It's been amazing to watch them as they navigate the growth of their teams and build market share. It's inspiring (Enough to make anyone want to start a team). Because we work so closely with our clients we also get to see what goes on behind the scenes. The best leaders make it look so easy (if you just see their marketing and socials occasionally) but what we know from our behind-the-scenes vantage point is the countless hours of hard work and dedication, the thousands of challenges, the haters, the failures, the stress. It's anything but easy I've come to this conclusion: You can learn absolutely everything there is to know about running a successful team and still completely fail (and most do). Because it's about talent, execution, and consistency (with a bit of luck sprinkled in too) Not everyone can run a successful team. Especially one based on internet lead generation. My best guess? Maybe 1 in 10 agents could build a successful real estate team. And that is IF (and only if) they also have the right platform, lead generation strategy, coaching and follow through. Most don't have all of these things in place (or the conviction / confidence to implement them) and so the reality is it's more like 1-1,000 agents who actually pull off building a successful team. If you have built a successful team based on internet lead generation... congratulations You are a rare breed indeed and should be very proud of your accomplishment. So how has running a team changed REW's business model? Well first off... is the obvious. We're now boots on the ground and have intimate knowledge of what it's like to try to build and maintain a successful team. By running our own team (powered by Real Estate Webmasters Inc) we are gaining valuable insights into where the product and marketing services are performing and where there is opportunity for improvement. There is no substitute for hands-on experience. Having a team is making our product even better Informed product development: Many SAAS / real estate companies build their products based on taking advantage of Realtors® shiny object syndrome and trying to build what they think they can sell to Realtors® vs what the Realtors® actually need. By having our own team, and consistently engaging with and getting feedback from the top team leaders in the world, we are able to practice informed product development. We build features that solve actual problems in real estate and focus on improving efficiency to give Reatlors® their time back. Real-world/real-time testing and feedback Does it work? That's what every Realtor® or team leader wants to know. Other SAAS companies rely on sparse or partial feedback from their clients, or vague references and inferences based on the limited information they can glean from their access to their client's products. We run an actual team. And we have a LOT of traffic As such, when we have an idea we want to test, or a product we want to evaluate we're set up to do so in a full 360 view (from implementation down to the commission split when it closes). We see every step. And because of REW CRM, we can track everything We don't need to guess. We know exactly what works and what doesn't. It's a HUGE advantage for REW's staff when it comes to recommending programs and features to our customers. I can finally try all my crazy ideas Even the most adventurous clients have limits. Sometimes I have crazy ideas that I want to test (or the team comes up with ideas that I think are great) but without a client to fund them or willing to let us test on their platform we could never really build/test what was in our heads. Now that we have our team, our own traffic, and a custom development budget (thanks to REW investment) that is far more significant than any other team in the entire world, we can invent to our hearts' content. Sometimes we knock it out of the park and build a killer new feature. And sometimes we learn. Example? There is an MLS for listings, but there isn't an MLS for buildings. Yet our agents are constantly trying to find information on buildings (is it pet friendly, are rentals allowed, what is the HOA range). Doesn't exist So we built one (Screenshot of Carly Carey Nanaimo Building Directory) How does this help you? The Real Estate Webmasters Customer? Think about it. If we're running a team and testing out everything on our dime, we're able to deliver you a much better product than the competition. A properly informed product that you can simply use instead of having to pay to develop yourself. Our one-to-many approach: You pay pennies on the dollar. Before we started our own team if customers wanted access to this kind of innovation they would need to fund it themselves and that could often cost 10's (sometimes hundreds) of thousands of dollars. Custom work and inventing new technology can be VERY expensive That has all changed now that REW and the Carly Carey Real Estate Team are taking on all of the upfront risk and cost. We're spending millions on innovation and any every amazing feature that we develop is made accessible to our customers for just the cost of implementation. We pay for all the development time, the coding, the testing (a feature could cost $50k). You can copy it as long as you're an REW customer often times with just a few hours of implementation time through our agency. You already know it works Because we've tested it That's the best part of this new process You already know it works Because we tested it on ourselves first. There is no more guesswork in terms of implementing a new feature. How will consumers or agents respond? How will a new feature convert? Will Google index it? (Can it rank with SEO?) Will it be fast? ADA Compliant? Get good WPO scores? We get to test these features in real-time with real data. REW Summit - A return to collaboration The best real estate website features and marketing techniques are built from collaboration. We don't simply wake up in the morning and go "Hey this will change the real estate marketing game". Instead, we've built our business based on our relationships with thousands of top-producing agents, teams, and brokers who are true collaborators. Our customers are amazing at bringing us ideas and giving us feedback. If they have a challenge they need solved or an idea they would love to try they bring it to the REW community and we discuss it. Register for REW Summit Nashville June 20th-21st Nowhere is this spirit of collaboration more evident than at the REW Summit. Our flagship annual conference, the REW Summit is where top team leaders, agents, and brokers as well as technologists, marketers, and thought leaders converge to discuss current challenges and put our heads together to invest the next generation of technology and marketing techniques. This years Lineup of speakers includes top industry leaders like Gary Ashton and Debra Beagle (1 RE/MAX Team In the world), Stacie Staub, founder of West + Main and genuine hustle, Michael Lafido, luxury marketing guru and creator of the luxury listings institute program, Ken Pozek, top KW team leader and publisher of the ultra-successful Orlando Reel youtube channel, Chris Pollinger founder of Luxe Leaders and AJ Hazzi, founder of the Vantage West Academy, REW Coach and closer of $300M+ in REW PPC leads. Putting our money where our mouths are One good thing about KNOWING what you do works? You can step up, take risks, and confidently go after market share. That's what we're doing with our team, but it's also what we doing for anyone who wants to join us in our journey with Real Estate Webmasters Inc. How are we stepping up? We'll beat any major competitors price by 10 Do you know any other companies with this kind of confidence? No way If you'd like the details on this unmatched offer you can visit the 10 off any competitor's blog post. And if you decide to do a website AND paid lead generation with us, I will guarantee in writing that the platform will pay for itself or you get your money back. That's how confident we are in what we do. We know it works. I our clients have proven it works, and now we have shown via the Carly Carey Real Estate team that it works too Click here to access the form to signup (form is at the bottom of the page)

Real Estate Webmasters offers to beat all competitor offers by 10

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 09:13:00 -0700

We will not lose a bid to a major competitor on price. That is the Real Estate Webmasters' commitment during this promotion. Realtors, team leaders, and brokers choose their real estate technology based on 3 main factors. Quality of the product Customer Service Price / Cost Today I am excited to announce a new initiative at Real Estate Webmasters designed to eliminate the price conversation. REW will beat any major competitors' price by 10 - Simple We recognize that in today’s market, there is a lot of price sensitivity. Sales volume is down from the highs of 2021-2022 and many brokerages are worried about the cost implications of potential buyer commission changes and lawsuits. So addressing the market's biggest concerns to gain market share just makes sense. Real Estate Webmasters is 1 in product quality Our Renaissance platform is world-class. It is quite simply the best real estate website on the planet. Beautiful websites with exceptional conversion are what we’re known for. In addition, our websites are the most SEO-friendly, ADA-compliant, and performant websites on the market. This is not just our opinion: You can test our platform using third-party validation tools such as Google’s Page Speed Insights (the defacto standard for testing performance). (Screenshot of CarlyCarey.com Google Page Speed Report) Customer success is a CORE value The third factor to consider is customer service/support. At Real Estate Webmasters customer success is one of our 3 core values (along with innovation and ABA < Always being awesome). Central to the theme of customer success is supporting our customers. We have online discussion groups, REW Academy with video galleries, 7 days per week ticketing systems, dedicated account managers and we even run customer-centric events such as REW Summit (the next one is in Nashville on June 20th and 21st). Let’s have a conversation and save you some money. If you could have the best product on the market AND you were guaranteed to reduce your cost vs one of our competitors, is it not worth at least having a conversation about what it is that Real Estate Webmasters can do for you? Who do you consider major competitors? (Who will you price match+ 10) We’ve compiled a list of other platforms that we consider to offer similar categories of services and are at scale. These services refer to websites, IDX, and CRM. Here is the list of competitors that quality for the offer: Inside Real Estate / KV Core Boomtown Commissions Inc Moxiworks Lofty / (Previous Chime) Sierra Interactive Tribus Delta Media Group Union Street Media* + third party CRM IDC Global Lone Wolf Constellation 1 (enterprise only, no roll up companies) If you are currently with any of these companies and are considering making a change (wanting to reduce costs or improve product quality/service experience) we will beat your current pricing by 10 for website SAAS, IDX & CRM. What about combo platforms? Website + separate CRM Our real estate CRM is also world-class and there is a short list of CRMs we would consider worthy competitors in the space. We will also do the same price match offer (beat it by 10) where you are using the combination of these CRMs + at-scale website / IDX vendors. Here is the shortlist we will price match: Follow Up Boss (FUB) + any website vendor (for example YLOPO + FUB). Lofty + any website vendor (for example Curaytor) Cloze CRM + Any website vendor (for example Union Street Media + Cloze) There are many disadvantages to having your website and CRM separated (especially around listing tracking, IDX recommendations, saved searches, etc) and often the cost of a “combo” is significantly more than an all-in-one. In some cases, (like FUB) the platforms are also owned by third parties (In this case Zillow) which can mean the future direction of the product may change based on the new owners' intentions of the platform. And let’s face it, some folks simply don’t want to be associated with certain large portal brands or have their CRM owned by a VC or other large aggregator. How does the offer work? How do you validate? Offer must be like for like. Meaning you must give us “at least” what you are giving them business-wise. For example, if you get x discount because you have committed y seats, you must give us the same guaranteed number of seats. Comparable platform: You have to be using “at least” website, IDX and CRM (or the combo pack mentioned above). We won’t price match if you’re only using a website for instance as it’s not comparable to our offering. Similar products (with differences): All of the vendors listed and/or the combo pack represent a similar product set with similar features. However, each vendor does have differences and unique features. We believe Real Estate Webmasters is the most complete and highest quality offering, however, this offer does not guarantee a feature-by-feature match. Some elements and especially UI’s will vary from platform to platform. Verification: To qualify for the discount, you must provide proof of current pricing which means providing a copy of your current contract and most recently paid invoices. Afraid of commitment? One last thing: Typically Real Estate Webmasters is a 36-month contract. If you are concerned about any part of our service not meeting your expectations (or just making a long-term commitment right now) I’ll add one more incentive. A 6 month out Here’s how that would work. Your contract term can be “as low as” 6 months and any time during that 6 months if we’re not meeting your expectations in any way, you can simply cancel the contract with 30 days' notice. Sound fair? Now you may “want” to lock in this discount for more than 6 months (outside of the contract, you just pay retail), and that is fine too So if you already know you want to be with REW long term, you can lock in this never before offered pricing for up to 36 months. So you have both options: Low commitment with an out, or long term lock in if you know this is the direction you want to go and you want to keep the discount for an extended period of time. Up to you The point we’re trying to demonstrate here is that we are both extremely confident in our product and services but also quite flexible in terms of working with you to make sure you are comfortable and can move forward. Need custom work? Save up to 35 By Attending REW Summit Oh yeah, I almost forgot REW is also the world's largest custom design and engineering shop (by a factor of like 10x). Many customers also want to use our platform because they can access the kind of custom services no other vendor offers. As an additional incentive/bonus we are offering a 15 discount on all professional services purchased during this promo AND if you purchase a ticket to REW Summit (and actually attend) you can claim an additional 20 credit on those same professional services, totally 35 total discount on custom work or SEO. How's that for a great offer? Are you ready to save money AND get a better platform? Fill out any contact form on RealEstateWebmasters.com or reach out to myself or any other account manager and we’d be happy to set you up with a demo and talk numbers. Let’s do this (Just fill out the form) First Name Last Name Email Please provide a valid email address. Phone Current URL Current Vendor Select Current Vendor Boomtown Cloze Commissions Inc Constellation1 (Enterprise Only - No Roll Up Companies) Delta Media Group Follow Up Boss IDX Global Inside Real Estate / kvCORE Lofty (Previously Chime) Lone Wolf / Propertybase MoxiWorks Sierra Interactive TRIBUS Union Street Media + Third Party CRM Message Beat My Price 10 Price Match FAQ How can Real Estate Webmasters afford to do this?? Real Estate Webmasters is the most successful privately owned prop tech company in history (we recently just celebrated over 20 years in the business. We are very well run and have been saving up our profits (by significantly reducing advertising spend) in order to prepare for exactly this moment. It's time to grab market share What if I have an offer for a "new" contract from one of those vendors? That is not technically covered by this promo but we're happy to take a look at it and see if we can price match. We love to compete

Sitzer-Burnett Decimates Prop Tech Industry (Is NAR To Blame?)

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 08:01:00 -0700

You can’t go anywhere in the real estate world without hearing about the latest NAR settlement to the Sitzer-Burnett lawsuit. Buyer agents, selling Realtors® team leaders, and company owners are all scrambling to make sense of an uncertain new world (a world that has not even settled yet). It’s complete Chaos It’s a terrifying time for many Realtors® and company owners to be in real estate. We’re talking about all new processes to adopt to continue to earn a living. Forced change is hard enough to deal with, but there is also the continued unknown of “what else will happen” which adds to the feelings of uncertainty. It’s enough to paralyze even the most optimistic real estate professional. NAR... MLS’s… Large brokerages….. Give me your money or give me your life Uncertainty and change are the feelings in the trenches. They are being felt by every agent, team leader, and broker. For the largest brokerages ($2Bn+ in annual sales, MLS’s and even the almighty NAR (National Association Of Realtors®) there is an even more imminent (and more tangible) threat to their existence. They have to pay to settle these lawsuits They have to pay MILLIONS of dollars “I am sorry but we have to put this bid on hold. We’re in the $2Bn+ category and have to write a cheque for 10 Million Dollars. All projects and spending are suspended until further notice. When that is, I don’t know.” This is a real message that I received from a very large potential client. And it’s the kind of message myself and my team have heard over and over again in the last 6 months. They tell us: It’s not about you, (we love you guys) It’s not about your product (it’s best in class) It’s not even your pricing (we “wanted” to move forward) We just can’t do it as we’re worried about how we’re going to survive As a vendor, partner (and often as a friend) of the owners of these companies it’s really hard to see them going through this. I can only imagine how much pressure they are under, and how much anxiety they feel not knowing what their future looks like or if the business they have worked their whole lives can survive this. The downstream effect of Sitzer Burnett on prop-tech If you’re a prop-tech company… what happens when your largest customers can no longer afford to invest in new projects or technology? Or even if they are simply too afraid to do so because there is so much uncertainty in their future? When your pipeline dries up and you no longer have any prospects driving you forward, motivating you to keep going even when times are tough. How can a prop-tech company keep going? Sadly, for many prop-tech companies, especially those that are start-ups or have not reached scale, they can’t keep going. They will have to close their doors forever. Some will recognize this early and voluntarily accept defeat (perhaps selling for pennies on the dollar to larger tech aggregators), while others tragically believe so much in their product and their teams, that they will go down fighting…. Which means bankruptcy, and an even more devastating outcome for the founder. The loss of prop-tech jobs that will come from this tragedy will be in the 10’s of thousands. The loss of innovation? Will be immeasurable. As the founder of a prop-tech company (the longest-standing CEO of all large prop-tech companies), this makes me truly sad. Innovation is the 1 core value of our company and one of the things I have loved most about my 20+ years as CEO at REW is spending time with other prop-tech founders. Seeing their passion and drive to innovate. Tracking their progress through the journey of product/market fit. Celebrating their success when they finally break through. Building so many friendships and learning so much along the way. There will be a lot less of that now. And for quite some time I fear. The next few years for prop-tech: Consolidation What happens to customers when their vendors go under? If they are still around (the customer I mean) which in the case of a brokerage is not guaranteed either… they move to a surviving vendor. This is customer consolidation. What happens to innovative tech when vendors go under? It dies There are two paths. Neither allows true innovation to survive. The first: The business (and its awesome tech) simply ceases to exist. The company is bankrupt. The tech is gone. The second: The company is absorbed by aggregators. In the prop tech world, these are companies like Constellation, Lone Wolf, Zillow, or several other VC-backed companies. I'm reminded of this scene from the movie Demolition Man: In my experience, I have never seen innovation continue in the same way for a prop-tech company or solution once it is acquired by an aggregator. Their models are all about efficiency and shareholder profit. The founders of acquired companies have shared with me the environment is not conducive to innovation. The top talent always leaves once their requisite transition period is done. In effect, the innovation that was beloved in that company is dead. The bottom line… a lot less choice for Realtors® and brokerages. And even less innovation. The Dark Age of prop-tech is coming.

REW Promo - Demand Based Pricing (book now and save)

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0800

Typically during the first quarter of any year, we are quite busy with professional services. Realtors® and brokerages often wait until the last quarter to commit to large custom projects which generally means our production schedule is full even though Jan-March are typically very slow months for "net new" orders. As the spring market kicks in and Realtors get back into the groove, orders return to normal levels. This year has been different though: We didn't get the huge influx of orders in Q4 for professional services. If I had to offer an educated guess, it's because of a few things: 1: Brokerages are waiting to see what happens with the market (it has been headed in the wrong direction)2: There is still a lot of fear around the commission lawsuits 3: Our product has gotten exponentially better these past few years (meaning customers are requesting to customize less and less). I'm sure it's a little of everything. Either way, the result for us is the same (and I'm just going to be transparent about this). We have unsold inventory in our professional services group. (Programming, Design, SEO, PM). How this promo works: I want to be clear, we're only giving discounts on hours "if" (and only if) you have actual work you want done. You can't just buy these hours and park them or not have anything planned for them. This is about making sure our highly valued employees have meaningful projects. So "if" you have work "right now" these are the deals: A: The top priority is to fill the queue for March. If you can give us work in design, programming or SEO we are prepared to offer a 50 discount for any unsold hours "under" 50 of capacity (these will likely sell out in a day). After we are at 50 capacity, but "below" 75 capacity you can buy hours for 40 discount. That's March. You need to order right away (and know what you want the hours for). B: April / May: The same concept, but since we have a little time to sell those hours before that time comes the discounts are slightly less. Below 50 capacity is a 40 discount and between 51-75 capacity is a 30 discount. Still a crazy deal. Here is an example (using the SEO department) to help illustrate how we look at this: What you'll see here is the "client " of our SEO team is booked out at 78 for February (right where we like it to be). But in March the client is only 52 so far. That means for March (if you bought today) you could get a 40 discount on SEO hours until such time as the client hits 75 booked. Once we hit 75, discounts are over. Promo over. Of course, each dept is different (check with your AM for availability). How do you order these hours? (And how do you know what your price is?) Call your AM (or email them). They have access to what is sold in which discipline. They will give you how many hours you can buy (and at what rate) and that offer will be good until the end of that day. The next day they have to recalculate and you could have missed the biggest discount. They will send you the price along with the month you must use the hours in and remind you they are nonrefundable and cannot roll over into other months. Existing customers, you don't even need to sign anything via Docusign. Just reply back in writing via email "Approved, please process my order" and we'll take care of it for you. It's as simple as that. My goal is to have all these hours (March- May) sold out by the end of the week. So if you really want these hours (and you know this kind of discount has never happened before and never will again) Place your order. There are no exceptions, substitutions, or changes. Just this one awesome dealWhen it's gone, it's gone.

Starting a team in 2024 powered by Real Estate Webmasters Inc

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 07:55:00 -0800

What would happen if the best real estate technology and marketing company in the world also had a real estate team? We're about to find out I’m writing this post about starting a team here on the REW blog for 2 very specific reasons. 1: I want to be able to lay out our plans for the local Realtors® here in Nanaimo where we live so that they can decide if they would like to join our team (or sell us their book of business if they are leaving real estate). 2: Discuss the end game in terms of how this helps all REW customers. And what is that end? I want to help all Real Estate Webmasters customers be successful through this changing market, and all other markets to come. Our thesis: Running a real estate team alongside a real estate/marketing company is chocolate and peanut butter. A bit of Real Estate Webmasters history for those considering joining our team: For the past 20 years, our company Real Estate Webmasters Inc. has had the good fortune to be a part of building some of the most successful real estate businesses in history. We’ve worked with greats like Barbara Corcoran (Shark Tank), Mauricio Umanksi (The Agency), Rob Thomson (Waterfront Properties), Gary Ashton (1 RE/MAX Team In the World) and so many more amazing entrepreneurs and true real estate leaders. Our role in the process has always been on the technology and marketing side. Our customers have trusted us with building their custom technology, doing search engine marketing, paid advertising campaigns, managing their PR, and providing many other specialized services. All to produce millions of leads that have turned into tens of billions of dollars in real estate transactions. We are very proud to say that 20 years later, we have grown into the largest custom real estate technology and marketing company in the world that does what we do. And we’re in Nanaimo Oh yeah, and don’t forget, we were also the largest deal on Dragons Den and in Reality television history. A record that stands to this day. We’ve cracked the code (even reinvented it) several times when it comes to online real estate promotion and lead generation. Our customers are our partners. Along the way, we have spent thousands of hours learning about our customers' business. Attended conferences focused specifically on helping team leaders run the best teams possible. We’ve sponsored coaches and sat with the CEO’s of all major franchises learning about every aspect of the real estate business. We have learned SO MUCH about this real estate industry that we love. And it’s all thanks to the generosity of our amazing customers and friends. But we were always outsiders: So we decided to change that A few years ago we took the first step towards becoming even more integrated into the real estate community. Carly Carey (my wife for those of you who don’t know her) got licensed so that we could truly explore what it meant to “Be a Realtor®”. And she loves it Even though admittedly this exercise was not meant to be a full-time job for her, the sense of community she has experienced, the work she has been able to do in the charity space. The traveling, learning, and networking she has been able to do. All have dramatically changed her life and inspired her to want to do more. Now more than ever she is convinced she wants to have a career in real estate. That being said - our network and our customers are not agents (not most of them anyway). The people we hang out with, work with, and learn from are all leaders in real estate. We’re talking about the TOP team leaders, brokerage owners, and even CEOs of major franchises. So for us (given this is our network) it makes so much more sense for us to start and run a team vs having Carly building an individual agent business. I say us (and it is us) but I want to be clear on roles here: Carly is the Realtor® and will be the team leader. (At RE/MAX Of Nanaimo) It is Carly who has the passion for building and developing amazing team members. Creating a culture of positivity and fun. She is the mentor and the “people person”. Her passion is all about building a sustainable positive culture and a team that people “want” to be a part of. Carly is the name, the face, and the brand of the team. My role in technology and marketing: Think of me as more as a consultant to the team whose sole job is to ensure you never run out of leads, have the best international exposure possible, and state-of-the-art technology and follow-up systems to ensure you can spend the least amount of time possible to earn the income that allows you to live the life of your dreams. Sound good so far? But wait there’s more Why we are the team that you want to join. I’ve already mentioned our global network of agents, team leaders, brokers, and CEOs. Candidly there is not a single team (or even brokerage) on Vancouver Island that can come close to matching our level of exposure or connections. Also unlike most teams or brokers that are tied to connection via just one brand, we are connected to all brands and their leaders. But we’re not just out here flexing on our connections. We plan to leverage them. It starts with coaching. For you AND us. The very first thing we did when we decided to have a team was to hire amazing coaches. We know from experience and the mentorship of our network that the best agents and team leaders only get that way by hiring the best coaches. They are lifetime learners. If you join the Calry Carey Real Estate Team you will not only receive personal coaching from Carly on all things real estate and myself on all things technology and lead follow up but you will also gain access to our group of internationally recognized coaches. All coaching, including recorded sessions and access to the vast training materials available from our coaches, is provided by us to all team members. And we pay for it all. We’re getting coached too It’s no secret that we’re just starting this team. We are humble in the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know. But if anything has been proven in our entrepreneurial journey so far is that if we put our minds to something. We succeed Our team's success will be your success. Staff and facilities: We are committed to providing staff and facilities as the team grows. We already have dedicated calling and meeting space available and an assistant hired. As we build out the team we will be bringing on additional staff appropriate for the phase of growth of the team. Our eventual build will include Carly’s assistant as well as ISAs (inside sales associates) who assist with the calling, appointment scheduling, and follow-up of leads and our database. A transaction co-ordinator and eventually an office manager once we get to scale. Marketing/lead generation: Every team member will be given access to a “unique” (not shared) database of a minimum of 1,000 leads to work. These leads have all been recently captured via SEO and PPC and are opt-in leads. In addition, our goal is to provide a minimum of 50 fresh leads per month to all team members. More if you are able to keep up your conversion rates. On top of the online side of lead generation (SEO, PPC, Social, Website, etc) we plan on launching a full-blown local campaign that includes traditional marketing campaigns. Think billboards, radio and television, buses and benches the whole nine You won’t be able to go anywhere without seeing the name “Carly Carey Real Estate Team”. Buying books of business: Let’s face it 2024 is going to be a tough year for many Realtors® (it may be why you’re considering joining a team). And some Realtors® aren’t going to make it. Those Realtors® all have “some” past clients and current prospects. We plan to aggressively go after this business by offering exiting agents with a buyout plan that is unmatched by any other local team. It’s a simple idea - sacrifice near-term profits to capture market share and at the same time feed even more deals to the agents on the team. (PS if you are in Nanaimo and would like to talk exit strategy / selling your book, please reach out. We will beat any offer) Funding / Capital: It’s why most agents and teams fail to launch. Do you remember what your interviewing broker asked you when you started in real estate? Do you have funding for 6,9 or even 12 months to pay your fees and living expenses? It’s simply the reality of the real estate game and something that needs to be in place if you want to succeed. For this launch, we are personally prepared to fund whatever level of investment is required to ensure this team becomes the market-dominating force we know it can be. We are THAT confident in what we’ve already learned, and what we know we can build together. We also know that if you’re going to be paying 50 of your buyer commissions (and 65 on listings) we better come to the table with some massive value in the exchange. Those are our splits btw. What does the future look like once we’re up and running? It’s probably a team of 8-10 people (and the nearly hundred people at REW in the background). It’s likely Carly and another listing agent, 3-4 buyers agents, 2 ISA, and 2 team staff. In an ideal world (market factors acknowledged) we’d be feeding our agents 1-3 deals per month consistently and this would be in addition to the business they might also bring from their sphere, and past clients. How does this help Real Estate Webmasters clients: The answer is simple… Every single thing we learn. We will share it with you. Every feature we invent for the team that helps improve productivity or conversion… we’ll make sure we build it into the product. We’re going to be running high-budget scale web campaigns. All these learnings will be applied to your campaigns. We’ll be experimenting with traditional and non-traditional programs. Measuring everything. Anything we learn. We are happy to share. What do we want in return? Nothing. You’re already our customer. And we are grateful to you for it….. (though if you want to write us a 5-star review or refer us some business, that would kick ass too). So there you have it. For locals reading this, hopefully, this gives you enough information for you to reach out if A: You’re considering joining our team or B: If you’d like to sell us your book of business. And for REW customers. Hopefully, you see the vision here. We love being in this industry alongside you. With the team up and running, we’ll understand even more about what it is you need for your businesses and how we can help you continue to succeed along the way.

Best Real Estate Events for 2024 (and who to avoid)

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 14:24:00 -0800

I've just come back from NAR Anaheim which is officially my last work event of 2023. It was quite a good event for us (more on that below), and I got to spend a good amount of time with many of the vendors in this real estate space. Of course, the subject of "the market" came up. It's down... for everyone... we all know it. The conversation often turned to what is working (and what isn't) and naturally where we are going to find business in 2024. I thought a lot about this on the way home (it is strategic planning and budget season after all) and as I wrote down my notes, I thought I'd share my perspective on 2024 events. Which ones we're most excited about and which ones we will not be sponsoring this year. Here is my list: (And why) My top picks for real estate events in 2024: Luxury Real Estate: (Best overall) Coming in at 1 on my list of best real estate conferences to attend in 2024 is “Who’s Who In Luxury Real Estate” (aka LRE® aka Luxuryrealestate.com) Here’s why I chose LRE as 1: The entire staff at LRE® treats us like true partners. We have regular calls with their marketing teams and their president Meghan Barry. And these calls aren’t sales pitches, they are calling us to ask us how they can support us, and then even more critically, they act on the feedback. We can always count on them for appropriate introductions to their members and we are often asked about our feedback on events (past and planned), how they can make it better, and how they can make the events the most productive for us as partners and sponsors. LRE® also has a significant presence online and an impressive mailing list. Any time we have big news they are the first to offer to cover it. Their events aren’t the biggest (it’s not a volume play), but here is the truly unique thing that doesn’t happen at any other event: Their members are truly informed and engaged Not just with the content or the fun activities (which several other events have in common with LRE®) they are engaged with the vendors/partners. They are engaged with each other sharing ideas and referrals. You get the feeling everyone is there to support each other and it seems to me that more people at LRE® are true friends, not just colleagues or peers. I’ll be at all the LRE® events this year starting with the international symposium in Canne where I will be discussing the future of AI. Then the spring retreat in Palm Springs and finally their annual fall conference. If you’re a Realtor / Broker you should consider becoming a member and attending these events and if you are a vendor I’d highly recommend you consider calling Meghan and the team to discuss an opportunity to sponsor. It’s worth it RIS Media While LRE® is my number one choice overall it was a tough call between them and RISMedia. I’d have to say as a single event, RIS Media’s CEO Exchange in Washington is the highest caliber event in the entire industry. The leaders and partners that John Featherston and their team bring together are unmatched in any event and the content is head and shoulders above the rest of the real estate conferences. From a vendor/advertiser perspective, they are also the highest exposure / highest impact partner we have. We purchase monthly articles and a cover each year in Real Estate Magazine and I consistently get texts and emails from leaders in the industry mentioning they saw us on RIS. Worth it For brokers and vendors, getting involved in the Newsmakers and Powerbrokers programs is also of huge value. These lists are considered the most credible of all the awards/recognition programs in real estate. And the team… I love our RISMedia team They are super fun, engaging, supportive, and always available to us. John has built an organization that treats people like family. He treats his real estate colleagues and leader/peers the same way and I’m 1000 sure that is why RISMedia has maintained such a strong/loyal following for all of these years. My advice: Reach out to Anne or Kara, listen to what they have to say, and commit. One thing about RIS-type advertising though (like any marketing) you can’t just buy 1 article, or 1 e-blast and change the course of your career. The key to advertising in magazines, newsletters, etc is being consistently visible over long periods. NAR (National Association Of Realtors) We just came back from NAR Anaheim and honestly, it was quite a good event for us. Sure traffic was down, but at NAR’s size, there was still a good flow of traffic for our team at the booth and I can say with certainty that we generated business from attending. It’s also a great place to have meetings with existing clients, potential partners, and friends. You can always count on one or two vendors trying to outshine everyone with a great party or event (this year once again Homes.com blew it out of the water) and they tend to pick great cities like New Orleans, and Chicago, (I think next year is Boston). NAR also tends to be quite affordable from a booth purchase perspective and there are generally quite cost-effective flight and hotel options. So as far as costs go, NAR is great value for the $. On a side note: I have purchased some of NAR’s other advertising (on their blogs for instance) and that is quite expensive and doesn’t do great visibility-wise, so my recommendation is to stay away from the ancillary marketing and stick with the NAR events. Event I do not recommend sponsoring: Inman: This one is easy. Inman has invited Michael Ketchmark as a speaker on the main stage. You know, the guy who seems to be trying to destroy the real estate industry? I don’t care what the pitch is or why. I can’t support an event that would put that piece of work on stage. (There was originally stronger language but I don’t want to get sued) Ketchmark aside, in recent years Inman has been a frail shell of what it used to be. We gave them a shot in several areas (purchasing hugely expensive blast emails and tradeshow booths in 2022) and it was the biggest waste of advertising dollars on our P&L. We got nothing from it and compared to pre-COVID shows there wasn’t anyone there. There was little to no traffic to our booths except for other vendors (who came over to complain their booths were dead too) and the hugely expensive blast email was by far the worst-performing (and one of the most expensive) campaigns on our P & L. In 2023 we attended but did not sponsor and I felt sorry for the vendors who had paid for booths as once again there seemed to be no traffic at all. So for Inman 2024, we won’t be spending anything on advertising with them and certainly won’t be buying a ticket to ICNY if they are going to have Ketchmark on stage. Hopefully, if they see enough posts and messages like this, and of course with the growing cancelinman hashtag (which is combined with actual subscription or sponsorship cancellations) they will reconsider how they use their platform and recognize that it is the Realtors® (and the vendors/partners like REW) that have made Inman what it is and won't stand for putting Ketchmark on stage as a cheap excuse to gain controversy eyeballs. That’s kind of it for main events in 2024 (at least for us). There are not a lot of advertising dollars to go around in 2024 (at least not from us vendors), I hope these recommendations help you make your sponsorship decisions and I'd love to hear from you if you have a super high ROI event that I have not listed.

MLSBackup.net - New emergency MLS system for brokerages and MLS boards

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Sat, 19 Aug 2023 09:00:00 -0700

What is MLS Backup? MLS Backup is a product that was created to ensure that both MLSs and brokerages have a backup plan in the event of a catastrophic hardware failure or ransomware attack. (Photo of New MLS Backup Branding) The goal is to have a listing system already in place (a backup system) to allow Realtors® to keep doing their business if something terrible happens to their primary MLS. A backup MLS system that can be turned on “that same day”. What are the benefits of MLS Backup? The name is actually a triple entendre. If you are using this MLS system you are provided with the following key benefits: Redundant backups of all of your listings An MLS system with add, edit, delete, and syndicate Disaster recovery and repopulation Redundant backups of all of your listings The purpose of this is to make sure you have a “third party” backup of your listings. Your MLS system does already have a backup of your listings, however, as we’ve learned from the recent Rapatonni ransomware attack, accessing those backups in an actionable and immediate way and having them “use ready” is a different story. (screenshot of NorthstarMLS current user of MLSbackup.net) It’s not that your MLS systems provider (or even your brokerage) doesn’t have your listings backed up. It’s that those backups are not highly available and ready for use in a crisis And why would you not a redundant backup? Because you already have a backup of your own? That is the very definition of redundancy. To have backups on backups for your critical systems so that no matter what systems fail (and they do fail), you have a way to access your data. It’s prudent and responsible planning and it’s so affordable there is literally no reason not to have a redundant backup in place. An MLS system for critical functions We’re not trying to be a “full MLS” in the traditional sense. There are already many great vendors in the space. Our MLS platform provides the business-critical features Realtors® need to get their listings out there and continue to generate offers and close deals. These critical features are: Add Edit/update Delete Syndicate If Realtors® have these functions while their MLS is down, they can keep doing business. Imagine being able to flip a switch and having a place to manage your listings that was already connected to the “existing” MLS data (up to the time of the outage) and being able to simply pick up where you left off and continue to add to that data. (Global MLS Portal ListingsByLocation.com - example syndication partner) If you need to do a critical update to a price, status, or anything else listings related you could do so quickly and easily. New listings that need to get out there can be published and your real estate business can continue. Syndication is also a critical component of an MLS system. Getting your listings on Zillow, Realtor.com, Luxuryrealestate.com, and potentially hundreds of other portals and syndication partner sites. We can even send IDX feeds to your website vendors. Of course, Real Estate Webmasters are pre-coded. Our MLS platform can generate the feeds necessary to ensure your listings are syndicated be they, XML, JSON, RETS, we can even support custom use cases. Disaster Recovery and Repopulation Your MLS is back up and running. Now you have to repopulate your listings in the MLS which can take hours (or days) depending on the size of your company. By using MLS Backup, we can help your MLS get “back up” (see what we did there) by providing a feed of the most current listings directly back to the MLS. This feed not only includes any new listings during the downtime, it also includes all the edits, so they can update existing listings data as well. Imagine having to remember and redo all of the “edits” you made to listings while they were down. What a nightmare Our goal is to make the process of listings recovery much faster, easier, and far less painful A cost-effective backup solution. In order for this platform to be easily adopted it also needs to be cost effective. Our idea is that when not being actively used (listings backup only) the pricing will be extremely affordable. So affordable in fact that price cannot possibly be an objection. When the service is in active use (which let’s all hope is never) our pricing for using the platform will be similar (but less) than the cost of the MLS that is down. At least 50 less in most cases

A backup system of MLS's and brokerages

morgan@realestatewebmasters.com (Morgan Carey) — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 08:39:00 -0700

Does your MLS have a backup? Imagine a world where your MLS could flip a switch and overnight give you access to an alternative platform that allowed you to continue to run the most critical part of your business. Add, Edit, and Delete Listings and then syndicate them to your website, Zillow, and everywhere else that matters to your consumer. Oh yeah, and it has all of your existing listings there waiting for you (and you're not locked out). Why would your MLS need a backup? If you are one of hundreds of thousands of Realtors® impacted by the current (and ongoing) Rapatonni MLS ransomware saga then you would not be asking this question. There are MLS's all across the country right now that cannot even access their own listings and do not have any way to support their members. No updating existing listings No adding new listings to your website or IDX feed No syndication to Zillow, Realtor.com or any partner sites They have NO backup plan (and neither do you). I was speaking to one of our customers yesterday who told me that his MLS is currently using a google sheet in order for the Realtors® to be able to provide updates to each other on listings. A google sheet, can you imagine? The MLS members have to go in and update all of their listings every day and there is no public value or feed value for doing this. The google sheet is just for the members to inform each other. There is no public access and it's not a feed. Oh and if you don't update your listings within 24 hours, you still get a fine Can your new global MLS help? This was the question the customer asked me. And the answer was... well... yeah I hadn't really thought about it. Being a backup for a brokerage in case the MLS goes down? But it's a logical question. We already have our brokerage's listings if they are syndicating to Listingsbylocation.com (our global MLS) AND our database is completely separate from any IDX feed. We already support add/edit /delete (and show hide) of those listings by that brokerage at a per brokerage level and we already can feed our own IDX feeds directly to a Real Estate Webmasters website. So why not? And then he asked me a POWERFUL question. If you can do this for my brokerage then could you also do this for my MLS so that we aren't having to use a Google sheet? Follow-up questions were things like: Could you also feed Zillow (since they only accept IDX feeds now) or Realtor.com Can you feed other portals and member sites like Luxuryrealestate.com and leadingre.com? Can you send leads to the listing agents (not just the brokerage) Well yes. Yes, we can. I mean that's not what we built it for, but we absolutely can do that. A new use case: MLS Backup Services I honestly never really considered our application as a backup service for the MLS. I mean why would they need that? They have their own right? As it turns out, other than the very large MLSs that have large tech budgets and teams, most MLSs do not have a viable backup solution ready to go. And no real plan. There also aren't any services out there that are commercially available either. And that makes sense (kind of). The market is quite small (around 400 MLS's), and historically the technology has been reliable enough that there has never been a need. It would also be at tough sell to an industry not known for spending money on technology. I spoke to my long-time friend Tim Dain, CEO of NorthStarMLS about this and he told me that “NorthstarMLS has a robust disaster recovery plan with backups and multiple front-end systems that are not likely to all be impacted at the same time.” Essentially, they are a large MLS that has backups and a recovery plan, no surprise there. And if you got hacked like Rapatonni? "We'd cut off that limb" (makes sense) he's a smart dude and no doubt well-prepared. But what if your whole system (body and all the limbs) got hacked? Worse, what if a rogue employee who knew how to take down the whole thing decided to try to take you down? We started going down the scenarios. He thought about it for a second. “Yeah, you know what? Even though we feel we are prepared and I'm confident in our disaster recovery plan, adding an external third party that we trust is actually a really smart idea. Why would we not do that? Ensuring that our subscribers can conduct business during a crisis is paramount." NorthstarMLS is the first to give us the “Let’s Go” for our new MLSbackup™ service Now that's leadership Wouldn't you want a backup that has nothing to do with your own systems? I mean, every other industry under the sun (my own company included) has a backup system in place for catastrophic failure. But the real estate industry? Nope So we're going to build an MLS backup In fact we already have the tech (that's what we've been doing at our global MLS). Right now "today" - we already support the ingestion of listings from our Real Estate Webmasters customers websites (and certain other platforms such as IRE). Those customers can not only access those ingested listings (including the ability to augment them with a lot more data) but they can also add new listings as well. We're kind of already there. (We can do it today) The only difference in being a backup for an MLS (as a service) is going one level higher. It will take us a few weeks to code that, but it's actually somewhat of a trivial matter given how advanced the tech is. So that's what we're doing. I don't have a price for it (though it's completely free for Real Estate Webmasters brokerage customers to backup their listings on the global MLS) and we'll need to talk to some of the portals (I'm already speaking to Zillow) If you're a brokerage customer in any of our MLS service areas, send me a LinkedIn Request or an email and I'm happy to ingest your listings for you into our MLS backup. If you're an MLS and you are interested in having a backup solution for your listings. Let's talk. I honestly think this is a necessary member service, it won't cost much at all (we just need to cover the cost of the coding and storage + a small profit) and it's a lot better than a Google sheet. Here is my LinkedIn (send me a request or message) or email me at morgan at (replace with@) rew.com MLS Backup Service FAQ How quickly can you backup our brokerage listings? If you are on one of Real Estate Webmasters 200+ supported MLS's and a broker, we can back up your listings immediately. We are an MLS with REW can you back us up too? Yes, absolutely we can back up your MLS data immediately. Will there be a cost for MLS backup Yes. There will be a small cost (it takes labor to map a feed, ingest, maintain, and also host the data. Hopefully, that's reasonable. Actual cost of the backup will depend on the size of your MLS (how many members and listings). Can you feed portals like Zillow and Realtor® Yes, we do support outbound feeds. We're currently working to connect with all the major portals and several partner websites. Your syndication will be "your choice" and you can decide who to send your listings feeds to. How can I get more information on this backup service? Send an email to our CEO Morgan Carey, or use his LinkedIn profile above.