Note: This is a post directed primarily at other Realtors and those who work with Realtors’ data.
All the rage nowadays seems to be regionalization of MLS‘.
They work with Google Maps.
eNeighborhoods has an MLS data sharing service called MLSAlliance™ that links together different MLS services, so that real estate professionals are able to make one search for properties and retrieve results from multiple MLS systems. This revolutionary service also provides home sellers with exposure for their property to a wider geographic base of potential buyers. Google Maps for Enterprise will soon be added to MLSAlliance sites in California, Ohio, and Florida, giving real estate professionals in these markets access to all listings, with an equal amount of comprehensive data for each of those listings.
I’ve read about them at CallClareity. It’s mentioned only twice in the REMBEX, primarily at Inman.
What’s the downside? It seems that this product eliminates the need for Realtors to join multiple MLS’ (I currently belong to and pay dues to three Boards). It minimizes the turf wars that seem to always be percolating between regions by not forcing data standards on various MLS.
Some questions I have:
- Do member Realtors have access to, and rights to use, all data – solds, withdrawns, expired, actives, Days on Market, etc.?
- Partnering with a “for-profit” third-party such as eNeighborhoods smacks of the Move.com/Realtor.com alliance/fiasco, which is widely derided by Realtors as a frustrating failure – both for the Realtors providing the data and the consumers seeking information.
- What control over the data display do Realtors have? ie. Homegain, LendingTree, Yahoo, Google, Zillow, HouseValues, etc.? What recourse would Realtors have over scraping sites?
- How does eNeighborhoods make money in this? They certainly wouldn’t do this for a set fee ($3-$5/month per user); they must have a plan to make a greater profit – what is that?
- Does an offer of compensation have to be put forth? What about an offer of cooperation?
Those of you who use it – what do you think? Is it good for the Realtors and the consumers?
On the surface, this seems to be a workable solution to a real problem. What are the warts hidden beneath the surface?
What impact might the NAR MLS PAG’s (now approved – PDF) vision have on this Alliance? (Hat Tip: FBS blog)
This is exciting stuff. Properly executed and appropriately managed, the Gateway has the potential of re-engineering the entire U.S. residential real estate marketplace while at the same time laying the groundwork for an international real estate marketing system. When completely implemented, the Gateway will both reconfigure existing relationships within the Realtor community and significantly impact every real estate professional in the country. The Gateway project is easily the most far reaching and important piece of work undertaken in NAR’s history.
I haven’t found out yet if what they approved is the only the Realtor-side or not, but if they approved everything, I would be both shocked and hopeful that something productive could be done.*
Technorati Tags: eneighborhoods, NAR, realtor, realtor.com
* I was a member of the MLS NAR PAG, so am constrained by the NDA we signed.
