Bringing in the Feeds
In May 2015, with Jensen at the helm, MRED ramped up its services, acknowledging the growing importance of syndication sites to buyers and their usefulness to agents. Additions include a new syndication dashboard offering for brokerages, a Zillow/Trulia direct listing feed for its subscribers, and its Private Listing Network (PLN).
The new MRED “Listing Syndication Dashboard” feature was established as a means to provide managing brokers with more control over how they manage their listings on syndication sites. It allows managing brokers to see and make changes to their syndication settings, ensuring that listing content is available only to sites that the brokerage itself authorizes. The dashboard is equipped with analytics tools, which track listing views and other metrics.
The direct listing feed came about after MRED received feedback from its brokers. That led to contract negotiations with Zillow Group; the requirements included the prominent display of brokerage logos on every listing and for traffic to be directed back to brokerage websites. Brokerage feedback was vital for devising the new contract and maintaining the flow of syndication listings.
MRED also launched the PLN back in April, giving agents and brokers a secure network where they could premiere “coming soon” listings and pre-market properties to other real estate professionals, enabling cooperation between the organization’s members. In doing so, MRED has joined other MLS services around the country that have begun to offer similar tools, using their preview listings as a template when launching the PLN.
So far, it seems Chicagoland agents are responding well to the PLN. According to Gregory, 916 Realtors have created a PLN listing since its launch, and 452 PLN listings were active as of July 20. Of the listings created, 278 that started in the network eventually transitioned into “traditional” MRED active listings. Additionally, 147 network listings have transitioned into “under contract,” and 102 have closed.
The Next Big Thing
MRED’s collaboration with brokerages, agents, and other MLSs through the new Broker Public Portal (BPP) is another step toward innovation. The effort has resulted in the launch of a new home search experience through the Homesnap app, which went live and became available to agents on July 20.
Catering to the shifting needs of agents, brokers, and consumers, the Homesnap/BPP integration aims to accommodate the evolving home-finding patterns of buyers in a field that is already crowded with apps, portals, and websites designed to help them find their dream home. The free real estate app bills itself as being “built for agents and loved by homebuyers.”
Ultimately, the goal of the BPP is to bring national exposure to member listings, providing Chicago agents with a way to reach out to consumers in other markets. The collaborative venture aims to provide a national home search experience through its partnerships with brokers and MLSs, giving consumers access to timely, comprehensive data. Thus far, 115 MLSs and real estate companies are supporting the initiative, pulling together some 500,000 real estate agents representing unique markets throughout the country.
“With the Broker Public Portal, MLSs will be serving agents and brokers with an MLS consumer-facing website like HAR.com — but nationwide,” says Victor Lund, a partner/MLS consultant with the Wav Group. “Brokers will get a mobile app, and agents will get a mobile app. The entire system will be permission-based.”
The move opens up the entire MLS dataset to MLS participants — brokers, subscribers, and agents. All three vital features — the consumer website, the MLS app, and the client app — costs agents $1 per month.
“The Broker Public Portal may well redefine how consumers obtain data about properties that are on the market,” Gregory says. “For brokerages, this source of consumer contact has the potential to increase business while simultaneously reducing costs.”