Why Do Standards Matter for Real Estate Brokers?

If you're a broker and you're a member of more than one MLS and dealing with listing data for your websites or mobile apps, you know just how challenging it can be trying to deal with inconsistent data fields and MLS data feeds which transmit data in a legacy manner that just don't synch up with what you really need—standardized data delivered through global technology supporting modern data technology methods, such as APIs.

That's precisely why RESO, Real Estate Standards Organization, is spearheading an aggressive effort to change this and directly help real estate brokerages solve this problem.

On Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 10am PT/1pm ET, RESO is hosting a free broker webinar to talk about this and more ways brokerages can benefit from real estate standards and how important it is for brokers to get involved in RESO to help shape those standards.

The webinar – "Unleashing the Marketing Power of RESO for Brokers" – will feature one of the brokerage industry's sharpest professionals, Tom Flanagan. Tom is the Vice President of Technology at Alain Pinel REALTORS, board member of RESO, and most recently was recognized as one of the real estate industry's most influential leaders by Inman News. Tom, who also is on the LeadingRE Marketing Technology Advisory Council, heads up the tech efforts at one of the most forward-thinking brokerages that provide successful technology solutions for its agents.

Tom and I will help brokers learn how real estate standards can help their brokerages to be more nimble, innovative and profitable.

Now I know that real estate standards for brokers may sound like a boring topic, but I assure you that, from a broker's point of view, what we will discuss on this hour-long webinar will be both exciting and welcoming news for everyone. That's because Tom will discuss real world application of standards and how many of the pain points that listing data is causing – saved searches, image issues, matching fields, real time data access – have been solved or are being solved through RESO.

Recently, with the help of industry research leaders, such as WAV Group, we surveyed brokers about their tech challenges. We found that for brokerages dealing with MLS data feeds, 90 percent feel it is very important that MLSs offer consistent sets of data fields. More importantly, 85 percent believe if technology partners had consistent data flowing across MLSs, brokerages would get some huge benefits, including:

• Technology costs go down
• Focus moves to technology innovation
• Bug fixes are faster to implement
• Enhancements are faster to market
• Quicker response time

At RESO, we know that by getting the brokerage community more involved with the real-world benefits of standards, they also will become more involved in RESO. Getting more brokers to take a seat at the table for creating real estate standards that will shape real estate's future is vital.

We are fortunate at RESO already to have many of the top real estate brokerages and franchises involved as members – including big franchises that know the value of data standards like Keller Williams, Realogy, and HomeServices of America; industry peer leaders like The Realty Alliance and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World; and brokerages that lead the way with industry best practices such as Michael Saunders & Company, Alain Pinel, Baird & Warner, Edina Realty, Lake Homes Realty, NextHome Inc., RE/MAX of Michigan, Redfin and many more.

If you're a broker, we invite you to register online at this link and join Tom on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 at 10 a.m., and to check out how inexpensive it is today for brokerages to join RESO (as little as $50 a year) at this link.