Monetizing Listing Data…Is it Possible? Let’s find out in 2013

This post is a response to Saul Klein's article, published here on RE Technology.

What an exciting day in real estate media! 1000Watt Consulting is having a spirited discussion blog-to-blog with Dale Ross of NAR's RPR. And, in an exciting development, Zip Realty did a data accuracy study that somewhat mirrored the WAV Group data accuracy research performed for brokers--Redfin, Windermere, and Long and Foster. They concluded that 30% of the listings on Zillow and Trulia are not on the market.

To keep things rolling along, my friend Saul Klein from Yardi published a spirited article about syndication that I would like to address. It would be sad for Saul's comments to be lost in the discussion about broker data. You may want to read Saul's thoughts before reading our response – but here goes....

WAV Group has long applauded the efforts made by Point2 to continue developing syndication strategy in our industry. We appreciate the opportunity to add our voice texture to the conversation about the future of syndication and how contract alignment can improve online property marketing for everyone.

As for the question To Syndicate or Not to Syndicate?, our counsel has always been for MLSs and brokers to develop a plan that works for them in their market, execute the plan effectively, and measure the results to maximize the effectiveness of your strategy. See the next page for a few strategies.

• The broker may extend their strategic syndication choices to agents, which is good for agent recruiting and retention, but fractures the broker online marketing plan.
• Big brokers with significant market share and lots of website traffic have turned off syndication and had success. This strategy does not work with small to mid-sized brokers unless a whole bunch of competitors do the same thing.
• Brokers have the opportunity enhance listings on some or all publisher channels, and are able to effectively grab more leads per listing than those brokers that do not.
• Some brokers market their company and agents on competitor listings.

When a broker considers syndication, it is important that they have a strategy and do it carefully. DO NOT SYNDICATE TO ANY PUBLISHER WITHOUT AN AGREEMENT THAT PROTECTS YOUR DATA.

There is significant risk to syndicating listing information without agreements that protect the usage of the data. In the absence of a structure to your publisher relationship, publishers have free reign to do whatever they want with the brokers' data. This puts the broker at risk, as all of the liability for the listing content remains with the broker even when a publisher is displaying it. Moreover, publishers may present the data in ways that undermine the effectiveness of online advertising.

Generally speaking, Point2 and others have begun the process of creating higher standards for listing syndication. They are helping the entire real estate community by putting control in the hands of the broker to manage their syndication preferences, including the power to select where listings go, how many consumers see the listing on each publisher site, eliminating duplicates caused by multiple feed sources, how listings appear in search results and on listing detail pages, competitor advertising on broker listings, links back to the broker website, display of agent and broker branding, limits on listing resyndication to other parties, limits on selling the data and data derivatives, and so on. The industry needs to embrace a contract alignment initiative to protect broker rights and reduce many of the undesired consequences that have grown and festered.

Today, there are a variety of entities that have sought to structure agreements with publishers. The first to do so were franchise organizations and MLS organizations on behalf of their broker customers. Today, many brokers have direct agreements with publishers, and there are also agreements between technology companies and publishers. Having so many different groups negotiate with publishers has caused a tangled mess, and a nearly infinite number of business rules.

Ideally, the best possible agreement would be between each individual broker and each publisher. The broker, by virtue of their contract with the home seller, owns the data. However, the scope of getting more than 100,000 brokers to structure agreements with a hundred or more publishers is exponentially unpractical. Hence, narrowing the field of contracting entities that are empowered by participating brokers is the most effective course.

Brokers, franchises, and MLSs generally use either Point2 or another company for their listing syndication services. As a result, it is very practical and prudent for the data delivery company to get the publisher to agree to a uniform agreement. I doubt that any uniform agreement is going to nicely align the wishes of all parties, all of the time. Contract alignment represents a framework that can be used as a starting point, similar to the IDX rules and regulations. It is a great initiative that will grow and evolve over time to serve the mutual benefits of all parties.

Now – here is Saul's article published here with his permission.

To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.