Understanding Your ListTrac Report
The image below is a clip from ListTrac Web Insights for an MLS. ListTrac is now reporting metrics from nearly every major IDX vendor, the major portals, and the MLS systems including Black Knight, Matrix, FlexMLS, and Rapattoni – in total, over 100,000 real estate property search sites. This particular report shows listing views. It should be no surprise that Zillow is the leading consumer site for viewing property. In most MLS areas, Zillow has more traffic than all other sites combined (which is true in this market). Here are some interesting observations: The MLS system matters The MLS system is a major point of engagement for consumers who are home shopping. Moreover, consumers viewing property from the MLS system are working close enough with a real estate agent that the agent goes through the trouble of setting up their saved search. Of course, the MLS views will also include the research done by agents when they do searches. It is a hard number to dissect, much in the same way that traffic to Zillow is hard to dissect the intention of consumers on Zillow or other consumer sites. Homes.com? Homes.com was contested by Realtor.com when CoStar CEO, Andy Florence, announced that Homes.com has garnered enough traffic to become the second highest ranking portal in America. Realtor.com CEO, Damian Eales, stated in a podcast that Andy's statement is easy to make "when you are grading your own homework." WAV Group has not seen a ListTrac report that validates the claims of Mr. Florence in any market, but we have no reason to doubt him. If you have evidence, please pass it along. Homesnap? Sadly, Homesnap has also disappeared from these reports. Homesnap was the partner to the Broker Public Portal and was garnering tremendous traffic in many markets. Before the sale to CoStar, I believe that 1.2 million real estate agents were benefiting from their service through their MLS. I still do not understand why CoStar killed that product. As you can see, Zillow has retained Trulia, which is outperforming Homes.com in this market. Who is IDX vendor Cyberitas? A Google search result of the company indicates that they are working with Anywhere brand Century 21. In this market, Century 21.com is slightly ahead of virtual tour vendor Property Panorama in terms of traffic, and slightly behind Homes.com in overall traffic. I found it interesting that Century 21 has more traffic than Coldwell Banker in this market. Typically, it is reversed. The Power of IDX (or powerless IDX) In terms of IDX vendors, Reliance Networks and MoxiWorks were tied, followed by IDX Broker and iHouseWeb. But overall, IDX is dwindling in terms of attracting consumers to search for properties. WAV Group believes that IDX vendors have failed to keep up with the portals in one key area: IDX sites do not display listings of all parcels. They only display the listings for sale or recently sold (in many markets). Consumers love getting the listing information at the parcel level published by Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, Homes.com, Movoto, Redfin; and the newly appointed sites by RE/MAX and Compass that have also become parcel centric. If you are a broker, remember to log into ListTrac and look at how your listings are performing in the market. Share that information with your agents so they understand these numbers and remind them that ListTrac has seller reports that show where a client's listing is being viewed. If you are an MLS and would like help interpreting the ListTrac report and communicating that to your brokers, agents, or consumers, reach out to our team. WAV Group Communications can help. Other ListTrac Data Points ListTrac will also show you how many leads were generated off of listings, and which sites generated the most number of leads. They will also show visitor trends. You will be amazed at how much traffic dips in the MLS on weekends. I love the top agent report. As you might expect, the agent with the most listings has the most views of their listings. The geographic traffic report is fascinating. It allows you to look at where the consumer is searching from. This particular market has significant search traffic from the major Texas cities. The national narrative is that everyone is moving to Florida and Texas – but this area is attracting folks from Texas. Last but not least are the most popular price points. Seventy percent of all search traffic in this market was for homes under $500,000. As you can tell, I am a ListTrac fan. If you have it in your market, make a point to review it every month. Be sure to include it in your training and communications. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Tracking Agents and Competitors Is a Super Power for Jordan Baris Realty
There might not be anyone in real estate brokerage that is more passionate about the value of data than the Baris brothers at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jordan Baris Realty. Having a data scientist in the family has given this northern New Jersey regional powerhouse a unique skill. Russ Baris operates eLumindata in Westport, CT. Some of you may remember that the firm was awarded the "Best New Software in the Industry," award by the National Associaton of REALTORS® in the late 90s, called Top Presenter – a data driven listing presentation tool developed by the brothers. WAV Group took note of a comment made by CEO Ken Baris on a mergers and scquisitions panel hosted at the 2022 RISMedia CEO & Leadership Exchange: "We look at the history of every agent in the firm during an M&A transaction." WAV Group consultants have done hundreds of M&A transactions, and we always look at production, but Ken suggests digging a little deeper. We discussed this in a call together and here is what we learned. The company uses data science to answer a lot of questions about their agents and every agent in the MLS. They use the data to support efforts in coaching, recruiting, retention and, of course, M&A. Are agents likely to leave? Is there a coaching opportunity? Are they pricing listings correctly? Are they losing listings? Do customers relist expired properties with them or someone else? When they come to the brokerage, where do they come from? When they leave, where do they go? Often, Baris knows more about a company and its agents than the owner. Not only do they track competitors and agents all the time, but they recognize changes in behavior that might signal opportunities. The data allows the firm to benchmark their performance across many categories to create an observation and a strategy for M&A. Here are some examples: "We look for performance weakness in key areas of a firm's operation," explained Ken Baris. "We can see listing counts dry up, agent turnover rates, swings in expired listings, and so much more from data that allows us to benchmark against competitors." You probably do not have a data scientist on staff at your brokerage, but products like Terradatum or 3 Data Pulse can help you with similar insights. The Broker Resource Network recently heard from Nancy Fennell and the leadership team at Dickson Realty about how they have deployed 3 Data Pulse in their business. The tool is used to track all recruiting in their company – meaning all agents in the market. 3 Data Pulse is also used as the cornerstone of onboarding real estate agents and monitoring the tools they use and the meetings and trainings they attend. This solution is also used to securely store agent and employee documents and even track referrals and referral closings. Tracking all M&A conversations is also a very helpful feature. Here are a couple screenshots from the webinar. (FYI: Subscribers to the Broker Resource Network can watch the entire webinar here, by logging in to their portal. If you are not already a member and you are interested in joining, send Steve Hayes an email and he will provide you all the details.) Feel free to give Victor Lund or Marilyn Wilson a call if you have further questions. Also, if you have interest in hosting a webinar with the Broker Resource Network, send them an email and a team member will get with you to discuss details. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Brokers: Get Your Agents in Front of the Market Shift with RPR Housing Data
Sensational headlines about the changing real estate market are causing plenty of uncertainty among consumers. As a broker, you can directly help your agents prepare for the market shift and give them access to tools that can help them succeed. RPR (Realtors Property Resource®) has the perfect solution: new housing market charts and graphs. This collection of data, metrics and statistics is incredibly helpful in explaining local market trends. Your agents can easily share this data with clients and prospects to: Build confidence and clear up confusion by delivering local market data Walk clients and prospects through the key details of monthly inventory, above or below asking prices, days on market, median sold price and more Include in communications, presentations and social media to spark conversations Helpful resources to help your agents communicate the market shift Here are some ways you can help your agents learn about new RPR housing market charts and graphs: Watch this video to learn where the market charts are in RPR Provide this Printable Guide: "How's The Market?" for step-by-step, written instructions Review these articles from the RPR blog: RPR Unveils New Charts and Graphs Know Your Market and Your Numbers Shifting Real Estate Market: How to Create a Video That Clears up Confusion Broker-agent success is in your sights Right now, brokers can help their agents prepare for the market shift by showing their agents how to use RPR's new housing market charts and graphs to clear up confusion and deliver local market expertise. Consumers need this information now more than ever as the market shifts and evolves. Help your agents deliver current, up-to-date housing data to their sphere. Because when agents succeed, brokers succeed. To view the original article, visit the RPR blog.

Metrics Are More Than Just Numbers
How do you measure success? Every successful real estate firm prioritizes slightly different metrics, which means that there's no one right answer to that question. But with the ability to track so many metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs), it's easy to feel a little overwhelmed by all of the data at your fingertips. The important thing to remember is that metrics are more than just numbers. Tracking results, from lead generation to closings, is one of the most reliable ways to help your team grow and unlock higher levels of performance from your sales associates. Prospecting and Lead Generation Metrics Analyzing results and projecting future performance starts with understanding what your sales associates are doing to generate leads. Statistically, luck tends to even out over time, which is one reason why volume is a key factor in many prospecting and lead generation metrics. Leads Generated We'll get into some of the more granular details shortly, but if you want a quick, overall look at what your sales associates are doing to generate new business, then leads generated is the perfect place to start. The simple fact is that sales associates who generate more leads also tend to close more deals. Volume is important, and leads generated is a catch-all metric to track the work your team is doing to bring in new clients. Calls/Contacts Made How efficiently and effectively is your team working to generate leads? The number of contacts made online and good, old-fashioned phone calls that a sales associate makes naturally play a big role in the number of leads that they generate. While raw outreach numbers don't tell the whole story, they provide a solid picture of the effort being made. Database Size Ideally, the number of leads, clients, and contacts in a sales associate's database should show stable growth over time. A bigger database means more opportunities, and creating more opportunities leads to more closed deals. If a sales associate is making a large number of calls/contacts, but the number of clients in their database isn't growing accordingly, they may need to adjust their tactics for converting leads. Appointments Generated Generating appointments is a critical step in turning leads into clients, and sales associates who post a high number of appointments generated are giving themselves more chances at success. Like database size, the appointments generated metric provides a window into how well a sales associate is managing leads. Appointments to Listings/Appointments to Buyer Representation Agreements We group these two metrics together because they're two sides of the same coin. Appointments to listings is a KPI for sales associates who cater to sellers, while appointments to buyer representation agreements tell the same story for sales associates who work primarily with buyers. These metrics tell you how well your team is doing at turning leads into clients. Measuring Results and Client Satisfaction Of course, results matter too! Keeping track of how many leads are converted, how many deals are closed, and how happy clients are with the service they receive can provide important insights into the performance of your team. Average Sales Price How does the average sales price of homes listed by your sales associates compare with the overall average sales price in your markets? If the average sales price for your sales associates consistently beats market averages, then your team is likely doing a good job of marketing, promoting, and showing homes. Showings Per Sale Are your sales associates using showings as a key tool for finding buyers? While marketing and pricing also play a role in showings per sale, a sales associate who posts weak showings per sale numbers may benefit from some extra training to help with performance during showings. Listings Closed How many listings are your sales associates closing? While this is a fairly basic metric, it's also one of the important numbers for measuring the success of your team and individual sales associates. Client Feedback Score Are your clients satisfied with the service they received? A high client feedback score often means more referrals, which can be a goldmine for sales associates. Of course, the client feedback score is also an important reflection of how clients view and trust your real estate brand. Improve Tracking and Success with the Right Real Estate Tech Is your real estate CRM providing you with all of the data that you need to help your team thrive? With DeltaNET®6 you get more than just a comprehensive suite of tools for lead generation, marketing, and relationship management. You also get more ways to track performance, discover which tactics work best for your team, and analyze results. If you want your team to learn, grow their confidence, and thrive, then it's critical to provide them with the right tools for the job. RE Technology readers can try DeltaNET®6 free for 30 days. To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.

Lone Wolf Acquires Terradatum
Lone Wolf is at it again, rolling up another broker-centric technology. The latest acquisition is Terradatum, a leading provider of broker market share and business analytics. Terradatum has been one of the leading providers of market share and recruiting reports for brokers for many years. Lone Wolf is owned by a private equity firm, Stone Point Capital. Stone Point Capital has raised more than $26 billion in aggregate capital commitments to invest in 145+ companies across 12 active verticals and 70+ sub-sectors. They own companies in the following sectors: Asset and Wealth Management Advisory, Broker Dealers and Merchant Trading Banking Institutions Business Services and Technology HR Benefits and Employer Services Insurance Distribution and Services Insurance Run-off Life Insurance Underwriting Managed Care and Healthcare Services PandC Insurance Real Estate Finance and Services Specialty Finance / Non-Bank Lenders This acquisition follows several major announcements from Lone Wolf. The company recently acquired several other companies in the real estate sector, including LionDesk, HomeSpotter, along with W+R Studios to add CRM, digital marketing, and comparative market analysis (CMA) to its technology suites; released Recruit and the new Cloud CMA for brokers; signed several agreements to provide Lone Wolf Transactions to over 500,000 agents as a member benefit in 2022; and launched Digital Title Orders in collaboration with some of the leading title insurance companies in the U.S. Here is the full release: Lone Wolf accelerates data analytics vision with acquisition of Terradatum Acquisition bolsters market and business intelligence in real estate's most comprehensive technology suite, Lone Wolf Broker Cloud CAMBRIDGE, ON – Aug 4, 2021 – Lone Wolf Technologies ("Lone Wolf") is thrilled to announce it has acquired Terradatum. The acquisition brings a proven set of data analytics tools into the Lone Wolf Broker Cloud, the most comprehensive technology suite in real estate today, and bolsters the company's efforts to broaden the availability and accessibility of predictive business intelligence for brokers across North America. Terradatum is the top provider of real estate analytics software in the U.S. and Canada, with solutions for market analysis, competitive business intelligence, video marketing, and more. The company's flagship solution, BrokerMetrics®, aggregates licensed data from the MLS and provides brokers with real-time analysis on market share, market growth, market dynamics, pricing analysis, and more. BrokerMetrics® complements other data and analytical solutions in the Broker Cloud, including Lone Wolf Insights and Lone Wolf Recruit, real estate's first AI-powered solutions for agent retention and recruitment, respectively, as well as Lone Wolf Back Office, the industry's gold standard for real estate back office, accounting, and financial reporting. Collectively, these solutions provide brokers with a comprehensive view of their market, their brokerage, and their finances to help them recruit agents, grow their business, and improve profitability. "We're elated to welcome Terradatum to the Lone Wolf family today," said Jimmy Kelly, CEO and President of Lone Wolf. "We both have a long history providing brokers with information that augments their real estate intuition and expertise and helps them run successful businesses. Terradatum is known for its fantastic point-in-time and historical analytics and benchmarking. We plan to build on this foundation, layering in AI-enabled strategic insights and forward-looking forecasts, so that our broker customers have better, smarter, and more predictive information at their fingertips than ever before." "We have a lot in common with Lone Wolf, so joining the team made sense for us, and for our customers as well," said Mark Spraetz, President and CEO of Terradatum, "Like Terradatum, Lone Wolf is deeply committed to leveraging data to help real estate agents, brokers, MLSs, and associationsincrease their market share and improve their service to buyers and sellers. We're extremely excited to join this organization led by Jimmy Kelly and for the future of our combined company." This acquisition follows several major announcements from Lone Wolf. The company recently acquired LionDesk, HomeSpotter, and W+R Studios to add CRM, digital marketing, and comparative market analysis (CMA) to its technology suites; released Recruit and the new Cloud CMA for brokers; signed several agreements to provide Lone Wolf Transactions to over 500,000 agents as a member benefit in 2022; and launched Digital Title Orders in collaboration with some of the leading title insurance companies in the U.S. Each of these initiatives fulfills Lone Wolf's mission to simplify real estate by delivering better information, innovation, and experiences to agents and brokers everywhere, which in turn helps them do the same for their buyers and sellers. "At its core, real estate is about people," said Chris Egan, Chief Strategy Officer at Lone Wolf. "Unlike the industry disruptors, we're not here to replace people or professionals in the transaction process; we're here to empower them. This acquisition is all about getting better information in the hands of real estate experts and agents, so it's easier for them to do what they already do—run a profitable business and serve buyers and sellers—now and into the future." *** Terms of the transaction will not be disclosed. Catapult Advisors LLC acted as financial advisor to Terradatum. About Lone Wolf Technologies Lone Wolf Technologies is the North American leader in residential real estate software, serving over 1.5 million real estate professionals across Canada and the U.S. With cloud solutions for agents, brokers, franchises, MLSs and associations alike, the company provides the entire real estate industry with the tools they need to amaze clients, build their business, and improve profits—from transactions to back office, insights, and more, all in one place. Lone Wolf's head offices are located in Cambridge, ON, Minneapolis, MN, and Dallas, TX. Find out more at www.lwolf.com About Terradatum Terradatum, creators of BrokerMetrics®, Listing Advantage, and MLSWEB, is an industry leader in real estate market analytics. Aggregating millions of data elements drawn nationally from MLS sources over many years, analytics derived from its services provide clarity and vital insights to real estate professionals to enable better forecasting, compensation modeling and market performance. Originally founded in 1989, Terradatum is a privately held company. For more information, please visit www.terradatum.com To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Google and Real Estate, Part 1: Search Console and Analytics
Much of our lives and work are on the internet, and Google is probably the entity that we interact with most. The real estate industry is more dependent on Google than ever. People search for properties and other real estate services. Realtors build their websites and marketing campaigns based on data and analytics offered by Google. In this series, Google and Real Estate, we'll shed some light on different aspects of doing business with Google and their implications for real estate professionals.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World Licenses Buyside for all US Members
In a technology adoption move that Leading Real Estate Brokerages of the World (LeadingRE) CEO Paul Boomsa called "rare," the network has announced the roll-out of Buyside as a nationwide member benefit to all firms in the US. As the pandemic continues to impact the way home seller leads are generated, with an origin shift from in-person to online, Buyside has seen rapid growth and expansion during the past six months. Agents using Buyside generated $6 billion in new listings following the launch of their National Home Valuation Week, news of which rocked the industry back in September. Many LeadingRE firms already offer Buyside to their members, empowering their agents with buyer insights for robust, data-packed listing presentations showcasing qualified buyers to prospective sellers. LeadingRE is highly selective with their technology vendors and does not jump into commitments easily — a multiyear, trusted relationship of proven success precedes this exciting moment for both firms. Couldn't be more excited to see this come to fruition!

Early Signs of the Real Estate Market Comeback from COVID-19
Through this Coronavirus pandemic, we have been sharing insights into different data to pay attention to so you can navigate these difficult times. Check out our previous posts here, here and here. I wanted to put together a quick, high-level post to share with you what I'm seeing. I feel this will provide some hope as we all prepare for the upcoming recovery.

How to Deal with Coronavirus in My Business: An Analytical Approach to Business Leading Indicators, Part 2
Last week, I talked about trending data as we are seeing it now. You can find that article by clicking here, and you may want to read it before reading this article. For this article, I want to discuss a tool that I have found to be invaluable in my businesses, called Rate of Change. This tool, or methodology, comes from ITR Economics. I was introduced to ITR Economics ten years ago through my Vistage group. What stuck out to me about this methodology of analyzing current data and leading indicators is it provided early insight into trending changes that affected my business.

Characteristics of a Data-Driven Organization
There are specific characteristics or values needed to realize the benefits of a data-driven organization. These values support people's critical thinking and exploration within their roles in an organization. Allowing this freedom of curiosity expands people's ability to think of how data can nurture successes in their day-to-day activities. They become your data citizens who understand the value of data as an asset.

New Cloud CMA Integration with Buyside Offers Intel on Real-time Buyer Demand
W+R Studios, the creators of Cloud CMA, announced a new partnership with Buyside that will give mutual clients access to one of the most competitive data analytics tools in real estate. The platform, powered by data analytics company, Buyside, aggregates buyer activity in real-time across major real estate search portals. "CMA methodology is founded on similar properties that have recently sold, are closing, or are active in the market. With Buyside, Cloud CMA users will be able to add the dimension of understating how many buyers are working with agents today to purchase a home in the area and price range. With this integration, Cloud CMA will be one of the first in the nation to empower better pricing decisions based upon buyer demand," said Greg Robertson, co-founder and president of W+R Studios. The partnership between Buyside and Cloud CMA allows sales professionals to deliver valuable reports that help potential sellers understand buyer intent better than ever before. "We're excited to partner with Cloud CMA, a true leader in the real estate software industry," said Charles Williams IV, founder and CEO of Buyside. "Our partnership provides mutual clients with valuable insights about their market and an innovative new way to better serve their customers. We're confident agents already using the Cloud CMA platform will experience a considerable competitive advantage in its markets." Buyside's core products include Home Valuation Sites, which allows homeowners to understand the approximate value of their home using multiple automated valuations, including the Zestimate by Zillow Group, as well as insights into the real-time buyer demand in their market. A Buyer Market Analysis report from Buyside helps listing agents navigate pricing scenarios with prospective sellers while showcasing a list of matching buyers available for the home. Lastly, the back-end matching platform from Buyside intelligently connects listings agents with buyers agents who are a match for the property—ensuring more targeted marketing of the home and a quicker sale. This product is available now to all Cloud CMA subscribers currently operating under a qualified broker account with a custom theme. To learn more about how Cloud CMA and Buyside can help your brokerage, contact [email protected].

BHGRE Metro Brokers Integrates Buyside into Realogy's Zap Platform
Since Realogy purchased ZipRealty and launched ZapLabs, they have been focused on the deployment of agent websites and CRM. Now that the application is fully deployed to the Realogy brands, Realogy has focused on following the leadership direction of Ryan Gorman to launch an open architecture technology strategy.

Century 21 Launches ListTrac for Analytics on Portal Marketing
In an email blast to Century 21 brokers and agents last week, Century 21 released the Golden Ruler powered by ListTrac, a reporting tool that allows sellers, agents, and brokers to see the engagement that a property is getting across the Internet. Portals like Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, and Homes.com are shown side by side with Century 21's family of sites and partner sites along with MLS systems, consumer sites and HomeSnap. In fact, any real estate website can easily have ListTrac monitoring configured.

Do You Know Your New vs. Returning Visitor Ratio?
Poring over real estate website analytics isn't usually that exciting. When we talk about website analytics, it should be important to a specific benefit for your site. What can we gain from understanding our new versus returning visitor ratio?

Keys to Buying Market Analytics Products
Before you purchase any software for your business, always check for resources available from your local, state, and NAR. Realtors Property Resource is a great example of a member benefit that offers a strong array of market analytics reports that can be beautifully branded to the agent and broker. The best part is that NAR offers this tool as a member benefit. The MLS is the second place to look before purchasing market analytics products. In our Success Guide to Marketing Analytics, we highlight CRS Data, a service that is licensed by MLSs and delivered as an MLS subscriber benefit at no extra cost. Franchises or networks like Leading Real Estate Companies of the World also offer market analytics tools either for free or through a partnership program with technology companies that typically offer some customization benefits and/or cost benefits to franchisees. Check out these services before you buy. On RE Technology, we filter products by their suitability to MLSs, brokers, or agents. When you log in, the default should align with who you are, but there is the option to change your status (see the image below). For example, a broker may want to research market analytics tools for an agent. Likewise, an agent who is part of a selling group or a team may want to look at market analytics tools that suit multiple users as a brokerage would. Ask lots of questions about data refresh rates when you are considering market analytics tools. Some update in real time with the MLS using data synchronization methods like Application Programming Interfaces. Others will commonly update every 15 minutes. Some update daily and others may only update once a month. Speed matters, especially when you can have 10 percent swings in property values from month to month. Also, look at your overall technology budget. Sometimes you can sacrifice some redundant tools to invest in some great market analytics tools that really improve your business performance. Want to learn more about how to make market analytics work for your business? Download our FREE Success Guide to Marketing Analytics today!    

REally! Agent Tool Usage Reporting Is Behind the Times
This week's adventure found me looking at agent tool usage reports from a bunch of technology companies. An MLS client was interested in gaining insight into members' usage of their technology product offerings. All I have to say is, "REally!" I was really not surprised to see the usage reports from the various technology companies. You see, usage reporting from technology partners are the bane of my existence. This wasn't going to be any different as I dug into the data that was provided to me.

Today's Online Business Intelligence
Notice how I did not say web analytics? A large chasm exists between marketing, technology, and business in connecting the dots between what is the value of their efforts. It's a gap I have seen in digital strategies inside and outside of the real estate industry. Building a bridge across these disciplines requires insight on valuing ROI into a strategy, and ensures consumers are given an experience appropriate for the brand.

Business Intelligence Tools: Investment for 2019
As I close out my first year as an independent consultant, I am grateful to the people who allowed me to assist in their business challenges. With every day being a new opportunity for learning, I thought I would share some experiences that I have encountered over the past year. Data and Business Intelligence (BI)

Are Brokerages Using BI Visualization Tools?
In talking with various people inside brokerages, I hear the same challenge time and time again: "My data is all over the place and I have no way to understand what it means." Driving what your data means and information out of your data is Business Intelligence (BI). There are free or low-cost solutions to help analyze data in your control and derive the answers to make better business decisions.

How to Enter REAL Trends 'The Thousand'
2018 Top Agent and Teams Rankings Your agents are successful and driven. Find out if all that hard work has paid off by entering REAL Trends The Thousand. REAL Trends The Thousand, as advertised by The Wall Street Journal, is an annual national awards ranking. Designees are recognized as the top one-half of one percent of more than 1.3 million licensed REALTORS® nationwide.

Public Transit Access Drives Up Real Estate Value in Key Markets
Concerned about selling a home near public transit access? Today's real estate trends point to a public in love with mass transit, particularly new public transit additions. Transforming the local markets they are integrated in, such public transit initiatives have home and rental prices on the rise in cities across the nation as residents anticipate their arrival.

How Predictive Analytics Can Match Your Listings with Buyers
Imagine arming your agents with a list of warm buyer leads before they go into a listing presentation. Imagine using your own data to generate seller leads, or to match your listings with qualified. Thanks to predictive analytics, you don't have to imagine these scenarios. Today, we're continuing our month-long series on predictive analytics with a look at Buyside, a broker focused solution that's highlighted in our 2017-18 Technology Guide. What is Buyside? Buyside is a reverse prospecting tool that, as it name suggests, is fueled by buyer data--what type of property they're looking for, what price point, what neighborhood, etc. The solution pulls in and aggregates buyer information from a number of sources, including your website, property search portals, virtual tours, showing data and more.

Where's the Real Value in Automated Valuation Models (AVMs)?
A handful of organizations offer Automated Valuation Models (AVMs), yet not one is 100 percent accurate. The truth lies in the types of data that AVM providers use to generate the AVM. The problem with AVMs Although most AVMs are readily and publicly available to consumers, real estate agents, appraisers and lenders, they carry distinct disadvantages. First, without a physical inspection, AVMs do not factor in a property's condition and, thereby, rely on "average condition" scenarios when determining value.

See SmartTargeting in Action
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 10:00 AM PDT Join our top Sales Manager Adam Long for a tour of SmartTargeting, the platform agents across the country use to increase their listings business. See first-hand how predictive analytics identify top seller prospects, and how targeted marketing campaigns help you engage and convert these homeowners when they are ready to sell. Register now!

Next Year's National Housing Market Forecast
According to the realtor.com® 2017 National Housing Forecast, next year's national real estate market is predicted to be slower compared to the last two years, across the majority of economic indicators. Home prices are anticipated to increase 3.9 percent and existing home sales are forecasted to increase 1.9 percent to 5.46 million homes. Interest rates are expected to reach 4.5 percent due to higher expectations for inflationary pressure in the year ahead. Realtor.com® forecasted the homeownership rate stabilizing at 63.5 percent after bottoming at 62.9 percent in 2016. New home sales are expected to grow 10 percent, while new home-starts are expected to increase 3 percent. The forecast is based on GDP growth of 2.1 percent, a 2.5 percent increase in the consumer price index, and unemployment declining to 4.7 percent by the end of the year. When asked about 2017 housing predictions, realtor.com® Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke said, "We don't expect the outcome of the election to have a direct impact on the health of the housing market or economy as we close out 2016. However, the 40 basis points increase in rates in the days following the election has caused us to increase our interest rate prediction for next year. [Furthermore] with more than 95 percent of first-time home buyers dependent on financing their home purchase, and a majority of first-time buyers reporting one or more financial challenges, the uptick we've already seen may price some first-timers out of the market."

Property Reports Increase Client Retention for Fox and Roach
Real estate values are constantly changing, challenging agents to provide clients with the most detailed, up-to-date property reports available. While there are many valuation services available, selecting a solution that provides agents with the ability to deliver strategic comprehensive property reports can maintain valuable connections between agents and consumers. To understand how a property valuation service can optimize agents' long-term relations with their customers, Swanepoel undertook a case study of how Berkshire Hathaway HomeService (BHHS) Fox and Roach successfully implemented ePropertyWatch, a company-branded solution that effectively cultivates a client-for-life strategy. Here is a summary of the Swanepoel T3 Sixty report. Property Valuations Aid Client Retention Generally speaking, valuation services look at local property tax assessments and other public data, including sales price histories, for comparable properties in an area to derive a trend line that can applied against the target property's assessment to estimate its market value. The reports generated by the various services differ with regard to the scope of data they include and the way they present it. Property valuations provided by different services can differ significantly as they may use varying property comps and proprietary algorithms. In addition, the data sets that each service relies on can diverge in quality and comprehensiveness.

How Deeper Market Insights Can Give You the Competitive Edge
Your MLS is full of market data that can help you get a leg up on competing brokerages in your area. However, this data is not always accessible in your MLS system. To leverage this data, you need more sophisticated tools than your MLS may offer. This week, we're taking a closer look at one such tool that's highlighted in our 2016-17 Technology Guide--or, more precisely, we're looking at three tools from a single company. Terradatum offers innovative analytics solutions that help real estate professionals leverage market data for everything from marketing to pricing listings to agent recruiting. We've talked about each of these three tools previously, but here's a rundown of what each offers and how brokers can use them in their business. BrokerMetrics: Recruiting, Analyzing the Competition, Tracking Trends What can a potential recruit bring to your firm? BrokerMetrics can tell you by tracking their listings, sales, areas of activity, price changes, and beyond. What kind of return on investment are you getting from your current agents? BrokerMetrics can tell you that, too, and offer precise insights on how your agents are performing. This tool can also show you how your company is performing compared to the competition by offering insights into market coverage broken down by office. Want to learn more about the trends impacting the market as a whole? Get precise numbers on changes to the market by total dollar volume, total unit volume, median price, DOM, and commission. Watch the video below for a brief overview:

See SmartTargeting in Action (9/7)
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Join our top Sales Manager Adam Long for a tour of SmartTargeting, the platform agents across the country use to increase their listings business. See first-hand how predictive analytics identify top seller prospects, and how targeted marketing campaigns help you engage and convert these homeowners when they are ready to sell. Register now!

See SmartTargeting in Action (7/13)
Wednesday, June 13, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Join our top Sales Manager Adam Long for a tour of SmartTargeting, the platform agents across the country use to increase their listings business. See first-hand how predictive analytics identify top seller prospects, and how targeted marketing campaigns help you engage and convert these homeowners when they are ready to sell. Register now!

See SmartTargeting in Action (6/8)
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT Join our top Sales Manager Adam Long for a tour of SmartTargeting, the platform agents across the country use to increase their listings business. See first-hand how predictive analytics identify top seller prospects, and how targeted marketing campaigns help you engage and convert these homeowners when they are ready to sell. Register now!

Introducing RPR’s Market Data Tool for Brokers, Owners and Managers
RPR's latest enhancement to the Broker Tool Set delivers on-the-spot access to market snapshots and company performance metrics, coupled with sophisticated reporting and presentation features. Introducing the new and improved Market Data Tool—an invaluable asset for brokers, owners, and company managers who rely on market intelligence to drive organizational objectives. Now, brokers can access over 100 charts with metrics such as active listings, pending and closed sales, inventory, absorption, distressed listings and sales. Utilizing the Market Data Tool, brokers can easily: Generate comparative analyses of company performance against defined markets Conduct office-by-office comparisons Save time by by creating templates for popular report configurations Schedule reports for automatic delivery

The Evolution of AVMs
What’s the point? Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) are a handy tool for quickly and simply providing an estimated value for a property. Nobody has quite nailed the science, as all AVMs are inherently wrong. A new trend is to put several different AVMs side by side, thus producing varying estimates of the same property. The value for consumers is in providing a starting point, a somewhat novel basis of what their home—or a home they’re interested in buying—is worth. The value for agents and brokers is in those consumers reaching out with questions; giving the broker an immediate opportunity to demonstrate their expertise by providing a more accurate and locally informed estimate. While providing multiple AVMs gives consumers more information, it also can cause confusion. This provides additional likelihood that a consumer will reach out to a local real estate professional. AVMs have come a long way in the past few years. For contrast, take a look at the AVM landscape two years ago when I first wrote about it here.

Top Real Estate Markets Predicted for 2016
Identified by Housing Predictor, these 10 real estate housing markets scattered from Washington to Florida have been identified using current real estate trends for their high probability for appreciation through 2016. Don't miss the bandwagon! TOP 10: Buy now or pay later... Miami Miami boasts the highest projected housing inflation thanks to its status as a destination for international travelers and the resort community, ranking its homes high on the want list for buyers worldwide. San Francisco Second on the list for projected inflation, San Francisco's diverse culture has transformed this Bay City into a wonderful and sought after place to make a home. Los Altos South of San Fran, rich tech businesses abound, making Los Altos a location where millionaires congregate and cash purchases of homes are the norm.

Different Ways to Interpret Local Data Behind a Recent US News Story
US News & World Report recently published a story on the Best Places to Retire for Less than $100 a Day. We love stories that look at large datasets and drive the reader to a clear conclusion. The data came from the US Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics and the results included cities with more than 140,000 where a retiree could cover his or her basic expenses for $36,500 per year. The $100 a day included five major categories: housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and utilities. Based on these requirements, their top 10 list included the following cities: Aurora, Colorado Cleveland, Ohio Dallas, Texas Durham, North Carolina Jacksonville, Florida Kansas City, Kansas Madison, Wisconsin Minneapolis, Minnesota Phoenix, Arizona Pittsburg, Pennsylvania We recognize that this type of content can drive traffic and awareness for your brokerage. Consumers love to read these types of lists and share the content when their city or town is featured.

Can You Predict Housing Trends Better than NAR?
We're embarking on an experiment--and we need your help. As you may know, the National Association of Realtors publishes an economic report on the 10th of every month. We're interested in finding out if RE Technology readers can predict the data in the housing report. After all, agents and brokers are the ones in the real estate trenches and we have a hunch that your predictions will be pretty close to NAR's. To test our hypothesis, we've created a brief (and painless, we promise) poll that asks questions about pricing, closings, and market conditions in your local area. Please take just five minutes to fill it out and submit it. We will publish the results of the poll next week to see if we can predict the numbers of the NAR report--before the NAR report comes out. Then, following the release of NAR's data, we'll compare your answers to the official report. Let's see if RE Technology readers really have their finger on the pulse of what's happening! Take the housing trends poll now!

Housing Markets – The Right Measure?
Back in June, we provided some context for Money.com's 12 Cities Where Homes are Flying Off the Market. With the leaves coming down, I went back to the numbers over some hot cider and football this past weekend. A lot has changed since then, from industry merger news to world crisis...so I wondered if the US housing numbers would tell a different story. There are many ways to look at a market And it's easy to argue about which statistics are the most meaningful. Some recent examples: Forbes.com's annual "America's Most Expensive Zip Codes" – current asking prices Zillow's "Top 10 Seller's Markets" – close price to list price analysis NAR's Economist Outlook – Case Shiller Index Money.com's look at Days On Market (for sold homes in a given time period) To me, each of the above has its flaws – as does any model of course. The most obvious being: Asking Prices (by ZIP code) – In the methodology, they note that when inventory is low, and there are fewer than 10 active listings in a ZIP, they exclude it. This excludes some of the hottest markets out there. Low active inventory can actually be a sign that the market is hot. But even in markets with plenty of listings (like NYC), listing prices can be misleading. The news here in NYC over the last few months is that sellers are over-pricing and buyers are letting the majority of properties sit. Close to List price analysis – This seems pretty intuitive. If the closing prices are on average over asking, then you likely have a hot market. But, as the Listing price proponents will state: by the time to sale is recording, the information is outdated. And they are right – this analysis trails accepted offers by 60+ days in many markets. And, given the interplay between re-pricing and days on market (neither considered here), you may be excluding some significant discounts. Case-Shiller – Well, there's been lots written here from how it can focus only on the lowest tier of the market and overstates appreciation in an improving market. Money.com - What about the homes that didn't sell? Maybe a segment of the market is hot while the rest is languishing (this was our perspective in June when we looked at the unsold market).

AVMs and the Weather Forecast
Automated valuation models or AVMs have long challenged real estate agents and brokers since the consumer release of Zillow's Zestimate™. To some degree, consumers fight the same challenge. The reality is, sometimes AVMs are right on, sometimes they are close, and sometimes they are really wrong. As I was watching last nights' weather report, I had a moment of clarity. The best way to understand AVMs is to compare them to the weather report. The weather report is never accurate! Yet, for some reason, we watch the weather report every day because it gives us a fuzzy truth about what the weather conditions are most likely going to be. AVMs are just that, fuzzy truths. Brokers are thinking about AVMs and if or how they might deploy them on their consumer website. At issue is the notion that if AVMs are not accurate, are we taking a risk by putting them on our listings? It is a difficult question to be answered. You can break the question down into two questions to dissect the issue. First, is the AVM an accurate valuation of the subject property? The answer is a fuzzy yes, or sometimes. The second question requires you to alter your perspective. Is the AVM accurate? What is an accurate AVM? I would tell you that AVMs are always accurate. They are the exact sum of a calculation that yields results the exact same way every time as long as the components of that calculation remain the same. In many ways, the AVM is not very different than an agent's suggested listed price.

The Paradigm Shift: Making the Most of a Changing Market
Real estate is a zero sum game. There are only so many homes bought and sold each year. And while the market is undergoing a fundamental shift, one thing holds true: 20% of the agents still do 80% of the business. As the market continues to adjust and the real estate recovery slows, the number of available deals and qualified buyers will continue to shrink. It is an unintended consequence of this particular real estate cycle. And with the dearth of first-time buyers looming, this slowdown may take even a greater toll on agents who are new to the business or those who treat real estate as a "second career."

Stats, Stats ... We All Love Stats
What's the thing about statistics? In particular, what is it about historical data that makes real estate market analysts excited? It's not hard to answer when we're so fixated on CMA reports. We can't properly serve our sellers or our buyers unless we are competent at analyzing market statistics to determine the proper current pricing for homes. As we begin 2014, what can we do to inform our prospects and cement our position as a local real estate market expert? We can give them a whole lot of numbers on which to focus, and these stats also have value because they tell us about the market and the sold prices of homes over the previous year. Everybody values market statistics: Sellers – People considering listing their homes for sale and those who are listed are interested in the market and price trends. This is particularly true in their neighborhoods, and you'll attract listing clients if you regularly publish market sold property statistics by area. Email them out to your seller prospects in your CRM system, especially at the beginning of the year for previous year sales. Buyers – Buyers have the greatest interest in what's going on, as they're trying to find the right home in their price range. Using the statistics report you email out and publish on your site, buyers can target areas based on real sold prices. They can see where the action is, which usually means they're popular neighborhoods with the amenities they want.

Deciphering Forbes' "most expensive" zip codes
What constitutes an expensive zip code? Depends who you ask and what you ask them. In Forbes' 2013 list of America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes, Silicon Valley dominates the list with median home prices of more than $5.4 million. According to the article: Since our list is based on asking prices rather than closed sales or tax assessments, it may not be completely representative of the communities featured — for example, neighborhoods that have become swanky in the past few decades could contain pockets of longtime residents in more modest homes. Rather, our list is a snapshot of each market's current activity. "This is a view of everything actively for sale in these markets," explains Michael Simonsen, chief executive of Altos Research. "It's the experience you'll have if you want to buy — or sell — a home today in any of them." We agree – active listing prices are a great input to understanding the market, and trends in these prices often lead the eventual movement of sold prices in an area. But...they don't by extension seem to reflect the experience in many of these markets. List price is just one view (the ASK) into the market place and based on our findings, we'd argue its bias increases with absolute price. We can illustrate this by incorporating additional views such as OFFER and SOLD price prices for these zips. It is impossible to avoid data bias – we simply can't evaluate all possible data points simultaneously. And we note bias in our own findings on the next page.

Choosing a Market Analytics Tool
What are Market Analytics? A real estate professional can look at the market much as a doctor approaches a patient. Your doctor will assess your health on a variety of different levels and use a battery of tests to determine how well each of these levels is functioning. So, too, do real estate professionals assess the "health" of their local market – but instead of an MRI or blood test, you use market analytics tools. Instead of cells, organs, and bones, you are examining specific properties as well as neighborhoods, regions, counties, and the nationwide market. And, of course, your insights are possible thanks to data collected about taxes, sales histories, demographics, schools, zoning, and more. Just as a doctor needs accurate information to cure a patient, a REALTOR® needs complete and accurate information to serve their clients. This is where market analytics tools can help – but it's imperative to find the right solution for you. So, let's make sure you're armed with the questions you need to ask and take a look at a few of your options. Questions to Ask There are some important questions to ask when buying any real estate technology product and some that are unique to choosing a mapping or lifestyle search product. First, let's look at general questions you'll want to ask. What are my objectives for this piece of technology and will this product help me achieve those objectives? What is my budget? Does my MLS or Association have any agreements with any vendors that might help me obtain this product at a discount or for free? What kind of customer service and training programs are available? Are there webinars and, if so, are they recorded so you can view them at any time? Is the vendor's online help sufficient?

Delivering a Simple but Compelling Message that Will Boost Your Lead Engagement
This post comes to us from Delta Media Group: The KCM Blog drew a significant amount of attention this week with the most simplistic of messages. It used the chart below to demonstrate how much extra money it might cost a consumer who decides to buy a house today as opposed to one year ago. Difference in house payment in 2012 vs. 2013 based on typical price and interest rate increases. Source: KCM Blog. The concepts illustrated here are based on a bit of assumption and a bit of fact. The assumption being the same house would still be on the market, and would have increased in price by 10 percent (house prices have increased by double digits in markets across the nation, so a 10 percent price increase in a comparable house is not a stretch). The fact being that interest rates have increased by a full percent over the past year, which they have. That increase alone means a higher monthly cost to home purchasers, and a much higher total price at the end of a 30-year mortgage, if paid out over all 360 months.

Real Estate News: Tightening SFR Rental Market Presents Broker Opportunities
A number of factors are contributing to heat up the Single-Family Rental Market. A perception that in many markets pricing has bottomed out and is beginning to increase has brought more investors into the market. At the same time, the aggregate number of ex-homeowners forced to rent after a foreclosure event is at an all time high. Nationwide, rental leasing volumes have been up every month during the last two years. Year-to-date, leasing volume is up 12 percent year-over-year. Listing time is steady at six weeks. Smart brokers will find a way to insert themselves into a market where demand is up and supply is down. Read the latest MarketPulse Report for more detail and city/state specific statistics.

How Everybody Wins, Starting with the Consumer
This is the third in a series of four articles from RPR. Read the first, second, and third articles. As RPR expands its national coverage, and opens access to its high-value tools and features for all REALTORS® later this year, the goal is not only to enhance and support the REALTOR®'s value to the consumer, but to deliver RPR analytics to the mortgage market to meet the long term needs of critical participants "upstream" of the REALTOR®. Analytics are the key The valuation analytics created by RPR provide a unique understanding and synthesis of property data from numerous, disparate sources. This is used to provide RPR's REALTOR Valuation Model® (RVM®) to the mortgage investor backed by data that is: Comprehensive National database of assessor, recorder, mortgage, NOD/foreclosure, MLS, geospatial, demographic and other content Single record for each parcel in the U.S. Fully-authorized source of market data for collateral analysis through the RVM product

Real Estate Marketing: Spread the News! July Price Increases Best Since 2006
Everyone likes to hear good news. You should be the one that gets the benefit of the reflected glow. Many markets in the US are showing strong price appreciation. You should leverage this good news in all of your online marketing efforts. "The housing market continues its positive trajectory with significant price gains in July and our expectation of a further increase in August," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "While the pace of growth is moderating as we transition to the off-season for home buying, we expect a positive gain in price levels for the full year."

Market Data Marries Video
It's a fascinating marriage and, like most, full of potential. Earlier this week, VScreen announced their new project with Terradatum, Inc.: Automated Market Videos. This exciting new tool marries the slick medium of video with the substance of market data. It also represents the partnership of two highly respected companies with deep roots in the real estate industry. Automated Market Videos These videos offer a summary of local market conditions (by zip code, city or neighborhood) including data such as: Active inventory Median listing price Days on market Median sale price Number of units sold The data is presented with consumer-friendly narration and animated infographics. Brokers can brand these videos and share them with current or prospective clients on their website, social media, or elsewhere. Once each broker has collaborated with the team at Terradatum to fine-tune the branding, location, and style of the videos, the videos will be automatically updated each month.

Real Estate Technology: Throw Away That Wide Net
Separating winners from losers is often an exercise in smart targeting. Our instinct is to cast the wide net and see which fish we drag in the boat. But wide nets are expensive to throw and bring back all sorts of inedible items into the canoe. It's frustrating and defeating. Winners segment. Winners know which fish lunge at what type of bait, what time of day and what time of year they feed, and what side of the lake they live on. A good parody to share is a recent report from the Federal Reserve shows that the dividing line between confident and non-confident is 58 years old. Individuals over 58 show a traditional fealty to price drops. Their experience, over many decades, leads them to believe real estate is sound and enduring. Those non-boomers, under 58? Not so much. They still fear the volatility of politics, interest rates, European contagions, and so forth.

Real Estate Marketing Analysis: Where’s the Bottom of the Market?
CoreLogic CEO, Anand Nallathambi, addresses this market issue in his "Letter from the CEO" introduction to the latest quarterly MarketPulse Report. In this brief overview of the real estate markets, Anand cuts through all the real estate data and statistics that make up the report and calls the market condition as he sees it. This page and half read is worth your time: Are we there yet? That's the question that has confounded the housing market for the last four years. Has the market bottomed? Should I buy now? Or will prices go even lower? In 2010, price gains were primarily due to demand created by the homebuyer tax credit program. When the program expired, so did the gains, and our monthly Home Price Index (HPI) finished the year in the negative. Over the course of 2011, we saw four months of gains, but again finished down by 4.5 percent overall. This year, as was the case the previous two years, spring brought an upward movement in our HPI. So the question on many peoples' minds is will this year's end result be any different than the recent past?

Give Prospects a Nudge With The New Real Estate Productivity Web App
This article comes to us from the Showing Suite blog: Real estate technology consulting firm 1000Watt Consulting recently released Nudge, a new web-based real estate productivity application designed to show off a real estate agent's knowledge with widgets, and act as a "call to action" for prospective clients. Where you would normally show charts and graphs with various statistics of how the housing market is doing, Nudge offers a clean, simplified way of presenting data to your prospects. "Nudge was born from the notion that agents could use something to cut through the noise and connect with consumers viscerally, almost emotionally, in their marketing," Said 1000Watt's Marc Davidson. "We wanted to create something different, clear and beautiful."

U.S. Home Values Continued Fall in October; Rate of Decline Stabilizes
We pulled this article from the Zillow Research blog. The Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, released today, show home values dipped 0.3 percent from September levels (Figure 1) to $147,900 (Figure 2), representing a 5.1 percent decline on a year-over-year basis. The rate of monthly depreciation has stabilized around -0.2 percent to -0.3 percent over the last few months, an improvement compared to the fall of last year, when rates reached more than 0.8 percent monthly depreciation. Continued home value depreciation is a reflection of an abundance of housing supply relative to continued anemic demand despite record high housing affordability and historically low mortgage rates. Low consumer confidence and fears of further price declines continue to contribute to a crisis of confidence among potential buyers. We are encouraged by the positive, albeit slow, progress in working down unemployment, as reflected both in the general unemployment measure (U-3) and the U-6 measure which we think is a better predictor of household formation rates (Figure 3). The U-6 unemployment measure considers the unemployed seeking full-time employment plus marginally attached workers and those working part-time for economic reasons.