David Harris

Michael, Good summary of the situation. We need to keep this conversation going. You state: "So how do we make these improvements? MLSs are uniquely positioned to help make the needed improvements to RETS in the future. In today's difficult economic climate, providing strong business-oriented direction that generates measurable cost savings and benefits from the next version of the standard is a good start." The next obvious question is "Where and how do we foster this collaboration between vendors and MLSs?" RESO last year formed the Research & Development workgroup to be that exact vehicle. We meet every two weeks and have representation from both the vendor and MLS community on our calls. We have over 60 business oriented ideas submitted for our workgroup to review and recommend for incorporation into the standard by the other workgroups. We need more help!! Here and now there has never been a better opportunity for anyone interested in this effort to contribute in substantive ways immediately. And we aren't looking for technical people, we need business and subject matter experts to weigh in on the list of ideas and keep us on track. If you are reading this article, this is YOUR standard. David R&D Workgroup info: http://groups.google.com/group/reso-wg-rd Business Case List: http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc%3Fkey%3D0AlpkYYIXRLp7dHNsT2FTcGE0d09oREdYVFh5aE5FUUE%26hl%3Den&usg=AFQjCNEkjrS7qRNuPe-vZuwGBOJKVkYr7Q Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/resord

Bob, I think it is an over generalization that RETS doesn't "matter to anyone at all", clearly it matters to Justin Britt. You mention that it is a voluntary effort and that no one wants to make it complete. There are over 100 hard working people involved in RETS on a purely voluntary basis, many meeting every week to keep moving the standard forward. Here is a list of over 60 ideas that we are researching to improve the standard http://bit.ly/98Znf9 and anyone can follow our progress on twitter http://www.twitter.com/resord And I agree with your last statement that when folks get stirred up they should take that energy to help "do it right". So next time you (or anyone) wants to write a post about how broken RETS is and what they need to "do it right", take that energy and help us out. Our group meets every two weeks and call in information can be found here: http://groups.google.com/group/reso-wg-rd I look forward to having you contribute. David

I did not know about the 3 year rule on the home buyer tax credit. Opens it up to prior homeowners who became renters. Nice.