Breaking down Boston MLS walls
Inman blog scan
By Inman News, Wednesday, October 1, 2008.There has been much debate about forced customer registration in order to access listing data on real estate Web sites. That debate might never be settled on an industrywide basis, but is has been settled on the Boston-area Web site of Redfin. Until recently, the Boston-area MLS required Redfin to make all of its users register in order to receive access to the MLS data on Redfin's site.
As you might expect, this reduced the number of searches on Redfin's site. The Boston-area MLS has now removed that requirement, and Redfin's site is now open to all users, regardless of registration. As you might expect, Redfin is happy about this change.
Redfin shares its thoughts in a blog post, and also some interesting statistics that illustrate the impact the registration rule had on its Boston Web site.
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Submitted by Phillip Jones on October 2, 2008 - 3:39am.
mmm.. ok. Is this free press for Redfin day?
Just curious.
Lets go make some money today!
Regards,
Phillip Jones, Broker/Owner
Your Choice Real Estate, Inc.
151-18 College Drive
Orange Park, FL 32065
Phone: (904) 298-2679 Ext 501
Toll Free: (888) 490-0671 Ext 501
Fax: (866) 923-9990
Email: pjones@ycre.net
Website: www.ycre.net
The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Submitted by Lenn Harley on October 2, 2008 - 4:34am.
I've never required registration to search listings on my IDX site.
I practice "Pull" advertising. Capturing contact information to search listings is clearly "Push" advertising.
When someone calls me, they want to talk to me.
Lenn Harley
Broker
Homefinders.com
http://www.homefinders.com
Submitted by Michael Reilly on October 2, 2008 - 5:19am.
I run a non-registration site but the number of calls has dropped with the slowdown in the market. We're seriously considering changing to a forced registration model.
Michael Reilly, REALTOR
Great Austin Properties, LLC
Search Austin Homes For Sale
Submitted by Daniel Rothamel, the Real Estate Zebra on October 2, 2008 - 6:57am.
Phillip,
The article is part of our "blog scan" features. In reading voluminous amounts of blogs (both about real estate and business), we like to highlight blog posts that our readers might find informative or relevant to their business.
In this case, this change by the Boston-area MLS is part of a larger trend being seen in the MLS space of MLSs opening up their data more and more. At one time, MLS data was very tightly restricted, but with the proliferation of IDX and the demand of consumers, MLSs are loosening those restrictions everywhere, to the benefit of practitioners and consumers alike.
http://www.RealEstateZebra.com
Submitted by Craig Baker on October 2, 2008 - 7:06am.
We have developed a hybrid "optional" registration model and it has worked quite well. Visitors are presented with a single yes/no question that leads to between 1 and 4 additional questions depending on their answer. If they answer no to the first two questions, the listing is displayed and we don't bother them again. We have collected 29,000 email addresses since March (and only a small handfull of complaints...)
Craig Baker
mtnhomes.com
http://www.mtnhomes.com (part of usahomesearch.org)
Submitted by Michael DiMella on October 2, 2008 - 1:11pm.
This is a nice change for us in Boston, although I must agree with Phillip - why all the credit to Redfin? There have been many of us here pushing for this rule change. Either way though - welcome news! Good for realtors and good for consumers....
http://www.charlesgaterealty.com
http://blog.charlesgaterealty.com