MLS is more than technology

One of the primary features of every MLS system today is the ability to e-mail information to consumers. Many MLS systems also offer customer portals through which agents can share listing data and interact with their customers. Also, many agents today are really consumers who have gone through the steps to become a member.

They aren't producing or active in the MLS, but they have access. As MLSs and associations consider changes to the IDX, VOW and related policies, thinking of the consumer as a member of the MLS and then working to define the terms of use for that membership may lead to a new way of thinking about how agents and consumers can interact on the Web.

Identity. The Web used to be all about anonymity, but today it is about identity. MLSs and associations could be helping their members by developing standards for identifying and authorizing members across systems and the Web, and sharing that information with other sites.

This is a hot topic for the Web as a whole today, not just real estate, as sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter and others require us to separately maintain information about ourselves, and to juggle multiple usernames and passwords. Couldn't the MLS help members by participating in these standards efforts on the Web? This is just another example of how real estate is participating in the Web evolution, and so the industry needs to think in Web terms.

Syndication. Some good work has been started on standardizing the data format for syndication, but an equally (or more) important issue for consumers is keeping that data up to date on all of the various sites. This is a classic case where technology filled the gap from a lack of standards and created a mess. Sites like Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo, Google, etc., are receiving the same listings from many sources, having to de-duplicate them, and keep them up to date somehow.

The MLS remains the most accurate source of listing data and so should provide a standard for how data should be sent (transported) to other aggregators and then kept up to date. This doesn't need to be hard and could follow some basic standards like Atom or RSS, but the discussion needs to be started to get there. This same discussion leads back to the terms of use mentioned above: If the data is offered in an open format, who can do what with it and under what terms?

IDX and VOWs. The recent dustup over whether Google's indexing of an IDX site is misappropriation of the IDX data is a good example of how MLSs and associations need to re-envision their operations in terms of the Web as a whole. By focusing on high-level standards, issues like this may be avoided or minimized in the future.

The above are just some of the key issues facing MLSs and associations today. The Web is reinventing everything, including the way we collaborate, cooperate and make decisions. The NAR and local associations could reinvent themselves as a member benefit by putting these issues front and center on a Web site somewhere and publicly debating and deciding on them.

Michael Wurzer is the president and CEO of FBS Data Systems, a technology provider for multiple listing services. He is also the creator of the FBS Blog.

Copyright © 2009 FBS Blog.

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