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Ocusell, which creates software to modernize MLS listing data input, has inked a partnership with Restb.ai, an industry leading computer vision solution, Inman has learned.
The deal will benefit users of Ocusell List, the company’s core product. The integration will speed property information input through automated AI descriptions as well as improve RESO-compliant tagging.
The Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) works across the industry to define common terminology to ensure property characteristics are described consistently across regions and working environments. Standardized data is better data, and assists AI models in their learning, as well as software developers.
“This partnership embeds Restb.ai’s advanced computer vision technology directly into Ocusell, giving agents and brokers powerful time-saving tools while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy and reliability,” said Hayden Rieveschl, CEO and founder of Ocusell, in a statement.
First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS) will be the first to deploy the integrated system from Ocusell. It’s the largest such organization in Georgia and fourth nationally, serving over 57,000 members.
“FMLS is leading the way by bringing an AI tool to help agents collectively save thousands of hours,” said Dominik Pogorzelski, president of MLS at Restb.ai, in the release. “With Ocusell List, agents can create more detailed, engaging and data-rich listings efficiently.”
Ocusell’s software empowers users to create listing profiles using an intuitive, modernized content management system, much like they would when working on a website.
Home photos, beds, baths and pertinent details are input only once and subsequently delivered to the brokerage’s partner MLS. Listing status updates and other changes are input and controlled from Ocusell as well.
Rieveschl talked about the importance of offering MLSs new ways to take in data and assist member bases in 2022.
“MLSs are accelerating the integration with technology partners, and more MLSs are merging and changing their systems provider or adding others. These trends create a vital and pressing need for accurate, complete and fully updated business rules. MLSs need to add powerful new tools for their members, and they need to do it smoothly and quickly,” he said.
Agents across residential real estate consistently battle their MLSs over outdated software, lack of innovation and fragmented technology partnerships intended to fix the problems. Restb.ai’s AI has been one of the central players actually making headway toward a consistent experience.
Still, interaction with their respective MLSs is a source of pain for brokerage leaders and has led to a wide range of individual efforts from industry insiders to stand-alone entrepreneurs and technology companies. It’s part of the reason companies are refusing to cooperate with NAR and challenging Clear Cooperation regulations.
“Presently, there are over 500 MLS networks in the United States, with each one setting their own rules, creating forms, contracting with MLS software providers and monitoring listings for accuracy and compliance,” said Michigan broker Chris Marzke in an Inman editorial.
The pipe dream is a single national platform, but it remains only that at this point. Ocusell’s market isn’t going away anytime soon.
