First let’s gather some info.
I am just scratching the surface, gathering all the information here about the MLS would be a huge task. It took me years to unravel the information I found in different blogs, papers and research done by some very smart people.
My mission is to look at the MLS in an abstract childish way, without being devoured by all the data, insights, politics and opinions. My simplistic and unbiased vision could offend some people in the industry and delight others. But hey … sometimes a new vision is the fuel for change … Let’s begin 🙂
‘According to the U.S. National Association of Realtors: In the late 1800s, real estate brokers regularly gathered at the offices of their local associations to share information about properties they were trying to sell. They agreed to compensate other brokers who helped sell those properties, and the first MLS was born, based on a fundamental principle that’s unique to organized real estate: Help me sell my inventory and I’ll help you sell yours.’
So how was this information shared? In the 50s there was the Listing Book, a printed book with all the listings of a certain area inside, distributed to all the realtors on a regular basis. In the 60s the listing cards got introduced. In the 70s and 80s listing printouts came out of data center terminals and in the 90s the personal computer and web based software really got things going, the listing data got distributed in real time.
In the United States there are approximately 850 MLSs … Yep that’s a lot, each of which having a board of directors and a different software system … Hmmm, now that’s complicated!
Some brokers need to be member of several MLSs to get all of their listing data and enter their own data in each of these MLSs separately, not to mention the fee they have to pay to each and every one of them.
Okay, here I started to get a little confused … why not consolidate and unite?
I won’t get in to deep on the why’s, just some keywords: politics, power, different vision, money, ego…
Another issue is the technology used by some of the MLSs … Old school!
So now the big question: ‘What if we could reinvent the MLS?’
Here are some thoughts:
– One system
– B to B only
– Free
– Simple
– Viral
– Multi-Language
– Adaptable
– Global
– Mobile
– Self regulating
I guess some of you are ready to bust the comments section on this list, please be patient I will elaborate in future posts on the how’s and the why’s!