Austin Board Tired of Agents Moaning about New MLXchange MLS, Decides to Act

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Austin Board Tired of Agents Moaning about New MLXchange MLS, Decides to Act

Posted at Texas Real Estate Experts by Dee Copeland

Feb. 29, 2008

Tagged with: abor, austin, mls, mlxchange, realtors

Quick update on the real estate agent outrage with the new MLS system that was implemented last winter.

The Austin Board of REALTORS® (ABOR) seems to agree that the issues have not truly subsided. Slowness, quirky interface, poor usability have negatively impacted Greater Austin buyers, sellers and real estate agents.

MLS PROBLEMS COST TIME & MONEY

As reported yesterday, there are hot areas in Austin where buyers are competing. At the same time, sellers want to see offers and quick CMAs. Agents have reported losing business and client confidence when a home search and price analysis was slow or didn't work.

Bottom line: You probably already think most "real-a-tors" are stupid, so we try to avoid having our tools confirm the stereotype.

ABOR TO HOLD A TOWN HALL MEETING NEXT WEEK

The majority of the issues are a result of the need for more testing and better planning.

The new system is slow, crashes, and takes an extra 3 to 8 seconds when clicking around the screens.
MLXchange is not intuitive to clients or agents. Some find it easier to use, but overall, it takes a while to get used to the interface. The help categories don't provide some critical how-tos.
We often troubleshoot the client pages because buttons are not where the common person would normally find them. EXAMPLE: To see homes, buyers will need to find a tiny symbol of a binocular, which is about 2/3rds down their client page.

If agents can't send lists of homes and it takes an extra hour to get anything done, it harms our buyers, sellers and business.

You may have heard that at least 300 agents didn't renew their licenses last time due to a saturated market.

ABOR seems to be responsive and understands why this is a big deal. The agents who are serious about their business want fast results so they can better serve their clients.

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