Oct. 20, 2011 - Attention Brokers: Regain Control of Your Listing Data

Reprinted by permission of REAL Trends. The original article is located here: http://realtrends.com/products/newsletter/view?nid=36&pid=272&page=8

by Travis Saxton, REAL Trends marketing and technology manager

Over the past few years, REAL Trends and Clareity Consulting have been working together to identify flaws in the listing syndication arena and have surveyed numerous brokers in joint studies to identify problems with the current model. While most brokers would agree that their control has diminished these days, a new technology solution is on the horizon to help broker’s regain control of their listing data. We are advocates for this new system. To start the introduction of this solution, we must first identify the problem:

Listing syndication has run rampant and with so many publishers out there, it is virtually impossible for a broker to stay on top of all the sources. Terms of use is another area that is virtually impossible to monitor and stay on top of a changing environment. You may think you’re sending your listings to one web site that you really want your listings on, but due to their terms of use you are actually sending to, in some cases, a couple hundred additional sites where data accuracy may not be of utmost importance. This is causing a problem when the data becomes outdated or posted inaccurately.

The good versus the bad: With so many online publishers and all of them operating differently, how can a broker possibly know all of the defining characteristics and business practices of each publisher? For example which publishers send you traffic, which post listing agent data, which post listing agent data above "preferred agents," and which offer you search engine optimization value and which take all of it for themselves? This list can go on and for a broker this can be overload.

At REAL Trends, we attempt to listen to and empower our broker audience and in a joint study published with Clareity Consulting in 2010, through a national study on this topic, identified these four areas for improvement many of which overlap with

1. Provide brokers more insight and control;
2. Enhance MLS security and control over where the listings were syndicated;
3. Enforce syndication integrity and accuracy;
4. Ensure the information wasn’t used to sell leads back to brokers.

Enter SAFE Syndication Proposed Solution from Clareity Security

SAFE Syndication is a technology solution that addresses most of the major concerns and the growing problems that have been identified above. Clareity Security’s SAFE Syndication solution includes an integration partnership with ListHub making it simpler for brokers to benefit from additional reporting on the sites they syndicate listings to. SAFE Syndication delivers value to brokers by offering:

• Improved data accuracy which improves REALTOR brand and image
• Consolidated reporting and compliance management as it relates to data display rules and syndication agreements.
• A publisher report card which can be integrated with ListHub data that measures the listing portals/publishers on criteria defined by the Broker (such as the Clareity Bill of Rights).

How SAFE Syndication Works

The SAFE Syndication system is essentially a solution that allows brokers or franchises to better monitor the portals or publishers that they syndicate their data to. Clareity has identified a bill of rights (see below) on behalf of real estate brokers that can be used to implement a scoring or rating system. Brokers can customize their own criteria as well and use this ranking system to determine who is using your data in a manner most advantageous to you and your own interests. Using an objective set of criteria to measure publishers and portals allows brokerage leaders to make better informed decisions for their business and thus increases the quality control that is a must in our industry. This scoring system will also bring some of the power and leverage back to the brokers in negotiating their terms of use for sites they syndicate to.

SAFE Syndication also makes auditing and complaint tracking and resolution simpler which ensures the utmost data accuracy for your listings. Listing accuracy is a growing problem as many brokers don’t fully understand the implications or in many cases the number of "other" syndicators that are using their data. From personal experience in my recent home search, I used several listing syndicators to identify homes I wanted to see with my REALTOR. In multiple circumstances I sent lists of 10+ properties to my REALTOR only to be discouraged that less than half of the listings were current! This created a frustrated consumer and an inefficient waste of valuable time for my REALTOR.

The SAFE Syndication tool offers easy access to data that helps brokers better monitor their listing syndication agreements and measure how publishers and portals are performing against the criteria established by the broker. It will become a one stop destination for empowering and informing a broker in the ultimate goal of regaining the control of listing data.

The Future of Your Data

In the next two months, SAFE Syndication will be launching and beta testing with several brokers. Clareity Security has your best interest in mind, it is a great idea to stay on top of this and if you are interested in becoming a beta tester or would like to get more information regarding SAFE Syndication by Clareity Security feel free to contact Travis Saxton at 303-741-1000 or tsaxton@realtrends.com. As always REAL Trends will continue to monitor and stay on top of the cutting edge trends that impact the residential brokerage industry. We will update this story as more information and the launch of SAFE syndication is complete.

Syndication Bill of Rights

With permission from Clareity Consulting It’s time for the industry to crystallize what it expects from publishers and communicate it! One approach would be to define a set of rules which would demand free carriage of brokers’ listings and free lead-generation. While appealing, such an approach is unrealistic.

Running a national real estate portal and attracting a sizeable audience is costly. Other industries operate under a "pay-to-play" classified model. In the apartments segment (Rent.com, Apartments. com, etc.), automobiles segment (cars.com, autotrader.com), and recruitment (Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, HotJobs.com), paid inclusion is the norm. If the content provider doesn’t pay, the listing doesn’t appear. In the residential resale real estate space, the NAR-REALTOR.com model of a "free basic listing", established in 1996, set the standard. In real estate, sites display listings for free, but then are required to come up with a monetization plan.

Clareity believes that the appropriate goal is not to eliminate publisher revenues, but rather to establish rules that are fair and adequately protect the rights of the content owner while allowing the publishers to operate a business with reasonable returns. So, here’s a draft of a Syndication Bill of Rights focusing primarily on the content owner – the broker, and partially on the MLS syndicating on their behalf:

Clareity Bill of Rights for Listing Syndication

1. The publisher will display the listing firm contact information, including phone number, in a prominent location on the listing detail page at no cost.
2. The publisher will provide a prominent link to the broker, agent, and/or MLS website, home page or property detail page if provided, and will not use "nofollow" tags that negatively affect the SEO benefit of such links.
3. If the publisher displays non-listing agent/firm information, then: (a) the full contact information for the listing agent/firm must be displayed at no charge, and these parties must be clearly identified as the listing agent/firm; (b) the listing/agent firm information must be displayed more prominently than the third-party agent/firm information; and (c) the site must not send leads to third party agents or firms if the consumer has not selected them as a contact recipient, and non-listing agents and firms will not be the default (pre-selected) choice for consumer contact.
4. The publisher has a process for ensuring data accuracy with the data provider(s); ensuring data is updated or removed as appropriate, at least every three days.
5. The publisher displays the date the listing data was last confirmed and updated, and the name of the data provider.
6. The publisher respects the intellectual property of brokers and MLSs. The terms and conditions do not require brokers and MLSs to give up rights (beyond display rights) or to grant rights in perpetuity. The terms and conditions allow the listings to be used only for the explicit purpose for which they were provided. An accuracy disclaimer and copyright notice is displayed, attributing the copyright holder of the information. The publisher must obtain explicit consent from the data provider for any other uses or derivative works.
7. The publisher does not re-syndicate, sub-license, power, or display listings on other websites without informing the data provider and obtaining their consent.
8. The publisher will provide aggregate statistics regarding traffic, at no cost, to the data provider.
9. The publisher provides reasonable mechanisms for preventing screen scraping and misuse of the listing data, understanding that some listing information must be exposed to search engines.
10. The publisher does not re-syndicate to or "power" sites that fail to uphold the previously described rights.