Virtually Everything You Need to Know about VOWs

There are so many things going on it’s hard to know where to begin. I want you to understand Virtual Office Websites, so I guess I’ll start there. I must warn you, though, I’m not feeling particularly funny. I’m sure that won’t keep you from laughing, though, because I never feel particularly funny and yet every time I leave a room people just bust out laughing. Being the paranoid person I am, I do occasionally check to be sure that I don’t have a note stuck to my back (or back end). 

By now you’ve probably read one or two emails about Virtual Office Websites, or VOWs. There are lots of things to understand, but, since even the concept has proved challenging to relay, I’m going to skip most of them. Frankly, I don’t really understand them either.  I’ve already tried closing my eyes and wishing them to disappear, but they’re still here. So, as I typically do when I don’t understand something I am forced to explain, I’m going to talk in circles and make stuff up (I just wanted you to be prepared).

What is a Virtual Office Website? I think we all understand the concept of an office, and most of us understand the concept of a website, so let’s focus on the other word, “virtual.” “Virtual” is an interesting word. I looked at several definitions, and rather than list them all, I’ll sum them up for you. When something is virtual, it doesn’t really exist. Thus when I say “virtually everyone agrees with me,” I actually mean that nobody agrees with me. 

So, put them all together and you get a Virtual Office Website… a website for an office that doesn’t exist. (I must tell you that Susan is reading over my shoulder and is “tisk, tisking” me. I think she prefers a definition of virtual that means that it only exists on a computer. Unfortunately, she’s probably right. So, if you take her view, then a VOW is a website for an office that only exists on a computer. My concept is much more fun, but hers will work better for our discussion, so we’ll use it in virtually all of our discussion).

“Why would someone only want to have an office on a computer,” I hear you ask. An excellent question, but an irrelevant one. Why would anyone want to be a Realtor? But, that’s irrelevant too, no matter how many times you’ve asked yourself that question over the last eighteen months. You’re a Realtor, and, in the same way, there are brokers who might want to have an office that only exists on the Internet. If you keep asking irrelevant questions, I must warn you that this dissertation could become quite long.

All right, so we now have a definition of a Virtual Office Website. Now let’s talk about what it means in practical terms. Say I’m a broker who wants to offer brokerage services over the Internet. I don’t just want to have a list of available properties on my website for visitors to peruse before they return to their Google search, I want it to be a “real” office. One where you walk in the door, you’re greeted by someone, you sit down, have a cup of coffee, discuss market conditions, see how much your home is really worth, tell your six-year-old that she may only have one more tootsie-pop from the jar… everything that happens in a real office. In order for me to do that, though, I will need more than just the active listings available through Internet Data Exchange (IDX). I will need all of the listings (I will also need a virtual gumball machine; the kind that you pay twice as much as it ought to use because the first gumball shoots out without warning and rolls under the counter).

So let’s look at this in more detail. I have an “office.” In the window, I’ll display a few active listings that are available in the area. Actually, because I have a big window, I’ll have enough room to display all of the active listings available in the area. I can do this on my website through IDX. Anyone who passes by can see the available listings, but I won’t know who the person is. If a passerby calls me up later and mentions that he or she saw such-and-such a property, great! But if he doesn’t, I may never know anything about him.

But… if the person opens the door and walks in, then I’ll get a chance to learn more about him before I show him property. I’ll want to know his name, address, phone number, driver’s license number, social security number, birthday, neck size, color preference, pets’ names… anything I can get to better help him find a home. And on the Internet, this is where VOW kicks in. 

Before I can show him anything through my Virtual Office Website, this visitor-turned-customer will need to register on my site. Once he does that, and once I verify that he at least gave me a valid email address, then I can offer brokerage services such as CMAs, BPOs, PDQs… all of the letters of the alphabet and then some. That’s a Virtual Office Website, and in order to be successful using that type of business model, I need to have access to the same information that other brokers use – the full MLS database.

“Why would anyone try to sell real estate that way… it’s silly… you don’t even meet them face to face… I don’t think they should be allowed to do business that way…” Okay, you were doing okay until that last statement. It might be silly, it might not be as effective as the way you sell real estate, but the government tends to think that trying to control how a person conducts his or her own business isn’t really very nice. In fact, it’s called restraint of trade (or something) and I believe it’s illegal. 

“Don’t my sellers have a right to say where their listings go on the Internet?” Yes and no. Yes, your sellers may choose not to have the listing display on the Internet at all, but if it’s anywhere on the Internet then a broker has the right to display it on his Virtual Office Website. 

There are actually four ways a seller may control his or her listing as it pertains to VOWs. First, the seller may choose not to have the listing displayed anywhere on the Internet. In the MLS, the listing agent would choose “none” under the “Put on Internet” list. A seller may choose whether or not to allow the property address to be displayed on the Internet. This is a Yes/No selection below the “Put on Internet” list that currently says “Display Address on Public Sites” (clearly this language will need to be changed since it now pertains to private, Virtual Office Websites as well as public sites).

In addition, a seller may choose whether an estimate of his property’s market value may be included with the property information (or in a link from the property information) on a VOW. Also, a seller may choose to prohibit VOWs from including a way for people to comment on his listing. To facilitate this ability, FAR has redesigned its listing agreements to include a seller’s choice for each of these situations. More information on the form changes is available here. In the MLS, fields will be added to accommodate these last two choices.

“So, what if I want to have a Virtual Office Website?” If you want one, then we’ll arrange to provide a feed to you or your Affiliated VOW Partner (which, of course, we call “AVPs” because “vendor” or “website developer” doesn’t sound cool enough). Both you and your AVP (*sigh*) will need to sign a license agreement with the MLS, and there is a one-time $129 fee to set up the feed. There are also other restrictions and guidelines, so you will want to look at the VOW section of the MLS Rules. 

So, that’s all I can think of to tell you about Virtual Office Websites for now. If you have any questions, you may post them on the blog or email me. Regardless, you should really get on board with this VOW stuff; virtually everyone is doing it!