May. 11, 2007 - MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution
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The following is a high-level overview of a session from Clareity Consulting's 2007 MLS Executive Workshop. Every year the Clareity's Workshop provides fresh, in-depth updates on the most pressing issues facing MLS executives and leaders and creates an intimate environment for participants to share their knowledge and experience with each other. You can check the dates and/or register for next year's event on the Clareity Consulting web site – www.callclareity.com
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Listings and other real estate content were at one time jealously guarded by brokers, and in turn by the MLS – especially when it came to putting that content on the Internet. Though MLS public web sites are still controversial in some corners, the recent trend has been toward wider distribution of such content and the question of day is no longer "Should my listings be available on multiple Internet sites?" and is more commonly, "Where should I send the listings?" There have been two trends contributing to the current environment: the first trend is the market slow down which has increased pressure on brokers and agents to facilitate greater marketing exposure for properties and the second trend is a part of wider culture, the "Web 2.0" trend of "syndication".
In the "Web 1.0" world, companies wanted all consumers to visit their site and stay as long as possible. In the "Web 2.0" world, the trend is to make content available to other sites or have customized information delivered directly to individual site subscribers. The most common mechanism for this is called "RSS", which stands for Really Simple Syndication.
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So, what we have traditionally referred to as listing distribution could also be referred to as content syndication. Such syndication may benefits all parties. Today, consumers must typically visit multiple sites to see all the listings for their area: Realtor.com/Move.com, Yahoo!, craigslist, Google, NewHome Source, FSBO.com, Trulia, remax.com, coldwellbanker.com and numerous other sites. When listings are fully syndicated, consumers may not need to visit multiple sites. For the broker or agent, syndication drives listing exposure across numerous online platforms - generating new traffic and content exposure — making syndication a free and easy form of advertisement.
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Between the continued growth of listing content syndication and the evolution of data standards such as RETS (the Real Estate Transaction Standard), the MLS may have an evolving role to fill in the collection of data and its syndication. First, RETS 2.0 will make it more feasible for real estate professionals to manage their listings in a number of systems and have those changes syndicated. This may mean that an agent enters and manages a listing in the MLS and has it syndicated to the broker back-office system, other systems they use, and web sites – much as it is today – but it could also mean that the agent can manage listings directly into the broker system and have syndicated to the MLS and other systems. Managing that syndication may become a core function of the MLS and other real estate software. This scenario is illustrated below:
While it is clearly up to brokers to determine where their listings are advertised, as an industry it is in our best interest to encourage balancing the benefits of content distribution with the interests of those that have worked to create the content as well as providing appropriate levels of information security and consumer privacy.
While some MLSs have started dealing with their information security responsibilities, in terms of MLS system authentication and the hacking threat, less attention has been paid to listing distribution. Some say, "This is information already out there on the Internet – its 'public' information. We don't publish the consumer's name or phone number. So what's the big deal?" If a consumer provides information to an agent for the purpose of selling their home and, due to uncontrolled distribution or inadequate information security practices, the consumer is immediately overrun with telephone, mail or email marketing from real estate related services it could lead to backlash and damage the trust in the real estate professional. It's all too easy to scrape the content off of most MLS web sites, and combining that information in a "mash up" with even the most basic reverse telephone directory creates a consumer privacy issue. If industry critics like Dave Barry have their way and open up access to the MLS, we will surely have other attorneys attacking the industry for that breach of consumer privacy.
As the scope of content syndication continues to expand it will be important for MLSs, brokers and others that may distribute content to implement next generation data distribution policies – addressing the security of everything from data exports created directly from the MLS to RETS feeds and other content distribution mechanisms. Such policies must:
- establish common practices used to evaluate and establish third party relationships
- establish conditions on those relationships and responsibilities within them
- determine the data that may be accessed
- describe how that data may be securely transmitted and stored
- enumerate numerous other detailed steps needed to provide appropriate information security for the content to which third parties, are entrusted.
While providing information security assessments to MLSs and brokers, Clareity has found that such policies are rarely thoroughly defined or implemented. Clareity has worked with a number of clients to adopt and implement more robust listing distribution policies, integrate these policies into appropriate contracts, educate staff and members and third parties on those policies, and implement pro-active controls as well as means for monitoring and enforcement. There are hundreds of details to attend to in such a policy, and it is rare that Clareity finds a policy that is better than 'fair' during an assessment. Ask yourself, "Does my policy cover secure coding practices to ensure listings can't be scraped off member or MLS/IDX vendor web sites? For the secure transfer of information using encrypted protocols? For the encrypted storage of information, in databases and on backups? For security compliance monitoring mechanisms?" Again, there are scores of detailed questions to be asked, and which need be addressed in a comprehensive policy.
The current trend toward increasing listing content syndication is going to create new roles for the MLS and new challenges for our industry. Finding a balance of giving the consumers access to the information they desire and protecting broker rights, industry interests and consumer privacy will be very important, and Clareity encourages its clients to take security of data distribution to the next level through policy, agreements, MLS rules, education, implementation, monitoring, and enforcement so they are prepared for the future of listing content syndication.
About the author:
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Matt Cohen is Clareity Consulting's Chief Technologist. Matt has spoken at many conferences, workshops and leadership retreats around the country on a wide variety of MLS-related topics, and is a well-regarded real estate industry expert on software design, product management, project management, data center reliability, scalability, and information security. Clareity Consulting was founded in 1996 to provide information technology consulting to the real estate industry and its related businesses. For more information, visit www.callclareity.com
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Comments (11) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link
View more entries tagged with: Mls, Web 20, Syndication, Security
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May. 13, 2007 - re: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by William Johnson |
Superb discussion Matt. I used to remind our people at Sandicor, be careful what you wish for. That realization has now come to pass and we are currently headed in the direction for more serious change. This time though, brokers will not be able to slide along as though they have no involvement. Either they learn and get with deciding the direction or they will be outside the loop and others will make that determination for them.
It is not that they don't care, they are simply not equipped to intellectually make the best decisions for themselves. Technology moves at a pace not easily absorbed if they try to handle this alone. Most agents involved with the MLS's are also technology challenged. What do you see as a possible answer to the real problem of most of those involved are not getting it? |
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May. 13, 2007 - re: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Matt Cohen |
William,
Thank you so much for your comments.
To answer your question, MLS leaders may need to facilitate that dialog and engage brokers in in-depth and ongoing discussions of these issues. I hope this article, along with many of the other voices in our industry discussing possible futures for the MLS, helps inform and enrich that discussion.
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May. 23, 2007 - re: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Ryan Bonham |
Matt,
You said one thing you check for is that MLS policies cover, "secure coding practices to ensure listings can't be scraped off member or MLS/IDX vendor web sites". How are you suggesting that the MLS tell there members to prevent screen scrapping? |
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May. 23, 2007 - re: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Linda Christianson |
| This is my first time at posting so please excuse if not completely correct. I am the President Elect of our local Board and we have been approached by our local newspaper to give them the feed from our MLS date and they will put it on their site free of charge. Has anyone had experience with this and what are your thoughts? thanks |
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May. 24, 2007 - re: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Matt Cohen |
Ryan - Yes, I am suggesting that reasonable standards for protecting the listings be put in place and that this should be mandatory for the aggregated listings as displayed via IDX/ILD.
Linda - it is most important that appropriate agreements be put in place to protect member interests regarding the use of the listings. NAR has done a wonderful job publishing resources that can be brought to bear (call Laurie Janik at NAR if you need help getting started). Note that none of those resources available through NAR get into secure coding practices or most of the other issues raised in the article above - but they provide a good starting point. |
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May. 25, 2007 - re: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Jeff Brush |
| Great write up. Very forward thinking. Have you considered attending the RETS meetings? The next one is in Chicago - Aug 1-3. |
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May. 30, 2007 - re: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Matt Cohen |
| Thanks Jeff! I sometimes make it to the meetings but either way my company always sends at least two people, usually developers. My colleague Gregg Larson just got voted to lead the RETS marketing effort, so he'll be at a lot of the meetings as well. Someone has to mind the office, and that's usually me :-) |
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Oct. 8, 2007 - RE: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by cw |
| Standards make no difference if certain MLS's don't abide by them. There are so many implementations of RETS which are incorrect. All I ever hear from RETS working group is - 'wait for RETS 2.0'. Why? How will it be any different? |
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Dec. 27, 2007 - RE: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Breckenridge Realtor |
| It looks like, from you article, that data will be distributed directly by a central database and we are going to lose the ability to customize property searches and lose the ability to omit certain properties from search result. |
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Mar. 25, 2008 - RE: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by joel webb |
| Great article Matt. Syndication should always be free. That is what drives the real estate market to drive to better technology. As a geek from a real estate syndication website http://www.PropBot.com we know that it only drives better searching capabilites.
To add your free bulk syndication to PropBot.com, see:
http://www.propbot.com/addYourProperties.php |
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May. 9, 2008 - RE: MLS and the Future of Listing Distribution |
| Posted by Matt Cohen |
| Breckenridge Realtor - syndication does not have an impact on the searches done in your MLS system, nor does it necessarily dictate what content is sent to other sites and applications and how that content would be searched on those sites. |
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Matt Cohen is Clareity Consulting's Chief Technologist. Matt consults to MLSs, Associations, brokerages, and many real estate industry software companies and has spoken at conferences, workshops and leadership retreats around the country on a wide variety of MLS-related topics. Matt is a well-regarded real estate industry expert on industry trends, software design, product management, project management, and information security. Clareity Consulting was founded in 1996 to provide information technology consulting to the real estate industry and its related businesses.
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