Feb. 19, 2010 - Today's RPR Offer

After the NAR meetings last November, I was asked by a client to sum up RPR "in a nutshell" - what it boils down to is they want you to give them the use of something valuable (MLS content) for something not so valuable. RPR has licensed some commonly available content, put together some good looking charts, and wants to trade that for the use of the most valuable data in our industry - MLS data - under a data license agreement that is an easy target for industry attorneys and others for how incomplete and loose the agreement is.

Many of the MLS executives I know are waiting to see whether the licensing terms get better - where RPR is tightly restricted to a few uses of the data and where what the MLS gets in return is much better defined in the contract. If and when the contract gets to that point, I'll  feel a lot better about RPR. I really do want them to succeed - Dale Ross and Marty Frame are awesome people and it really bums me out that they're probably not going to like this blog post - but the deal has to get a lot better before the majority of MLS executives, not to mention industry attorneys and business/management consultants such as myself, can get behind it.

Of course, the hot news hitting the streets now is that Move.com wants to offer something fairly similar - where in return for a data license (which I haven't seen the terms of yet) subscribers can search properties using a cool interface (though not better than most of the leading MLS system searches) and - déjà vu  - see it in the context of some shiny map layers, demographic, school and other readily available content. 

Will MLS vendors and local/regional operators play along with RPR and Move.com? Or will they just gather and license the inexpensive data direct from the sources so that their customers and subscribers can integrate it into the report packages already generated from the MLS?

I've already seen some interesting statistics from a recent survey my company performed of MLS executives, but I'll leave that for an official Clareity Consulting blog post. But consider this: We've already seen MarketLinx offer the statistical component with "Statistics Professional", Rapattoni re-licensing TrendGraphix statistics, other MLS vendors improving their own statistics offerings, and many MLSs going to third parties like 10K Research and Marketing to provide their own statistics offering. Also, many MLSs already know where to get and license AVMs, demographic, crime, school and other community-oriented data - they just haven't done the deals and integrated that content into the MLS because, at least in the past, that idea has gone over like a lead balloon with subscribers. Now that may be changing and if it really is - a fact that should be verified - I believe many MLS vendors and MLS executives will do what is needed to provide that value as a core part of their offering.

This is exciting stuff - at Clareity Consulting's sold out MLS Executive Workshop there will be a strong focus on the competitive landscape for the types of content previously mentioned in this post, and a lot of MLS clients have asked for my help in evaluating how they should respond to RPR and other such offerings, considering different content sources and how they might be integrated into the core MLS offering. One thing's for sure - being a real estate information geek never seems to get boring!

Feb. 19, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Excellent post~ can't wait to hear more at the conference in a couple of weeks!!! The Privacy Gurus are looking at it from the informational privacy, contractual side as well.

Feb. 19, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Well said Matt. I really think you hit all of the high points and concerns I have as an MLS Executive. What I don't understand is why NAR doesn't get it or even if they do why they aren't doing anything to improve on it. In this whole3-4 year process they have been and will continue to be their own worst enemy in my humble opinion...

Chris Carrillo

CRIS MLS

Feb. 19, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

RPR ... Epic Fail.

Feb. 19, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Great post,  I think you hit several nails on the head with it.

One item that I find interesting that often gets overlooked is that there is a point in which too much information is provided to the agents.  In our system we had demographic information, sex offender information, crime related information, etc.  Being parcel based we felt that anything that affects a property should easily accessible with a click.  However once we released all this information to our membership there was a big backlash.  When an MLS makes information easily accessible to an agent,  the agent is now required to disclose that information to their client.  Makes sense if your a client,  however if your an agent trying to sell a home to family in a neighborhood with high crime rates and sex offender living 2 doors down, playing dumb equates to an easier sale.  We found the majority of members would rather not deal with the liabilities and disclosures of having all that information forced upon them.  Further, demographic information sounds great initially until you start seeing how it can be used to steer sales.  I have an Asian client,  lets find them a home in an area largely populated by Asian family.  Its a can of worms that we opened and had to close fairly quickly.

So in that light,  the deal becomes even more lopsided as MLS's give data that can be used in a plethora of ways to generate revenue and the data they get back might not even be wanted and/or used by the MLS.  Cause once the MLS provides the data directly to the members your forcing them to disclose that to their clients.  Should they have all this information and disclose it?  My opinion would be yes,  however my paycheck doesn't come from trying to sell a house.

Feb. 20, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

@Bob - Thank you for the real world example of my 'lead balloon' reference - I had seen it before as well. There is not ony an issue with disclosure, but responsibility for innacuracies in that information - and disclaimers seemto only go so far.

Feb. 24, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

My question is who decided to spend $25,000,000  of members dues on a project without having signed contracts for the MLS feeds?

Jul. 24, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Intersting information... I'm not exactly up to snuff on realestate terminology though so I'm finding myself a bit lost...

Jul. 25, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Very Interesting... I'm in Canada in Calgary Alberta, and this hasn't hit Canada yet from what I know of what your talking about with RPR... Great site... enjoying it!

Jul. 26, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Seems to me that MLS data is the strongest asset that NAR owns. If they start to let that information out of their grasp, it's a slippery slope down to where that information becomes commoditized and listing agents value drops significantly.

Jul. 26, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Seems to me that if NAR lets their grip slip on MLS data, it's only a matter of time before that information becomes commoditized and agents ability to charge for and control it is over.

Jul. 26, 2010 - RE: Today's RPR Offer

Thanks,

I would have to agree with Lease Option Investor.  NAR should keep a tight grip on their MLS data.  The more people that have access to the MLS, without having to pay for it, could be a real pain in the wallet.  Especially for agents.

DP