I am going to do my best to address one of the most asked questions:

What is the difference between a Syndication Dashboard and Point2 Agent?

The answer? It’s simple.

I’m not going to go into grave detail, but I’ll give you a quick lowdown.

Syndication Dashboard

If your MLS has signed up for Syndication with Point2, you will receive an invitation for a Syndication Dashboard. You’re not obligated to use it, but let me tell you – if you don’t, you’re missing out on some of the best exposure for your listings. Your listings are sent to us via a data feed from your MLS and distributed through the largest Syndication network on the planet. Meaning, they are being placed on some of the highest trafficked real estate search websites. Most importantly they are reaching the eyes of your potential buyers.  And what’s more – it’s totally FREE.

No, we do not have any control over your listing, nor do we own it. Your listing is your listing. All we do is deliver it for you. Think of us as a big tourist bus, giving you a free ride and stopping by some of the hottest attractions.  And if for whatever reason you don’t want to syndicate your listings (which would be kind of crazy, don’t you think?!), well – it’s your listing, you have control, and you can opt out. 

But what if Syndication isn’t enough? What if you want more? What if you want a complete website to accompany your listings online? What if you want to see exactly who your prospects are, what they are looking for, and how they found you? Wouldn’t it be nice to pinpoint your customer’s wants, and easily and affectively send them targeting messaging based on those wants?

Point2 Agent

That’s where Point2 Agent comes into play. Not only do you get the syndication, but you get a ton of tools to build that presence right were consumers are spending the majority of their time – online.  While the Syndication Dashboard gives you access to some very basic reports – it’s nothing like the detailed reports you receive about your prospects and more through a Point2 Agent Account.  Not only that, but if your MLS has signed up with Point2, your listings are imported directly into your Point2 Agent account – meaning you can spend more time with your clients, and less time adding listings to your account.

A Point2 Agent account starts at $19.99 per month and you get to try it out for 3 months free. We don’t ask for a credit card until you’ve completed your trial, there are no obligations, and we’re not really into contracts – meaning, you can cancel at anytime on the monthly plan. If you’ve received a Syndication Dashboard from your MLS, you can upgrade to a Point2 Agent account at anytime.  A Point2 Agent Account has 3 levels of membership – each one with even more features available.  You can see them right here.

I didn’t go into the entire comparison of features, because I would be here all day – and so would you (and you have real estate to sell!).

Want to know more?  Just click right here to download a handy little comparison chart.

I hope this answers some of your questions.  And, well, if it didn’t…give me some credit – it’s Monday morning, and I got a little too much sun on the weekend!

Sometimes we forget to realize that we stare at this stuff all day, every day.  So, naturally we think it’s pretty simple.  But for anyone that is seeing their Syndication Dashboard or Point2 Agent account for the very first time – it can be overwhelming, this I know (remember…I’m the one still struggling to use something as easy as Twitter!).  We’re working on simplifying things over here, and any of your questions can always be addressed by our Customer Care Team.  I can tell you – they are a lot more alert than I am on a Monday!

Have a great week!

Have you ever been interviewed by the press, then read the article and wonder how the writer got the message they wrote about instead of the message you were intending to convey?

If you haven’t, take my word for it (someone who has been interviewed by the press multiple hundreds of times over the years), this sort of thing is not an infrequent occurrence.  An interview can sometimes last 30 to 45 minutes, and what might appear in the article are a few quotes from you and the assumptions and summation by the author of the article. So, the quotes are part of a larger conversation, a larger context, and quotes out of context can be misinterpreted, and sometimes worse, misleading. I am always reminded of the words of Jesse Jackson in this case…”Text without context is pretext.”

Many of you in Canada may have read the article about listing syndication in The Globe And Mail on May 19. The author and I had a very nice conversation of about 30 minutes in duration, and from that, I am quoted twice in the article.

The writer stated:

Only a small amount of search traffic ends up at the industry’s official portal, he says, and everyone else ends up on sites such as Craigslist or Kajiji [sic]. By pushing one feed to every site that wants to advertise listings, Web traffic is ultimately heading back toward the real estate agents.

Not exactly. What I said was that the industry was fractured and according to HitWise .com, the US real estate industry portal, REALTOR.com, as dominant as it is, receives only 6% to 7% of the total real estate website traffic. I surmised that even in Canada, people look for real estate on sites other than REALTOR.ca, which it turns out, according to Hitwise, to garner about 30% of the real estate website traffic. Where does the other 70% go? Wouldn’t you want your listings displayed on those sites as well? I have been a broker for over 30 years and my answer would be “absolutely”. If you feel differently, don’t syndicate your listings. You have that choice. I think not doing so is shortsighted. That’s just my opinion of course.

I went on to say that because of the convenience of the Internet, people often look at real estate, whether they are in the market or not. Searching for real estate on the web has become a recreational sport, lots of people do so and I would want my listing to draw as much attention to my name (my brand), as possible, whether the viewer is in the market today or not. The secret to success in marketing is repetition. A listing is a marketing asset and the value brokers and agents receive for their work on a listing can and should go beyond just the commission earned.

The writer then quotes me as saying:

“We think it’s about getting the information out there to as many places as possible and letting people find it,” Mr. Klein said.

I did say that and I believe it. There is a buyer for everything somewhere in the world; you just have to reach them. If you have not read The Long Tail by Chris Andersen, I highly recommend it.

The writer then said:

Competitors such as Point2 are emboldened by organized real estate’s battle with the federal Competition Commissioner, who is taking CREA to a tribunal because it believes the association prevents new companies from setting up alternate services.

An unfortunate choice of words. Point2 in fact, believes in the benefits of organized real estate and MLSs and has partnered with over 100 Associations and MLSs in North America to bring them and their members this service. We are partners, not competitors. As I mentioned, I am a broker. I was president of one of the largest REALTOR® Associations in California, I was a member of the California Association of REALTORS Board of Directors for 20 years and I wrote extensively on the antitrust case in the US a few years back, defending the industry and our brokers and agents.

Based on things I have read and discussed lately on the Competition Bureau agenda, I believe that the government is out of touch with reality. An MLS is a B2B network, not a consumer network. Consumers have lots of other ways, besides talking to a realtor, to find available property for sale. The alternate services issue is always confusing to me when stated by the government. The government sets up license law to ensure that consumers are protected, to ensure that the relationship between broker and principal is a fiduciary relationship…and then the government attempts to remove the obligations of a broker who enters a listing into a B2B network to act as a fiduciary…this to me is a contradiction, all in the name of “new businesses and new competition.”

The writer then states:

…Mr. Klein said the debate stirred by the case has made it easier to expand his business and sign up new partners for his service.

I do believe that syndication takes some of the wind out of the government’s sails. The best example that brokers do not “hoard” the data is the fact that they themselves place listing information in many places to be found by consumers. Syndication thwarts the “hoarding” argument. Yes, I said that for some of those who fear the actions of the government over listing data, syndication can be seen as a defense and so the conversation to convince someone that syndication of listings is in the best interest of their business and their customers.

I am then quoted:

“MLS is still going to be important because it provides governance and policing and that’s what makes its information valuable,” Mr. Klein said. “We just think realtors should give people more access to data – we know that distribution is more important than any one single website when people are looking for real estate.”

I believe MLS is very important. I also believe that MLS must use the strength it has today to position itself in the future. For more on my thoughts about the future of MLS, go to: http://MLSofTheFuture.com

Watch a video of Saul Klein and local Saskatoon real estate broker Norm Fisher discuss issues facing the Canadian real estate industry.  The Globe And Mail article is addressed.

HomeFinder.com is home to over 3.2 million listings and nearly a million page views each day – it’s no doubt that this property portal is one of the top spots to showcase your listing.  It really is the one-stop-shop for everything real estate.

Just what are a few of the features HomeFinder.com offers?  HomeFinder.com provides just about everything and more for perspective buyers and sellers.  Searching is made simple…buyers able to effortlessly search Homes for Sale and Foreclosures.  Do you have an Open House coming up?  Buyers are even able to search Open Houses in their area.

How about questions about mortgages?  Everything is in one spot…from mortgage calculators to tips and everything real estate seekers need to know about financing.  HomeFinder.com even provides all you need to know about moving – from planning, calculating costs and packing tips.  And let’s not forget the iPhone app! It’s just one more way that makes it easier for prospects to find your listing.

If your listing isn’t on HomeFinder.com, you’re missing out.  Use Point2’s syndication network to place your listing in front of property seekers everywhere – and help your customers find a home that much easier!

We embarked on our journey on March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day.  Being Irish on my Mother’s side, St. Patty’s Day is always a fun day for me…although I was in the minority among my fellow travellers.  There was a suspicious lack of green and “Erin Go Bragh”‘s around us, although one fellow traveller indicated that he had grown his leprechaun-like beard for us.  Now that’s the spirit!

That night, MARIS had a meet-and-greet for the vendors in attendance, which provided a great opportunity to meet everyone else, as the tradeshow the next day was incredibly busy.  Plus, it is always interesting to meet people outside of the working environment and learn more about where they are from, their kids, and their life experiences.  We had several parents, some surfers, and some serious shoppers in our midst!

Thursday brought the Vendor Fair.  Point2 had a booth where we met with members of the Point2 community, answered questions about Syndication Dashboards and websites, learned about the local real estate markets and agents, and provided Syndication Graphic hand-outs.  A number of agents indicated that they use this graphic as part of their listing presentation with buyers and sellers to explain the advertising benefits they receive through MARIS and Point2, as well as how they are working to market their listings.  One agent even indicated that she prints off small copies of the graphic and adheres it to her business cards.  Great idea!

Besides having the booth, we also offered two education sessions throughout the day.  If you think I get excited over talking about the Syndication Dashboard in my online Education Session, you can imagine the smile on my face while doing it live!  We had a great turn-out, so thanks to everyone who attended with their questions.

Attendees were able to free-flow though the vendor booths, two presentation rooms, and enter their names in the draws for giveaways and prizes.  Our booth prize was a gorgeous Bulova watch (Roseanne has great taste), which was won by Patti.  Congratulations again!

Kudos to Paul, Katie, and everyone else at MARIS for putting together a very well-organized, informative, and fun event.  Your efforts and attention to detail were apparent & greatly appreciated by all!

After the Vendor Fair, Roseanne and I bid adieu to Katie and headed out to see St. Louis a bit.  First stop: Busch Stadium to pick up a hat for a coworker.  I’m a hockey girl, but seeing the sheer size and importance of the Stadium made me realize that maybe I should diversify my sports interests.

The Gateway Arch loomed in the distance and we were pretty excited to see it after reading about it online prior to starting the trip.  Words and pictures do not convey how large the Arch is, so if you ever get a chance to go to St. Louis, I encourage you to check it out!  Unfortunately we were there too late to go inside, but we were told it has an elevator and you can ride to the top.  Can you imagine the view?

Having read Mark Twain’s stories about Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, it was also pretty exciting to not only see the Mississippi, but also to dip my feet in it.  What can I say?  I’m lame!

We flew home on Friday, and while it was a short trip, it was a good one.  We thoroughly enjoyed going to St. Louis and meeting the employees and members of MARIS.  We’ll be back!

With our syndication and re-syndication network covering nearly 40 different websites and some 300 news media websites, we are constantly involved in what’s happening in the world of listing data standards.

That’s why we strive to actively participate in the RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard) research community.  We enjoy attending and joining in on RETS workgroups and discussions at annual RETS meetings.

This year we are pleased to be able to attend the next round of RETS meetings and workgroups, starting with the first event in Chicago, on March 23-25th.

Three senior Point2 team members are heading off to Chicago to spend three days jam-packed with information, discussion, and collaboration where our very own Jay Pepper-Martens, recently elected to the RETS Syndication Workgroup Committee for 2010, will represent Point2 as the committee’s Vice Chair.

This is indicative of where technology is headed in general, no doubt.  Much of Twitter’s power, for example, and part of the reason for its explosive growth is its immediacy, because what constitutes ‘fresh’ news and what constitutes ‘old’ news is changing quite rapidly.

The news in the morning paper?  Whatever, that’s so totally, like, yesterday.

The same thing should be happening with listing syndication.

Point2 is a leader in the syndication of real estate listings, pulling listings in directly from your MLS (or directly from your Point2 Agent website where an MLS agreement is not yet in place).

We then send those listings out to over 40 high-traffic real estate marketplaces, and then send all of the clicks, views and leads back to our members.

We’re good at it.

But . . .

One thing that can always be improved upon in this arena is speed.  First, we collect listings from the MLS – but of course, some MLSs are only able to give us this data one per day.

Next, we perform transformer work with the inbound data, making it readable by our system, after which we do another transformation to make it readable by our syndication partners.

We’ve become quite fast at this step.

But . . .

Then, we send all of these listings, from cozy little fixer-uppers to rap star mansions replete with wall-to-wall bling, out to our network of syndication partners.  Of course this means another slight delay as we wait for them to perform the updates on their site.

As you can imagine, even though ours is one of the best, most efficient listing syndication systems in existence, there are still several delays in the chain.

And we don’t like it.

We’re a technology company, after all, with some of Canada’s brightest software developers – why can’t we go faster?

And what if we could go much faster?

What if it was a mere matter of minutes in between you as a REALTOR® entering a change into your MLS and that change appearing live on Trulia and a dozen (or a hundred) other marketplaces?

What if you could tell potential clients that, if they choose you as their listing agent, you can put their home in front of 10,000 homebuyers by sundown?

What if you could tell them that, if they choose you as their listing agent and price their home competitively, you would expect to have several inquiries for showings by noon tomorrow?

We think about this stuff a lot.  It’s not possible today, but it sure would be cool, wouldn’t it?