With data being packaged and accessed in new ways, options abound for users.

by Marty Kramer   They said local MLSs would go away. That there would be one national MLS. That consumers would have direct access to all the information.

Well, that didn’t happen–not yet, anyway. But new developments in MLS technology and services have been coming rapidly, opening up a host of possibilities for brokers and agents. MLS subscribers are finding new ways to do business, provide better service, and save time.

Putting the MLS at your fingertips
One of the biggest MLS developments is the ability to put information on handheld devices. Every major MLS provider either has or soon will introduce a way to download MLS information to handhelds.

VistaInfo has rolled out a free service to RE/Xplorer MLS users to enable them to download listings to their Palm III, V, or VII handhelds. After the initial setup of a small program on your desktop computer, information can be transferred to the handheld the next time you sync the Palm device. Listings are displayed in either a one-line report or a full screen with specific MLS details.

RISCO offers a similar free service (after an initial software purchase) to subscribers on its systems. In fact, the system was beta tested with agents from the Temple-Belton board. Bill Jones of Century 21 Accent was involved in the early stages of this product. "We were able to work with RISCO and a company called Pocket Real Estate to build a custom interface with the usage fields we wanted," he says. The information on the handheld includes about 40 popular MLS fields, with the opportunity for subscribers to include several of their own favorite fields. The data can be downloaded to any handheld running the Palm OS, and it also includes a mapping function that points to the location of a property.

Jones is not only thrilled with the application, but is proud that his association played a part in this technological advance. "It’s just delightful to be able to share some of the features our fellow REALTORS® in Austin, Dallas, and Houston enjoy," he says.

Another new product, the Supra eKey, is basically a shell that attaches to a Palm Vx handheld. In addition to receiving nightly downloads of MLS information directly to the handheld, the device doubles as a key for Supra lockboxes. Other functions include contact management software (Top Producer) and other standard handheld features like a date book and calculator.

The Houston Association of REALTORS® is one of the first in Texas to offer members the eKey. "Agents can download up to 6,000 listings nightly," says Shawn Dauphine, director of the HAR MLS. "They can view showing activity at their listings without having to be at the lockboxes. They can also program lockboxes directly with the eKey. And they can take a look at agent rosters, too."

Members of the Houston MLS who do not choose to buy or lease a Palm Vx in order to take advantage of this service must use Supra’s DisplayKey. This less expensive option does not share many of the advanced features of the eKey, but, like the eKey, does give an error code when lockbox access is denied. "For example, it will give you a code to tell you you were supposed to call before showing," says Dauphine.

Agents with the DisplayKey can still get showing activity on their listings by logging on to the Internet.

Going wireless
Internet-ready wireless phones offer another mobile solution. One such service is provided by Wireless Wisdom–through any provider’s wireless Internet service–to agents in the Austin, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. The company’s Mobile Realty product gives agents real-time access to their MLS information. The service costs $10 per month plus the charge for wireless Internet service.

"You can be sitting in front of a home and pull up the info on it," says Jim Harrison, CEO of North Texas Real Estate Information Systems (NTREIS), the MLS that serves 18 associations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He says early adopters in the Metroplex have begun using this service to view active listings and comps.

To the Web!
Like so many other types of information systems, more MLSs are choosing to use Web-based platforms instead of proprietary dial-in systems. Although Web-based MLSs don’t offer the kind of freedom made possible by PDAs and wireless phones, they do give agents access anywhere they can use an Internet connection. For example, an agent has the flexibility to log on to the Internet and access data from a client’s home.

Internet-based systems typically include improved looks and functionality, and e-mail is often better integrated for easier communication between agents and with clients.

The Greater Tyler Association of REALTORS® is planning to switch to a Web-based MLS (VistaInfo’s RE/Xplorer) later this month. As recently as last December, 22 members (out of about 450) still relied on printed books, spending $159 a month for MLS information. "I jokingly told some of the 22 to save the last book and frame it for their office, so they could have it for eternity," says Mary Lou Whitham, the association’s top executive. "The truth is, you have to move with the majority of your members."

The Internet-based system requires a lower up-front investment than upgrading to another proprietary-hardware system, which enables the association to provide subscribers extras. Whitham intends to give free software to subscribers who had purchased communications software for the old system. She is offering subscribers free hands-on training on everything from Internet basics to how to use the MLS itself. Whitham also says members are looking forward to the ability to download information into handhelds.

The TAR MLS targeted at rural and underserved areas of the state is also Web-based. This MLS Today system gives its users the ability to create customized flyers on properties, develop comparative market analyses, set up automated property searches with e-mail notification, upload photos and virtual tours–common features in most Web-based systems. MLS Today has also given subscribers the ability to download information to handheld devices and Internet phones.

Although NTREIS provides members with Internet-based service, more than half of the 13,000 subscribers still access the system through a private connection. Harrison hopes to change that. Getting the majority of members to use the Internet will improve connectivity, and, like Whitham, Harrison hopes to save money in order to apply it to other services.

Putting information on broker’s sites
Giving brokers the opportunity to post a public subset of MLS information on their own Web sites is another emerging MLS trend. Several MLSs in Texas are starting to offer variations of this service made possible by NAR’s Internet Data Display Policy and broker reciprocity agreements (see the November Texas REALTOR® for details).

Tim Harrison, vice president of systems and client services for RISCO (no relation to Jim Harrison of NTREIS), says that the most frequent request his company receives is to provide ways to get the data out of the MLS and onto broker’s sites. Jim Secord, business development director for Interealty.com, agrees. "The name of the game now is to collect the data and ensure its integrity, but also distribute it," he says. That goes for brokers’ sites as well as making the data available to third parties, so they can provide services like wireless access. NTREIS is a prime example of this kind of activity, having signed 15 affinity partnerships in the last six months. One of those agreements with GoHome will give subscribers the ability to frame MLS info on their own pages. Another partnership (with Vista Info’s e-risk.com) has given members the option of purchasing a disclosure report for a property, with details on environmental concerns, schools, natural disasters, power lines, and more. "It will even tell you the path of previous tornadoes," says Harrison.

To share or not to share?
When it comes to partnering as an NAR Gold Alliance member to share listings only with REALTOR.com, some MLSs, like NTREIS, are in, while others, like Houston, have opted out. Beth Gatlin, director of ACTRIS in Austin, says that they did not renew their agreement as a Gold Alliance member in order to keep the MLS’s options open. Sharing information with more and more entities does have a potential downside, though. Gatlin sees some problems developing as information is cast in an ever-widening circle–especially when agents spread their listings on sites all over the Web. "The farther away from the MLS system it gets, the less valuable it becomes," she says. She points to the fact that even though an agent may have listings on 10 sites, many of the sites have outdated information. "It wastes REALTORS®’ time, and it wastes consumers’ time," she says.

Making appointments easier
One MLS-related development designed to save REALTORS® time is appointment services. Centralized Showing Service, the largest of these operations in Texas, has been providing call-center service for four years to agents making showing appointments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The company has recently added the Houston and San Antonio markets.

Kevin Faherty, regional director for CSS, says they log more than 7,000 showings a day, using a propriety software program that enables agents to make a dozen appointments in less than three minutes. Agents can also log on to a Web site to view and print reports on showing activity.

Pam Poitevent, general sales manager for Coldwell Banker D’Ann Harper, REALTORS® in San Antonio, says that agents love the service. "When they are on opportunity (or duty) time, they are actually servicing clients, not setting appointments." Poitevent says agents can use the online showing reports to find out if the homeowner is being cooperative. They also can point out to owners that a large number of showings without an offer might suggest adjusting the price or addressing another issue. Poitevent believes the service is valuable enough to use as a recruiting tool.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has seen another company, ehomeshowings, enter this arena. Although the majority of its customers use the telephone to make appointments, ehomeshowings also offers an online interface for making appointments. Brian Lillard, company president, hopes more agents will take advantage of his company’s service on the Internet. Regardless of how an agent makes an appointment, information is then e-mailed to the listing agent and the homeowner.

Agents who subscribe to the service choose ehomeshowings in the NTREIS call field, and the information is automatically transferred through ehomeshowings hourly updates. Agents can edit information whenever they want.

In addition to time savings, Lillard says agents can get showing activity reports, download maps to properties, give and receive feedback about properties, and soon will be able to create statistical reports to compare showing activity for all listings in defined geographical areas.

What’s next?
On the horizon, look for more integration between MLSs and transaction platforms. Another hot area will be going a step beyond contact management to include lead management in the MLS software.

"The MLS is the only software a REALTOR® has to log into on a daily basis," says Interealty.com’s Secord. His company is working in conjunction with HomeAdvisor to develop a product called MLXchange that will record a consumer’s interest in a particular property when browsing a Web site, let the agent know about it, and give the agent options in providing additional information to the prospect. Secord says that the product is scheduled for rollout in June.

VistaInfo is also planning a communications component in RE/Xplorer 2, due out later this year. According to Rebecca Svatek, RE/Xplorer products manager, an agent will be able to set up a Web page where the client and agent can discuss properties, view and compare schedules, and manage additional aspects of their relationship.

MLS offerings will continue to evolve, bringing new information to subscribers and delivering existing information in new ways. Keep your Internet connection open and your wireless phone battery charged.

Photo illustration: Joel Mathews; images by Corbis Images and Eyewire.

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