Sorry to make my first post so bold but I've been at the visual design business for almost 7 years starting out in print publishing and then web design and it frustrates me to see how arrogant MLS's are in this nation.

Has anyone ever considered suing their MLS provider for providing gestopal level support and services? Honestly? I mean many of the MLS's I deal with are not "SERVICE" providers at all but "DICTATORS" bold enough to humble Sadam.

RETS at one point was thought to be the new mandate (MANDATE) for MLS's around the nation yet only 1 in 5 that I have personally dealt with even implement it.

IDX which is not specific to Real Estate is a age old technology that works quite well and yet again, MLS providers seem reluctant to provide it by and large. In fact after looking through all the real estate sites I've done while doing a client archive on my new 300GB hard drive, I noticed that only one in 4 had any kind of MLS or IDX indicators in front of them. I tend to lable my items in my archive in zips such as this. idx_garytaborrealty.zip or rets_condronproperties.zip.

So I ask this question only because I'm half humored at this while at the same time I'm half frustrated that MLS's can have such arrogant personalities about them. I recently had to deal with one in the state of Utah that was so arrogant I finally asked them; Do you provide anything for the money you take? I mean they did nothing more than give its members a place to put listings and provide a few documents in word and pdf format. Absolutely worthless in service when compared to truly good providers like Intermountain MLS in Idaho or FNIS in Sacramento.

Just curious

Jared

What other services do you feel they "should" provide?

__________________
Mobile Homes For Sale in Arizona ~ Sales Training ~ Mobile Homes For Sale

Since we're talking MLS, what's the difference between MLS and ILS?

<rant>
All my local clients use the same ILS (however it is almost always referred to as MLS) from which I would like to get more content for their sites. All they offer is something called Web-O-Matic which is just another clone of their search frame. It's table widths are too wide and are set in stone to boot. That thing really messes up your design. It doesn't work reliably in an iframe so you have to create a separate page in (ugh!) FRAMES to get it to work well. It's been around at least 10 years maybe more so the code is atrocious. But... it's all I have to work with (sigh).
</rant>

TC

__________________
http://tcallaway.com - Custom Web Design

Well to put it bluntly, to take off the chains. I honestly do not believe Realtors or Agents are retards or people that must be led by the nose ,so why a Realtor stands for such things is beyond me.

Many of the Realtors I work with are quite intelligent, driven and successful people. Why they would tolerate the MLS providers lack is so far beyond me its just ignorance. I really dont want to come across negative, but.... had I not been ripped off recently by a guy I hired to develop a few addons for FSBO listing services for a popular open-source application I would have never come across the numbers that have annoyed me thus far.

I think the MLS needs a little competition, soon, because I have an agents in Utah and Texas that can do nothing with their MLS except have a place to list a home.

Jared

I believe at one point Coldwell Banker (or one of the big franchises) did get upset with our local (& huge) MLS (MLSNI). They started their own MLS & threatened to pull out of MLSNI. I really don't know what happened to that.

The problem I see with competing MLS' is the fact that you're not doing your sellers much good if you list them on an MLS that nobody uses with the exception of one franchise.

As an agent, why would I want to start paying for more than 1 MLS? Plus, the time involved doing searches on more than 1? We want our information affordable and easy to access.

Maybe my MLS offers more than others so I don't care about the need for someone new. And, believe me, when our MLS was going through changes (upgrading servers & causing down-time), we were able to attend meetings & speak out. It was a temporary situation that was needed but we were still able to show our discontent as to how things were transpiring.

If you mean allowing agents to vote in one new MLS provider, that would still be very tricky. If we're pretty happy with the system we've been using for years I don't think anyone would want to take a chance with a brand new provider.

__________________
Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S. Next door you can find Tinley Park homes for sale and get Orland Park amenities at a more affordable price.

Let me take a moment to answer that by revealing a bit about some of the things me and the other developers had talked about.

1) We considered developing a MLS sofware solution for MLS providers with no intent of ever becomming an MLS provider. Originally.

2) We would then develope a Desk Top application that makes the search as easy as opening up a program on your system (taking from our previous RPCXML work naturally)

3) Agent and Broker web site integration with ease. The number one gripe I get when I develop real estate sites for agents and brokers is the lack of support the MLS offers to provide such ease. IDX is old technology and its also working technology. RETS is mandated technology that is yet to be implemented in most of the MLS's I work with. Its likely they never will.

So the issue is that when I do a RETS install or IDX install into a client site the site owner is required to essentially download the MLS listings to populate his / her own site. Some MLS's frown on this heavily. Thus........

4) We have a development idea or solution that would allow site owners to have MLS listings in their site seemlessly and could be done on shared hosting and integrate with many custom template layouts for things like Listings, Dynamicly Generated PDF Fliers for each listing, special details, personal stats, custom contact features and the list goes on.

I'm not against MLS's but recently I've had a sour attitude toward many after running into a stone wall when working with some. An MLS I wont mention provided next to no support or assistance which required us to develope an ASP.NET IDX solution to download and then populate a realtors site with listings. That was not the bad part. The bad part was the discovery that the "MLS IDX MAP" format changes every few months at random thus rendering our application worthless every few months. Tragic really.

So let me ask you this. If an MLS had a resource that was simple, you didn't have to download the listings to your server, (thereby saving bandwidth) affordable, easy to integrate, offers PDF output and dynamic sales material, and were to feature template driven content, and would accomodate your business model, would you think that interesting?

Now I have no plan to create an MLS because its beyond our business model. We develop applications and sites not MLS services but it would be nice to see a service like that in many areas of the nation.


Jared

There are some vendors out there that provide great interfaces for local MLS's. The core role of the MLS is to provide the data. What is done with it is a different matter. My company has a very powerful and customized MLS search tool that simply could not be built by our local MLS. So why should I pay money to the local MLS for a stripped-down MLS search tool when I am paying money through my company for a top of the line one? I've seen some MLS's that have provided agent-specific search tools for consumers but I think that this steps outside the bounds of what is necessary.

If the MLS data people are not nice to talk to or provide limited help interfacing to those systems, you should tell that to your REALTOR clients and to the local REALTOR governing board.

__________________
Aaron

Minneapolis Real Estate | Twin Cities Real Estate | Edina Realty Agent

Sounds like you want a monopoly and to have everything the way you feel it should be run. Not going to happen and there is no way to Mandate anything to the MLS's as they are independent companies. The MLS's protect our data from a lot of interloopers that want access to the data for purposes that aren't to an agents benefit. Remember the data belongs to the brokers and they actually dictate a lot more of how an MLS is run than an outsider would think.

__________________
The Suburban House Hunters Team would like to thank REW members for past referrals! We are never to busy to handle your Chicago area referrals.

Always looking for quality unique content for our real estate agent blog, PM me if interested in writing a post.

My thoughts on the Sarasota Association of REALTORS actions.

Hi php4ever,

I am from the Greater Sacramento Area. El Dorado County to be specific. We share a regional MLS with about 7 counties including Sacramento. I feel I should correct something that you stated in your first post:

Our main MLS service provider here is actualy not FNIS (Fidelity). We use a Rappatoni product. FNIS does serve Amador County however which is adjacent to Sacramento. My brokerage belongs to both.

Now in saying that, I have never had a problem with either the FNIS or Rappatoni MLS's that we use. The IDX for this Rappatoni MLS is outdated however, which has forced me to use a 3rd party IDX Solution that is a little more costly. I have never found it restrictive in the information that they provide. I guess I should feel blessed.

__________________
El Dorado and Amador County, CA Properties
Foreclosures?CFACO.com Forum

Thanks Iamanoak;

Yes I've never had a problem with either types either. Its those home grown ones that are truly annoying. I found that that many if not all are usually owned by the local associations and the services are dictated by voting members.

The strange thing about the real estate industry (compared to all others I develop for) is that Realtors are slow to change anything at all. I know some that still have pagers which totally blows my mind because I havent seen a pager for almost 11 years. I almost thought it was a garage door opener until the guy actually responded to it. LOL

Since I've no hope what soever of changing realtors to demand better service from their provider I'll just continue to develop solutions which will always have to be considered custom. Stock is out of the question.


Jared