The NAR has taken over certain technology assets of Cyberhomes from LPS (formerly known as FNRES) in order to bring its RPR (Realtors Property Resource) project, as well as its consumer-facing play, HouseLogic, to market. To do this, they have created Realtors Property Resource, LLC – a wholly owned subsidiary of the NAR.

Certain LPS executives, including Cyberhomes GM Marty Frame, will be making the transition over to NAR/RPR. Frame will serve as the President of the new entity. Dale Ross, who was co-founder of MRIS, the nation’s largest MLS, will be CEO. LPS will also provide call center support and other services as part of the deal.

The RPR database will contain parcel information on nearly 150 million properties through a data license from LPS, which (along with First American) is one of the two major sources of public property data.

This is interesting news, but let’s back up a minute for those of you who have more well rounded lives than I (my fellow online RE junkies can skip down to my take on what this deal means).

• The RPR is the national property database initiative that the NAR has been quietly working on for some time. It has gone by a number of names over the past couple years, including  ”Gateway,” “The Real Estate Channel,” and the “Library/Archive.” It will aggregate tons of property data, including public records, in one place. This will be a Realtor-only database. The idea is to keep agents and brokers competitive amidst widespread data diffusion and other challenges.

• HouseLogic.com is a NAR-owned public destination site that will be unveiled next week at the NAR EXPO. The site is part of the NAR’s long-term strategy to engage consumers on behalf of its members.

• RIN is the “Realtors Information Network,” a for-profit arm of the NAR from which the RPR sprung. It was conceived for the purpose of creating an ill-fated online real estate service nearly 15 years ago. It was proprietary, something like a Prodigy or early AOL-type service. It blew up, costing the NAR millions. It was from that failure that the present-day Realtor.com was born, in 1996.

• The contract for developing the RPR was originally given to Move, Inc. back in late 2008. That obviously did not go so well.

• LPS is a new company created last summer at the tail end of a complicated corporate genealogy driven by Bill Foley, the visionary chairman of Fidelity National Financial. LPS was formerly known as FNRES and in June, 2009 announced a subsidiary, LPS Real Estate Group, to handle its real estate products: Paragon (MLS software), rDesk (agent and broker technology) and CyberHomes.

• Cyberhomes.com is a domain with a storied history in online real estate. It was launched by Moore Data, an MLS provider, back in the mid nineties and competed with Homeseekers.com, Microsoft HomeAdvisor and Homes.com. Moore sold the site (among other things) to VistaInfo in 1999, which in turn merged with Fidelity National Financial to create Fidelity National Information solutions (FNIS) in 2001. The cyberhomes.com domain ended up with Microsoft, which eventually shut down HomeAdvisor and relegated real estate to MSN Real Estate. FNRES, predecessor to LPS and spawn of FNF, took it from there and launched the new Cyberhomes in November of 2007.

And that’s just the quick and dirty. I’ve left out enough details to fill a McMansion. I’m not kidding.

A first take

The RPR is impressive. Enough data to choke a horse and a UI that is very well done. Foreclosure data. Default stats. Interactive charts. Even sliders for users to adjust the market conditions as they see them. On top of that, there is a basic community/social function. It’s extremely robust, perhaps to a fault.

An interesting facet to this is something the NAR/RPR team is calling the RVM – the “Realtor Valuation Model,” which they hope will become the “Gold Standard” (their words) for establishing a property’s fair market value.

What is not there now is MLS data, the hyperlocal secret sauce that will make the data array more than just a national-level combination of things already available somewhere else. The MLS goods are also key to making the RVM hit that Gold Standard.

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

For the NAR

Putting aside the question of whether or not the NAR should build a national property site (more on that below), this seems like a win for them. They get a talented team, a ton of data, and an infusion of tech mojo. Surely, there will be political blowback from within the ranks and the hand-to-hand combat involved in selling this to 900 MLSs (or – who knows – just going over their heads directly to brokers) will be bloody. But what has been done here is unprecedented: A serious move to lift property information above the broad plain of local silos.

Ultimately, I still think this is a defensive, almost quixotic move by the NAR, which seems to be wishing, once again, that Realtor value can be secured behind barricades and that a million + Realtors is a good thing.

But that’s just me. This is going to rattle a lot of cages. And that is good.

So thumbs up for the NAR.

For LPS

Cyberhomes has a lot going for it. A mainline to property data, some truly interesting products, and a number of initiatives that seemed to me to be at least directionally correct. But since the shift from FNRES to LPS, the energy just wasn’t there for a consumer-facing property. Bill Foley, the genius at the top, cut his last ties to the company in March. LPS is a B2B play, and a very good one at that. Cyberhomes was the fun guy that shows up to the board meeting in flip-flops. Whatever the terms of this deal, LPS has just unloaded what had become a somewhat incongruous part of its portfolio.

Oh, and they get a nice chunk of money from the NAR.

Thumbs up for LPS.

For brokers and agents

Brokers have been nudged out of pole position in the race for consumer engagement by a host of online players over the course of the past fifteen years. One more consumer destination, powered by their own trade association, isn’t going to hurt at this point. And to the extent that the RPR actually delivers on its promise to put unmatched property data at the fingertips of practitioners, this will be good thing … if it’s free.

Thumbs up for brokers and agents.

For Move

If I’m Move, I am thinking that I just saw my partner leverage one of my competitors (albeit a minor one) to go out and build a national destination site, part of which will be consumer facing. While the Realtor.com operating agreement remains intact, I cannot see how watching your biggest partner go the DIY route on something close to your goods is a positive thing.

Perhaps Move can partner with First American, the other (and actually more comprehensive) source of property data. Now that would be interesting.

Thumbs down for MOVE.

For MLSs

This is where it gets really thorny. As Brian Larson pointed out in his excellent post examining the potential business models for the RPR, there are lots of potential overlaps between a national property data site and what Realtors already get from their MLS. Some MLS operators think the NAR has no business doing this and perceive it as the precursor to a national MLS – a cataclysmic prospect from their perspective. Others – usually those who are relatively innovative and thus less insecure about their own value proposition – welcome the potential disruption.

Some will be convinced much as they were during the days of Homestore options and Gold Alliance dollars by the prospect of some upside. Others will be won over by NAR/RPRs insistence that there will be no offer of compensation in the RPR.

Whose ox gets gored, who benefits, and where the money flows is anybody’s guess at this point. But what I can safely say is that this is a significant shock to a system that needs it.

Will MLSs play ball? As with most things in this space, the outlook is unclear.

For online real estate

This jiggles the landscape a little. While this is largely a Realtor family matter, one must immediately think of the impact on Zillow. On the face of it, this seems like a move onto their turf. But it’s worth bearing in mind that Zillow’s (and indeed most of the major online players’) pitch to the industry is about delivering exposure. The RPR is about giving them data they can use in their business, and the public HomeLogic site … well, even though it’s looking very good, it’s going to be really hard for NAR/RPR, even with new talent, to be competitive with a Trulia or Zillow on things like SEO and PR. These guys have this stuff down; they get consumer experience. They have brains galore. It will be tough for NAR/RPR to be competitive.

HouseLogic will not compete with the big players for ad dollars – from either big consumer brands or agents and brokers. A “Find a Realtor” function will direct users to the agent directory that currently sits on Realtor.com. That’s it.

I do, however, see some fallout in the technology vendor community. The RPR has an immense amount of data and analytics – tables, charts, maps and more – some of which will be portable. Realtors can generate a variety of reports and print or email them. Some content from HouseLogic will be available to Realtors to use on their Websites, blogs and newsletters.

And having an industry foil to play against may actually help the online players.

Thumbs up for online real estate

For consumers

A site with lots of free property information? Realtors who have a more sophisticated set of tools at their disposal? These cannot be a bad things. But I am just a little uneasy when it comes to the potential revenue this project will derive from slicing and dicing the data in RPR and licensing it outside the industry. That’s a juicy opportunity. But without getting into the old debate about who owns a listing, I think it seems a little off that I can pay a Realtor 6% to sell my house then have that Realtor’s trade association make money off information about my transaction.

I think that’s best kept on the DL on the consumer side.

See you in San Diego

I can’t believe I just wrote 1,800 words. Thanks for hanging in there with me. There are many more angles on this, and they will no doubt be explored with great enthusiasm in San Diego next week. I’m looking forward to many interesting conversations.

It’s full steam ahead. To where only time will tell.

The brand, which is just over a year old, has a strong lifestyle vibe. From their perspective, real estate is more about living a life in a great place than simply buying or selling a house.

This app reflects that distinction.

First of all, this is a real estate application with no listings. It is not a home search app. Rather, it aims to help the user – presumably, here, a buyer – organize and simplify their home search.

Users can take photos from the app while house hunting, organize them, share them on Facebook, email them and rate their preferences. And while they are at it – there, out in the field – they can get information on schools, recent sales and demographics with a touch of the screen.

Does it need listings? That’s debatable. While one can think through use cases where a buyer would and would not be relying on the handset to both find the listing and capture and contextualize it, it seems to me the prudent choice is to keep it simple. The mobile platform forces these sorts of decisions, and that’s a good thing.

Like the Dunkin’ Donuts iPhone App, which makes the process of going on a coffee run easier, this is an application with a soft feel that is nonetheless built for getting something done.

I like that.

A big deal is coming.

The outlines must remain blurry at this point. But here are a few things to ponder:

• The NAR EXPO is a week away.

• The RPR (formerly and variously referred to as the  ”Gateway,” “The Real Estate Channel,” and the “Library/Archive”) has been a long time coming.

• The NAR seems to be scheduling tons of meetings next week for briefings.

• It has been a year since the NAR inked a deal with Move to build this product. I have heard nothing about how that’s going, which, in my opinion, is a curious thing.

• There are only a handful of ways to get something like this to market.

• There are even fewer ways to get the data needed to power something like this.

Like I said, murmurs. Signifying nothing perhaps. But I am not feeling that.

We’re past due for some movement in the category.

Stay tuned.

It was revealed to me Sunday night while in the theatre watching the Michael Jackson documentary This is it.

Throughout, what came across the screen was a man on an endless pursuit of perfection.

What separated Michael Jackson from other gifted artists was his inability to compromise. Ever. On anything. He chose the best dancers. Musicians. Set designers. Sound, lighting and special affects people. Directors. Producers. Choreographers. Singing coaches.

He sought out the best and made one request: Bring everything you have to the table.

Stripped down to basic talent, Michael had peers. He was a great dancer, songwriter, and singer but so were others of his era. What made him special was that endless pursuit, the drive to hold to his standards and attend to every entry point to his brand.

This might explain his strange physical manifestations – the mission to improve backfired there.

Every real estate brokerage could dance in Michael’s Penny Loafers. Their name could be in lights and their sales could be chart topping … if the drive toward perfection is there.

Are all of your agents the best? Do they bring everything they have to the table? Or have you sacrificed the pursuit for quantity?

What about your set designers and special effects people? You know, your Website vendor, marketing team, call center staff, trainers, etc. Are they the best there is? Do they bring everything they have to the table?

Have you chosen the best technology vendor or the cheapest? What new moves have they brought to your table lately?

I could watch Michael 24 hours a day. And revel in the distances he reached internally and externally to create the greatest show on earth. And how he motivated and inspired collaborators to dig deep too and bring it.

This is what drives great brands. And inspires loyalty.

As the credits ran, people wept. They said they miss Michael Jackson. I don’t doubt that. But I think what people really miss is witnessing the level of greatness to which he rose – and that which he brought out of others. People are drawn to that. They are encouraged by it. They buy into it as a way to find greatness in themselves.

If you think a real estate brokerage can make that happen, you might wanna be starting something.

Doing anything less is just more Real Estate Muzak.

Here’s what it looks like:

Read the full post from Google here.

A shiver of anxiety went through the industry four months ago when Google announced that it was, as I said at the time, “making real estate search on Google Maps slightly less obscure.” I did not think much of it. International online real estate sites, which actually charge brokers and agents to display listings, had a lot to worry about. Not so much in the states.

This, though, is a bigger deal. Real estate is no longer relegated to the sleepy backwater of Google Base, or appended to real estate-specific queries. It’s there on every Google Map.

That means a lot more eyeballs on listings via Google. While I still do not think this is earth-shaking for online real estate, it does make things a little more interesting.

More thoughts to follow.

Our feedback: “This is really bad – how could you release this?”

The answer: “We just wanted to get something out there on the iPhone.”

OK. I understand the impulse. Mobile Web adoption is skyrocketing and the iPhone is, for now at least, the runaway leader. Redfin reports that their app already accounts for 10% of traffic on weekends. That sort of number is only going to get bigger for any company that offers a great mobile experience.

But the broker above is not alone. I have talked to many brokerages in the past couple of months that are racing to develop mobile apps, often through vendors of dubious quality.

This makes me wince. Brokers got the Web wrong for so long in so many ways. Now’s the time to start fresh on a new platform and, alas, the same mistakes are made. Bummer.

I’ve put these questions to several brokers pursuing this course: “Would you open a new office location in a quonset hut with no chairs? Would you plant yard signs made of cardboard?”

Of course not. Never in a million years. These are important brand touchpoints.

The mobile device is at least as important. Soon it will be a more important touchpoint. Give it the care – and the investment – it deserves.

The right way

PMZ real estate, a large brokerage located in California’s Central Valley, got it right. They built an IDX-based iPhone app in-house that’s better than pretty much anything else out there. You can read a little about it in my already-outdated “15 real estate related iPhone apps you need to check out” post.

There are some things I’d change, but it’s an excellent app that positions the company to take full advantage of the mobile opportunity.

They did not go quick and dirty. They did not follow the pack over a technology cliff. They invested in talent that produced something great.

Do it that way!

[Disclosure: 1000Watt Consulting has done a small amount of consulting work with PMZ unrelated to their iPhone app]

Galen offers details in a Kelman-esque post on the Estately Blog.

Indeed, I have long thought of Estately as something akin to “Redfin Lite” – a killer search interface and tons of information, but minus the burden of an agent payroll. Of course, Redfin would likely argue that they deliver a better, more consistent customer experience. But then they also went the network/referall partner route earlier this year. And Estately claims to have great agents and high customer satisfaction.

Go figure.

I am also really interested in businesses like Estately (I would place Sawbuck Realty and Movoto in this category as well, among others) because they are potentially quite disruptive. They are licensed brokerages but generally hand off the leads, and the work, to local partners. You see who’s missing: The “traditional” brokerage the agent partner likely still works for. It’s as if a shiny, Web-savvier coating has been placed on the real estate value chain – one that obscures the broker with the office full of cubes.

Lastly, I think Estately and its counterparts offer a peek at the future of online real estate. They are not delivering impressions or traffic or even straight Web leads like most in the category right now. Rather, they connect a specific consumer that has taken a specific action on a specific property with an agent with whom they have an ongoing relationship. Whether this scales has yet to be seen, but we’re going to see more in this vein. Most brokers need more traffic like America needs more Lindsay Lohan.

Anyway, congrats to Estately!

Back in the late nineties, it’s what everyone was talking about: “the middleman” – Realtors – being taken out by technology.

To some, this notion now seems as quaint as its millennial counterpart, the Y2K Crisis.

For while putting listings on the Web did change consumer behavior, it did not cut close to the transactional bone.

In fact, according the California Association of Realtors 2009 Buyer Survey, 90% of all buyers became aware of the property they eventually bought through their agent.

That tells me the 15-year war over listings data is even more pointless than I thought. Turns out consumers still need a Realtor to find a home even if they search online, on their own, for months.

So the number of Realtors increased with the growth of the Web. The NAR grew fat on empty new member calories. Consumers became distracted by dreams of Travertine tile and Tuscan-styled clubhouses.

I would not call this a victory for the industry.

And I think there is another shoe yet to drop. Because it’s still hard to make a case that we need more than 500,000 Realtors, let alone a million. And consumers continue to hold the profession in low esteem at the same time they are becoming less satisfied with their own agent – something we have never seen before.

So at the risk of being ridiculed, I offer this for your consideration …

Disintermediation revisited

Yes, this has to do with technology. But the technology is merely the implement. The still-unsatisfied consumer will be wielding it. And this time it will cut closer to what I have tended to think of as the indissoluble core of Realtor value: Nuanced street-level knowledge delivered in human form.

Here are two early signs that indicate how this value may be jeopardized in the not-to-distant future:

Wolfram Alpha: Brains in the cloud

This is a technology project that has received tons of play outside our industry. Wolfram Alpha is a “Computational Knowledge Engine“ that bridges that gap between humans and data. Whereas Google can give you links to places that are relevant to your query, Wolfram Alpha can discern the relationships between disparate bits of information and present them in an intelligent fashion.

Here’s what results from my query “30-year fixed”

Right now, Wolfram Alpha derives results from over 10 trillion pieces of data, using more than 50,000 algorithms and models. Their store of data is growing quickly.

The company released an API last week and an iPhone application this week.

This unfolds in an environment where data is becoming more available (note, for example, Amazon’s Public Datasets on AWS) more accessible (Factual, a new open data project launched by a group of heavy tech hitters, launched just this week) and more human friendly (make your own data mashup at geocommons). MLSs can debate VOW rules until hell freezes over; the rest of the world’s information is going to get a lot more useful to the masses fast.

While Wolfram Alpha states out front that this is a “long-term project” and despite results that are a still little hit-and-miss, you can see the rough outlines of where this is headed.

Consumers will get the granular, contextually conditioned information they need from Realtors today from elsewhere tomorrow.

Aardvark: Trust in action

Aardvark helps users make decisions using their social graph – the people to whom they are connected online. While a service like Yahoo! Answers delivers advice from people the user does not know, and Trulia Voices and Zillow Advice often deliver it from people the user is inclined to distrust (real estate salespeople), Aardvark delivers answers from people the user knows and is inclined to trust.

Where’s a great Thai place in Rockridge?

Who is the best chiropractor in Noe Valley?

Is Redwood Heights kid friendly?

Who’s the best realtor in Upper Laurel?

How should I price my 1 bedroom condo on Lake Merritt?

With Aardvark, you get the answer from the most qualified person in your social graph.

Here’s another interesting stat from the 2009 California Association of Realtors Buyer Survey: only 18% of “Traditional buyers” and 2% of “Internet buyers” found their Realtor through a referral from a friend or neighbor. Very successful agents do the bulk of their business by referral. This suggests that a whole lot of sub-par agents get hired through other means.

If the social Web can be made into a decision support platform through services like Aardvark, then these “other means” will diminish. Good experiences delivered by good Realtors will ripple through a referral Web we could have only dreamed about five years ago.

And those “other means?” Well, the entire online real estate category is pretty much dependent on their survival, isn’t it?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Peace

This is a good news post. It is not an anti-Realtor post. I see a future where fewer Realtors do more deals and make more money.

While better data and social tools in the vein of Wolfram Alpha and Aardvark may indeed disintermediate a lot of weak agents, these very same things will enable the pros to scale.

I like that. Do you?

Or harmed someone?

Perhaps, from time to time, you’ve considered these things. But you refrain.

Core values

If you’re like me, the Ten Commandments were drilled into your psyche early and often. They gave us parameters to live our lives by. Few of us ever viewed these commandments as limits on our freedom. Instead, the tenets handed to Moses on Mount Sinai enhanced our lives and provided us with a path towards freedom.

This same effect can be had in business. The core values of a company – the foundational “commandments” — are the ingredients from which its brand is formulated. Ideally. If those values are never enforced, acted upon or used to guide decisions, the company will not flourish.

Do you have core values? Many of you do. I see them published in the “About” section of your Websites. Integrity. Trust. Innovation. I read them but I don’t shudder from their impact as I do when I read Exodus. How can I when these words sit on a Website that is devoid of integrity and innovation? Or when I notice that half your agents adorn themselves with foolishness and offer links to their own personal shrines?

Your values are like ancient scrolls tucked away inside a clay vessel buried under centuries of sand. As a result, you and your people are wandering in your local desert. You are not The Chosen Brokerage in your community.

You have prayed to false idols. And you have lost your way.

It’s time to get it back.

Build your brand one core value at a time

Get a team of brand excavators. Gently unearth your values. Brush away the sand. As the words present themselves, hearken back to the moment in time when they were written. Conjure the passion that flowed from the authors. Evoke the emotion that went into the creation of those words.

These are your commandments.

If you are defined by integrity, write down precisely what integrity means, how it must be made manifest. Once you do this, you will no longer cave when certain agents hold their own personal want gun to your head.

If you are defined by innovation, write down what innovation means to you. Then examine every nook and cranny of your operation to see if it measures up.

If you are committed to success, how deep does that commitment go? Where does it stop? Is that commitment occasional – trumpeted only during the high holy holidays – or is your commitment relentless and pious?

If you are committed to quality at what point did you decide that reducing your standards on agent recruitment was okay? At what point did you feel you could look away when agents made of mockery of that commitment?

A brand sells itself

At the beginning of 2009, BMW reported that their sales were down 15%. Despite that staggering loss, BMW released new cars this year with massive upgrades. Do you know why? Because it had too. They answer to a higher authority: the core values of the brand, which stand as a promise they must fulfill faithfully year after year. My glass half-full mentality interprets this as the one reason why sales aren’t down 30%.

Folks, many of you look at the market and blame it for your woes. The truth is, the plague of a down market is welcome. It isolates your faults and concentrates the mind. Granted, grappling with this is hard. But it is no harder than squelching the desire to race after the guy that cuts you off on the highway and strangle him, which you resist.

Because your core values guide you.

As you sit in your office, with your desk piled high with issues that require hard decisions – decision that hold you in a vice grip of confusion – do what every great brand does: reach for your values. Read them. Remind yourself of what is most important. Let those values decide for you. Don’t waiver.

Last year, while on vacation in Hawaii, my first in years, I got up to return a voice message from a client. I wasn’t thrilled about it and my wife asked me why I felt the need to do it. It was simple: one of our values is making sure our clients sleep soundly at night. Commitment. I have no choice but to do everything it takes to make that happen. When you do it often enough, with unrelenting consistency, I’ve learned, you create a brand.

What I know and swear by is that, properly cared for, brands sell themselves. And persevere.

Thou shalt…

Resurrect thy core values. Enforce them upon yourself. Enforce them upon every single individual that receives a check from you. Let them guide your every decision.

And you will be fruitful and multiply.