Realtors justify Tempo 5 launch
Real estate technology roundup
By Inman News, Friday, June 20, 2008.Bookmarking Sites
San Diego Realtors group explains changes in technology, security
San Diego Association of Realtors President Lori Staehling, in a San Diego MLS Update this week, discussed the launch of a new system for Sandicor Multiple Listing Service, which is owned by five Realtor associations serving San Diego County.
The Tempo 5 system, which replaces Tempo 3, "was created to meet the new technology demands of users and consumers," Staehling stated. At the same time, Sandicor launched SafeMLS, also known as the "key fob." Kris Berg, in a June 11 column published at Inman News, discussed her frustration with the Tempo 5 MLS system and security changes -- the column drew dozens of comments.
"Although this upgrade presented some challenges, Sandicor is confident that Tempo 5 will provide yet again a valuable resource and data security to real estate professionals and consumers," Staehling wrote. "We realize there are growing pains to any new system or conversion, especially one of this magnitude. We are diligently working together with Sandicor and the other Associations to make TEMPO 5 work well." Training for MLS participants and feedback from MLS participants are among the keys in making the new technology a success, she also stated.
Single Property Sites offers click-to-call technology
Single Property Sites, a company that allows agents to create Web sites dedicated to specific for-sale properties, today announced that it has teamed with RealPING, which connects real estate professionals with Web site visitors via a click-to-call button on the site. All Single Property Sites customers will have the option of using RealPING's click-to-call technology on those sites, according to the announcement.
What's your sign? Coldwell Banker launches 'Housetrology' quiz
Coldwell Banker Real Estate on Thursday launched a "Housetrology" quiz at the social networking site Facebook.com that allows users to explore home-style preferences. The quiz asks such questions as "Which TV show's house would best suit you?" and "What would you see out of your dream home window?" accompanied by images and descriptions. Respondents are classified as: Victorian, Colonialista, Urbanist, Contemporarion, Ranchero, or Eclectic based on their choices.
Coldwell Banker earlier launched Facebook pages for the company's deceased founders as a part of its "Portraits" marketing campaign (see related Inman Blog post).
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Submitted by Don Kovacs on June 20, 2008 - 8:27pm.
With all due regards Lori, your system is a flat out failure. It is not easy to understand or use, it is far more complex that the old system and provides less. Try map off an address. You can't do it. Well the help desk told me after 45 minutes today, that it can't be done.
The icons are horrible and make no sense. The system is not user friendly.
Lori, the back end might be excellent however the average realtor doesn't care. They want to get information easily and quickly. Your system doesn't afford that.
Return the money, bring in realtors to design a friendly system before it is too late.
The board has failed the feet on the street realtor, admit it and recall this disaster now.
Submitted by Ralph M on June 21, 2008 - 7:05am.
Wow....another un-happy realtor.
www.aarsteam.com
www.nosellercost.com
www.iuuzit.com
www.weuuzit.com
I dare ANY real estate professional to show me a better website with more technology than the 4 above.
Submitted by Frank Donovan on June 21, 2008 - 1:32pm.
Lori, because of her position as Board President, is compelled to defend this system. Let me try to keep this focused. The main problem is the magnitude of functional defects that existed at roll-out and that still exist today. As an example, this system still does not communicate with Realtor.com. The second problem involves the higher level of user complexity in this system. Remember, most, but not all, of us are salespeople, not computer wonks. Third, this sham that the Realtor community demanded this new system is not true. Again, the high tech folks maybe, but not the majority, not by far the majority. The more probable explanation was that Marketlinx, the vendor, decided to discontinue Tempo 3, like it or not. That explanation would be much more credible than suggesting this change was member driven. As a leader of your membership, you should have demanded that Tempo 3 be brought back on line, parallel to Tempo 5, until such time as the defects are fixed and more T5 training can be made available.
Submitted by Joseph Ballarino on June 22, 2008 - 7:18am.
We need some real functional change in the MLS industry:
Key FOB's: Great job by the vendors to create a need that just isn't there. Why the heck do we need to protect MLS logins with a separate device. There are much better methods (less expensive) to achieve the same goal, however vendors found that the key fob is the most profitable for them. See any national bank's security measures for an example.
MLS standards: When are we as industry going to learn that we are costing ourselves millions of dollars. If there was a national data standard that all MLS's HAD TO ADOPT, then vendors could deliver MLS solutions at a much lower cost. They make the bulk of their income on customizing the database for every client.
Then IDX/VOW vendors have to deal with the 900+ MLS's unique datasets and rules to deliver real estate websites... and we wonder why the average broker can't compete with Trulia, Zillow and the like who publish and data standard and we have to deliver it to them as they wish.
We have to fix this..
Regards,
Joe Ballarino
www.AmerivestRealty.com