Listing syndicator Point2 has signed a marketing agreement with California’s fledgling statewide multiple listing service that will allow about 26,000 Realtors to automate the process of syndicating listings to dozens of consumer property portals and search engines.
Point2 syndicates listings from Realtor associations and MLSs in the U.S. and Canada to about 50 consumer real estate search sites and search engines, including Zillow.com, Yahoo Real Estate, Trulia, Google maps, HomeGain, Property Shark, and Real Town. The company also sells marketing and lead-conversion software to agents and brokers.
Point2’s agreement with California Regional MLS Inc. (CRMLS) will give brokers and agents who belong to the MLS’s 23 member associations and multiple listing services full control over syndication destinations on a listing-by-listing basis.
In addition to automating the process by pulling listings directly from the MLS, Point2 will provide a free control panel allowing agents to view online traffic reports to support their marketing and advertising decisions.
The company will sell access to more advanced traffic reports and a full online marketing and lead conversion software solution, Point2 Agent, on a subscription basis.
Direct lead-capture from syndication channels into the Point2 Agent system allows subscribers to incubate hundreds of leads simultaneously, the company said, helping convert more prospects into clients.
CRMLS is the product of this year’s merger of Pomona, Calif.-based Multi-Regional Multiple Listing Service Inc. (MRMLS) and the California Association of Realtors’ calREDD MLS.
The marketing agreement between Point2 and CRMLS includes all future CRMLS member associations as the statewide MLS continues to expand.
Full deployment across all 23 CRMLS member associations and MLSs is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2011.
"Once deployed, our local association members and their members will have access to very powerful technologies that will reshape how our members’ brokers and agents do business not only in terms of online exposure and listing data control, but also in their ability to flow and manage online leads using state of the art tools," CRMLS CEO Art Carter said in a press release
When Point2 was acquired by Goleta, Calif.-based Yardi Systems in September, the company was handling about 1 million property listings information from more than 150 multiple listing services and real estate associations representing about 270,000 agents
Realtor.com operator Move Inc. completed a deal to acquire Point2’s main rival, Threewide Corp., the same month. Threewide operates national property listings syndication platform ListHub, which distributes an estimated 2.4 million property listings from about 270 MLSs and 38,000 brokers to a group of about 70 real estate websites.
