A major mid-Atlantic multiple listing service, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. (MRIS), has partnered with mobile applications company Smarter Agent to develop a suite of mobile apps for its more than 43,000 members, the MLS announced Monday.
MRIS’ Agent Pro App, HDB Mobile, will be available for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android and iPad platforms this fall. MRIS members will be able to log in to the location-based app to view full listing data, search all listing statuses and eventually edit listing information from their mobile device, MRIS said. The MLS also plans to add other features, such as push notifications, in later versions of the app.
"What makes this app unique is that it’s both consumer-facing and agent-facing, so an agent can use the same app as the consumers do. It makes it much much easier to look at the same information that the clients are viewing and log in" to see agent-only information and answer clients’ questions, Kerry Rice, product manager for the mobile app at MRIS, told Inman News.
The MRIS-branded agent app will be free to members. MRIS will also offer consumers a mobile app at no cost through its public-facing property search site, HomesDatabase.com.
For $10 a month, members will be able to buy their own customized, branded version of the app to give to clients. All calls, texts, and emails sent from the app will be sent directly to the agent or broker, MRIS said.
"It’s our goal to provide our customers with real estate in real time," said John L. Heithaus, MRIS’ chief marketing officer, in a statement.
"Providing real estate professionals with access to listing information while on the go allows us to extend their desktop as far away from home as possible."
Other real estate companies also offer mobile home search applications with MLS-derived data, including third-party sites, such as Redfin, ZipRealty and Realtor.com, as well as other MLSs, including Sandicor, the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) and NorthStar MLS.
