Two multiple listing services, Colorado-based Information and Real Estate Services LLC (IRES) and Florida-based M.L.S. of Naples Inc., are the latest to offer their agents the ability to schedule real estate showings online.
The Naples MLS is one of 80 MLSs representing more than 450,000 real estate professionals who have integrated an online scheduling system from Chicago-based ShowingTime. The system will allow the MLS’s 5,000 members to request and manage showings and feedback directly from the MLS or through ShowingTime’s mobile app at any time of day, reducing phone tag and saving members time, the companies said.
ShowingTime for the MLS also includes access to ShowingCart, which allows showing agents to store and organize their showings as a buyer tour; mapping; automated text-to-voice calls; and two-way text messaging so agents can confirm, decline or reschedule appointments from their smartphones when they can’t take a call.
Overland Park, Kansas-based Centralized Showing Service Inc. (CSS) has been serving IRES’s 5,000-plus members since 2005 when CSS provided them one number to schedule multiple showings. Now, the MLS’s buyer’s agents can schedule showings online directly from the individual listing pages of CSS members in the IRES MLS system.
“Integrating the CSS online showing appointment function into our MLS system allows our agents greater convenience when booking appointments. Time saved can be spent acquiring more listings, showing more homes and making more sales. This was an easy win for us,” said IRES CEO Lauren Hansen in a statement.
CSS members in IRES can also use the CSS mobile app to schedule appointments and manage showing activity. from their smartphone or tablet. The app is available for showing agents, listing agents and sellers. The company also offers the ability to automatically send customized feedback requests and share historical showing activity reports with sellers.
CSS services more than 155,000 real estate agents in 70 markets nationwide, including 11 associations that have contracted with CSS to provide showing services as a member benefit to all their agents, the company said.
In July, CSS and ShowingTime rival Showing Suite Inc. rolled out a mobile app that caters to real estate agents and clients on both sides of a deal. In January, Showing Suite integrated with listing syndicator ListHub to allow users of both to purchase reports that knit together Showing Suite data, such as the number of showings a property attracts and buyer feedback, and ListHub market analytics.
In the past month, ShowingTime has announced integrations with mobile MLS apps from Goomzee and Homesnap.
