Nestled on Wilshire Boulevard in the heart of Beverly Hills, California is The MLS™. For more than 30 years, The MLS team of engineers and designers have driven innovation and excellence in one of the most expensive and competitive real estate markets. The MLS expanded its mission to serve the wider MLS industry by becoming a technology partner under the brand VestaPlus™. Today, MLS peers of all sizes recognize VestaPlus as best in class for ease of use, customer service and design.
Code licensing and collaboration
One of the great innovative collaborators in real estate is RMLS, based in Portland, OR and serving around 15,000 subscribers. RMLS is a full-stack MLS software developer. CTO, Greg Moore, believes that developing relationships with MLS software peers is key to maintaining an edge. “When you operate an MLS that really builds technology, and you work closely with directors, brokers, and agents, you are constantly innovating. The engineers at VestaPlus are longtime innovators in our industry, and we have worked closely with them for decades. The SAML code we license from VestaPlus is a great example of collaboration where we can consume their code into our system for a specific need and allow our engineers to focus elsewhere.”
Checkmate compliance software
Compliance is one of the most challenging services for an MLS to get right. If your compliance is too rigid, the customers are upset. If the compliance is too relaxed, the customers get upset. The Pensacola Association of REALTORS® has been running on the Checkmate™ system from VestaPlus for about a year. “A keynote for selecting the product was flexibility in the system that allowed us to set the temperament of the business rules,” says Jim McMillen, VP of MLS Operations, “For example, some of our violations only prompt a notification to our staff, other violations prompt a notice to the staff, broker and agent. We can also make precise adjustments to our fine policy, like setting a base fine for the first offense and increasing the penalty for subsequent offenses within a 12-month period, which automatically resets.” McMillen believes that this level of service and detail in software development is best understood when you are dealing with another MLS who is developing and supporting the software rather than a vendor who does not have operational experience. “No other vendor could program their system to adapt to our local compliance practices.”
Central Wisconsin Board of REALTORS® and MLS are a mighty strong innovator under the leadership of CEO, Lisa Marshall. When the compliance manager for their 800+ subscribers retired, Marshall and her board of directors surveyed the compliance software vendors to reimagine the balance between Human Resources and compliance software. Many software companies were not nimble enough to meet the unique demands of their marketplace. According to Marshall, “Our agents are required to upload their listing contracts, and only Checkmate was able to use software to check compliance on that. Their engineers developed the logic and we are now expanding to include validation of submissions for buyer agency agreements and earnest documents. Implementation and collaboration with the VestaPlus team was amazing and we are thrilled to collaborate with them on their new AI-driven image compliance.”
VestaPlus MLS, ShowingsPlus, Neighborhood Snapshot
Located in the southeast corner of California, bordering Arizona and Mexico, is the Imperial County Association of REALTORS® (ICAOR) and MLS. Led by CEO Ruben Gonzales, the board serves 450 total subscribers in one of the most unique property locations in America. The area was carved out of San Diego County by the Imperial Land Company to develop commercial crop farming. For decades, this area struggled to find an MLS vendor to customize a system for its unique land and agriculture property subcategories. The County also supports the housing needs of the border patrol, two prisons, Naval Air Facility El Centro (training home of the Blue Angels) and now, lithium mining. According to Gonzales, “In 2012, our members were frustrated with the inability to shape our prior MLS system to meet our needs, so we contracted with The MLS and VestaPlus. We have never looked back. We have one of the finest and most responsive systems in America without sacrificing our members’ needs. Most of all, we have a true, full-service partner for training, help desk, compliance, data distribution and application integration. None of this was possible for a market our size until now. Today, VestaPlus continues to deliver high quality service and system improvements beyond our expectations.” VestaPlus is currently customizing its mobile app to meet the specific needs of ICAOR.
VestaPlus has managed full service MLS systems for Associations and MLSs for more than a decade starting with Greater Palm Springs Realtors® (GPSR). ICAOR and GPSR Subscribers also access the full suite of VestaPlus components: VestaPlus PRO™ mobile app, Neighborhood Snapshot™ for market statistics, ShowingsPlus™ and wide-ranging tech support including social media and video with TechAssistLine™. VestaPlus also offers turn-key solutions, stand-alone components and code licensing. We would love to have a conversation about how our organizations can collaborate.
About The MLS, VestaPlus
VestaPlus™ MLS Software Solutions has successfully harnessed innovation and a deep understanding of the real estate industry to deliver a comprehensive suite of tools and AI services, empowering agents, brokers and associations to thrive in an ever-evolving market. The full portfolio of products includes VestaPlus™ MLS, VestaPlus PRO™ mobile app, Neighborhood Snapshot™, ShowingsPlus™, TechAssistLine™ and Checkmate Listing Violation Detection™. For demos, contact sales@vestaplus.net or call 855.580.0068. You can visit www.vestaplus.net for more information and videos.