Real estate information and analytics provider CoreLogic has signed up Lisle, Ill.-based Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED) — a sprawling regional MLS representing 13 Realtor associations and nearly 40,000 subscribers — to provide listings data to its Partner InfoNet analytics program.
Although CoreLogic is calling its agreement with MRED exclusive, the MLS is currently in negotiations with a CoreLogic rival — National Association of Realtors subsidiary Realtors Property Resource LLC (RPR).
MRED President and CEO Russ Bergeron declined to discuss some details of the MLS’s agreement with CoreLogic to supply listings to PartnerInfo Net, and the ongoing negotiations with RPR.
But, he said, "My end game is to be able to participate in both. If I’m able to pull it off, every MLS in the country is going to be calling, wanting to know how I did it."
CoreLogic had not responded to a request for comment by publication time, and RPR officials declined to comment.
CoreLogic’s Partner InfoNet program and NAR’s RPR both seek to generate revenue by using sold listing data to generate analytics on housing markets, and providing those analytics to lenders, Wall Street investors, and government agencies.
Sales price data found in public property records gathered from county assessors can lag behind the market by weeks or months, reducing the utility of automated valuation models (AVMs) that rely on such information. CoreLogic and RPR expect analytics that also incorporate listing data will be in demand.
When RPR launched, company officials said analytics products based in part on sold listing data could generate $60 million to $80 million in annual revenue.
CoreLogic is offering to share a percentage of the revenue it generates from the sale of such analytics with MLSs it licenses listings data from, with more generous splits for MLSs that provide data on an exclusive basis.
Instead of a revenue share, RPR is offering participating MLSs access to a number of tools, including search and reporting capabilities that allow subscribers to generate analytics reports for clients.
Both efforts got off the ground at about the same time — NAR announced RPR in November 2009, and CoreLogic pitched Partner InfoNet at an industry conference the following February. Since then, both have been competing intensely for listings.
CoreLogic says it now has licensing agreements with 48 MLSs and Realtor associations with 240,000 members and 780,000 active listings. The company said more than half of those agreements are exclusive — meaning MLSs cannot also feed listings data to RPR.
RPR, which has not sought exclusive rights to listings, has licensing agreements in place with 287 MLSs and Realtor associations representing more than 510,000 Realtors.
Some of the biggest MLSs to license listings to RPR include Rockville, Md.-based Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. (MRIS) (46,000 members); Anaheim, Calif.-based SoCalMLS (33,600 members); Phoenix-based ARMLS (32,500 members); Boston’s MLS PIN (28,000 members); the Miami Association of Realtors (24,000 members); Denver’s MetroList (19,000 members); and San Jose, Calif.-based MLS Listings Inc. (18,860 members).
With about 120,000 listings, MRED claims to be the nation’s largest MLS by listing inventory. Its territory encompasses the metro Chicago market and northern Illinois and extends into southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. If CoreLogic were to not only gain access to those listings, but deny them to RPR, RPR would have a large gap in its coverage area.
Although all Realtors will be able to log into RPR by the end of this year using their NRDS (National Realtors Database System) ID, those whose MLSs haven’t signed on to the project will be able to access public property records but not historical listing data in their market.
MRIS — the nation’s largest MLS by membership — signed with RPR in March, but remains "open to discussions with CoreLogic about an effective licensing relationship," said President and CEO David Charron in an e-mail. Last year, MRIS handled 219,000 listings and 108,000 sales, and its subscribers currently represent more than 75,000 listings.
Bergeron said MRED’s licensing agreement with CoreLogic will provide it with the revenue split reserved for the largest MLSs providing listings to Partner InfoNet on an exclusive basis.
According to a Partner InfoNet brochure published by CoreLogic, revenue sharing for MLSs providing listings on an exclusive basis ranges from 30 to 40 percent, depending on the size of the MLSs’ contribution to the total listings pool, and whether it’s a CoreLogic MarketLinx customer. Revenue sharing under nonexclusive agreements ranges from 7 to 17 percent.
If CoreLogic is able to build up a listing pool of 1.2 million active listings that generates $2 million a month, the company estimates that an MLS providing 12,000 listings on an exclusive basis would earn $7,200 a month in revenue, versus $2,600 for an MLS providing the same number of listings on a non-exclusive basis.
Bergeron said that even if negotiations with RPR are unsuccessful, MRED members already have access to a number of analytics tools.
MRED’s agreement to provide listings data to Partner InfoNet provides access to additional tools, he said, including CoreLogic’s RealAVM valuation model and a listing and marketing activity report that combines MLS and public records data.
"We want to provide as much information, and as many ways to get to it, for our members as possible," Bergeron said. "That’s our mantra."
Although Bergeron declined to go into more detail about MRED’s agreement to provide listings to CoreLogic’s Partner InfoNet, he said it does not preclude MRED from also providing listings to RPR.
He said negotiations with RPR center around how MRED would provide access to the product to its brokers.
"I’m hoping I’ll be able to work out something with RPR where we’ll be able to coexist with both RPR and CoreLogic," Bergeron said.
Before taking over as the top executive at MRED in May 2010, Bergeron had served since 1993 as the founding CEO of SoCal MLS.
Under Bergeron’s leadership, SoCal MLS was one of more than a dozen MLSs to begin beta testing RPR last year.
