Dallas, Texas-based real estate technology company HipPocket has announced HipPocket for Realtor Associations, a new communications service which augments (instead of replacing) the MLS with a suite of communications features designed to facilitate rapid communication between realtors during the marketing and discovery phase.
The new service offers associations the ability to introduce a new, innovative social-style communications platform to connect their members 24/7, while introducing a pre-MLS marketplace that brings structure and governance to the chaos of off-MLS activity. The service is built around a real-time “activity feed” versus a search-based experience, which means association members will have a new off-email, off-MLS channel designed solely for creating connections between selling and buying agents. Realtors will have access to a more complete set of listing data and will have the opportunity to promote buyer needs more explicitly.
Additionally, they will be able to use new features to efficiently market to and network with other realtors in their community and with their personal connections across multiple social networks. “I’m excited to be releasing HipPocket for Realtor Associations,” said CEO, James Bohan-Pitt. “At a time when off-MLS activity is on the rise, raising legal, ethical and governance concerns for many Associations, we have a solution that helps Associations truly solve the off-MLS marketing conundrum. In fact, HipPocket for Realtor Associations upgrades the original mission of the MLS to a platform that facilitates Agent-to-Agent collaboration and communications between ALL members.” Bohan-Pitt went on to explain that off-MLS marketing has become a popular strategy for real estate agents, driven in part by the lack of real-time communication features in the MLS. To fill the communications void, Agents have created their own pseudo-MLS’s in exclusive private groups and networks across social media, outside the purview of the Association.
With no official structure and governance to any off-MLS channel, fiduciary responsibility and “Fair Housing” compliance are major concerns for Realtor Associations. Additionally, these private communities often exclude many real estate agents, going against the core tenet of the MLS being open to all Association members. “We are at inflection point, just as we were 25 years ago when Associations responded to the need to move away from listing books to a listing database,” said Bohan-Pitt. “Realtors now have myriad platforms pieced together to help them market and discover homes off the MLS. Associations need a platform that augments, not replaces, their MLS. A platform that is truly agent-only and one that can unify off-MLS activity into a single platform from which the entire Realtor community can benefit. HipPocket for Realtor Associations is that platform, and I am excited to be showcasing it to many Associations in the coming weeks and months.”
In recent years, there has been a sea change in the marketing practices of real estate professionals. Marketing of homes by Realtors outside the MLS in private Realtor-only Facebook and LinkedIn Groups, personal social networks and through $50-a-time email flyers to Realtors have now become extremely prevalent.
While Realtor Associations are aware of off-MLS marketing, they frown upon the practice. To an Association, if listings are shared to only handful of other Realtors outside the MLS, a Realtor is not abiding by their “fiduciary responsibility” to their client to expose their home to the widest audience.
Yet, off-MLS marketing still continues. Why?
There are no social networking features in the MLS
The MLS does not provide the option to build a conversation around listings with a large number of Realtors at the same time, nor the option to instantly share listings into social networks. Realtors are now closing deals daily through connections made in their social networks and particularly the numerous private Realtor-only Facebook groups they are a member of. The ability to post and start a conversation with sometimes thousands of Realtors is simply too attractive an option of many Realtors to miss out on.
Pre-marketing off-MLS is now an integral part the marketing plan
Realtors are not waiting the 2 to 3-weeks it takes to stage and photograph a home. In the absence of an Association provided off-MLS-MLS Realtors have made their own They are pre-marketing in any channels they have access to to show value to the client from the get-go. Plus, they know from recent evidence that marketing a home ahead of release on the MLS reduces the time on the market (Inman.com, “Homes sell faster when marketed as coming soon first“).
Client’s are asking to remain off the MLS until it’s really necessary
Whether it be for tax, appraisal, privacy or exclusivity reasons, Realtors are under pressure from clients to not post data into the MLS until it is truly necessary. Marketing off-MLS therefore is a prerequisite.
How should Realtor Associations be responding to this change in behavior?
Some Associations have introduced the “Coming Soon” status in their MLS to encourage their members to share their listings on the MLS early in the sales process. However, this does not truly solve the communication and collaboration inefficiencies in their community.
Realtors will still continue to hijack Facebook Groups and other networks to market their properties and fulfill Buyer needs outside the MLS. Realtors need to remain the most knowledgeable real estate resources in their community and have little choice in joining their peers outside the MLS.
You cannot replace the MLS, but you can give it a sidekick
Trying to rein in pre-MLS marketing in a myriad private Realtor Facebook Groups and other channels is an uphill (losing) battle. With the lengthy development cycles of the MLS software providers, it is highly unlikely that an Association can quickly develop their MLS to meet these changing needs of its members.
Simply put, an Association needs to offer their Realtors a better mousetrap. They need to offer a new, more social-style listings service to its members and run this in parallel to their MLS. This “Social Listing Service” or “SLS” would not be a replacement to the MLS, but it would provide a new social communications layer to a Realtor community that would offer a suite of features and benefits that are more compelling than anything they’ve “Magyvered” today.
Cue HipPocket, the better mousetrap
A SLS powered by HipPocket focuses entirely on connecting a Realtor community more effectively and efficiently than through the numerous communications channels being used today. It can become the complete social communications layer for an entire membership and is made up of several critical differentiating components:
- Listing Service: Lightweight and easy to use, Realtors can create new simple off-MLS listings or import existing on-MLS listings (once the MLS is integrated) to create a posting to share to their Realtor community.
- Social network: Realtor-only social network focused entirely on building community conversations around off-MLS and on-MLS Listings and Needs. Includes familiar features such as Liking, Sharing, Commenting etc but with no irrelevant social noise. Only Listings and Needs can be shared.
- Messaging: Realtors have a love/hate relationship with email, often more hate than love. A SLS Messaging component can keep private Realtor-to-Realtor communications into its own channel through a mobile app and web app.
- Relevancy engine: Realtors can personalize their experience in the SLS by area, price point and posting types to ensure they only receive the most relevant listings and needs. They would not receive the firehose of posts normally experienced through traditional social networks and private groups.
- Collaboration space: Brokers can create private spaces for their brokerage team to collaborate ahead of public release of postings to rest of the community.
Benefits of a Social Listing Service powered by HipPocket
Exceeding not just meeting their fiduciary responsibility
Realtors can market listings off the MLS as part of an Association endorsed and managed pre-marketing network. By exposing pre-MLS listings to the widest audience, Realtors meet their fiduciary responsibilities in the pre-MLS phase just as they do in the on-MLS phase.
In fact, HipPocket actually helps a Realtor exceed their fiduciary responsibility. As Realtors choose to track listings by Area and Price in their listings feed in HipPocket, the most relevant Realtors are automatically notified of new matching listings.
Increase marketing efficiency and effectiveness
With integrations into the most popular social networks and groups, Realtors can market their listings and needs more efficiently than they can today. No more uploading the same photos and property information over and over on social networks and email. Post once and let the SLS take care of distribution.
Private groups for in-brokerage collaboration
Brokerages can create private collaboration spaces for their Realtor teams to internally market listings and needs to each other 24/7. With Realtors now being so mobile, this becomes a far more effective method than the office listing meetings, shared spreadsheets and email to share listings and needs as a team.
Off-MLS + On-MLS = More visibility of the market
Realtors can engage with both off/pre-MLS and on-MLS listings providing them a more concentrated view of the market in a single channel. Plus, with the support of the Association and their MLS, offer Realtors the ability to push their pre-MLS data into the MLS for completion, significantly reducing data input burden.
Matchmaking for Realtors
With Realtors posting both Listings and Needs into the SLS, rather than relying only on human based search, “Intelligent Matchmaking” can rank posts based on their similarities and connect agents 24/7 automatically.
Transformation not Disruption
All too often the industry talks of disruption changing the role of the Realtor and the entire transaction process; but, more importantly, we should be focusing on transformation. New technologies like a Social Listing Service should be harnessed to transform today’s processes in a way that actually puts the Realtor back in control.
89% of residential real estate transactions involve a Realtor yet Realtors spend thousands on leads from Zillow et al to connect with consumers. If the Realtor community is connected intelligently through an Association supplied SLS, each Realtor would always be able to connect with ALL the other Realtors that represent clients that match the other side’s needs.
I would encourage all Associations to take a look at how HipPocket for Associations can truly improve the lives of their members. Not to sound too much like a politician but, we’re in this together. We’re all here to make the real estate agent community more successful. We can transform the industry together. I know that’s what motivates me. Give me a call. How about David and Goliath sit down for a beer instead of a fight? 😉
http://hippocket.com/why-realtor-associations-need-a-social-listing-service-powered-by-hippocket/
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