How Will CMLS’s White Paper Argue Against RINRA?

I had heard that CMLS had retained two former DOJ and FTC attorneys to help them draft a white paper laying out all of the reasons why the MLS is a force for good in the world, and Inman News published confirmation in this story: In order to do this, Batts and Carson are working … Read more

Notorious P.O.D. Episode 8: CMLS Thoughts With Bob Bemis, Greg Robertson

  Episode 8 is a tragedy. I have a great conversation with the Notorious B.O.B. Bemis of Procuring Cause, and with Greg Robertson, of Vendor Alley and of W&R Studios (the creator of CloudCMA). We discussed CMLS, The Realty Alliance, big issues in the conflict between MLS and brokerages, future of the industry, and so … Read more

Law of Unintended Consequences: The ACTRIS Version

The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. – Library of Economics & Liberty I’m in St. Paul, MN, where the sun has conspired with the river to create a hundred gorgeous pleasures. Like conversing with new and … Read more

“You’ve Got Ten Days”: CMLS 2013, Realty Alliance, and the Most Interesting 30 Minutes in Real Estate Conference History

This post, like every post in the month of October, is brought to you by our sponsor, Teardowns.com (and its subsidiary 2Elm), the winner of the Ebay Auction for sponsorship of this blog for October. On the last day of CMLS 2013, the most interesting 30 minutes in the history of real estate conferences happened. … Read more

"You've Got Ten Days": CMLS 2013, Realty Alliance, and the Most Interesting 30 Minutes in Real Estate Conference History

This post, like every post in the month of October, is brought to you by our sponsor, Teardowns.com (and its subsidiary 2Elm), the winner of the Ebay Auction for sponsorship of this blog for October. On the last day of CMLS 2013, the most interesting 30 minutes in the history of real estate conferences happened. … Read more

The Next Lion . . . the Next Hill: Thoughts from CMLS 2013

The Council of Multiple Listing Services held its annual conference in Boise, ID this past week. In keeping with the high standards of excellence (which may be redundant, but I liked the phrase) of past conferences, our host, Greg Manship from Intermountain MLS, the local host, and his staff put on a top notch program. Many of the … Read more

Be Careful What You Wish For: The MLS As Public Utility

This post, like every post in the month of October, is brought to you by our sponsor, Teardowns.com (and its subsidiary 2Elm), the winner of the Ebay Auction for sponsorship of this blog for October. I’m at the CMLS 2013 meetings, and thought I’d post some further thoughts about a discussion/debate I had on Twitter … Read more

What is a Listing? On the SourceMLS project from CMLS

I’ve been invited to speak at CMLS on the topic of what MLSs should do to help brokers make smart decisions about syndication. The invitation is surprising for a couple of reasons:  I’m no longer in the MLS business nor do I work for a recipient of said broker syndication efforts and decisions.  Also, after … Read more