A Final Word (Hopefully) on Upstream

As you can imagine, there’s been a ton of chatter about Project Upstream and its “divorce” with Daddy NARbucks. I think I’ve gotten no fewer than three emails from consultants and thought leaders in the industry on the topic. Inman has written not just a news article announcing the split, but an in-depth investigation into … Read more

We Need Much More Honesty on Upstream: A Response to Rob Hahn

Well, this should be fun. After Rob’s critique of my last piece about Upstream, I thought it would be appropriate to step into the Notorious octagon. Considering I’m not a trained attorney, that’s probably a mistake (yes, that’s the first of many self-deprecations to bloat my handicap on his turf). I once put a foot … Read more

Win-Win In A Zero-Sum Game

A couple of weeks back, I wrote a post in the aftermath of CMLS Kansas City in which I mused out loud about things that were left unsaid, and said this: So the clear implication is that everything in real estate is ultimately a zero sum game. If an agent leverages technology, smart lead management, … Read more

On Project Upstream (Part 3): The Enabling Platform

In part 1 and part 2 of this series, I laid out my concerns with Project Upstream as it is currently structured, and a path forward in which Upstream becomes part and parcel of the MLS system. As I mentioned in those posts, the technology to do this is not science fiction. It exists today, … Read more

On Project Upstream (Part 2): The Path Forward

In Part 1, we discussed why Project Upstream as currently setup is problematic, despite the goals of Upstream being absolutely worth pursuing. In this part, I go more into offering solutions. Had I been involved with Upstream earlier on, this would have been my advice, but then, nobody asked me. 🙂 Basically, my take is that … Read more

On Project Upstream (Part 1): Great Concept, Problematic Execution

At the Inman Connect conference that just wrapped up, there was a “town hall” on a variety of topics featuring industry thought leaders like Marilyn Wilson of the WAV Group, Mark McLaughlin of Pacific Union, Joseph Rand of BHG Rand Realty, and Katie Maxwell of Intero. One question I asked was about Project Upstream, the recently … Read more

AMP and the Small MLS

Over on Facebook, Sam Debord (regular readers are familiar with Sam) asked a really, really good question: Sam DeBord Rob, give us your take on AMP benefiting small MLSs. Does better software slow consolidation, or are other issues driving it? AMP, of course, stands for RPR’s Advanced Multi-List Platform, a project with which I’ve been … Read more

We Need to Separate RPR AMP from RPR Upstream, Conceptually

In a recent post on Realuoso, my friend Erica Ramus, wrote an Op/Ed on how Project Upstream will change everything: The Project Upstream broker initiative is an attempt to gather real estate data under one umbrella, again trying to wrestle back control of our listings and data. … Hahn’s description of “MLS Mashups” and the … Read more

The RPR-AMP-Upstream Materials from NAR Midyear

This is not a post. This is an information dump. A reader sent me the materials that were provided to the Directors at the NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings that just concluded to support the proposal to fund RPR-AMP-Upstream. Thought many of you hadn’t seen these, so I wanted to upload them and make them available. … Read more