The Evolution of MLS Systems

The New Consumer

It's no secret that real estate consumers' needs and expectations have changed significantly over the last few years. General Internet use has grown tremendously in the last few years, but Internet use for the purpose of home buying and selling has grown even faster. Thanks to the Internet, homebuyers can now find properties for sale without the help of a Realtor® or the MLS, and are turning to a growing number of competing Web sites for their real estate information.

Real estate agents can no longer survive as mere gatekeepers of property information and are being forced to reinvent themselves and the value they offer to real estate consumers. It's up to the Realtor® to meet the expectations of this new breed of consumer, or risk losing business to other, more tech-savvy agents.

Traditional methods of farming prospects and capturing leads are becoming less and less effective because the inbox is rapidly replacing the updesk as the homebuyer's first point of contact. What's more, prospects that make contact via email expect to receive the same level of responsiveness and customer service had they walked through an agency's doors. Without the tools to generate, capture, and manage these Internet leads, brokers and Realtors® are ignoring a growing prospect base, as well as doing a disservice to their clients. This is something no modern real estate professional can afford to do.

Repositioning the MLS

The ease with which consumers can access property listings on the Internet is eroding the value of the traditional MLS. Additionally, today's successful Realtor® must rely on a growing number of electronic tools and services to stay competitive and to keep pace with the expectations of tech-savvy consumers. Mobile phones, pagers, PDAs, e-mail, Web sites, and other productivity software all compete for the Realtor's® dollar, pressuring MLS organizations and their technology vendors to justify their fees by providing more and more value in their products and services.

So where does this leave MLS boards and associations? In a unique position to grow their business—if they know how to leverage their traditional role as technology provider to the Realtor® community. It's a fact that most Realtors® are wary of new technology and look to their MLS to provide them with the tools and information they need. This mindset gives boards and associations the perfect opportunity to introduce new products and services to their membership that will enable them to retain control of the consumer and stay at the center of the transaction. By offering products that fulfill the evolving needs of Realtors® and their customers, MLSs can raise their profile, increase the value of their organization, and continue to serve their membership effectively.

There is little doubt that the MLS system will continue to be the lynchpin of the real estate industry and the best source for up-to-the-minute listing data, but it also cannot be denied that property information is no longer the mainstay commodity it once was. Today, agents create value for their customers by building additional services around MLS data, and by using customer relationship management tools that are tightly integrated with MLS data.

The MLXchange Solution

MLXchange was designed to bridge the widening technology gap between consumers and real estate professionals. MLXchange has redefined the concept of MLS system to include a more comprehensive menu of essential Web services. By integrating optional customer relationship management and Internet marketing tools with traditional MLS functionality, MLXchange enables Realtors® to easily communicate with and effectively manage the mushrooming universe of online consumers, for the first time providing in a single product all the essential tools that today's Realtor® needs to succeed. Most importantly, MLXchange packages these functions in an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that makes the system accessible to experts and beginners alike.

MLXchange is the direct result of extensive focus groups and research with MLS executives, brokers, agents and consumers, and was designed from the ground up to address the specific problems facing MLS organizations and the memberships they serve:

• MLXchange's remarkable simplicity, ease-of-use, and high degree of automation let users immediately take advantage of the program regardless of their technical skill level.
• With MLXchange, users only subscribe to the features they want, letting MLS organizations expand their menu of services without increasing their baseline MLS costs. This is accomplished by providing integrated, optional user-pays features such as lead capture/management, CRM, e-mail and Web page hosting.
• MLXchange's flexible nature lets agents customize the services they provide to differentiate themselves from the competition. All views, reports and presentations are 100% customizable, allowing unique, personalized service from each and every member.
• MLXchange facilitates the easy, secure exchange of listing data between the MLS, brokers, and other parties. Industry standard XML architecture, a NAR-certified RETS Server, our proprietary DataLink technology, and a range of end-user import/export options make it easy to move data between MLXchange and other software applications. A variety of options lets boards and associations uniformly serve the different IDX/broker reciprocity needs of agents, small brokers, and big brokers alike.
• MLXchange offers guaranteed performance and maximum robustness and scalability by using only proven technologies with reliable track records. Our state-of-the-art data hosting facilities and network infrastructure are connected to the largest Tier 1 Internet backbones, and are tailored to meet the specific requirements of high-load real estate systems. 24/7 system monitoring and maintenance ensure maximum availability.
• MLXchange reduces data entry time while increasing data accuracy and completeness using data auto-population from tax records, real-time field-level error checking, and configurable business rules.
• MLXchange can accommodate most customer requirements without code change thanks to its sophisticated middle-tier metamodel—this ensures the continuity of key business practices from legacy MLS systems while eliminating the introduction of defects.
• In concert with our world-class support and training services, our experienced implementation team uses automated installation tools and a time-tested migration strategy to provide new and upgrading clients with faster system transition times, lower transition costs, and minimum business disruption.

A Platform for Growth

With MLXchange, MLS organizations can serve the baseline MLS needs of their general membership while, at the same time, providing individual agents with the option to upgrade to advanced Internet marketing, lead, and client management tools. MLXchange rejects the one-size-fits-all approach of most MLS systems by using a tiered approach to deliver its more advanced functionality. With MLXchange, MLS organizations can easily and efficiently serve the diverse needs of their membership from a single application platform.

These optional tools are 100% integrated with MLXchange's core MLS functionality, enabling significant new efficiencies in the real estate professional's day-to-day activities. Because the extended functionality of MLX Professional use the same Web-based interface as MLXchange, the learning curve is drastically reduced. Most importantly, it costs the MLS nothing to make MLXchange's more advanced features available to its membership.

The New Standard for Success

Web-based productivity applications have become indispensable tools for the successful real estate professional. The ability to capture leads from a variety of sources, manage and communicate with clients electronically, and instantly access business information online is not optional. That's why we built these functions directly into MLXchange—without them, agents simply will not be able to attract the modern real estate consumer, or compete with other agents using these kinds of services to their full advantage.

The natural synergies between client and MLS data and the dramatic new efficiencies their integration can yield make agent productivity applications the logical next step for MLS organizations that want to expand their menu of services. By making the program's Internet marketing, lead management and CRM features as easy as possible to use, all MLXchange users have the same opportunity to take their business to the next level. And because these advanced features can be subscribed to on an individual basis, MLXchange gives MLS organizations the power to serve the diverse needs of their entire membership from a single program platform without increasing their MLS costs.

With its winning combination of advanced features, dependable technology, cost effectiveness and unparalleled usability, MLXchange is the first and only no-risk choice for the 21st Century MLS. Call us toll free at 1-866-EXPECT MORE (1-866-397-3286) to arrange a product demonstration today!

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