System allows selective opt-in, opt-out based on agent, broker preference

Glen Roberts
Inman News

Forget about IDX, VOW, ILD and even MLS for a moment. An online system
created by a Canadian real estate technology company allows individual
agents and brokers to decide how to share property listings information
with other real estate professionals online.

This “Agent Handshake” system, created by Point2 Realty Solutions
of Saskatoon, Canada, can function as a sort of “internal MLS” by
putting property information online even before the information is
available to the entire community of agents and brokers served by a
multiple listing service, company officials say. Agent Handshake does
not use listing information imported from an MLS database, but rather
allows members to add their own listing data and gives them control
over the online advertising of this information.

In
some jurisdictions, it can take several days for listings to appear in
an MLS system, said company spokesman Roger Noujeim. In Canada, it “can
take up to a week” for a listing to appear at MLS.ca, Noujeim said. In
that time, he added, “the listing could have been sold, disappointing
customers who see it posted and are interested in it. This can also be
an issue to the property owner, since a more widely marketed listing
can bring in more parties to the table.“

Jeff
Tomlin, manager of market research at Point2, said, “Whether logistical
or systematic, delays can occur between the time a listing is added to
the MLS and the time it is displayed on a Realtor’s Web site via IDX or
other structured feed.

Common
delays can be experienced in the transmission of listing data to
national listings sites such as MLS.ca and Realtor.com.” IDX (Internet
Data Exchange), VOW (Virtual Office Web site) and ILD (Internet
Listings Display) are standards for the sharing and display of online
property listings, and IDX is the most widely adopted system.
Meanwhile, pending Justice Department litigation relates to VOW and ILD
rules.

In the United
States, MLS rules typically set a deadline for brokers to submit
property listings information to an MLS after they have secured a
listing, and this time period generally ranges from 24 hours to 72
hours. Also, it can take time for individual brokers to download the
latest MLS information and post this information online through
agreements with other brokers. By quickly getting property listings
online, participants in the Agent Handshake system can get a jump on
other brokers by seeing listings even before they reach the MLS,
company officials say.

While
controversy is brewing over the online sharing of property information
between brokers – the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division
is suing the National Association of Realtors over the trade group’s
rules relating to the display and sharing of online property listings –
Point2 officials say their system sidesteps this controversy by
allowing individual agents and brokers to make individual business
decisions. This, they say, should steer users clear of potential
antitrust problems.

“They
literally have complete control,” said Brendan King, chief operating
officer at Point2 Realty Solutions. “It is helping agents to maintain
control of listings data. An MLS, by its very nature – if you join it,
you have to provide the same service to all participants. We have made
it an individual business decision, an individual choice.

“We’re
not trying to displace the MLS as a governing body. All we’re trying to
do is allow brokers to control data that they already own.“

A
RE/MAX office in Saskatoon has established an Agent Handshake system
for all of the company’s agents, and the company’s agents are
“double-ending,” or working both sides of the same real estate
transaction – more often now than they did before implementing the
system, King also said.

The
Agent Handshake system allows agents to choose which other agents to
form agreements with to share property listings, and which agents to
block from such sharing. The system requires brokers to grant
permission for their agents to establish these relationships, he said.

When
blocking handshake agreements with particular agents or for particular
listings, agents have the option to select a reason for this decision
from a pull-down menu, or they can decline to state a reason. The goal
was to make the system as transparent as possible, King added.

According
to a Web site description, “Unlike other online listing programs such
as the IDX and VOW, you choose which other real estate professionals
you would like to create advertising arrangements with through
Handshake, allowing you to screen potential advertising partners for
the appropriateness or quality of their listings, or any other
criteria.“

Ted Young,
senior vice president at Rapattoni Corp., a real estate technology
company that offers MLS systems and hosting services, said that MLS
software typically has the capability to instantly publish property
listings information to an MLS, though in some cases MLS bylaws require
some delays in order to verify listings information. He also said that
MLS bylaws typically require that a listing “be made available to all
agents on the official MLS site before it is distributed on the
Internet.“

Mary Jo Powell,
a spokeswoman for Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, a regional
MLS surrounding Washington, D.C., said that there aren’t any technical
hurdles to placing property listings in the MLS once brokers submit
them, and MRIS requires brokers to submit listings to the MLS within 48
hours. She said that some small MLSs may use slower technology, though.
And Russ Bergeron, CEO for SoCal MLS in California, said most MLSs have
“real-time systems” that immediately publish property information
online.

Brokers, he said,
can choose to update their display of MLS-based property listings
several times a day or less frequently. “We refresh the entire active
database for them everyday,” he said.

Agents
who participate in Point2′s Agent Handshake system can see how many
“handshake agreements” are pending their approval or others’ approval,
how many agreements have been completed, how many agreements they have
blocked, and how many agreements have been blocked by others.

All
approved listings from other agents and brokers will appear on a
participant’s Web site with the participant’s photo and contact
information, and no contact information for other listing brokers,
advertisers or builders are displayed in this Agent Handshake system.
“This means that all traffic and activity occurring on your Web site
translates into your own leads,” according to the program description.
Agents cannot change any listing information that is supplied by
another agent.

There are
about 33,600 Point2 users’ Web sites with active Agent Handshake
agreements in place, the company reported, and users have formed a
total of about 3.7 million individual relationships using the tool. The
system launched in January 2004 and the company has applied for a
patent on the peer-to-peer technology that powers the system. Point2
has about 67,500 customers, with more than 50,000 in the United States.

King
said MLS data can be somewhat limited compared to the rich multi-media
content that is available for property listings these days, and Point2
has plans to expand the features of the listings displayed through
Agent Handshake. The MLS will not go away, he added, but “we’ve already
made the MLS less relevant for the brokers who are using our product.“