The Drive Toward Data Standards Organization

Getting listing details to home buyers can make agents and brokers feel like a frustrated American on the Autobahn. You laid down the cash for the Porsche-like technology solutions so that you can drive like a legend on the highway of business—but all the signs that tell you where you're going is in a different language. It doesn't matter that you have the most capable car on the road if you can't understand the local vernacular.

To engage home buyers, agents need to be able to communicate accurate information as soon as it's available. But MLSs and the associated add-on services often have overlapping, inconsistent, or localized data that takes valuable time and money to translate in order to effectively serve clients. Imagine the efficiency— and increased sales!— that could result from all MLSs speaking the same language.

The Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), which is featured in our annual Technology Guide, is paving the way for agents to access property listing information more productively.

Our recent survey revealed that more than a third of brokerages struggle with translating real estate data from the MLS into six or more applications. But the standards developed by RESO enable MLSs, brokers, and associated vendors to more efficiently exchange real estate data in a common format. By using consistent terms and data structures, real estate technology services can put more accurate listing data at the fingertips of brokers and agents.

Making it easier to transfer data between MLSs and associated technology solutions can increase the speed of delivering real estate information to clients. Standardized data enables software developers to create productivity enhancing tools and applications for MLSs and members without the challenges of translating locally defined terms. As a result, MLS participants will see accelerated development of technology tools with more robust features to better serve the client base.

The move toward data standards among MLSs is largely consumer-driven. In the eyes of Chris Bennett, General Manager of CoreLogic's real estate solutions, adopting data standards is key to remaining valuable by staying ahead of consumer's expectations. "Consumers are hungry for information; they're gaining more and more access to information, and we have to figure out how to stay at the center of the transaction for our clients," Bennet explained during a webinar hosted by WAV Group.

With the recent National Association of Realtors mandate for MLS organizations to implement RESO standards, and over one million members of MLSs now participating, the company is positioned as the leader in real estate data integration. And the movement toward the creation and adoption of standards is still gaining fast momentum. In our Technology Guide, we recommend that you ensure that any vendor using listing data is RESO certified.