Technology Evaluation by WAV Group
WAV Group provides technology evaluation services to MLS Boards/Associations and brokerages. Changing technology can be hugely disruptive to an association or company. A well executed technology upgrade, however, can provide major benefits and gain acceptance quickly when managed cor- rectly. Staying current on technology trends in any industry is a full time job that MLSs and associations rarely have people dedicated to. WAV Group reviews real estate technology continually. They help evaluate your needs and focus your review on products and vendors that can meet your technol- ogy objectives at the best possible price. WAV Group provides an objective and optimized project management approach to ensure you reach your goals. MLS services include: MLS System Review and Selection Contract Negotiations MLS System Conversion & Implementation Transaction Management Real Estate Firm services include: Broker systems/product review and selection Back office Accounting Front desk Transaction management Listing management CRM/lead management Broker/agent websites System conversion and implementation management Transaction Management

RPR for Commercial
RPR for Commercial For those specializing in commercial properties, this program providers users comprehensive market data on a single platform. You can search for data by demographic, psychographic, or spending information to identify areas of high concentration of the customers your client is looking to target.  RPR for Commercial also helps business owners find a location based on an analysis of spending data within drive time, radius, or general area. Commercial reports can also be put together in minutes for your client to show trade area, business opportunities chart, or property reports as well.

Sales Advisory & Development by WAV Group
The WAV Group offers Sale Advisory and Development services to MLS Board/Associations and brokerages.  This professional service provides key consultation in three main categories: Sales Division Review & Restructuring, Comp Plan Development, and Sales Training and Development. Sales Division Review & Restructuring Services Many companies operate with a sales team structure that was built in a different time with different market factors.  Today the obstacles faced by high tech sales teams are very different from what they were even five years ago.  WAV group has proven success in restructuring sales organizations to do two things, (1) reduce sales costs, and (2) increase sales.   Their analysis uses through a multi-tier review process that can be customized for your organization and can include: Personnel assessment Organizational review Territory review Distribution strategy review Sales management tools and processes Presentation skills assessment Comp Plan Review Sales strategy review and assessment Comp Plan Development Even with a well structured sales division with good people you won't be really successful if your comp plan isn't aligned with your key corporate objectives.  WAV Group can help re-tune an existing comp plan or build one from scratch that is totally aligned with your company and product line.  A good comp plan makes the company and the sales team happy! Sales Training & Development Sales success in the real estate technology sector is not easy.  In addition to the obvious requirements such as product knowledge and understanding the decision process used by MLSs and real estate firms sales professionals need to have executive level communication skills and must have the ability to manage complex and lengthy sales cycles.  WAV Group sales training and development is custom designed for for their clients and can include the following focus areas: Individual and team sales skill training Creating and effective messaging in your sales team and company Building effective sales presentations Giving effective sales presentations Developing and executing technology sales strategies Using technology to effectively manage the sales process from the manager's perspective from the sales person's perspective

Product Management Services by WAV Group
WAV Group offers software development advisory services and product management services. WAV Group has worked in the MLS and related technology industry for over twenty years, designing, developing, selling and installing hundreds of systems for MLSs and brokers. WAV Group works with technology companies and in-house MLS development teams providing: User Interface/Navigation- WAV Group will review your entire system on the basis of navigation, ease of use and overall system design consistency. They provide a full report on issues, strengths and specific suggestions for product improvement. Product Review and Gap Analysis- They will review your systems module by module providing clear and objective feedback on strengths, weaknesses and system gaps as compared to best of breed products available on the market. They also provide specific suggestions for overall product improvement. Product Design Team Workshop- This workshop can be combined with the above services or used on its own. During the workshop WAV Group meets with your design and product team and review existing products or planned releases providing realtime feedback on functionality, interface and navigation. They have found that reviewing proposed releases with the development team without prior review provides an invaluable "first time" experience. Combined with their overall MLS product knowledge WAV Group is able to provide development and design teams quick validation on products and release plans before rollout identifying problems and issues before they reach your customers. Market Requirements/Product Roadmap- WAV Group has extensive experience identifying product market requirements and using that information to create an optimized product roadmap. They have helped develop and deliver dozens of MLS, broker and agent products as well as over a thousand retail products. The principle is the same regardless. They use proven methodology to define real market requirements and to develop a cohesive product roadmap.

Constant Contact
Constant Contact delivers for the real estate industry with powerful tools to simplify and amplify digital marketing. Whether you’re an agent or a growing firm, our platform is designed to help your business stand out, connect with your audience, and drive real results. Our best-in-class delivery (97%) means your email campaigns reach the inbox—not the spam folder—and our suite of tools allow you to streamline marketing across channels like SMS, social, ads, and events with one platform to accomplish your goals. See what brings thousands of real estate professionals to Constant Contact

VirtualTourCafe
VirtualTourCafe embarked on a journey to completely redesign and redevelop the online software to meet the needs of today’s real estate industry as well as the new “Web 3.0” graphical and responsive designed websites. Eight thousand hours of developing later, VirtualTourCafe 3.0 was launched on June 1 st , 2016. The new and improved service offers many new features and benefits for the real estate agent, but more importantly positions VirtualTourCafe for the future! The VirtualTourCafe difference: An integrated easy-to-use modern solution for every real estate agent! Today we are still a small but growing company based in Pleasanton, CA with a small staff and lots of help from our friends, family and business partners. We work with independent contractors, photographers and virtual partners around the world. We are proud of what we have accomplished in such a short time with loyal customers who have been with us from the beginning! We have been able to maintain our values and moral compass pointed in the right direction, while always treating our customers, employees and associates as if they are family, and living life full of love and gratitude, one day at a

Broker Public Portal
      What is the BPP and why does it exist? Effective Alternative: Many real estate agents spend hundreds – even thousands – of dollars a month with online advertising companies for very little return. They believe they must feature their listings on third-party sites, even though they don’t always see a healthy return on their investments. They feel like they have no choice because there are no options available. That’s why BPP was started. Consumers and professionals deserve better than what advertising-driven media companies offer today. Broker Public Portal with Homesnap is the industry’s turn to speak and provide an agent-centric, industry-first, pro-consumer way to secure listing exposure and leads for agents as an alternative to what advertising companies offer. Broker Public Portal is a collaborative effort owned and operated by real estate brokerages and MLSs, to deliver, through Homesnap, a better home search experience, with the same comprehensive, real-time MLS data used by real professionals - the people who list and sell homes, not ads. Broker Public Portal is the industry’s largest private marketing network of MLSs, representing 800,000 agents across the country, all contributing their listings to help generate listing exposure and leads from consumers nationwide. The BPP by Homesnap is agent-centric, not advertising centric. It’s designed to help agents literally with the click of one-button invite their entire sphere to search for properties alongside them, making it much easier to create relationships long before a customer is ready to buy or sell. No competing agents on listings. Broker Public Portal with Homesnap follows industry-defined Fair Display Guidelines: there are no display ads from other agents or brokers on one’s listings, and all inquiries are sent to the listing agent or broker for free. Encourages Agent-to-Consumer and Agent-to-Agent Collaboration: BPP is designed to promote agent-to-consumer connections as early in the search process as possible, as well as consumer-to-agent collaboration. It also fosters agent-to-agent collaboration to make it easier to work side-by-side with clients to find the home of their dreams and to work more efficiently with fellow agents in setting up showings and answering client questions quickly. The Broker Public Portal is structured to encourage consumers to connect to an agent and nurture a relationship as they begin to search for homes, or evaluate the market. This program is extremely cost-effective. Agents pay no additional fees to have their listings exposed to millions of consumers every day other than their regular MLS dues. Agent’s listings are available to consumers nationwide without advertising fees. ALL Properties Included: BPP with Homesnap now features over 100 million property records and over 59 million active and sold listings.     BPP is Working, and it’s the REAL DEAL! BPP offers something companies that sell ads do not: MLS and broker ownership that always puts industry stakeholders’ interests first! BPP with Homesnap Grows Over 150% in its First Year.Broker Public Portal (BPP) since its launch with Homesnap in January last year has grown from serving 45 Multiple Listing Services to more than 120 MLSs today, representing 800,000 real estate agents and brokers. Largest private marketing network of real estate professionals! The Broker Public Portal by Homesnap has already created the most extensive private real estate marketing network and is delivering a myriad of ways for agents to effectively prospect to generate significant listing exposure and leads from consumers nationwide. Agents and Consumers LOVE the BPP by Homesnap. Real estate agents have invited more than 19 million clients and contacts to access MLS listing data, and 8.5 million consumers have engaged with their agents through Homesnap. The Pace of Adoption is Unprecedented: Adoption rates far exceed that of most broker-offered technology with MLSs reporting, on average, 40-50% adoption rates, with adoption rates unusually high among top-producing agents. Agent and Consumer Satisfaction Levels are remarkably high. According to MLS member satisfaction surveys around the country, agent satisfaction of the Homesnap app offered is very high – much higher than other established mobile apps in the market that are provided by MLSs. Among consumers, Homesnap is the highest-rated mobile real estate app in the Apple App store. The BPP is Generating Business Opportunities for Real Estate Pros! In Chicago, one of the MLS leaders in the U.S., MRED, reports its member agents have already invited 1.5 million consumers in Chicagoland, and 750,000 consumers downloaded the app to connect with their agent. Homesnap is generating some 4,000 leads per month -- at no cost to MRED members. Thousands of Business Opportunities are being delivered!The Broker Public Portal is working! Homesnap has already delivered tens of thousands of leads to its participating agents and brokers - all covered by the cost of their MLS membership. None of the leads generated required the listing agent to pay any additional advertising fees; nobody had to buy a zip code, or pay to upgrade their profile to get all of these leads. All of this marketing exposure was available AS PART of their regular MLS dues. Strong Ongoing product improvements and Marketing CampaignsBPP reinvests all of the revenue it collects back into Homesnap product development, support, and marketing. Homesnap has a tremendous development team dedicated to providing continual product enhancements, usability improvements and better ways for agents to engage with consumers. BPP and Homesnap also partner to deliver compelling and targeted marketing campaigns to increase agent adoption and foster active consumer engagement continually. Homesnap Pro delivers access to the MLS on the go for agents: A mobile app branded for each agent, featuring MLS agent-only listing information (sales history, agent deal flow, showing instructions, commission splits), a full MLS roster for agent-to-agent interaction, built-in private messaging to engage buyers and sellers, an agent safety timer, Rapid CMA, agent marketing tools and

Realtors Property Resource® (RPR)
This initiative is based on the collaborative efforts of REALTORS® and the real estate community, including Brokers, MLSs and Associations. RPR’s core mission is to reinforce the REALTOR’S® value in the market place by keeping them ahead of the technology curve and better able to serve today’s’ technology empowered

[WATCH] The Future of AI
Intrigued by artificial intelligence? Ever wanted to understand it more deeply? We've got just the overview for you! Last month, RE Technology was joined by Dr. Brons Larson of Dell Technologies for a webinar. Dr. Larson is an applied mathematician with a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence who has worked with AI for two decades. Dr. Larson took us on a fascinating journey, explaining the origins of AI, where it's at now, and where it's headed in the future. Webinar attendees were treated to a discussion that ranged from complexity to how AI learns to the ethics of AI — and, yes, how advancements may impact real estate professionals in the future. So if you want to deepen your knowledge of this rapidly changing technology (and sound much smarter at cocktail parties), watch the full webinar below: Webinar Guests Dr. Brons Larson, AI Ecosystems Lead, Dell Technologies Sara Nauert, Strategic Partnerships and Business Development Analyst, Dell Technologies Moderator: Marilyn Wilson, Co-founder and President, RE Technology Video Timeline 0:00 - Moderator Marilyn Wilson introduces the topic and panelist. 0:54 - Dr. Brons Larson shares his background as an applied mathematician with a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence who has worked in the AI field for 20 years. 2:00 - Dr. Larson offers a snapshot of what AI at Dell Technologies means today. 2:53 - How AI is categorized into three broad areas within Dell. 4:35 - A snapshot of Dell's current AI projects. 8:35 - What's next for AI? An overview of the first, second, and probable third waves of AI. 12:24 - Dr. Larson references quotes from experts, including DARPA's view that AI is essentially a bunch of spreadsheets, and Jeffrey Hinton's suggestion to "throw it all away and start over." 14:47 - Why is a third wave of AI needed? 22:57 - An overview of AI challenges. 25:24 - How human learning differs from how AI learns. 30:45 - How does third wave AI work? 32:15 - What will launch the third wave of AI? 33:45 - Third wave AI offers up an immense opportunity. 36:39 - Impact of shifting from second to third wave AI. 39:05 - Third wave AI and creativity: Will AI replace creative professionals? 42:29 - Sara Nauert shares Dell Technology offers available to RE Technology readers. 44:08 - Dr. Larson answers questions on how AI will impact the real estate industry. Next Steps For questions or more information on Dell Technologies, contact [email protected] Learn more about special offers from Dell for RE Technology readers Watch more webinars

11 Cutting-Edge Ways Brokers Can Use AI Today
Artificial intelligence (AI for short) is arguably one of the biggest trends in real estate — and beyond — in 2023. What's truly amazing is how fast the industry has jumped on this cutting-edge technology and started using it for so many different tasks that would ordinarily take a person hours, if not longer. RE Technology hosted a webinar on Tuesday, September 19, with Liz Sturrock, the Chief of MLS and Innovation at Miami REALTORS®. Part of Sturrock's job is to stay apprised of both the risks and the opportunities that present themselves when new technologies are introduced. She shared some tips for brokers whose agents are interested in using AI (and who might be interested in trying out the tools themselves). The full webinar on demand is available at the end of this article. Who should be using AI? Whenever a new technology is introduced, the first question that everyone (not just real estate agents) asks themselves is something like: "Will this disrupt my business and possibly put me out of a job?" Sturrock believes that AI is not going to replace agents outright. However, agents and brokerages that are the most successful and efficient at leveraging these tools will be able to outperform agents and brokers who don't. Tip 1: Start experimenting with AI today. It will likely be a game-changer for your business, and you'll want to get a head start. What are some of the risks of using AI? Like any new technology, AI is not perfect. There are some caveats that Sturrock provided for real estate professionals who are interested in testing it out. Tip 2: Beware of copyright challenges. Photographers are (rightfully so) protective of their images. If you've ever published an image from a stock image source and received some kind of cease-and-desist notification, then you've already had some experience with copyright issues in images. Who owns an image that's a composite of two (or more) images that are found all over the internet? There are no solid legal answers here. If you have questions about whether an AI image project you're planning is fair-use legally, the best way to find out is to ask an attorney who follows AI and can give you good advice. Tip 3: Check for plagiarism. Another group of people who will take steps to shut down a content operation are writers and publishers whose work is being used to create the content, especially if it's not being attributed. But even if it is attributed, reposting large chunks of text from other sources is not usually a great reading experience, and depending on how you've chosen to cite the source, even attribution might not be enough to escape legal hassles. If you don't already use a plagiarism checker at your brokerage, it's probably a good idea to invest in one and pass any AI-written content through it before you publish it on your website. Tip 4: Be vigilant about data privacy. One way that AI "teaches" itself to be smarter is by reviewing the inputs (including the data) that people feed to it. For example, if you're suggesting an AI tool to agents, and they're using it to finesse a lot of market information or home listing data, then you will want to understand how the AI is storing that data and whether the data will get funneled into a larger project or model down the line. Tip 5: Cite sources and check for accuracy. It's a good practice to cite your sources regardless, but one thing to be aware of when using AI tools (such as ChatGPT) to write content is that it will sometimes create sources from thin air, and even provide fake source information (such as backlinks) that look real. When you ask an AI tool to write something for you, make sure you're double-checking any numbers, data, survey information, or other facts that it might have decided to generate for you. How can you use AI in real estate? Once you've apprised yourself of the risks, it's time to start learning more about how AI can help you be a better broker-owner. Here are the top ways Sturrock and her team are using AI at Miami REALTORS®. Tip 6: AI can engage and nurture leads Chatboxes and widgets that answer visitor questions on a real estate website are not new. One thing that is new is the level at which these widgets can interact and engage with people, and some software tools offer live texting options for the agent or broker who owns the website. This allows them to jump in and take over the conversation in real time. Tip 7: AI makes finding a house easier It's one thing to send buyer clients a list of homes in the MLS that meet their criteria; it's entirely another thing to provide them with personalized recommendations that are curated by AI and that get smarter every time the buyer shows interest (or disinterest) in a listing. Tip 8: Quickly and easily generate content Tools like ChatGPT can be used not only to write things like blog articles and social media posts once you provide a list of ideas — they can also provide the ideas for you. Try prompts like "give me three reasons why you might want to buy a house in today's market," or provide it with a localized market data feed (such as RPR's) and ask it to tell you what trends it sees. Remember when you're using AI tools to generate content that you'll want to check any sources cited as well as check for plagiarism before you publish that post, especially if it's going on a website. If the piece is too close to something else that's online, you can always ask the AI to try again! Tip 9: Property descriptions are a breeze for AI Listing descriptions are not every agent's favorite thing to write, and there are specialized platforms now available that can guide agents through a quiz flow, answering certain questions about the property. The tool will then create a captivating property description in seconds. Tip 10: Stage homes and enhance photos The ability to add furniture and even certain features to home listing photos has been available for some time now, but the most recent AI photo generation tools take this ability to a whole new level. You can ask AI staging tools to recreate the same room in a different style, such as "rustic" or "jungle," and even simple enhancements are much easier and faster with AI. Remember to use disclaimers and disclose that enhanced photos have been modified from their original format. Tip 11: AI coaching is a search engine on steroids People who know how to use Google and Bing well can find a lot of great information on the internet, including how to solve certain business problems that are occupying their time and energy. It's possible to use AI as a sort of search-engine-based coach. For example, you can ask some AI tools questions ("what would the best real estate coaches tell me to do to get over my dislike of cold-calling?") and see what kind of advice it pulls up. You can also ask it for business strategy ideas, motivation tactics, and more. For more details — including specific product information from Sturrock — watch the full webinar.