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The Latest News from WFG National Title Company
ryantate
118
WFG News
March 6, 2015

MLS systems: The best, and all the rest

A multiple listing service system from Black Knight Financial Services has snagged the highest satisfaction ratings for the third year in a row in an annual survey of MLS executives by real estate consulting firm Clareity Consulting. Among the countless technology tools available to them, agents consider the multiple listing…
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ryantate
180
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Zillow Group’s game of ‘chicken’

For months now, the rumor mill has been flying with talk of Zillow and Trulia (now Zillow Group) ending the featured listings placement for brokers and franchisors by the end of 2015. Large brokers and franchisors who pay $5 to $10 to feature a listing, with all competing agents stripped…
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ryantate
147
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Mysterious ‘Upstream’ initiative won’t be consumer-facing

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Details of the mysterious Project Upstream remain sparse, but whatever it is, it will not be public-facing to consumers. That’s according to Craig Cheatham, president and CEO of The Realty Alliance, which is spearheading the project. Cheatham spoke on a panel at Clareity’s MLS Workshop this week.…
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ryantate
182
WFG News
February 27, 2015

Zillow and Trulia say they’re still competitors

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Executives with Zillow and Trulia told a roomful of multiple listing service leaders that the two sites will continue to compete even though the top two listing portals are now under the same roof. “Beating each other up, sharpening each other, for us that’s going to be…
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ryantate
153
WFG News
February 27, 2015

Is Realogy’s portal an innovation or smoke bomb?

Now that Realogy’s portal, homesforsale.com, is live, one big question is up in the air: is this new arrival on the market an innovation bomb … or is it more of a smoke bomb, a temporary distraction that simply won’t last? Realogy’s portal has got a clean, almost minimalist design,…
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ryantate
119
WFG News
February 26, 2015

Analytics providers tracking most U.S. home sales through MLSs

Rival data licensing initiatives from analytics providers Realtors Property Resource and CoreLogic have succeeded in gaining traction among multiple listing services representing most of the nation’s Realtors. As of Feb. 1, National Association of Realtors subsidiary RPR had signed data licensing deals with 616 multiple listing services, commercial information exchanges…
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ryantate
199
WFG News
February 25, 2015

Portals pay to play? Brokers, MLSs could profit from listing feeds

Clichés are commonplace in real estate. The simple, repetitive statements are supposed to make complex topics succinct. But more often, they create trite answers instead of strategic thought. “A real estate portal is just another advertising platform.” “They’re selling our leads back to us.” “Portals are no different than newspapers.” “My…
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ryantate
184
WFG News
February 23, 2015

ListHub stops syndication to Trulia and Zillow … so what?

Most Realtors would agree that maximum exposure to the marketplace results in maximum price. ListHub’s decision to pull the plug on the data it aggregates from 560 multiple listing services (MLSs) and syndicates to Trulia would seem to be a damaging decision to both agents and consumers — but is it really? If you were…
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ryantate
113
WFG News
February 21, 2015

MLSs expand their reach through data-sharing

Two large Michigan multiple listing services are taking a first step in what could become a broader data-sharing partnership: sharing passwords to each other’s systems. Currently, Realcomp, Michigan’s largest Realtor-owned MLS, has various data-sharing arrangements with seven MLSs, allowing Realcomp’s more than 12,000 members access to MLS data for 34…
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ryantate
167
WFG News
February 19, 2015

Zillow scores direct feed from big Texas MLS

Now that Zillow has closed its acquisition of its biggest rival, Trulia, another deadline is looming: the expiration of its agreement with listing syndicator ListHub. That April 7 deadline has spurred Zillow and MLSs alike to scurry to ink direct feed deals before ListHub’s listing pipeline to the top portal…
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