In an effort to assist real estate brokers who serve consumers across an ever-expanding geographic region, TREND recently signed a cooperative agreement with
Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. (MRIS), the MLS for the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, to share listing information. Under the agreement, TREND and MRIS will combine listings from the two multiple listing services (MLSs) into a single database, called MRIS Cornerstone Universal RETS Exchange (MRIS CURE).
The MRIS CURE database will utilize the
Real Estate Transaction Standard, known as RETS, which sets standards for the file formats and fields of real estate data. This then facilitates smoother and easier data transfers and simplifies solution development efforts because the file formats and fields are standard no matter who delivers or receives the information.
"The need for information crosses borders," said Tom Phillips, TREND's President and CEO. "TREND is one part of a global industry that understands common standards are crucial to success."
MRIS CURE was also designed to address some of the issues that are created when real estate professionals have to join multiple MLSs in order to secure the listing information they need to perform their business. This issue has been coined by the industry as "Overlapping Market Disorder," or OMD.
OMD occurs when the market of a real estate professional crosses the borders of many MLSs. To get and receive exposure of all listings in that market, the professional must belong to those multiple MLSs. Agents must pay multiple membership fees, must learn how to use multiple systems and must understand multiple rules. Brokers must do these things but additionally, they must pay multiple costs to secure the multiple MLS data feeds for their IDX websites or back office operations.
"As the industry recognizes the tremendous value of the Internet to the buying and selling public, it also recognizes that tightly-defined real estate markets are no longer relevant," said David Charron, MRIS's President and CEO. "While the adage, 'All real estate is local' may still be true, regional boundaries have blurred in many cases leading to OMD."
"As an industry leader, TREND is at the forefront of solving OMD," Phillips said. "This agreement to combine TREND listings into CURE is one step toward that goal."
The MRIS CURE platform will initially be used to support TREND's Internet Data Exchange (IDX) feeds and broker office downloads. For those brokers and companies who conduct business within the market covered by both TREND and MRIS, they will now be able to receive one data feed to accomplish these tasks.
More information on the release of the TREND IDX data in a RETS format will be announced soon.
"Working with MRIS was a logical decision," he explained. "MRIS's CURE product enabled us to join together to begin a relationship designed to better serve today's broker and consumer. We evaluated several solutions from other providers but concluded this service, created by an MLS, specifically for MLSs, would give us greater control of our content."
The arrangement allows the respective MLSs to each maintain independence. Although the TREND and MRIS listings will be combined into a single database, each MLS will still retain full control over the distribution of its content. TREND will maintain the integrity of its database and full independent control over access, use, display and dissemination of TREND's listing content.
TREND and MRIS are the two largest MLSs on the East Coast, Together, they cover 61 counties and more than 30,000 square miles from the Philadelphia Metropolitan region extending south to Richmond, VA.