New Jersey listings will soon be freely flowing between TREND and the Jersey Shore MLS through data sharing.
One of TREND's highest priorities in 2008 and 2009 is to implement solutions that help lessen the impact of
overlapping market disorder, or OMD. While some steps have already been taken, a more beneficial and highly-anticipated solution - data sharing - is now underway.
Feeling the Effects of OMD
TREND borders 10 other MLSs and estimates that as many as 20 percent, or approximately 6,000, of our members need to belong to at least one additional MLS in order to facilitate their business. (This is the "overlapping market.")
TREND realizes it is frustrating for you, knowing that your clients can go to consumer-based websites to find all of the real estate information for their market, but you have to use multiple systems.
When you join multiple MLS organizations, you must pay for multiple memberships, learn how to use multiple systems, enter and search listings multiple times, and must abide by multiple and often very different sets of rules. Often, you incur the costs of having to hire the additional staff required to support the extra workload. It is time-consuming to learn the different systems and MLS rules. The work becomes redundant as you constantly have to update listings multiple times in each system.
Additionally, if you are a broker, you have to pay for and manage multiple data feeds to facilitate call centers, back office operations and market share programs as well as multiple data feeds to run your company's website. (This is the "disorder.")
Sharing Listings Eliminates Duplicate Effort
Data sharing is the exchange of listing information between two MLSs in order to offer a broader geographic coverage area within one MLS system. Imagine, finding properties outside of TREND's coverage area in MLS Blue. Imagine, entering listings in TREND and having them appear to agents using another MLS. The duplicate work is gone, and what has returned is productivity and additional opportunities.
Having more listing information at your disposal enables you to better serve your clients. Having a larger pool of listings to work with means you have a better chance of finding the right property to match your clients' needs.
For selling agents, data sharing provides greater exposure for your listings because they are being viewed by a larger audience. The better the exposure, the better chance the property will sell.
Data sharing allows brokers to reduce costs associated with having to secure multiple feeds for company websites and office solutions. Data sharing combines the listings and allows them to be received in fewer feeds. This means brokers incur lower programming fees from vendors because the listing information is being transmitted in a standard format.
When clients review your MLS reports, all of the information will be in the same place on each report. They won't have to painstakingly search to find where the fields are located or have to decipher the different report abbreviations. This makes it easier for them to review the listings you send them, and they can more easily compare one listing to another.
TREND Partners with Jersey Shore MLS
In December 2007, TREND signed a formal agreement with the Ocean County, NJ Board of REALTORS®, which operates the Jersey Shore MLS (JSMLS), to share listing information. This information will be seamlessly integrated into each MLS. This allows members of each MLS to have more listing information at their disposal. As a TREND member, you will be able to search for listings in Ocean County and TREND within one system.
Data sharing helps reduce fees and helps eliminate duplicate work and lost productivity
The project to integrate listings from JSMLS into TREND and allow MLS Blue to display data is currently underway. These changes are almost entirely behind-the-scenes and will result in no significant functional changes to MLS Blue - except for the availability of MORE INFORMATION!
Sometime in 2009, you will have active and sold listing information from Ocean County that you can use when working in MLS Blue. This includes performing searches,
setting up auto client matches (ACMs) and
auto searches, as well as
preparing Comparative Market Analyses (CMAs), flyers and printed reports for your clients.
This data sharing helps reduce fees and helps eliminate duplicate work and lost productivity. It increases the exposure your listings will get by making them available to real estate professionals in Ocean County. It also allows you access to a broader inventory of listings in New Jersey.
As a broker, you can allocate resources more efficiently since it's no longer necessary to update listings multiple times. Also, you can reduce costs because you can combine Ocean County and TREND listings in one feed.
What's Next?
We will announce when Ocean County listing information from JSMLS is available in MLS Blue. In the meantime, TREND continues to foster relationships with other MLSs in the hope of reaching additional data sharing relationships. Our goal is to make your day-to-day business more cost-effective and efficient, so you can better serve your clients.