With so much in the news about communications and the Internet, XML technology, and Internet MLS solutions, many agents are writing to Agent News for clarification about these issues. Some agents and brokers are working on old systems which have no Internet access, others are in the middle of system conversions and will get an Internet solution, while still others are getting ready to vote on new systems proposed by their boards or MLS organizations. Confused by the differences in products, many agents are asking "What is Internet MLS and why do I need it?"

For the answer, Agent News went to Marketlinx, the company that installed the first stand-alone Internet MLS for a major board - the Middle Tennessee Regional MLS(MTRMLS). Marketlinx, a systems integrator of MLS information, was unknown in the MLS information management field when it won the MTRMLS contract to convert all 7,000 users and all of the board's MLS information to a browser/server system. The conversion took place a year ago, boasting increased functionality including Internet access for the same price the members were paying for a previous system. The learning curve was easy. Members only had to learn to operate a browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, and to use e-mail. In addition, they were not required to purchase new software in order to access the system. Today, every user in the system receives all MLS news, updates and information via e-mail only.

The MTRMLS is a rare exception. Other boards, in an attempt to appease technophobic agents and retain revenues on proprietary software as well as "hold on" to the listing data, are reluctant to adopt what appears to be a low-cost, no-brainer solution to MLS information management. Phil Graves, spokesperson for Marketlinx, has agreed to talk with Blanche Evans, editor of Agent News about why boards, brokers, and agents are slow to adopt the Internet.

Blanche Evans: What is an Internet system?

Phil Graves: There are two forms of Internet systems. There are mirror or parallel systems that work with the current MLS data management system. Mirror systems are secondary to the main system, the primary load of the MLS membership is going to the main system. All listing entry and edit functions occur on the main system. The data is copied over from the main system to the mirror or parallel system for reporting or searching purposes only. Those functions can be integrated with the new browser features such as contact management and presentation programs and outside sources of information.

You have your legacy system as the back end (hardware) and you put in an Internet front end. That provides a secondary access to the MLS system. It allows the ability to add new features and to take advantage of the Internet's ability to link to outside sources of information as well as the new client communication path of e-mail.

The second MLS Internet system would be a stand-alone system which would replace a traditional closed architecture MLS system. In this case the Internet system handles the entire load of the MLS membership including broker load and edit functions (listings) and the staff system administration functions such as data management, member notifications, and more.

BE: What do you mean by a browser-based system?

PG: With a browser system, the client uses universal software - a standard Internet browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. A browser-based system uses a universally standard protocol called TCP/IP. The universal language allows browser-based systems to easily connect to other information systems such as school information, demographic information, tax and mortgage information and other information that is set up and provided by third-party vendors. A browser makes it easy to integrate the MLS system with other companies or organizations that perform part of the real estate transaction process.

BE: What does this mean to the Realtor?

PG: It brings up a vision of a system that goes far beyond what traditional MLS systems have done. There is a potential for a system where the Realtor can interact and manage all phases of the entire real estate process.

That is the real basic difference. A browser is an open architecture system with universal access to other systems. A browser system uses the same technology as the Internet and can be connected to the Internet and take advantage of linking to outside information. But, it is still a private system.

BE: Brokers and agents feel that they've already paid their money for a system. Why do they need an Internet solution?

PG: The Internet allows agents to take advantage of new things such as e-mail. Many Realtors are finding they are communicating with customers via e-mail. The Internet opens new connections possibilities to existing systems. They can access their existing systems in a number of ways - direct dial up access, wide area networks, access through ISPs, cable modems, ISDN, and soon, xDSL, depending on how the controlling MLS board sets it up. It opens additional access to existing legacy systems. If you don't have enough lines, that isn't a problem. You can connect through these other means. It is expensive to add additional access lines to traditional legacy systems.

Then there are all the things that individual companies and ours have done to create easy-to-use features for the agents. Because there are many different companies, we are all competing on the features that don't exist on the legacy systems - contact management, prospecting tools, access to new media such as virtual tour technology, wireless access, and in the future, streaming video. All this functionality is opening new ways of doing things. The competition is fostering creativity.

Another reason to use the Internet is that it gives you universal access to other systems without the purchase of additional software. It gives you access to more information that can help you perform your job. It provides more avenues of communication to clients and in the future it will allow you more centralized management tools for managing the entire real estate transaction process.

BE: On-line transaction management would position the Realtor at the center of the transaction. That is significant. Is that what Internet MLSs are working toward?

PG: We think it is extremely significant. All of the different parties that are involved in the transaction from beginning to end such as advertising companies (newspapers, home magazines,) mortgage companies, home inspectors, escrow companies, attorneys, can be managed by the Realtor in order to get to closing. And that can be done with an Internet-based system.

BE: Why can't that be done through traditional legacy systems?

PG: Most traditional systems have a closed architecture based on proprietary programming and a proprietary database. The connection to the users is a dial up, or a wide area network, but the system is usually a closed access system. They require a specific software package on the client's (agent's) computer. There are many parties and many details to make such a system practical and available.

There are so many different pieces that getting all the transaction parties on the same page is going to require lots of work and time. The motivation is that it benefits everyone. From the Realtor's point of view, not only is the Internet more helpful and efficient for them, they are out in front leading the development of such a system. The individual Realtor is at the center of the transaction.

Again, it isn't going to happen overnight, but it is coming.

BE: What is making on-line transaction management so time-sensitive?

PG: If Realtors don't do it someone else will.

BE: How does XML figure in all this? What is XML?

PG: XML is a new development in Internet technology that is basically a universal language or description for data that makes it easier to share information between different computers and systems across the Internet. It overrides proprietary programming. It is simply a universal standard that makes it easier to share information between computers. It makes it much easier to combine information from different MLS systems and to integrate that information with data, services and information from other parties.

This is clearly a benefit when you are trying to build systems that integrate pieces of the real estate transaction process.

BE: Why does XML scare people?

PG: There has been a lot of concern that anyone can read MLS listing information and that would eliminate the need for MLS systems or even the Realtor. XML does not mean that. Just because listing data and information that is now held by the Realtor in an MLS systems doesn't mean that XML will suddenly and automatically make it available to other organizations or to the public. It can easily be protected.

XML is like a universal language. If you had lots of people in the same room and they all spoke a different language, and you had a way to make everyone understand a universal language, they would all be able to communicate. You can still be selective in what you tell to which people. You don't have to tell everyone everything. You would tell some things to one person, and not to another. The individual person decides what information is going to which person.

BE: Are Internet systems less trouble to install?

PG: Internet systems are not necessarily easier or less labor intensive to program. In addition to all the new features that browser technology makes available, users expect the same breadth and depth of features that are available on the traditional systems. These traditional systems are the results of decades of continuing refinement and enhancement. They aren't easy to build.

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