Members to the MLS:  "Go directly to the Web.  Do not pass GO.  Do not collect $200.  Go directly to the Web!"

For the past two months Agent News has been tracking what is turning out to be the real estate story of the decade.  Long the butt of technophic jokes, Realtors across the nation are finally taking MLS matters into their own hands.  MLS Info Execs and boat anchor vendors everywhere are scrambling for cover as formerly passive practitioners start making some rather loud demands.

And none to soon too.  The Web is where it's at and if the Info Execs don't understand that, the practitioners certainly do.  At least that's the message Agent News is getting.  The eMail response to the recent MLS series has been an avalanche of Info Exec horror stories, boat anchor vendors sinking fast, and requests for more information.

So what to do?  With 18,000 Americans per day joining the global herds of Web trafficking consumers, the practitioners got it right.  The Web is where it's at and where the future of real estate will be.

It's true that not every American is on the Web.  It's also true that not every American has a TV and not every American has a car.  But these are hardly the people likely to buy or sell a house either.  Unless your speciality is in servicing the Homeless, the Internet is a place commonly trafficked by those consumers most likely to buy or sell property.

Somehow Realtors have figured out that this is not the time to hesitate.  As Technology Analyst Jeffrey Harrow states, "Consider the latest findings from Boston-based Yankee Group, which says Internet access is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 21 percent over the next five years, during which U.S. users will spend $56 billion for the purpose. The Internet already penetrates one-quarter of U.S. homes; that will rise to one-third by the end of this year, and to two-thirds of U.S. homes by 2003.  And no surprise, Yankee Group says it found that "the Internet is now the No. 1 use for home computers."

"The moral? If your business can be altered/affected/disintermediated by the Internet, you'd better begin reinventing your business, because as the music industry, the travel-agent industry, the securities and trade industry, and others are finding much to their chagrin, if you don't, someone else will."

The first generation of Internet activity was based on marketing issues.  The second wave of Internet action will be focused on the transaction process itself.  Having missed the first wave and now having to contend with fresh pocked Interlopers now firmly wedged between real estate practitioners and the point and click consumers they serve, Realtors seem determined to take control of their destinies, take their transaction action to the Web and close the door once and for all on Interlopers.  There are only so many pieces ot the transaction pie that can be cut, enough is enough.

Before the eTransaction wave can begin though, practitioners everywhere are demanding that the listing inventory, the information management systems so vital to their business, also be moved to the Web.  Progressive Brokers and top producing Agents are moving to take control of the listing.  And if that means giving their local Info Execs a good spanking and cutting loose the costly boat anchor systems, then so be it.

But why should this be such a problem?  Why aren't the Info Execs leading the charge?  Who's interest is it that they pretend to serve?  The advantages to members of moving the MLS infrastructure to the Web are overwhelming.  It's there, it works wonders, and every Fortune 500 corporation has an ExtraNet strategy either launched or under construction.  Universal access and exchange is here so why the hesitation?

What could be better than adding a member in five minutes?  What could be better than never having a member install software, ever again?  How about members never having to upgrade software?  Perhaps the fact that point and click Web access requires no training warrants some attention?

Point and click browser access versus cascading windows and overflowing hot key menu's?  Is this a decision?  How about members having a total "mobile and connected" environment?  With members being able to access MLS data from any web connected device?  Access from obsolete (and dirt cheap) DOS machines?  Windows, Macs, Be's and Linnux machines?  Handhelds?  WebPads? TV WebTops?  A WebPhone?  WebPagers?  Or a WebDash in a mobile members car?

How about being able to eMail all members, consumers, and client prospects with results the moment they are available?  Automated results, reports, maps, new listings, open house schedules, school and community information, disclosure forms?  Real time interaction.   What's not to like here?

The most important reasons though for an MLS to move to a web based infrastructure is that, to own the eTransaction space, their members need to control the listing inventory as just one of many necessary information sources.

The next wave of Web activity isn't going to be about consumers searching a web site for available properties and being swept away with click on mortgage calculation buttons.  The eTransaction process goes beyond marketing and finding available properties.  It is about servicing consumers with expert advice and information as the transaction process unfolds.  It is about relationship management, process management, and professional representation of a clients best interests as the deal is put together.  The eTransaction is about getting a consumer from where they are today to where they need to be tomorrow.  It's the whole enchilada and nothing less than the whole enchilada.  It's what Realtors do.

The thing about the property transaction process is that near every activity results in paper.  Lots of paper.  Lots of transaction professionals producing lots of paper.  It's not about a database here, an information system there, or even document management system somewhere, anywhere!  It's about bringing many disparate information systems and separate  business processes together, for the briefest of moments, to perfect an exchange of property between a somewhat willing Seller and a sometimes less than somewhat willing Buyer.

XML based Web systems were designed specifically to handle such a situation.   Many proprietary databases, many disparate information systems, many documents needing to route, re populate and refresh many business procedures.  So why wouldn't the local MLS Info Exec want to lead the troops in their efforts to crack the paperless transaction?  What's wrong with members driving their services toward a "faster, better, cheaper" transaction for consumers?

Lou Gerstner, President of IBM perhaps has it right when he says, "The core idea we are taking to our customers, and that we ourselves embrace, is to rethink what you do, and along the way, reinvent who you are.  Everyday it becomes more certain that the Internet will take it's place alongside other great transformational technologies that first challenged, then fundamentally changed the way things are done in the world".

Maybe it's time for the MLS Info Execs to recall the worn wisdom of the turbulent 60's, "If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem."

Info Execs and boat anchor vendors are quick to quip a three part refrain that just doesn't hold up.  "Realtors aren't ready, the Web is not secure, the performance isn't there".

What nonsense! Take Security.  Every fortune 500 has an ExtraNet strategy today.  Anything eCommerce is sure to take Wall Street by storm.  Meanwhile these same Info Execs and vendor chuckleheads will go out to dinner tonight and give a complete stranger their credit card without thinking twice.  And how many 1-800 phone orders take a credit card?  The largest, most successful corporations in the world are moving their entire business model to the Web using ExtraNet models of highly secure public/private networks.

And let's not forget that the Internet was originally designed and developed as a military backup communications system for when all else fails.  Like in a nuclear war!

This week millions of Americans will electronically file their tax returns over the Web.  Now tell me that the dimensions of a swimming pool demand a higher level of security than that of information about my bank account and 401K investments?  The latest releases of tax and bookkeeping software programs, both Quicken 99 and Microsoft Money 99, are totally integrated with the Web.  And does anyone wonder about Quicken, a bookkeeping - bill paying software application developer, having closed more than $350 Million dollars in mortgages through the Web?  Do the Info Execs know that the people who take on mortgage debt are the very same people who buy and sell homes using their members services?

Why isn't this good?   It's good for the members, it's good for the consumer.

And what about this business that Realtors aren't ready?  Any Realtor that can handle the property search codes of a dumb terminal will think they're in heaven when they first use a point and click browser.  Point and click is as simple as it gets.  Fundamental to every Web based system, the complexity is lifted from the user interface (along with the business logic) and placed on the server where full time systems administrators and professional telecom engineer's can deal with it.

But the more important argument here is that as consumers rush in ever increasing numbers to the web, will Realtors be there to greet them?  And I don't mean greet them with an email responder either.  Will Realtors be there to service the point and click herds with eTransaction processing?

The avalanche of responses to Agent News indicate that the practitioners are going to make it to the web even if it means dragging the Info Execs kicking and screaming.

Performance.  Now there's a chucklehead concern that would gag any visitor to Yahoo or Amazon.com.   30,000 hits per second on more information than all the collective streams of microfiche a Realtor could imagine and these Portals don't even blink.  And the Info Execs are concerned about web performance?  The only performance issue here is that of the pathetic and woefully inadequate access and output of boat anchor systems.

If web systems have a performance penalty it will be because of inadequate bandwidth.  But think about what the Web is being used for.  Web systems must deal with multi media text, graphics, photos, maps, 3 Dimensional graphics, audio, video, massive databases of documents and data, and interactive "real time" combinations of all of the above.  Can anyone possibly imagine the average boat anchor system scaling up to handle this kind of load?  Dream on.

Let me add a concern of mine that the chuckleheads are reluctant to bring up:  Proprietary Systems.
The universal access and exchange of the Web is really a clever digital use of interactive telephone line technology.  But the telephone network didn't go "universal" until the Justice Department broke up Ma Bell.  There was a time when the only telephone device you could use was made by Western Electric (Ma Bell).   There was a time when the only local and long distance carrier was Ma Bell.    Although it still has a long way to go, the telephone network is well on its way to becoming an "open system" where communications standards are openly published and available to any and all comers.  Like the Internet, the "other" interactive medium.  Open systems create competition.  Competition creates innovation.  Innovation results in more choices, great products and reduced costs.

That hardly sounds like the description of your grandfathers MLS.  Think about this, would you get a voice mail system that could only be accessed from your home phone?  That's why proprietary systems are dead.  They are both costly and limited in function.  Proprietary systems are great when they're the only option you have.  But once an Open System is available, and the Internet is both Open and available, the few costly advantages a proprietary system might have are sure to fade fast.  Innovation is always on the side of competition.

Even the chuckleheads would agree that the MLS Books are dead.  In today's world you need a phone line to stay in business.  The question is, how many ways can you use that line?  How many levels of connecting can you engage?  Where a three year contract with a proprietary boat anchor vendor becomes a lifetime sentence for your business, web based technologies instead build on your business lifeline, your connectivity.

Of course the killer argument practitioners must contend with is the ever so deadly spin of "we be Web too".  Once again the chuckleheads have no clothes, but with all the prancing about they do it's difficult for practitioners to find the bottom line.  Boat anchor vendors are now busy arguing that their proprietary systems are really "super secure IntraNets".  An IntraNet being defined as a private network.

While it is possible to carve out a private section of the InterNet to create a point and click IntraNet, that is hardly what the chuckleheads are doing.  They are just spinning the same old client/server remote access system with catchy Web phrasing.  To clear away the fog and smoke all a practitioner need ask are a few point and click questions.  Is it browser based?  Is the user interface a browser with MLS information management features or a desktop application with a few browser features?  Is it IP based?  Can the Internet be accessed through the system?  Is the eMail a POP3 Internet eMail system?  Can you access the MLS through an ISP dial up?

If the chuckleheads furrow their brow, cross their eyes or hesitate in any way with answer to these questions, then it would be safe to assume that indeed, the "IntraNet" they promise is nothing more than a verbal repackaging of your grandfathers MLS.

Go directly to the Web.  Do not pass GO.  Do not collect $200.
And whatever else you do, stay connected,
~ge~

For more MLS News and Issues, Check out the Real Times MLS News Section

Published: April 12, 1999

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Gary Edwards only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.

Gary Edwards writes an occasional opinion column. He specializes in real estate technology trends. Gary is known for his far reaching perspectives. You can e-mail Gary at gary.edwards@OpenStack.us.