A new Austin-based company called dynaConnections has a Texas-sized boast - that it has the only patent-pending Web-based MLS solution with an inherent fully-integrated transaction management system. Why is this news important?

Because the latest trend in MLS information solutions is integrated MLS and business management programs for Realtors. The only question is which combinations will Realtors want more - MLS data access coupled with integrated marketing solutions per Interealty, MLS data access with association management software per Rapattoni, or MLS data access with transaction management from dynaConnections?

The range of choices is growing more attractive all the time, especially when progressive MLSs such as MLSNI decide to offer multiple choices in MLS browsers to their members. In other words, the MLS allows the broker to choose which MLS vendor to use, and get the additional integrated software that means the most to his or her company.

Both Interealty and Rapattoni have been around for years and both are upgrading their products and sharpening their competitive edges with new integrated products.

Interealty has transitioned its sales and support to a Web-based MLS information management system called MLXchanged and integrated lead and client management software to make marketing listings and doing reports much more of a snap for agents.

Rapattoni, a long-time association management software vendor, is using its relationships to bundle association management software with MLS data access to help save associations money and members fees. The company startled the MLS world recently with its announcement that it was working on a patent-pending lockbox solution that would break the stronghold Supra has on the MLS marketplace. Integrated with MLS data, lockbox data could potentially be the killer APP that gives Rapattoni a serious competitive advantage against its larger rivals Interealty and FNIS.

Now dynaConnections is going to go at it from the transaction management standpoint.

Funny, a year ago, you couldn't give transaction management platforms away. Several companies, punch-drunk from trying to sell Realtors, were bought up by other entities for pennies on the development dollar, or closed their doors. Others, such as Homestore's eRealtor, never got off the ground.

Ironically, Tim Ford, founder of dynaConnections, is also the founder and developer of one of those companies, Expeditrix, which sold its star product SmartClose to Fidelity over 18 months ago. According to Ford, SmartClose isn't integrated with FNIS's MLS products, which he sees as a necessity.

"It isn't going to be overnight but integration will move people toward our solution," says Ford. "We aren't a transaction management system or a stand-alone MLS. We are one seamless solution combined for the Realtor and the industry that allows title and mortgage to be tied to the Realtor. Alliances that we are partnering with see us as the next generation MLS who can put them on 4000 desktops. FNIS can't be an open architecture platform, and others may not want to play on their platform. I'm a neutral third-party vendor."

Explains David Reed, a banker and consultant to dynaConnections, ""The challenges I've seen for the various transaction management platforms (TMP's) out there is that they're independently operated, and not an extension of an MLS. If a lender has to stop what they're doing to fill out a transaction management program, it's simply not going to work, in my opinion. If they did work, then all the current models out there would be overwhelmed with business, which they're not. Lenders can update loan status within dynaConnection's "connectMLS", as they are basically 'connected' to the transaction management system, and not operating another software program or proprietary patch. They don't need new software to play the game."

He adds, "I also think it's important that this (TMP) isn't owned by a title company or some other firm, who may be simply trying to implement a TMP in order to gain revenue from some other source."

Ford acknowledges that TMPs aren't something every agent is clamoring for, mainly because they don't want to buy any more software than they have to. That means the adoption curve for TMPs is high.

"The market has shown that TMPs are nice to have, but nobody wants to pay extra for it or go to another Website for it," says Ford. "Anyone in the industry feels the same way - if it is outside your business model, you aren't going to go there, but if it is tied into a solution that you use every day of your life, you will use it. The Realtor gets all that for nothing. Our associations we offer more than what an MLS can offer today. The other problem in the adoption curve is bringing people together. With our solution, people can be connected for free. It's Realtor-centric, and they are in control of who gets to participate in their transactions."

Getting Realtors to adopt TMPs any other way isn't going to work, says Ford. "FNIS is trying to sell it by encouraging the Realtor to charge participants, but the question is does the Realtor sell software or sell homes? If you take the Realtor from selling houses, you have added a level of something they don't do on a regular basis. Or they aren't your top producers."

"We aren't trying to get the Realtor to change the way they do business," he adds.

So why push a TMP now?

"I heard all the things MLSs have tried to do," says Ford, a former director of the Austin board and its MLS. "They have tried to build a pure Web-based solution. What differentiates us is a patented value-add solution. We have built in a $200 a month software solution. Interealty has built in lead generation tools. That's what Realtors want - solutions to be built-in."

"The timing is right," he continues. "When the consumer has a question about the transaction, who does he call? Who does the Realtor have to call? The Realtor is in control, and our dashboard shows where they are at all times."

Ford says that everyone is looking for the next product to help the Realtor keep control of the transaction.

"So we have launched at the right time, and there is a need for this," he says.

If meeting a timely need isn't enough, Ford has included a clever carrot for MLSs who may be reluctant to do business with a new provider.

"We have the ability to generate non-dues revenues for associations," he discloses. "It's done through upgrades of title and mortgage companies. They get light versions free of charge but if they want upgrades the associations can charge for it. We don't distinguish between anyone in the system, but we have service partners. We get a piece of the upgrades."

Published: November 25, 2002

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