(Originally posted on CondoDomain HQ Blog)
Inman News by way of The Real Deal in New York published an interesting article regarding the all new MLS in New York City. As you may know, New York City has long operated without an official MLS system. Power brokerages like Corcoran, Prudential Douglass Elliman, Halstead and Brown Harris Stevens have continued to grab massive marketshare and provide “mini MLS’s” via their own personal websites including ONLY their own firms real estate listings.
New companies have popped up in recent years and have made decent attempts to aggregate all New York real estate listings including our favorite StreetEasy, Trulia and even REBNY’s very own ResidentialNYC powered by Pete Flints west coast startup Trulia.
Most recently a joint venture between CBS (Channel 2) and LMG Media launched Manhattans very first VOW (Virtual Office Website) aggregating REBNY’s MLS feed and publicly displaying these listings to the public on their new website – CBS2REM.com
CBS2REM (the joint venture) is backed by New York real estate brokerage – Property Strategies Group – who is listed as the broker entitling the new firm and JV to gain access to REBNY’s MLS feed. We recently met with Simon Mills, CEO of LMG Media and owner of the JV between CBS2REM and Property Strategies group and he openly told us the pains of accessing the REBNY data and extensive compliance checking.
After just a few short months of operating Simon’s firm is generating great leads and looking to close on their first transactions shortly. Property Stratgies Group is a full service New York Real Estate Broker … but the real question is – will access to this data open up a new market in Manhattan for discount real estate brokers to come in???
“A new breed of online brokerage is springing up in New York, altering the landscape of real estate sales in Manhattan and worrying traditional firms, who fear the changes may hurt their business.
In the past, New York firms have contended with Web aggregators like StreetEasy and Trulia, which gather and post information on local brokerage listings.
But thanks to a recent settlement between the federal Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors, the Real Estate Board of New York is now sharing all of its members’ listings directly with online brokerages, known as “Virtual Office Web sites.”
These VOWs, as they are called, allow consumers to view those listings — including those from other firms — online.
Experts say the change will have far-reaching consequences for the industry in the coming year and beyond. Some believe VOWs could also pave the way for a comprehensive Multiple Listing Service, which has long been resisted here.
Eric Gordon, the managing director at Realplus Online Listing Exchange, a shared listing database that’s the closest thing New York has to an MLS, called the emergence of VOWs in Manhattan “huge.”
“In a lot of ways, it levels the playing field between the small and large firms,” he said.
The change stems from a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against NAR in 2005. The suit alleged that NAR’s policy of allowing brokers to withhold listings from VOWs violated antitrust law because it stymied competition.”
We have seen companies like Foxtons fail in Manhattan…but was it the market or was it just bad timing???
Experts say the change could open the door for a true MLS in Manhattan. While the Manhattan Association of Realtors currently maintains an MLS, it has only a small number of the city’s listings. Many Manhattan agents have long opposed an MLS because they believe sharing listing information would mean losing business to competitors.
“MLS — agents in Manhattan are scared of that name,” said Derrick Gross, a business analyst at StreetEasy. But Gordon said the increasing transparency provided by VOWs could lay the groundwork for a shared listing database.
Now that VOWs are on the scene, he said, many New York firms have been asking him for software for an IDX, a feature traditionally offered by MLS databases that allows brokerages to voluntarily post listings on other firms’ sites. Unlike with VOWs, visitors don’t have to sign in to see IDX listings.
The IDX concept “is going to grow in popularity now that the concept of one firm being able to market another firm’s exclusives is something people are willing to accept here,” he said.
Small firms say becoming a VOW will help them by allowing customers on their Web site to view all of the industry’s listings, not just their own.
“It’s great,” said Leigh Zaph, president of three-agent firm Manhattan Homes, which is planning to become a VOW. “It allows every broker to be able to present their customers the full database to search.”
Interested in your thoughts on what REBNY’s all new MLS will do to the Manhattan real estate brokerage landscape??? Discount commissions? More small firms? Local “hits” on innovators? Will we see Redfin & ZipRealty enter the New York City market? Should CondoDomain open the market? How about other innovative real estate information sites like Curbed & NYCondoBlog – will they get an MLS data feed too?
