as an Acrobat File

November 2013
Clareity's 2013 NAR San Francisco Meeting and Expo Report
MLS Policy Forum.......................................................................................................................................... 2
Trade Show Floor .......................................................................................................................................... 3
People on the Move ...................................................................................................................................... 7
NAR Directors Meeting ................................................................................................................................. 7
Party Round Up ............................................................................................................................................. 8
2014 MLS Workshop – Register Now! .......................................................................................................... 9
About Clareity ............................................................................................................................................. 10
View of the Moscone Convention Center where the NAR Expo was located. NAR’s conference
drew a large turn out of 22,500 members and guests – and the weather was awesome!
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
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MLS Policy Forum
Ron France provided an RPR update regarding the new dashboard. It contains tools for MLS
and Association staff including market data statistics, usage statistics (including what reports
they are using), news, training updates, and promotional content. Additionally, you can use the
dashboard to create reports that can be automatically sent out. The dashboard was rolled out
for beta in October and will be officially available for everyone in Q1 of 2014. There will also be
a new report that can be expected in Q1: “Federal Economic Area Reports.”
The session then got lively.
The MLS Panel Discussion contained the panelists Jeff Barnett (Alain Pinel Realtors), Tom
Phillips (TREND MLS), Steve Brown (Crye Leike Realtors), Steve Sullivan (MIBOR), Summer
Greene (Better Homes & Gardens), and John Mosey (Northstar MLS).
The first point of discussion was whether or not there are too many MLSs and too many sets of
rules. Many of the panelists agreed that a common problem is that members are forced to
belong to multiple MLSs. Barnett commented how one cannot get the same data formats from
MLSs and since it costs money to do this, a large regional MLS would be helpful. Another issue
addressed by Sullivan is “who is the primary customer?” Brown suggested NAR could help set
rules about what you can or cannot do with sold data so that “we are not in tension with the
MLS” and that if they do deny sharing sold data, there would be ramifications about it. Greene
suggested that her enforcement of data is “pretty good” due to similar policies and rules and
identical fields between her 6-7 MLSs, but the problem is getting IDX feeds replying, “Let my
data go!”
The next topic regarded MLS Public Facing Websites, a controversial ongoing discussion in our
industry. Both Mosey and Phillips do not have a public facing MLS site, simply because their
role is “B to B” and believe the communication should be between the broker/agent and the
consumer. Barnett noted he would rather not have an MLS public site, but he also would not like
to have sites like Zillow or Trulia and that’s just not reality. He controls the site and therefore
advertising so majority of brokerages are on board and the public likes it. It’s an effort to protect
themselves from big sites with inaccurate listings. Mosey is currently dealing with a lawsuit
regarding misappropriation of copyrighted data. He is hoping the case will favor no public facing
websites period so that way listings cannot be stolen. Clareity strongly recommends protecting
listings using Distil’s anti-scraping solution designed for real estate, including public MLS and
IDX sites – http://realestate.distilnetworks.com. If they never steal your listings in the first place,
it reduces your legal hassles!
Panelists agreed that hopefully these common lawsuits provide guidance regarding copyright
protections since it is a huge challenge keeping track of where data is and what it is used for.
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
2
Trade Show Floor
Following are highlights from the Expo:
Obeo hosted a booth introducing their new Room Decorator. Their software allows you to
virtually put furniture into a room within a listing property. Allowing home buyers to visually
create their dream home or work with their existing home interior is not only innovative and fun,
but a seemingly logical thing to do when searching for a home.
Obeo specializes in virtual tours and the new Room Director is a cool twist.
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
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Various vendors and partners throughout the expo displayed signs exclaiming “We Are Here,”
referring to their relationship with the Clareity Store. Just a few of the many participants included
CloudCMA, Wise Agent, GeoJet, OnVedeo, Previsite, and LPS. Thank you to all of those who
participated, we truly appreciate your support!
Most Luxurious Booth
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services flaunted a set up resembling a five star hotel more than an
expo booth. Their all white showroom was so inviting, you couldn’t help but want to stay and
hang out in the chicest place on the trade show floor.
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
4
Most Creative Booth
RESASS, the real estate social network, brought expo attendees through a blast from the past.
Their booth boasted a historical museum of outdated technologies, paying homage to the idea
that REALTORS must continuously adapt in this ever changing world of RE technology. Clareity
agreed this was the most creative theme to relate to RE technology and it was presented in a
tasteful yet humorous manner that really made you walk away thinking.
Vintage gear pictures courtesy of storify.com/RESAAS
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
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Best of Show Award
At first I stopped to gawk at what could be the ugly shirt winner (remember Supra’s bowling
shirts?). Instead I learned that Quantum Leads ordered these colorful CHEF coats to tie in with
their marketing campaign that included a printed “menu” of their products and these guys were
your lead chefs. Get it? Quantum Leads – and these guys cooked up deals for leads? OK, it
was corny, but anybody bold enough to wear these coats deserves an award. They certainly
stopped traffic and were a conversation starter! www.leadchef.com
Best SWAG at the Expo…
The Inland Mortgage screwdriver was totally legit and has a reversible tip – flat head and
Philips. Finally some practical swag worth taking home!
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
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People on the Move
Person
Old Gig
New Gig
Melissa McHone
RETechnology Sales
Docusign Sales
Chris Chappell
OK City Metro AOR MLS
Director
Maine Association of
REALTORS General Manager
Warren Andrich
Discover MLS VP Sales
Corpus Christi CEO
Rosemary Scardina
President/CEO, East Bay
Regional Data
CEO & Founder RCS
Braintrust & Consulting
Wes Wiggins
CEO, Regional MLS of Florida
General Manager, South
Florida MLS
Terry Penza
CEO, Realtor Association of
Greater Fort Myers and the
Beaches
Director of Network
Membership at REAL Trends
and Murray Consulting
NAR Directors Meeting
The biggest news, NAR will be building a spanking new headquarters building on Michigan
Avenue that will include a 5-star hotel. NAR will own part of this huge new project.
Here is a great summary of the 2013 director’s meeting:
http://www.realtor.org/articles/2013-board-of-directors-meeting-recap
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
7
Party Round Up
ListHub
It was all clowns and fun houses at the Listhub party this year. Hosted at the Qi Ultra Lounge in
Downtown San Francisco, the event was sponsored by MyNewHome, Clareity, Zillow,
Sentrilock and CloudCMA.
CoreLogic
The CoreLogic party took place at the three-story Tempe Night Club co-sponsored by Chase,
Clareity and a few other smaller name brands … <grin>. A Beatles cover band rocked out
upstairs while a live DJ packed the dance floor below. Corelogic lit up the night with glowing
necklaces and blinking coasters and kept guests busy with a wacky photo booth.
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
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That’s all folks! Thanks for reading our 2013 NAR Meeting and Expo Report!
Matt Cohen
Chief Technologist
Clareity Consulting
Minneapolis, MN
[email protected]
612-331-1788
Gregg Larson
President & CEO
Clareity Consulting
Scottsdale, AZ
[email protected]
480-444-2085
2014 MLS Workshop – Register Now!
MLS executives and staff and leadership, please consider joining us in Scottsdale, Arizona
March 5th – 7th for Clareity's 13th Annual MLS Executive Workshop. This MLS Workshop will
provide timely updates and address the key issues facing MLS executives and leaders. For
more information, please see http://clareity.com/events
Scottsdale Plaza Resort
A block of rooms at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort (http://www.scottsdaleplaza.com/) has been
reserved. For reservations call (800) 832-2025 and specify the Clareity Consulting rate.
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
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About Clareity
Clareity Consulting brings clients fresh insights and wide perspective gained by serving clients
throughout the industry: associations and MLSs, brokerages, franchises, technology vendors,
and others. Clareity’s services include:
STRATEGIC AND BUSINESS PLANNING
Clareity provides strategic, governance, and
product/service business planning that bridges the
gaps between strategy, tactics, and the timely
activities needed to support your goals. Clareity
also facilitates MLS regionalization & data shares.
SYSTEM SELECTION
From needs assessment and RFP to contract
negotiation, for MLS, TMS, Public Records, and
other offerings, Clareity's structured processes
help your organization make a good business
decision with stakeholder involvement.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Clareity can address leadership or large groups on
timely topics in an informative and fun way.
Popular topics include MLS trends and system
options, information security, and real estate
technology trends, such as cloud computing and
mobile technologies.
COMPLIANCE AND RISK AUDITS
Providing information security, risk management
and business resumption planning, staffing and
salary reviews, and VOW / IDX compliance audits,
Clareity brings both an independent view and
finely-honed technical skills.
PRODUCT / SERVICE / SOFTWARE REVIEW
Clareity performs customer surveys and market
research, develops product strategies and
specifications, performs usability and quality
assurance, audits security, and facilitates user
groups. Clareity also facilitates strategic alliances,
mergers, and acquisitions.
RECRUITING
Your business is only as successful as your
leaders and employees, and Clareity has
discreetly helped recruit some of the brightest
minds in our industry for their current positions,
both executive and technical.
WEBSITE PLANNING AND REVIEW
Clareity helps improve website design, usability,
and content, accounting for key factors such as
SEO and mobile experience. Clareity also creates
specifications and helps clients select the best
partners to produce, and provide compelling
content for, their web applications.
EXPERT WITNESS
Whether it's a matter of the policies and practice of
organized real estate or a more technical software
dispute, Clareity can provide an expert witness
with integrity and experience to conduct research,
write expert opinions, and provide depositions and
testimony.
For more information, please contact:
Gregg Larson
602-315-3362
[email protected]
Matt Cohen
612-331-1788
[email protected]
Or visit: http://clareity.com
Copyright  2013 Clareity Consulting
www.clareity.com
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