Letter from the Chair
We think and talk about change a lot in organized real estate. Change is part of the job – policies, technology, housing markets, leadership, vendors, staff.
And guess what? I don’t think we are different from any other industry in that respect.
Our listing books and newspaper ads are the music industry’s cassettes and CDs, broadcast television’s rabbit ears antennas and UHF, and CRM’s Rolodexes and file cabinets.
As we talk more about real estate industry change at strategy sessions, in boardrooms, at conferences, on podcasts and in newsletters like this one, it strikes me that we should always be willing to change.
At the most recent RESO conference, we talked a lot about how technology advancements are forcing important changes in data transfer protocols, the collection of data analytics, the need for data protection and more.
It’s all so good. The RESO board works hard because we want to embrace and make change. I am proud to be part of RESO, because I know that all of you reading this are not only ready for what’s next but are creating the best pathways towards it.
As we get set to introduce RESO’s blueprint for real estate standards in Europe; release a series of market, provider and consumer alignment reports; and begin the process of certifying the industry’s systems for the new Data Dictionary 2.0, we’re beyond excited to promote and execute industry change.
Rebecca Jensen
Chair
RESO 2023 Board of Directors
RESO Board of Directors Election
It’s time to elect your RESO Board of Directors for 2024.
Voting opens on November 13 at 7:00 a.m. PT and closes on December 3 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Meet the Nominees!
The nominees were all asked to submit answers to the following questions regarding their vision and what they will contribute to RESO. Their answers can be found by clicking directly on the nominee’s name at this link.
- What are the three most important priorities or initiatives that RESO should pursue during the next two years?
- How do you see your contributions as a board member being utilized for realizing these priorities?
- What is your current/past involvement in RESO workgroups?
- The board meets regularly via conference calls and in person at conferences. Board members also are called to serve on or chair committees and special task forces. Are you willing and able to meet the time requirements to serve as a director for a two-year term?
Each RESO member organization may cast one vote. The ballot will be sent to the primary contact on your account. If you are not sure who that is, or if you need to make a change to your primary contact, email support@reso.org.
The board is responsible for the governance of RESO and the development of the organization’s strategic plan.
RESO Membership: Don’t Delay Your Renewal
It’s time to renew your RESO membership! Your support is critical to the development of standards that create efficiency throughout the industry.
Additionally, we have a member-only exclusive savings of $250 if you bundle your membership and 2024 conference registrations!
If you have any questions or are having issues logging in, please call 919.504.6235 or email Brian Ohnesorgen at membership@reso.org.
RESO 2023 Fall Conference Recap
Day 1
A fabricated AI of RESO Chair Rebecca Jensen’s voice began the conference with a bit of trickery, welcoming the real Rebecca Jensen to the stage, unbeknownst to her.
While the exercise was performed for a laugh, it was also meant to emphasize that we are going to have to be increasingly careful to separate truth from fiction in order to keep ourselves and our servers safe from harm.
The primary themes of the RESO 2023 Fall Conference were, in fact, not AI-driven but member-driven and board-driven. Major themes of this conference included:
- RESO’s increased involvement in international real estate by way of promoting organized real estate, the MLS and data standards
- Security, especially in light of the San Francisco Bay Area hack that slowed (but did not stop!) real estate services
- Working together: data shares, MLS/startup relations, RESO workgroup cross-pollination
- Data (duh): Rental data, AI-driven data, data quality, Internet tracking pixels and more
- Brokerage: Technology needs, biography data in the MLS as a single source of truth
- Choice: Front end of choice, build your own vs. hire
To emphasize our commitment to international expansion, we began the official set of stage presentations with Crossing Continents: Global Standards Expansion, featuring Giselle Abadi of Realtyna, Ross Buck of Omni MLS and Patrick Pichette of CREA. In recent years, RESO has grown from a largely American effort to a membership spanning many continents. The trio discussed how the global nature of data standards is benefitting international organizations.
RESO CEO Sam DeBord presented RESO Today, complete with many dad jokes, multifunctional Ray Bans that streamed a portion of the conference live over Facebook from the stage and the many initiatives that RESO is championing. Tone Loc dropped in to promote “Funky Cold M–” …“RESO Common Schema.”
Secure MLS Functions, featuring Nina Dosanjh of Vanguard Properties, Jay Pepper-Martens of the San Francisco Association of REALTORS®, Eileen Romito of Zenlist and Jake Thompson of Zenlist, got into how MLSs and technology leaders took action to combat a cyberattack and how RESO standards lit the path forward.
Secure Business Rules featured Hayden Rieveschl of Ocusell discussing how MLS operators can better prepare their organization for future technology decisions by fully understanding their systems and rules.
Secure Information Practices, featuring Paul Hethmon of AMP Systems, Matt Cohen of CoreLogic, Rick Herrera of Constellation1 and Dan Troup of RE/MAX, discussed the concrete things that organizations can do at the systems level to defend themselves and assure recovery, whether they are hosting their own servers or hosting in the cloud.
How RESO Makes Data Shares Stronger featured Bill Lublin of Century 21 Advantage Gold and Jason Sanchez of the National Association of REALTORS® going over a multiyear research project by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) involving MLSs, brokers and vendors that produced a best practices guide for data shares between MLSs.
Rental Data Fueling MLS Efficiency, featuring Tom Morgan of Bright MLS and Michael Lucarelli of RentSpree, explained how standardized rental data has helped increase the volume and speed of listing activity for rentals in one MLS.
Getting Serious About Data Quality was led by stage mainstay Dan Troup of RE/MAX on how we measure data quality in our industry in quantitative and qualitative ways.
The Data Dictionary Workgroup and Transport Workgroup met on day one. Links to workgroup meeting notes can be found near the end of this newsletter and on the RESO Workgroup Collaboration System (members only) for anything that was not ready for posting here at the time of publication.
Day 1 also included a new RESO conference element, RESO Business Issues. This session was requested by previous conference attendees and was designed as a nontechnical, longer Q&A format covering the latest standards updates highlighted during the RESO Today session.
Day 2
Learning began with a series of roundtable discussions after a Zumba session hosted by the Real Estate Network of Empowered Women (RENEW). Topics included:
- International Standards – RESO’s brilliant creators knew that real estate is local but technology is global. Multi-language standards and other factors serving new markets were discussed.
- Front End of Choice: Why or Why Not? – After translating their database to RESO standards and supporting a front end of choice for MLS systems, Triangle MLS learned a few things worth sharing, so share they did!
- Data Security – Some of our first-day stage performers answered security questions in a more casual setting.
- RESO Common Format: A New Frontier – MLS certification has long been the core of RESO membership, but the advent of RESO Common Format will allow any company to move data in a standardized format and receive a RESO certification.
- Augmenting Listing Data From Other Sources – While the basics of listings are created by agents, there are many sets of additional data that can be added – manually or automatically with AI. A gathering discussed what that means for standards and the MLSs employing them.
Livestreamers also covered Front End of Choice and had some spirited conversations about the following two topics:
- So You Want to Be a Tech Company – MLSs are exploring in-house development and product offerings at an increasing rate. Opinions were shared about how this is going to play out in the delicate space of MLS/vendor relations.
- Web API Transition – “RETS ain’t broken, so I’m not gonna fix it.” Why does the real estate data industry continue to hold on to the past, and is RESO’s approach to the move to Web API right? RESO has an opinion, but we wanted to hear what others have to say.
Back on the main stage, Bill Fowler of Modern.Tech hosted back-to-back sessions, What Proptech Startups Want in Connecting with MLSs at RESO and What MLSs Wish Proptech Startups Knew About Connecting at RESO, from opposite ends of the proptech startup and MLS relationship.
The first group featured vendors Heather Elias of Pearl Certification, Alex Montalenti of Real Grader, James Rogers of BHR Labs and Aaron Smith of CubiCasa.
The second group featured MLS executives Melissa King of OneKey® MLS, Eben Moran of Stellar MLS, Gene Millman of REcolorado® and Dan Ray of California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS).
Accelerating Rental Listings into the MLS via Webhooks, featuring Richard Gibbens of Southwest MLS, Tyler Decker of FBS and Shawn Keller of Rental Beast, delved into how MLSs want rental listings but how broker input is a challenge. Southwest MLS and FlexMLS used RESO’s webhooks proposal to immediately convert new listings from Rental Beast’s database into new Southwest MLS listings and then synced those listings numbers back to Rental Beast. Practical application of a new standard? Sign us up!
Denee Evans of CMLS highlighted the latest on CMLS best practice initiatives and collaboration with RESO to improve the real estate industry.
Internet Tracking in the Real World, featuring Chris Lambrou of Metro MLS, Cesar Macias and Shawn Meissner of Realtors Property Resource (RPR), and Alex Theg of FBS, went over how MLS and REALTOR® technology companies show their Internet Tracking standard implementations. The group discussed how measuring usage of listing data in a standard way across platforms brings analytics and insights that are easier and more informative for real estate brokers to use.
Acquiring Listing Media via Web API, featuring Nathan Brannen of Restb.ai and Paul Hethmon of AMP Systems, covered how the RESO Web API standard helped a RESO Data Dictionary-based MLS system work with an AI company. By acquiring listing data and media via standards, the collaboration was able to quickly bring together a video-creation tool for real estate agents.
For the Broker Advisory Spotlight, Jeff Bosch and Nina Dosanjh, the RESO Broker Advisory Workgroup Chair and Vice-Chair, interviewed Zane Burnett, the Chief Digital Officer at Willis Allen Real Estate about the primary technology issues facing brokers and their technology vendors, like transparent and consistent data access. The business case of making the MLS the single source for agent biographies and social media links was also discussed.
Workgroup meetings for Research & Development, Interoperability and Universal Property Identifier (UPI) – Session 1 and Session 2 completed day two’s stage shows.
Web API Office Hours with MLS vendors about their RESO-certified Web API services occurred concurrently during a happy hour to round out day two. Vendor office hours, added last spring, appear to be a successful new fixture of RESO conferences. CoreLogic, FBS, MLS Grid and Bridge Interactive all reported great turnout and feedback during this second effort to bring more clarity to a growing standard.
Day 3
RESO as a Broker’s Technology Foundation featured the real Rebecca Jensen with an update on the Broker Public Portal. The portal’s next chapter begins with the core tenet that parcel-centric information based on the RESO Data Dictionary and unique identifiers will fuel stronger, interoperable platforms.
It has become tradition to close the conference with a joint Certification Analytics Subgroup and Data Consumers Subgroup meeting followed by our signature Pain Points session.
The last conference Pain Points session was in need of some energy, so we shook the branches a bit ahead of this one, and our members delivered!
The session went over time by 15 minutes, which says a lot about the dedication of our members.
Discussion topics included:
- A new section of the Data Dictionary Wiki that lays out local fields and their definitions with the purpose of helping to reduce local fields
- Roster data rules consistency at the association level: semantic data, role hierarchy, main office, etc.
- Banning emojis in listing data because they cause data management issues
- Address validation
- Timestamps
- A new Compliance Resource in the Data Dictionary
Conclusion
There is much to do, and it takes a long time to move an entire industry forward, but RESO will continue to operate in a transparent manner and to work on what members ask for. Our mission is to create and promote the adoption and utilization of standards that drive efficiency throughout the real estate industry.
Thank you to all of our conference attendees, sponsors, workgroup participants, board members and anyone who has ever had to map data or clean a duplicate entry.
RESO members will soon be able to view pertinent slide decks, videos and workgroup notes within RESO’s Confluence system. Some videos have already been shared right here in this newsletter and will also be shared on the RESO website and YouTube channel, plus we will be doing a series of blog posts over the next several months that highlight the main points of various sessions.
A Final Thank You to All of Our Sponsors!
2024 RESO Spring Conference: Embracing the Southern Charm of Alabama
Registration is open for the 2024 RESO Spring Conference, which will be held April 14–16 at the Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa in Birmingham, Alabama. | VISIT EVENT SITE
A can’t-miss opening reception will be held the night before on April 13.
You can register and reserve your room now! Plus, we have a member-only exclusive for only $950 if you bundle your membership and 2024 conference registrations. That’s a savings of $250!
Contact membership@reso.org for more information.
MLS Leaders Line Up for Global Real Estate Standards Forum in Paris
Industry leaders who shape practice and policy in more than 32 countries will be in attendance at the International MLS Forum: Global Real Estate Standards at Pullman Montparnasse in Paris, France, December 1–2, 2023.
Representatives from RESO member organizations are lining up to present at and attend this distinguished event, with new additions being added to the roster on a regular basis.
If you are interested in international expansion or even if you have international buyers in your market, it may be beneficial for you to attend this groundbreaking gathering.
Event partners include CEPI, the European Association of Real Estate Professions; local and national real estate associations from across Europe; the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA); National Association of REALTORS® Global Ambassadors from the European Union and West Asia; and international government officials focused on real estate issues.
The event will explore the 100-year legacy of the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) in the U.S. and its budding potential for international real estate landscapes.
Register by November 10 before the prices increase.
Product Updates
Certification
The RESO Board of Directors ratified Data Dictionary 2.0, Web API 2.1.0 and RESO Common Format at the RESO 2023 Fall Conference.
More will be shared about these exciting developments on RESO’s website, in the RESO Workgroup Collaboration System, on RESO’s GitHub and in future issues of RESO Monthly. You can also expect to see updates on the Data Dictionary Wiki before the end of 2023, as Data Dictionary 2.0 exits “draft” status and becomes the prevailing standard.
What’s important to know about RESO Common Format is that it will allow for more certifications for non-MLS technology.
Web API Transition Leaderboard Update
Web API Transition Leaderboard UpdateAt least 90% of MLSs in the industry have RESO-certified Web API services.
Vendors, brokers and agents have increased their usage of MLS Web API data feeds from less than 5% of the industry to over 40% in the past couple of years. More than 60% of the industry’s data feeds have been committed to a full conversion by MLS organizations.
RESO tracks the migration to the improved Web API standard.
If your organization is not listed, please contact us to be included and consult our free Web API Transition Guide for advice.
New Members
BHR Labs
BHR Labs produces RealReports, a product that provides comprehensive data from dozens of sources for any home in the U.S., and they have created Aiden, an AI real estate copilot that transforms data into insights and answers in seconds.
Dream Real Estate
Dream Real Estate is an award-winning, locally owned boutique real estate office, specializing in McHenry County, Illinois, and beyond.
LiveEasy
Formerly MoveEasy, LiveEasy has expanded from a company that connects consumers with moving companies to a full-service moving concierge that helps people set up utilities and services. They have also expanded into homeownership services and wealth building.
MLS.ro
MLS.ro is an MLS-based source of information about properties and real estate transactions in Romania.
Realoq
Realoq is a California-based company that helps consumers buy and sell real estate and get pre-approved for a mortgage through a network of agents, other real estate professionals and data.
Rolla
Rolla turns real estate agents into content creators by empowering them to make video a permanent fixture in their branding and marketing strategy by using technology to help make videos to boost business.
roofquotes.com
Roofquotes.com is a company based in Tallahassee, Florida, that is launching soon.
Welcome to RESO!
RESO@
RESO at NAR NXT in Anaheim
Several RESO staff will be on hand in Anaheim for NAR NXT, The REALTOR® Experience, which is owned and produced by the National Association of REALTORS®. Visit us on the expo floor, in the convention center halls, in conference rooms or at a restaurant in the Downtown Disney District.
Industry News
Lauren Hansen Inducted into CMLS Hall of Fame
Lauren Hansen, retired CEO of IRES, was inducted into the CMLS Hall of Fame. The honor is a means of recognizing and acknowledging a lifetime of leadership, energy and intellect that improves and elevates the MLS industry. Hansen helped to develop IRES MLS and was always on the cutting edge of real estate in Colorado. | READ MORE
Tom Hurdelbrink Named Shuttleworth MLS Executive of the Year
Tom Hurdelbrink, President and CEO of Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), was presented with the Shuttleworth MLS Executive of the Year Award at the annual CMLS conference. Hurdelbrink was selected for the award for his thoughtful, collaborative, and visionary leadership style. His successes in implementing systems and data advancements have helped strengthen the real estate industry. | READ MORE
On the RESO Blog
RESO Analytics Shows Us What’s Missing: Now How Do We Fix It?
RESO Analytics is a powerful platform that helps our industry collectively map and understand the density and flow of our property data. It digs into the data of what we, as an industry, are actually providing to the market today in terms of data completeness and quality.
Jeff Allen and Aaron Smith from CubiCasa shared a vision for how RESO Analytics can also help us identify where we have the most opportunity to make the MLS the holding tank of key data that helps drive the real estate marketplace in a more efficient manner. | READ MORE
wwRED
RESO’s Working With Real Estate Data (wwRED) course is the best primer for understanding how data flows through the industry. The course’s Business Module is designed for both nontechnical and technical professionals, covering the organizations, rules, processes and technology systems that create the real estate data ecosystem.
Show the industry that you know what it means to be a strong partner by harnessing a complete understanding of how to work within the real estate data environment by earning your RED-B designation.
The wwRED course continues to be highly popular with organizations onboarding new employees. Many companies are making it a default training course for their employees. | SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF RED-B DESIGNEES
Consider incorporating wwRED into your new staff and volunteer leadership onboarding strategy today. | MORE INFO
Three Questions
The Three Questions interview series introduces you to real estate professionals with a hint of personality and humor.
Here are three RESO champions who were recently featured:
RESO Workgroup Meetings
Transport Workgroup | October 2, 2023
The Transport Workgroup discussed current proposals for Legacy/Deprecated Data Elements and Single Feeds, and reviewed existing work items on the Transport Discussion Forum. Updates were also given regarding DD 2.0 and Web API Core 2.1.0 testing tools, which are currently being tested against providers in production environments. | NOTES
Universal Property Identifier (UPI) Workgroup | October 12, 2023
The group discussed a proposal to update the current UPI formatting to retain all original data from the parcel number as formatted by its originator. The current model strips some delimiters. Some of the industry’s national data providers have provided feedback that indicates that duplication can be reduced greatly with minor tweaks to the current UPI spec. There is also a proposal to create a County Metadata Resource that can help guide implementers to the correct identifiers to be used in any geography. Finally, a UPI 2.0 format proposal also includes using a Uniform Resource Name (URN) convention to make the UPI truly universal. | NOTES
Data Dictionary Workgroup | October 24, 2023
The meeting held during the RESO 2023 Fall Conference recapped the merging of data elements approved for Data Dictionary 2.1 into Data Dictionary 2.0, which is considered a major release. The group was shown how a data-driven approach using RESO Analytics can be used to improve the Data Dictionary. Several votes took place with the following items passing: enumerating the ArchitecturalStyle field with lookup values from the National Association of REALTORS® Residential Style Guide, Internet Tracking Field Name Changes, adding an OpenHouseModificationTimestamp field and a lookup option for Pickleball under CommunityFeatures. The Smart Device / “Internet of Things” (IoT) Fields Proposal did not pass and will be revised. | NOTES
Transport Workgroup | October 24, 2023
The meeting held during the RESO 2023 Fall Conference was presided over by the vice-chair who went over the RESO Change Proposal (RCP) process, covered updates since the RESO 2023 Spring Conference and shared new work that the group is addressing. A PowerPoint show, contained in the notes, shows everything that was discussed. | NOTES
Universal Property Identifier (UPI) Workgroup | October 24–25, 2023
The UPI Workgroup held two meetings during the RESO 2023 Fall Conference, which recapped recent work done on the UPI, including possible adjustments to the UPI model itself and deduplication research by CoreLogic and ICE. The history of the UPI formats, from version 1.0 to the creation of a new Uniform Resource Number (URN) format (version 2.0) were explained. The generation of individual parts of the UPI as relates to county information were discussed, as was the UPI Builder, which can create individual UPIs. The first of the meetings was more of a lecture, and the second meeting was more of a Q & A session. | NOTES
Broker Advisory Workgroup | October 25, 2023
The meeting held during the RESO 2023 Fall Conference included an interview by the chair and vice-chair with Zane Burnett, Chief Digital Officer at Willis Allen Real Estate, on new ideas like a Customer Data Platform (CDP), how to make MLS data access processes more transparent and consistent, and how to make the MLS the single source for agent biographies and social media links. | NOTES
Research & Development Workgroup | October 25, 2023
The meeting at the 2023 RESO Fall Conference went over the Payload Filter and Business Linkage Resource business cases. Additionally, two cases without formal business cases were presented: the MLS Data Process Resource and the Display Rules Resource. The “to be determined” aspects of all business cases were also discussed. | NOTES
Interoperability Workgroup | October 25, 2023
The meeting held during the RESO 2023 Fall Conference included an overview of the work, mission and scope of the Interoperability Workgroup and how its concepts fit into the RESO architecture and the real estate data industry at large. The current projects of the workgroup were presented with the specifications that may be used to aid them. Five proposed business cases were shared along with other aspects of data exchange in the industry. | NOTES
Upcoming RESO Workgroup Meetings
If you want to participate in any of the following recurring workgroup or subgroup meetings, email support@reso.org to get started.
- Wednesday, November 15: Internet Tracking Workgroup
- Thursday, November 16: Certification Subgroup
- Tuesday, November 21: Fast Track Subgroup
- Thursday, November 30: Data Dictionary Workgroup
Certification Update
Congratulations to the following organizations for achieving their Data Dictionary 1.7 and/or Web API Core 2.0.0 endorsements. Results are viewable in RESO Analytics.
- Eastern Upper Peninsula Board of REALTORS®
- Silver City Regional Multiple Listing Service
- Terre Haute Area Association of REALTORS®
View the certification status of all MLSs on the RESO Certification Map. Please send any address or subscriber count changes to certification@reso.org.
Questions about RESO certification should be directed to your MLS vendor. Questions about self-testing or the technical aspects of certification may be directed to dev@reso.org.
