When Zillow acquired ShowingTime, it created a seismic pulse in the real estate industry around showing solutions. Prior to being acquired themselves, ShowingTime had made a series of acquisitions of their own to become the largest and sometimes only provider of showing services in markets across North America.
Naturally, in order to meet the demand for more showing service choices, new technology emerged from start-ups, established technology providers in areas like lockboxes and portals, and within the MLS community itself. A collaboration from three of the largest MLSs in the country, Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), Bright MLS and California Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS) garnered significant attention.
MRED, Bright MLS and CRMLS created a joint showing service “HUB” based on new RESO Data Dictionary standards related to showings. By working together on a RESTful path within an agile development process across multiple departments, up to five targeted meetings were held per week. Additionally, a marketing plan was produced and executed on top of regular staff assignments.
At the RESO 2022 Spring Conference, Chris Haran, RESO Cross-Platform Interoperability Workgroup Chair and CTO at MRED; Mark Bessett, RESO Universal Property Identifier (UPI) Workgroup Chair and CTO at CRMLS; and Ken Schneider, VP, Strategic Initiatives at Bright MLS, shared details about how the collaboration began, who worked on the project, how it evolved and what has resulted from it so far. | WATCH THE VIDEO (32 minutes)
While building out the HUB, metadata was gathered from showing service providers during a series of RESO Showing Subgroup meetings led by Haran. This work resulted in new fields, resources and lookups being added to the next version of the RESO Data Dictionary due to be complete by early 2023.
The group also held a hackathon with more than 20 participants that unlocked new ideas toward implementation that eventually led to a daily standup meeting to remain on course for a 2022 launch.
The next steps include launching the Showing HUB in their three respective MLS markets and eventually sharing their code with other MLSs to solve problems across other markets. There will also be an update on the project presented at the 2022 RESO Fall Conference.
The endeavor, according to the three MLS executives, is not about monetizing showings for the MLS but rather about offering more technology choices for brokers and an interoperable business solution to meet the addition of those new choices for subscribers. These are core tenets of RESO’s mission to bring efficiency and drive innovation for the industry.
