by G. Sax, Head of Communications, RESO
Welcome to “Three Questions,” an interview series that introduces you to real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards. The goal of the series is to humanize the tech side of the industry, fun included.
This week’s interview is with Angie Baker, Vice President of Broker Listing Cooperative® (BLC) at MIBOR REALTOR® Association in Indianapolis. We talked about the difference between an MLS and a BLC, acronyms, and how once being a REALTOR® serves her work today. Enjoy!
Q1: MIBOR has a BLC (Broker Listing Cooperative), not an MLS. Can you briefly explain the difference and why this separation of terminology is important to the Indianapolis market area?
Angie: We have an entire brand manifesto around this name. We may look like an MLS, but the cooperative is so important to what we are and do that our work is centered around that.
People within the industry know MLS, but consumers don’t care. They’re like, “Soccer?”
So we built a strategy around that in 2007 when our leadership team recognized the difference between our members’ collective data and growing syndication concerns.
We deem ourselves a cooperative because, while we need multiple listings to operate, we are in the business of people. The word cooperative better describes the force that drives the work we do together.
The distinction in our name is an important one. We know that when we combine our efforts, we create something bigger than the sum of our parts, which is a marketplace of professionals inspired to a higher standard of practice.
For us, inspiration is only achievable when each of our 10,000+ members feel empowered by the organization behind them and confident in the resources it provides them, like equal access to dependable and accurate data, effective tools, fair representation, and human-centric service.
The systems and processes we establish are designed to inspire our brokers – to empower collaboration for the betterment of our marketplace and move forward together.
Our members can get fixated that what we have is a database, so focusing on it as an organization is helpful.
We might look like an MLS, but we’re just a little different. Our attention is given to that cooperative spirit, and it’s a big part of who we are.
Q2: You are that rare bird in the association and MLS business that has actually been a REALTOR® and sold real estate, not just to get a taste for it. You were a working real estate agent for almost five years. Does that experience stick with you in your current role with the BLC and in past roles in technology training, education and business development?
Angie: It definitely has. Back in 2008, I was a baby in the industry in my 20s and was teaching REALTORS® how to use and leverage technology in their businesses.
I received pushback, because some of them would let me know that I had never done their kind of work before. So I went and got my license and did their kind of work!
I made almost no money, but it gave me a real appreciation for the effort that people put into this business. If it’s your sole means of income, you have to work your tail off, often at inconvenient times and places and with huge emotions in play.
It helped me bring the technical to the practical. How I refer to it with my team today is to say, “Here is the actual business function we are trying to solve with our technical path. Here is the impact it is having on this transaction to feed their family.”
I was a REALTOR® a long time ago, but I will never forget that experience. It is a different mindset, and it reminded me that not everyone is immediately technically savvy. I had one person that I told to move their mouse and they lifted it up off the pad.
I personally had a leg up on tech, because my dad was a programmer and had a computer repair business back in the days of the Commodore 64. I enjoy learning new tech, but even I wish I had more time to sit and tinker with things.
The more successful any of us get, the busier we get and the harder it is to learn new skills. I keep that in mind whenever I work with our members.
Q3: KFC was Kentucky Fried Chicken. 3M stands for Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing. Your official name is the MIBOR REALTOR® Association, which used to stand for the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of REALTORS® REALTOR® Association. My question is: How did this happen?
Angie: Through branding research.
When the board was first formed, it was just Indianapolis, but then our coverage grew to 17 counties.
The MIBOR brand has strong recognition in our marketplace. We actually worked with a consulting company and asked them if we should rebrand. The research came back, and they said no.
One time I wore my branded MIBOR jacket to a church function, and I got comments like, “Hey, MIBOR! I love your website.”
People in central Indiana know MIBOR as a home search website. MIBOR is such a strong housing brand in central Indiana that it isn’t really an acronym that stands for anything anymore.
Thinking of it as having both Board and Association or REALTORS® and REALTOR® in the same name doesn’t register with anyone in our marketplace.
It’s funny to see it written out like that, but we are officially the MIBOR REALTOR® Association, end of story.
