by G. Sax, Head of Communications, RESO
This week’s interview is with Lori Coburn, VP of Information Technology at MetroList, a Sacramento-based MLS that services nine area local REALTOR® associations. We talked about being an early adopter, sharing data, sharing stadiums and a legend. Enjoy!
Q1: Looking back on certification records for early versions of the RESO Data Dictionary and Web API, MetroList was always an early adopter of data standards. What’s the motivation or rationale for being among the first in line and what is your personal role in assuring that you are regularly there?
Lori: It’s always been important to get certified and be part of something bigger than we are as an individual MLS. We started with the Data Dictionary when it wasn’t in its glamour days – when it was just a few MLS leaders eating pizza in a stinky room in Chicago.
We just had the belief that if we were going to start down this difficult but necessary path, we had to be all in on adoption. And now we see that value coming to fruition – the value of a standard that’s allowing so many new companies to offer products and services to help the industry move forward.
The standards are at the root for it. It was painful and still remains painful sometimes when we try to bring some change-averse agents toward a new process. We may not necessarily do every new thing that RESO standardizes, but we’re proud to be part of driving the industry toward better practices.
I personally had a concern for the MLS as a whole, and there was a definite need to quickly come out with standards for using different systems. Whatever system or software you use, you want it to be able to work together with other systems and software. And beyond what’s under the hood, there are different geographic and cultural needs. An MLS up in Michigan is going to want something different from us in Sacramento.
I believe that if a standard helps someone, it helps us all. If the industry survives, we survive. I’m working on my 30th year at MetroList, and I’m not the longest-tenured staffer. Even our call center is a long-standing group. We care about this industry, and we have tried to prove that through action.
Q2: MetroList is part of a partnership of seven MLSs called the NORCAL MLS Alliance that covers 28 counties in Northern California, serving 55,000 real estate professionals and 11.9 million consumers. After 12 years of sharing data, why is it still important for each of you to maintain your independence during this venture? And has this relationship informed the more recently announced partnership between MetroList, Northern Nevada Regional MLS and the Oregon Data Share?
Lori: The reason for us to maintain our separate identities even though we’re in the same general geographic area is that we are vastly different in many respects, even beyond the different software systems that we use.
At MetroList, we cover a large and diverse geographic area, including rural and farming areas. The San Francisco Association of REALTORS® has different needs. For instance, they have about six different parking fields that are important for them because they may translate into different dollar values. For us, it’s not part of our vernacular. We think more about lot size than type of parking. What an agent in the Bay Area does looks different than, say, Amador County.
If you try to shove everybody into a one-size-fits-all situation, you run the risk of losing a regional voice – not only for the MLSs but for their participants and subscribers. Maintaining our independence allows each of the MLSs in the alliance to listen and respond to their respective participants and subscribers. Many of our agents theoretically can work across all boundaries, but the fact of the matter is that many don’t care about that. They want to do business close to home, because that’s where they have specialized their business.
That doesn’t mean that we have not expanded our geographic area. Sometimes it gets to a point where an association operating its own MLS simply can’t offer the level of service to their members that we can. Expansion has been successful for us, because we work very hard to give a voice to any MLS that may choose MetroList. Some of our smallest associations have representatives who serve on our board and MLS committee. We believe that is crucial to our success in meeting the needs of the local participants and subscribers.
Q3: MetroList has been a strong advocate of building data shares, but how do you feel about stadium shares? This interview is being conducted just before the first of three professional baseball seasons where the Oakland A’s will play in Sacramento, home to the Triple-A River Cats, a team that is affiliated with Oakland’s former crosstown rival, the San Francisco Giants. Locally and for you personally, is this exciting, bizarre or boring news?
Lori: I think it’s exciting! My only heartburn is that I’m a San Francisco Giants fan and a National League fan. I want the pitchers to hit! It will be difficult for me to cheer for the A’s, but the city is excited by the proposition of having Major League Baseball in our town to complement the River Cats.
We’ve had MetroList company parties at River Cats games. We sponsor events with the associations that we represent. This city really likes its sports teams, and we love baseball. It will be interesting to see who shows up to games.
Bonus: The dearly departed Rick Trevino who worked for MetroList was RESO’s longtime Payloads Workgroup chair and a huge supporter of RESO standards. Losing him hurt those of us who knew him and hurt the industry deeply due to the loss of his brilliant and active mind. Do you have a fun or funny story about Rick that you can share to help allow us to remember the good times?
I have a lot of stories that I can’t share.
If you knew Rick, his laughter was freaking contagious. If he started laughing about something, you just really couldn’t not laugh also. You heard it, and you knew it was him before you saw him.
The thing he was known for was his investment in others. Perhaps an applicant for an open position didn’t quite have the education or the industry knowledge for the role, but if he saw something in them, he would invest in them until they were stronger and better and achieved the necessary skills to not only do the job but to exceed expectations. He pushed you to make you what you were and would become.
And he always ordered his dessert first. That was the most important part of the meal for Rick.
Three Questions is an interview series that features real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards, sometimes in a fun way.
