by G. Sax, Director of Growth Management, 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 with a goal of humanizing the tech side of the industry, fun included.
This week, we chatted with DaVina Lara, the CEO of bridgeMLS and the Bridge Association of REALTORS® in Berkeley, California. She has nearly 30 years of experience working in organized real estate, all in wild and woolly California, and she’s been an active member of several RESO workgroups/subgroups, including Broker Advisory, Data Dictionary, Research & Development and Showing. In addition, she’s been part of an early informal focus group on an exciting new RESO certification-reporting tool.
Q1: You have seen early and evolving versions of the new certification reports that RESO will be producing that we are calling RESO Sunlight. These reports will show what data is available in MLS systems, how much of it is standardized and how that compares to the industry. Why is this a good thing for the advancement of real estate technology?
DaVina: It will simplify data shares in the future for MLSs. We could go into the world of another MLS and do comparisons. This would help us with data mapping, showing common fields and creating efficiencies.
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Q2: The Bay Area has embarked on a massive data-sharing experiment between several local MLSs. Is it working and where would you like to see this go in the near future?
DaVina: It is working. It’s called the NorCal MLS Alliance. We continue to work in a positive direction that will create a system of choice.
Q3: You’ve been a vocal fan of RESO, and although this is greatly appreciated, what forward-thinking initiative would you like to see us accomplish over the next few years that will keep RESO thriving and relevant to its membership?
DaVina: I would seriously like to see RESO be the keeper of the Unique Licensee Identifier (ULI). I believe that RESO would be the trusted holder of such information. In fact, I think RESO would be the one entity that could be trusted, because it is a neutral entity.
We have to address the fact that a person can be licensed and not a member of the National Association of REALTORS®. That’s just a fact. They can be an appraiser, a vendor, etc.
Then, once you have set the ULI as a trusted standard, then build upon it, add to it, grow it into other professional functions and into other countries. This is a natural next step for RESO.
