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 conclude our interview with Paul Stusiak, President and Founder of Falcon Technologies and the chair of the RESO Transport Workgroup. We talked about volunteering, running meetings and the new biannual RESO Developers Workshops. Enjoy!
Q1: It’s a lot of work, time and potentially stressful responsibility to chair a RESO workgroup. As a voluntary position, what is the draw for you?
Paul: Going from where we were to where we are today – the years of development and improvement – I can’t help but to be committed. There is legacy here, and I’m invested in it, because I truly believe in it. When I am with RESO, I am doing work worth doing beyond my own self-interest.
After he passed away, I met with the wife of early RESO contributor, Bruce Toback, and she explained to me why he did what he did. His thought was that if you are not doing the difficult work to figure out more efficient paths forward, then what are you doing? That was inspiring to me. It reinforced my personal feelings, and I wanted to carry his work forward.
The promise of RETS was to create a system where data could flow through the process of “for sale” to “here are the keys” without the need to re-enter data again and again. That means a standard that can handle mortgage, appraisers, all of it. I wanted to be part of that.
The goal was end to end, and that’s what we’re still trying to work towards. Each contributor will have additional information needs, but much of the information should carry through the entire process. So let’s make a real end to end.
The real estate community has created some interesting tech around RETS that certainly advanced data transport. NAR’s CRT created the Cart RETS client and other general purpose RETS tools.
At the same time, CoreLogic created RETS Connector, another tool that facilitated access to MLS databases for bulk-data downloads, easy access to IDX information for broker websites and other uses.
I want to be part of advancing that work to the next level, and the Transport Workgroup is at the center of that effort.
Q2: You run a tight meeting. There is very little up-front chatter, and you rarely, if ever, go long. What is your secret?
Paul: Yes, I like to run meetings on time. Sometimes you have to learn the lesson the hard way.
MLSs are all about what is happening today, and you learn to be prepared for both the now and the next.
It’s about respecting time. I think about the money in the room or on the call and how valuable everyone’s time is. That cost and the needs of technology companies in the real estate space beg for efficiency, and I want to be someone who delivers that as part of my work and on behalf of RESO.
Q3: RESO is now doing a biannual Developers Workshop in the winter and summer. What is the impetus for this new gathering outside of the biannual RESO conferences in the spring and fall, as well as the monthly Transport Workgroup meetings?
Paul: There is something special about creating the time for focused work. It is even better when we can do it in person.
In February 2023, we renewed our commitment to long-form focused effort with the RESO 2023 Winter Developers Workshop, which culminated in three bountiful days of progress. It was a virtual meeting, which was still very useful and successful, but we wanted to try to recapture the in-person productivity that we experienced in Richmond, British Columbia in November 2019.
There’s no charge for the event being held in the Berkeley area of California from July 30 to August 1. Just get yourself there and housed, and we’ll be ready to tackle a series of major topics, including event types with push, add/edit of media and business rules.
Virtual attendance is also welcome. As with our regular Transport Workgroup meetings, we want as much participation as possible. We are working on things that will affect everyone in real estate technology.
Collaborative work still very much appeals to me.
