BrokerIPTV: We're talking today with Mark Footer from Intero Real Estate Services and a member of the board at Metrolist. Mark, thanks for being with us.
Mark Footer: Dan, thanks for having me.
BrokerIPTV: Glad you are here. I want to talk about Internet Data eXchange or as most people call it IDX. Tell me a little bit about IDX and what is it?
Mark Footer: IDX is the ability to share other broker's listings on your website and is the public, searchable interface that brokers can make available to consumers.
BrokerIPTV: Now, I understand Metrolist was one of the pioneers in IDX. Is that right?
Mark Footer: Metrolist® coined the phrase IDX and IDX exchange.
BrokerIPTV: And what does Metrolist® provide with an IDX service?
Mark Footer: There are three different players of IDX service available right now, the most basic is a framed searchable site that is as easy to implement as copying and pasting code in to your website. Consumers can log on and search the listings that are available on IDX and through Metrolist. The next level is a Vendor. We have a number of vendors that provide third party services, actually about 200, and a broker can go out and subscribe to one of their services and provide more extensive services. That goes all to the way up to the third level service, which is a customized site. A vendor might prepare for you a site which would have lead capturing, lead generation and contact management. So, you can really go from as basic as you like, to as extreme as you like.
BrokerIPTV: And this is what I did with my own personal site and I find it incredibly valuable, not only for me but for my buyers and sellers?
Mark Footer: Buyers and sellers love it. We are in a market place right now where they want the information and they want to have access to it. One of the features is that we're introducing come summer, is going to be Sold data and Under Contract data, again feeding to the consumer's desire for more information, more accurate data and being able to accesses the information and make decision with our help.
BrokerIPTV: What types of IDX sites are out there? I was thumbing through the web today and there are lots. I came cross one that I had not been to called www.frontdoor.com, that's using an IDX feed. It's apparently put out by the people of HGTV, but I am sure there are many more and some of which you will name?
Mark Footer: Well, larger brokers have them. Individual brokers have them. An individual who is a licensed broker and a member of Metrolist® can create an IDX site for a number of purposes.
BrokerIPTV: Yeah, do you have a gut feeling, not that you would actually know this, how many realtors are actually utilizing internet technologies like IDX sites?
Mark Footer: We have 3,800 IDX sites coming through Metrolist® right now.
BrokerIPTV: Okay, so there is a fair amount, we just had Marcia Waters here from D.O.R.A. and she was saying that there are now 50,000 registered real estate agents, 37,000 of them are active and you are saying about 3,800 of those are using IDX sites so.
Mark Footer: Yes, Through Metrolist.
BrokerIPTV: Yeah, we've still got some room to go. Great talking with you, I appreciate it.
Mark Footer: Great for talking with you.
BrokerIPTV: Thanks for being here.
Note: The property listings site www.frontdoor.com does not use an IDX feed to display listings. Include your Metrolist® listings on www.frontdoor.com using ListHub, a free listing syndication service, offered at the firm level (Broker Owners) by Metrolist.
Metrolist Delivers Online Contracts and Document Storage tp Colorado Realtors
Kevin Best discusses PrimeAccessSM benefits for Colorado Realtors®.
BrokerIPTV: Welcome everyone. We are here today with Kevin Best and Kevin is from Metrolist and welcome to the show Kevin.
Kevin Best: Thanks, Mark.
BrokerIPTV: You know we were just talking about your mapping solutions and such down at Metrolist with PrimeAccess. I also saw, or I got a word from one of my brokers, that you guys have a product for online contracts. I guess you have partnered with Instanet Solutions?
Kevin Best: That is correct. Instanet Solutions is the largest provider of online contracts and document storage in the United States. There are a little over 360,000 Realtors that are currently using this product.
BrokerIPTV: Wow. So, online contracts and I have got document storage online with the product. Any additional charges?
Kevin Best: There isn't. It is included in your Metrolist membership fees. It is one of the visions of PrimeAccess from its inception that these types of core products would be available in the future as part of your membership.
BrokerIPTV: So, tell me about the contract product then.
Kevin Best: It got all the state approved forms. One of the largest benefits of it is that you can auto-populate into the contract using either the MLS number or the PIN number from public records. You save the time of having to type the address half a dozen times on all the different forms.
BrokerIPTV: What about document management? Tell me about some of the attributes and the product for document management.
Kevin Best: Well the document storage has an unlimited document storage capability, so if you choose to, you can actually take your organization completely paperless. Keep all your forms and contracts for all your listings online. Then you have the ability to invite people into the transactions. Let's say for example, anyone from inside your office, to your title rep, or the HOA, they can have access from a secure customer service portal page. That allows them access to the documents that they need.
BrokerIPTV: Interesting. What about all my disclosures for the property, after they have been signed by my client? Is there a way to store and make those documents available online?
Kevin Best: There is. You can actually add those documents to your listing for viewing in PrimeAccess. When another broker clicks on those documents and opens them up, another little side benefit is that you are actually notified that that broker has viewed those documents. So that way you are aware that they are at that point in the transaction process, that they are actually looking at this detail.
BrokerIPTV: Interesting. So, let us talk about signatures. How do you... how does one go about signing these documents online?
Kevin Best: Currently, there is the ability to sign with either a tablet PC, a Stylus or a mouse integrated in the product at no additional charge.
BrokerIPTV: Oh, very good. How about Security on signatures? Do you guys feel comfortable with security and so forth?
Kevin Best: Oh, we really do. The product has achieved the REALTOR® Secure program, which is a program that NAR has in place. Metrolist also has the REALTOR® Secure program accreditation. So, we are very comfortable with the security. They have got dual redundancy sites for all of their backup servers, so the data will definitely be there when you need to access it.
BrokerIPTV: And once again, this is all included in our fees we already pay at Metrolist?
Kevin Best: Yes it is. There is no additional charge for this product.
BrokerIPTV: Well, I really appreciate you taking the time today, Kevin. This looks like a great opportunity for real estate brokers to really go paperless and it looks like Metrolist is really moving towards kind of a Web 2.0 world.
Kevin Best: We are definitely heading in that direction.
BrokerIPTV: Great. Thank you Kevin.
Kevin Best: Thanks, Mark.
Here's a national story from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/closetohome/2008-10-13-denver_N.htm
Before the financial meltdown, it seemed that Denver's housing market was finally about to turn around.
Although Denver's home sales in August were down from a year ago, there have been a number of positive signs. "We have less inventory right now," says William Roberts, president of the Denver Board of Realtors. "There are more buyers, and the interest rates are fairly low."
Home prices are unlikely to go any lower, says Gary Bauer, an independent real estate broker. Recently, there has been some bidding, and home buyers have paid more than the asking price, Roberts says.
That is a good sign after such a long housing slump. In 2006, after the housing market started to bottom out, Denver's foreclosure rate was among the highest in the nation.
"It hit us first," Bauer says. "And we've been aggressive at working with homeowners, and we worked our way through that." For example, the city set up a foreclosure-assistance hotline.
The Denver metro area encompasses seven counties, and there are a number of very popular and stable neighborhoods, such as Cherry Creek and LoDo, the lower downtown area of the city where there are many lofts. In some other areas, though, sales were hard hit because homes were overbuilt like crazy, Roberts says.
But now, home inventory is 25% less than a year ago, and the Mile High City's local economy is in good shape, Bauer says.
Denver is known for energy and aerospace industries. It is also expanding into alternative energy, including two new plants by Vestas Wind Systems, which will bring about 1,300 jobs, according to Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Unfortunately, everything suddenly has hit a major snag. Denver's job growth has slowed because of the national economy. Consumer confidence has been the lowest in years, and that's what's most holding back the housing market, Bauer says.
"No one knows what is going on in the market, and they are just going to sit and wait," he says. One of Bauer's clients, a young Denver couple, had been shopping for a home but instead decided to rent.
If the bailout helps rescue the national economy, Denver's housing market may be able to restart. "We have such a strong position with our economy," Roberts says. "Hopefully, we should be able to lead the nation out of the housing recession."
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The most expensive
Peggy and Kiki VanDeWeghe, who is the general manager of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, are selling a landmark Georgian home that was built in 1917. Peggy, a structural engineer who has designed numerous homes, managed the renovations of the home, which adjoins the Denver Botanic Garden. Price: $7.5 million Median-price home
Price: $225,000 |
Channel 9 News story: http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?maven_playerId=newsarticleplayer&maven_referralPlaylistId=playlist&maven_referralObject=881383589
LAKEWOOD - Eva and Matthew Kruse say living downtown is no longer convenient for them.
We're just feeling like where we live, there's not enough space for him," Matthew said, referring to the couple's 17-month-old son.
The desire for more space inspired the couple to look for a house in Lakewood. They aren't alone. All across the Denver metro area, thousands of homes are being sold.
According to recently-released data from Metrolist, last month real estate agents sold 3,366 homes in the metro area. That figure is 15 percent higher than the number of homes sold in September 2007.
Along with the spike in sales comes a drop in prices. The same study reveals that the median home price in September settled at $216,150. That figure is 11.78 percent lower than the median metro area home price in September 2007.
"As we're seeing home prices fall, I think we're seeing a lot more people jump on the lower prices," said Realtor and Help-U-Sell Metro Realty Owner Kris Wilson.
Wilson had noticed that the slowing economy was cutting into her clientele and their confidence about purchasing a home.
"They were ready or willing and able, but they just weren't putting things together," she said. "The economic conditions and instability have made them even more hesitant."
Real estate expert and independent broker Gary Bauer says longer waits for loan approvals and more affordable homes likely combined to result in the increase in home sales in September.
The number of homes sold is 6 percent lower than the number of metro area homes sold in August, which Bauer says is typically the end of the peak selling season.
"Denver continues to show that it is a market unto itself and it is counter-cyclical or counter to what is going on, on the other three coasts," he said.
Bauer doesn't expect the rest of the year to show large increases in sales, but he does expect next spring to show an upswing.
"Probably by mid-February, we're going to see a turnaround in the Denver market," he said.
That turnaround would likely include higher prices, which would be good news for potential sellers.
Bauer advises buyers to research their options.
"Manage your expectations, do your homework, know what's going on in the market place," he said. "In today's market, you need to be very creative."
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)
Jack O'Connor, Leeann Iacino, Lee-Anne Strickoff, Beverly Testa
Lee-Anne Strickoff, Broker Associate with Prestige Real Estate Group, conducted the 1,000,000th search on PrimeAccessSM. The search was completed by Strickoff on July 6 and she was awarded with an iPhone.
PrimeAccess, Colorado's newest MLS system from Metrolist, delivers professional grade tools developed specifically for Colorado Realtors®.
Strickoff started at Prestige Real Estate Group, LLC in early 2008, joining Beverly Testa's team, and is a loyal user of PrimeAccess. "I couldn't make it in the industry without using PrimeAccess," commented Strickoff.
"Lee-Ann is a team player and someone that takes her customer needs and goes above and beyond the call of duty," said Jack O'Connor, broker/owner of Prestige.
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