What follows is an excerpt from a remark I made on Tony Arko's blog post about the Top 50 Real Estate Teams not blogging, and how Realtors® who don't keep up with changes in marketing & technology may not find themselves on top in the future:
...New ways to leverage the Internet arrive daily. For instance, Point 2 Agent just rolled our their new NLS (National Listing Service!!!) to members today, and will soon be releasing it to all real estate licensees. ANY licensee will be able to choose to advertise their listings for free. This is based on their Agent Handshake system. Pretty interesting stuff...
Read the press release:
First National Listing Service for Real Estate Launched
This all goes along with debates I have been following on RealTalk and ePRO Talk regarding giving agents more control over where and how their listings appear on the web. Unlike R.com where you get only the most basic listing unless you pay for an enhancement package, Point 2 Agent's NLS will give you the capability of adding rich data even at the free level, even if you don't choose to have a website with them. If you have a professional or premium site with them (at very reasonable prices, IMHO) you will have the ability to add more photos and features of course, but even the basic level is better than what most sites AND many MLS's currently offer.
This will hopefully offer the public a better viewing experience, and raise the bar for the industry as a whole.
This will be very interesting to watch...
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