NationalBLS intorduces the Realtor Buyer Resource (RBR)

It has been an interesting day where Twitter really came into its own as word spread of the new announcement by NAR that they were launching the Realtor Property Resource or RPR for short. http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2009/11/tech_property. To me it looks like NAR has sat back and watched what has worked and what has not in online real estate for the past few years, and now decided to steal all the good ideas and put them into a single site. From Trulia they will pinch Trulia Voices and the whole community aspect of the site, and from Zillow they will take Zestimates. They will gather data from all the MLS’s which have long been the desire of both Zillow and Trulia, and then produce a number of tools to help Realtors price properties accurately. They go to lengths to mention that this new wholly owned subsidiary of NAR is a startup, and that alone should start the brows frowning. I have some big questions around this plan, namely: 1. Startups thrive on disruption and innovation - unless NAR’s new puppy is given a very long leash I dare say it will be far too well trained to do either. 2. The figures NAR plans to aggregate are enormous, and if they learned anything from the teams at Zillow and Trulia, getting accuracy on such numbers is highly complicated. I predict a similar result of frustrated consumers and agents who operate at a local level. 3. One number NAR is touting which is not enormous is the cost - $12 million? I can’t see it myself. 4. On paper what they plan to deliver looks pretty good today. However the world will evolve between now and the delivery date, and I will put money on it that Zillow and Trulia will evolve quickly to say nothing if Google might decide to play its inevitable hand. 5. Finally my biggest question - Why? Why bother at all. How will this improve the real estate market for Realtors? How will it improve the market for consumers? 90% of what NAR announced is already in place elsewhere. They are simply trying to gain power and use their position to do so. To truly be a “startup,” you have to look at the market in a new light. To that end, and to address a long ignored side of the market, we will introduce the Realtors Buyer Resource, or RBR for short. Yup, you heard it here first and I am deadly serious. What we are trying to do here at NationalBLS is balance the market by illuminating demand. Why? Because if we do, a lot more transactions will happen. More transactions means greater liquidity and greater liquidity means quicker sales. Everyone is a winner. All of the new development by NAR is on the supply side of the market where we have plenty of resources already. NationalBLS is championing the buyer - we need visible demand in this market if we are going to get to our goal of 10 million transactions per year. We are speaking to MLSs and other property sites to get this rolling. We have a compelling opportunity that keeps the Realtor at the center of the transaction not because of some antiquated and monopolistic practice, but because they add value. If you are a pioneer and want to hear more, please get in touch. Next week – www.Buyerlogic.org. ;-)