I’ll be moderating the MLS panels at Inman Connect NY in January, One of the sessions outlined so far is “Breaking Data Taboos for Fun and Profit.” The idea for this session stemmed from the Connect Create session at Inman SF this last summer, where developers from two companies built two applications in 48 hours and then showed them off at the end of the conference. One of those applications was an agent rating service built by Diverse Solutions using some data from SoCal MLS.
During the demo of that product, Diverse’s President Justin Lajoie commented that he wasn’t sure if the product would ever see the light of day because MLSs would have to grant permission to use the sold data in this way. Brian Boero asked the brokers and agents in the audience if this was a product they’d like to see become real, and the response was definite: Yes, they would.
The question raised was pretty clear: How can MLSs better leverage the kind of rapid innovation available today? One potential answer is to create an API for the MLS data that’s easy to use and understand, especially the terms of use. Currently, the only terms of use for MLS data that are widely adopted by MLSs are IDX and VOW policies. Are those enough? Or could brokers and MLSs create more innovation by developing a new terms of use targeted at specific data sets?
For example, two potential use cases come to mind: (1) syndication or advertising of listings; and (2) aggregate statistical reports. In the case of syndication, the terms of use would focus on the limited set of data needed for advertising the listing and would include an opt-in from the listing broker. Having a standard API for syndication could increase the quality of listing advertising on the web and increase competition among aggregation sites.
In the case of aggregate statistical reports, the terms of use could focus on limiting use of the data for analysis and reporting in the aggregate as opposed to disclosing individual listings. Would a more limited terms of use focused on the aggregate instead of specific listings make it less threatening to brokers to open up the data to new and innovative uses? Are there any terms of use that would be able to be widely adopted or will MLS data use always be limited to policies like IDX and VOW?
Of course, these discussions do not happen in a vacuum. Just yesterday, Google made it easier to see real estate listings on their maps and they’re encouraging real estate professionals to post their listings to Google. Of course, Google has their own terms of use for posting information to their site. We also know that companies like RealBird are using Google Base as an alternative source for listing data, using Google’s API as a round-about way to get at the MLS data.
Is it time for MLSs to leverage the rapid innovation cycle by creating their own API? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below and also at Inman Connect NY.
Writing in Read/Write Web, Paul Miller, quoting himself, says:
“Just as ‘we’ used to duplicate and under-utilize computational resources, so we do something very similar with our data. We expensively enter and re-enter the same facts, over and over again. We over-engineer data capture forms and schemas, making collection exorbitantly expensive, whilst often appearing to do all we can to limit opportunities for re-use. Under the all-too-easy banners of ’security’ and ‘privacy’ we secure individual data stores and fail to exploit connections with other sources, whether inside or outside the enterprise.”
Sound familiar? Mr. Miller continues:
“In a small way, the efforts of the Linked Data Project’s enthusiasts have demonstrated how different things should be. The cloud of contributing data sets grows from month to month, and the number of double-headed arrows denoting a two-way linkage is on the rise. Even the one-way relationships that currently dominate the diagram are a marked improvement on ‘business as usual’ elsewhere on the data web; even in these cases, data from a third party is being re-used (by means of a link across the web) rather than replicated or re-invented. Costs fall. Opportunities open up. Both resources, potentially, improve. The strands of the web grow stronger.”
It is here, in the use and reuse of data, that the potential of the cloud will be realized.
Two applications to MLS: (1) we should be creating a linking mechanism with universal property IDs (URIs); and (2) MLS is one potential home for identity management for real estate professionals. The last likely is controversial but has strong potential benefits for single sign-on and other authentication and identification needs on the web if open standards are followed.
How much value could be created by the Real Estate Standards Organization if it were able to implement and gain adoption on universal property IDs? Forget, for a moment, defining broad and deep data standards, and, instead, focus on one thing — establishing a method to link together all information relating to real property. This one change would bring about the benefits extolled by Mr. Miller, which bear repeating:
“Costs fall. Opportunities open up. Both resources, potentially, improve. The strands of the web grow stronger. . . . It is here, in the use and reuse of data, that the potential of the cloud will be realized.
