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Listing Bits

Greg Robertson, co-founder of W+R Studios and publisher of Vendor Alley, talks real estate technology with the people who are shaping it.
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Now displaying: October, 2017
Oct 27, 2017

The concept of the MLS creates a strange contradiction for brokers who are both competing with one another, yet sharing inventory by way of compensation and cooperation. In the middle of it all is CMLS, challenged with refereeing any acrimony between brokers and MLSs, promoting best practices, and supporting its membership of 203 MLS providers representing 1.2 million subscribers.

At the helm is Denee Evans, the CEO of this premiere organization dedicated to leading the MLS industry in North America. Denee is a self-proclaimed small-town girl who grew up in Nevada, earning a degree in finance with a specialization in real estate from UNLV. She has always been involved in the industry in some form, doing flips, additions, as well as scrape and builds.

Denee spent more than a decade in retail banking, where she dealt with home equity and mortgage loans. Prior to her role with CMLS, Denee was the Executive Director for EnergyFit Nevada, a nonprofit working to make homes more energy efficient. Through EnergyFit’s efforts to add sustainability information to the MLS, she learned about the opening for CMLS CEO and threw her hat into the ring.

Today, Greg asks Denee the tough questions around how to address MLS’s that don’t comply with best practices, the best way for CMLS to support its members, and the organization’s partnership with NAR. Denee explains the ‘blessing and the curse’ of taking on the role of CEO as an outsider in the MLS industry and the benefit for consumers when organized real estate’s stakeholders collaborate. Listen in and learn about the CMLS initiative to create an interactive tool that would assist MLSs in developing a plan to implement best practices.

What’s Discussed:

How Denee’s background in banking informs her understanding of real estate

The intense interview process she experienced to become CEO of CMLS

The blessing and the curse of being an MLS outsider Denee’s take on the ‘us v. them’ mentality of industry stakeholders

The dichotomy around brokers competing, yet sharing inventory

The challenge for MLS execs to make diverse stakeholders happy

The benefit for consumers when stakeholders cooperate

Denee’s role as an advocate for MLS execs

Denee’s contention that pain points exist in MLS’s of all sizes

The ‘wall of shame’ identifying who hasn’t complied with CMLS best practices

Greg’s proposal to offer free CMLS memberships to non-compliant MLSs

CMLS’s plans to create a best practices interactive tool
- Developed at last CMLS strategic planning session
- Could grow into certification necessary for membership

How CMLS should provide support to its members
- Education v. leadership/advocacy
- Study of industry initiatives to identify needs (e.g.: Upstream)

The controversy around CMLS’s partnership with NAR - CMLS members assigned seats on NAR committees - Speak as national voice for CMLS

 

Resources:

White Paper 7.42

2017 CMLS Best Practices Survey Brief

 

Connect with Denee Evans:

The Council of Multiple Listing Services

Denee on LinkedIn

Denee on Twitter

Oct 27, 2017

Katie Smithson picks her battles. Even well-meaning colleagues occasionally make insulting or offensive comments, and a professional woman has to decide what she can brush off and what she simply cannot accept. Though the lines can be blurry, nine years in the industry have taught Katie how to establish boundaries and present herself as a professional.


Katie grew up in Franklin, Tennessee, and went to school at Tennessee Technological University. Discouraged by the boys’ club that was electrical engineering, she changed her plans and pursued a degree in marketing. Her first foray into sales and customer service was at a Sprint/Nextel store back in Franklin, where she saw the first MLS searches on a Blackberry. After a move to Knoxville, Katie worked in marketing for a local mortgage company that happened to use CRS Data for tax purposes. Tired of spending her days in a cubicle, she noticed an opening for a trainer at CRS. Katie won them over and secured her first job in real estate. After four years working with agents, realtors and MLS execs to implement the use of CRS products, Katie had a conversation with Greg in a lobby bar at CMLS Boston, and the rest is history.

She has worked at W+R Studios for five years, serving as Director of MLS Services since 2016.  Today she shares the details of her activism through the Georgia Women’s Policy Institute, the challenges for women in the real estate industry, and her advice around establishing professional boundaries. 

What’s Discussed: 

Why Katie gave up on electrical engineering to pursue a marketing degree 
Katie’s early sales and customer service experience at Sprint/Nextel
How Katie got involved with the real estate industry
Katie’s role as Director of MLS Services at W+R Studios
The shift from training to sales
Katie’s work with the Georgia Women’s Policy Institute
- Issues affecting women, children
- Get in front of legislators 
The challenges for women in the real estate industry
How Katie establishes boundaries as a professional woman
The complications of alcohol as part of industry culture
How Katie’s reputation in the industry has improved her experience with sexism

Katie’s advice for women coming up in the industry
- Keep your head on straight
- Maintain professionalism 
- Have a buddy

The challenge of dressing appropriately for women in a business environment
Katie’s recommendations around resources for sales executives


Resources:

CRS Data

Arianna Huffington on Repeating Outfits

‘The Rock’ Test for Sexual Harassment 

Inc. Magazine

Connect with Katie Smithson:

W+R Studios

Georgia Women’s Policy Institute

Katie on LinkedIn

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