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REinventing MLS
Category Archives: Agent “Doing Business” Discussions
Illinois home sales, prices see continued annual gains in October
The Illinois housing market saw October home sales increase 3.7 percent over previous-year levels and median prices rise 13.8 percent, the Illinois Association of REALTORS® reported today.
Statewide home sales (including single-family homes and condominiums) in October 2013 totaled 12,349 homes sold, up from 11,903 in October 2012. The statewide median price in October was $153,000, up 13.8 percent from October 2012 when the median price was $134,500. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.
“The intense demand for housing this year has steadily drawn down the inventory of homes on the market,” said Phil Chiles, ABR, CRS, GRI, SRES, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® and Broker-Associate with The Real Estate Group in Springfield. “As a result, homebuyers will often find they are paying more for a home than they did a year ago, and they may have to work harder with a broker to find a home that’s the right fit for them due to the lack of inventory.”
Check out the infographic on “The Highs and Lows of the Illinois Housing Market”
Article via Illinois Association of Realtors
Buying a Home? Consider COST not just Price
We have often talked about the difference between COST and PRICE. As a seller, you will be most concerned about ‘short term price’ – where home values are headed over the next six months. As a buyer, you must be concerned not about price but instead about the ‘long term cost’ of the home. Let us explain.
Last month, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the National Association of Realtors, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all projected that mortgage interest rates will increase by about one full percentage over the next twelve months. We also know that many experts are calling for home prices to also increase over the next year.
What Does This Mean to a Buyer?
Here is a simple demonstration of what impact an interest rate increase would have on the mortgage payment of a home selling for approximately $250,000 even if home prices don’t increase:
Article via KCM Blog
Change in Home Sales By Price Point [Infographic]
Infographic via KCM Blog
MRED’s Newest Thing – Better Than the Old Thing
Infosparks Has Taken Chicagoland by Storm
LISLE, ILLINOIS (November 7, 2013) – Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), Chicagoland’s multiple listing service (MLS), announced today that the new interactive market analytics tool Infosparks has gotten a tremendous reception from MRED customers. Infosparks is the latest version of The Thing, the extremely popular service that MRED customers have been using for over two years. MRED customers are able to deliver timely, relevant, detailed metrics in their markets thanks to this cutting-edge program provided by 10K Research and Marketing.
Infosparks has some great new features, including the ability to be used on the iPad and other tablets. Its introduction has resulted in some very positive feedback from its users.
Leslie Ebersole, a top producing broker at Baird & Warner in St. Charles, loves to incorporate the newest tools available for improving her business. She said, “The number one question that agents are asked is probably ‘how’s the market?’ Infosparks is a really slick new tool provided by MRED that lets agents show real time data on their website, blog or in email marketing. It’s incredibly easy to make dynamic interactive charts that show exactly what is happening in any MLS area. The charts are automatically updated so that clients can see the most recent data at any time. If you’ve spent endless hours writing market reports in the past — or never taken it on because it’s too time consuming — then give Infosparks a try. Put this killer content on your website, sit back and wait for the compliments to roll in.”
Lynn Madison, Managing Broker of Lynn Madison, REALTOR, owner of Madison Seminars, and current Treasurer of the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®, said, “Infosparks is an amazing tool that helps real estate practitioners communicate the reality of the market to the public. The information out there on the Internet just isn’t accurate. Our clients need real information, and Infosparks is an easy and efficient way to deliver that information to our buyers and sellers. Any time we can show them in easy to read charts and graphs rather than just tell them the information, it enhances their knowledge of what is really happening in the market.”
“When we launched our first interactive market analytics product, The Thing, it was a revelation,” said Greg Sax, Vice President of 10K Research and Marketing. “Infosparks has addressed former limitations of mobile-readiness, multiple-area comparisons, the sharing of live-data widgets and more options in less physical space. Working with MRED is awesome because they know every nuance of their market data and frequently advance the scope of our tools for the betterment of the Chicagoland marketplace.”
“MRED’s dedication to progress and improvement never ceases,” said MRED CEO Russ Bergeron. “As popular as The Thing has been for our customers, Infosparks is a significant step forward. It is like having a brand new product, and we are thrilled to have it available now for MRED customers.”
About MRED
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is the real estate data aggregator and distributor providing the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) to nearly 40,000 brokers and appraisers and 8,000 offices. MRED serves Chicago and the surrounding “collar” counties and provides property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. MRED delivers over twenty products and services to its customers, complementing connectMLS™, the top-rated MLS system in the country per the latest WAV Group MLS Technology Survey. MRED is the 2013 Inman News Most Innovative MLS/Real Estate Trade Association. For more information please visit MREDLLC.com.
About 10K Research and Marketing
10K Research and Marketing, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS®, is a growing research and technology firm that serves REALTOR® associations, MLS organizations, brokers and other real estate companies in more than 150 markets throughout North America. 10K creates interactive market analytics products, statewide data-reporting initiatives and an abundance of easy-to-read market reports. www.10kresearch.com
MRED to Participate in Real Estate Technology Hackathon
CEO to Judge at Upcoming Realogy Innovation Summit
LISLE, ILLINOIS (November 5, 2013) – Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), Chicagoland’s multiple listing service (MLS), announced today that MRED CEO Russ Bergeron has been chosen to serve as a judge at the upcoming “Realogy Innovation Summit – Powered by Retsly”, being held later this week during the National Association of Realtors® meetings taking place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
The summit will feature a two-day (November 6th and 7th) competition for software developers to create new applications for residential real estate during an around-the-clock hackathon using current MLS data content. Nearly 300 software developers will be selected to participate at the event.
In addition to MRED, contributing MLSs include California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), Sandicor, Connecticut MLS (CTMLS), InterMountain MLS, and MLS Listings. Developers will have access to approximately 2 million listing records during the two day event with which to create property related applications using Retsly’s state-of-the-art API. Besides Bergeron, the judging panel includes other MLS industry leaders: Art Carter, CRMLS CEO; Ray Ewing, CEO of Sandicor; Cameron Payne, CEO at the CTMLS; Greg Manship CEO from InterMountain; and Realogy’s President and CEO Alex Perriello.
Participants will have the opportunity to compete for top honors and cash prizes in a variety of must-have application categories – mobile, search, analytics, marketing, farming and more. After the competition, the winning developers will get to present their innovative ideas in front of more than 25,000 real estate professionals on the trade show floor at the National Association of REALTORS® Expo. More information about the “Realogy Innovation Summit – Powered by Retsly” can be found here.
“I am honored to have been chosen to participate on such a distinguished panel at the Realogy Innovation Summit,” said Bergeron. “Everyone in our industry should support efforts such as this to produce ideas from the best and brightest. I’m very excited to see what they come up with.”
About MRED
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is the real estate data aggregator and distributor providing the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) to nearly 40,000 brokers and appraisers and 8,000 offices. MRED serves Chicago and the surrounding “collar” counties and provides property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. MRED delivers over twenty products and services to its customers, complementing connectMLS™, the top-rated MLS system in the country per the latest WAV Group MLS Technology Survey. MRED is the 2013 Inman News Most Innovative MLS/Real Estate Trade Association. For more information please visit MREDLLC.com.
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