Tuesday, December 5, 2017

What You Need to Know: VOWs & the Expiration of the Decree Consent

What do agents and brokers need to know about Virtual Office Websites, following the news of the upcoming expiration of the NAR-DOJ agreement from 2008? We covered the topic here, but thought a follow up was in order with the 3 core things you should know.

First, know that you are entitled to ALL the data, outside of IDX rules. Did you know you CAN mingle MLS listings with FSBO’s, IF you’re operating as a VOW?

Second, Your MLS cannot penalize you for your business model. Regardless of your model, it shouldn’t cost you anything more in fees.

Third, agency relationships are changing. VOW policy was built on authentication methods 20 years ago; the significance of a confirmed email address in the 1990’s is different than in 2017. My friend Heather Elias, CMO at Trust Stamp (which was covered here) picked up on this with a post on LinkedIn:

…It begs the question: VOW technology is based on an authenticated password, circa 1999. With the more sophisticated authentication methods available to us now, shouldn’t that play into improving the consumer experience?

You can bet we’ll see continued discussion on the topic of authentication in the coming months and years.

The likes of Redfin and Compass certainly have an interest in this topic, as do brokerages, teams, and franchises investing heavily in custom technology (such as those betting on the future of curation).

Are you a brokerage or franchise with a vested interest in preserving the status of VOW? I’ll continue to track this topic. For those who want updates, please sign up for the “NAR-DOJ Expiration of Consent Decree for VOWs” special interest topic from your Geek Estate subscription settings here: http://geekestateblog.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=574cb0e876d9ad5ad9a640c5d&id=c36ebe5ab4

The post What You Need to Know: VOWs & the Expiration of the Decree Consent appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.



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