CalRedd Unveiled
INDUSTRY NEWS, REAL ESTATE PRACTICE, SHASTA COUNTY
February 26th, 2009
At first glance, you might think CalRedd has something to do with California and Redding. You would be half right! CalRedd is the acronym for the new California statewide MLS (Multiple Listing Service) system under development. It stands for California Real Estate Dynamic Data.
For nearly 10 years, the California Association of Realtors (CAR)has been grappling with a problem regarding data sharing between real estate practitioners within tight geographic market areas. It was not unusual for agents in major metropolitan areas to join 3 or more MLS services to acquire all the property data within their chosen market area. In some cases, each MLS used different software and had different rules regarding access and usage of that data.
Locally, their has been a problem with an isolationist attitude among agents in neighboring counties. Siskiyou County, for example, has refused to cooperate with Shasta County agents when it comes to sharing listing information. Their fear: if they gave us their information, agents from Redding would drive up to Siskiyou County and sell their properties, potentially denying local agents the opportunity to represent the buyer. Heaven forbid!
The walls are coming down and most agents across California see the benefit of having a single data base with all the property information in one place. One set of rules for usage, one software program to learn and no more barriers to obtaining information on any property listed for sale anywhere in California. After all, when you are granted a real estate license it says California, not Shasta County!
Practically speaking, most agents and their brokers do not want to list or sell property outside their area of expertise. It’s a simple risk management issue. However, agents would at least like the ability to access these listings on behalf of their clients to answer questions about what is available in another area of the state. The agent can provide the client detailed data and possibly make a referral to an agent outside their market area.
The upside for sellers utilizing the services of a real estate agent is enhanced tremendously. Not only will the agents within the area a home is listed have the listing information on the property, now hundreds of thousands of licensees statewide will be able to expose the seller’s property to their clients. In Shasta County, the 500-600 agents currently able to access listing data will be expanded to several hundred thousand agents (there are more than 500,000 individuals licensed statewide but only 300,000-400,000 are actively practicing).
Rocklin-based Concentric has been awarded the contract to develop the software that will drive the statewide MLS. Two representatives demonstrated the software for agents at the Shasta Association of Realtors office Thursday. 72 of California’s 117 MLS’s have signed a Letter of Intent to participate in the new statewide MLS according to Scott Kucirek , a CAR staff member charged with implementing the statewide MLS.
Initially, many MLS’s will retain their existing software vendor and run the CalRedd software parallel. If a majority of MLS’s across California adopt CalRedd and agents like the system, eventually Cal Redd may replace the individual MLS’s with one universal system.
Other states across the country are following our progress closely because they may want to take California’s lead and implement a statewide MLS of their own. This has been a long time coming and politics have slowed the progress. Agents will have to change their entrenched ways of doing business and adjust to sharing their data with fellow agents.
Chico, Paradise and Oroville merged their MLS’s a couple years back and comments I’ve heard from agents in those areas have all been positive. Many fears of dissenters were unfounded. The bottom line was enhanced exposure of listings that ultimately benefited the clients of real estate professionals.
Many early adopters wish to be the first on board with the new system but it may take several years before it’s known if the new system will be embraced by all associations in California. The success of CalRedd will hinge on acceptance by all MLS’s within the state.
530-224-6767 or 530-941-7492
BRAD GARBUTT
REALTOR/BROKER ASSOCIATE
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS GMAC
QUARTER CENTURY LOCAL REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE
Very nice. Thanks for this.
Thank you for sharing all this. I really hope that they do something about this.
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