January 10th, 2012

“Best of” for Inman Real Estate Connect

By Kim Cipriano Prior, SVP, Marketing and MLS Market Development

Onboard Informatics would like to welcome you to our home base of New York City during the Inman Real Estate Connect conference from January 11 – 13, 2012. And, as the “Best Of” experts, we’d be remiss if we didn’t provide you with our recommended hotspots for those of traveling in for the conference.

Best place to grab a slice of pizza: Bleeker Street Pizza

“Thin and crispy crust…the way its supposed to be. And you’re likely to rub elbows with a celebrity.” ~ Ira Monko, Implementation Engineer

Best place for a hot dog: Papaya King

“Not Gray’s Papaya or Papaya Dog or any other fake “Papaya” knock-offs…The Original.” ~ Charlie Panoff, National Sales Manager

Best deli: Katz Delicatessen

“For some of the best pastrami sandwiches and the chance to say you sat in the ‘When Harry Met Sally’ booth, this is it.” ~ Ira Monko, Implementation Engineer

Best place for a decadent meal where calories don’t count: Babbo

“Two words: Mario Batali. Enough said.” ~ Kim Prior, SVP Marketing & MLS Market Development

Best place to score an addicting sweet: Momofuku Milk Bar

“A ‘Compost Bar’ or the super sweet but heavenly ‘Crack pie’; you must indulge! Get yourself to 15 w 56th St between 5th/6th ~ Kim Prior, SVP Marketing & MLS Market Development

Best place for a night cap: The Standard Grill at The Standard Hotel

“Just the right vibe, not overly rowdy or too subdued.” ~ Charlie Panoff, National Sales Manager

Best place to nurse a hangover: The Comfort Diner

”Bottomless big mugs of coffee and the best breakfast in NYC.” ~ Mary Tedawes, Strategic Development Manager

Best place to people watch: Washington Square Park

“Catch some street performers in a park which has the closest tourist to local ratio.” ~ Ira Monko, Implementation Engineer

Best place to escape to outside of Manhattan if you have a few minutes to spare: Brooklyn Bridge Park

“Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge; great views and a great NY experience. Take the N/R to City Hall and walk East across the bridge.” ~ Emily Oravecz, Project Manager

These are our opinions on the “Best Of Manhattan”…what are your favorites?

January 9th, 2012

CTMLS selects Onboard Informatics to launch Listings360°insight Advisor

By Kim Cipriano Prior, SVP, Marketing and MLS Market Development

Onboard Informatics announces that CTMLS (Connecticut Multiple Listing Service) has chosen Listings 360°insight Advisor as a new business tool and member benefit.

The Listing 360°insight Advisor business intelligence system tracks and reports real estate listing activity across virtually all websites where CTMLS listings appear.  Real-time information and dynamic reports are revealed to CTMLS staff, Brokers and Agent members via individual, secure portals.

“Effectively promoting listings to online buyers is a top priority for real estate professionals, yet as an industry we have been unable to validate the impact. Without comprehensive tracking and activity reporting, it is impossible to measure or modify results at the MLS, Broker and Agent level.  While we do receive reporting data from a handful of our syndication partners, it is only an incomplete picture of what’s happening with CTMLS broker’s listings on-line.  Without question, this product will empower our brokers to make better, more informed decisions for marketing the online performance of their client’s listings”, says Cameron Paine, CEO of CTMLS.

Listings 360°Insight Advisor enables CTMLS, Brokers and Agent Members to view comprehensive online activity – tracking information from CTReal.com (CTMLS’s consumer web site), CTMLS’s proprietary member system, publisher sites and member sites (agent and broker); information is transformed into on-demand, real-time reports through well designed, individual online portals.

“We’re excited to further extend our longstanding partnership with CTMLS building upon the immense value of their existing member tools”, says Jonathan Bednarsh, COO and President of Onboard. “Cameron and his team are an innovative group – thoroughly dedicated to providing the highest level of member value and support. With a number of common values between us, we’re looking forward to fun and excitement as we forge ahead”

January 4th, 2012

Windermere Real Estate Uses Neighborhood Navigator

By Kim Cipriano Prior, SVP, Marketing and MLS Market Development

Seattle-based Windermere Real Estate has revamped its website,Windermere.com, which now offers “a streamlined user experience requiring few clicks to access information and listings,” the company said.

Onboard Informatics is happy to to contribute to the better user experience by providing a customized version of Neighborhood Navigator to help display local community, school, amenities and market information at the neighborhood level.

In addition to the “Discover Your Neighborhood” feature, Windermere.com will also include the ability to save listings and searches for registered users; listing detail pages with more multiple listing service data fields; search results integrated with Bing maps; expanded buyer and seller tips; a new agent and office search.

What a great launch to the new year!

December 5th, 2011

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes…

By Kim Cipriano Prior, SVP, Marketing and MLS Market Development

2011…it’s been an exciting, enlightening and unprecedented year at Onboard: a number of our customers unveiled groundbreaking Lifestyle search on their websites while others released innovative new product s and valuable services; we rolled out Listings 360insight into the MLS market and are thrilled with how that’s taking shape. As a company and team, we have reached, stretched and grown…resulting in a truly great year full of lessons, opportunities and challenges.

As 2012 is upon us, we’re making some organizational enhancements to better position us for growth, foster continued innovation and continue to deliver exceptional service. And while there are exciting changes throughout Onboard, we’d like to highlight two key leadership changes relevant to our clients and the public(s) we serve:

Scott Petronis (previously Vice President of Products and Services) will take position as Chief Product Officer (CPO). Scott’s new span of influence encompasses end-to-end responsibility for the adoption, planning, development & quality of all Onboard products.

Kim Cipriano Prior (previously Director of MLS Market Development) will take position as Senior Vice President (SVP), Marketing and MLS Market Development. Kim will now be responsible for Onboard’s overall marketing strategy. She will retain her vital role as Onboard’s key executive in the MLS community.

Jonathan Bednarsh- our COO/President and Marc Siden – CEO are proud to celebrate the end of 2011 with a brilliant team of dedicated superstars and excited to ring in 2012 – positioned for growth and innovation.

November 21st, 2011

Onboard’s Fall Webinar Series Comes To An End

By Stephanie Guerami, Marketing Communications Manager

What a busy Fall we had! Weekly webinars, several industry tradeshows, and some big client meetings–it certainly kept our staff busy.  One of our initiatives, our Fall Webinar Series – was very successful!  Mostly led by our very talented Product Manager, Colleen Staunton, these educational sessions attracted interest from all types of real estate professionals – agents, brokerages, current and prospective clients – all looking to learn more about how to implement efficient and effective websites, using data and new technologies (such as Lifestyle Search) to increase their own SEO and create an enjoyable experience for homebuyers.

We want to thank everyone who joined us, but for those who missed it, you can check out all of the webinars by clicking the links below:
Backstage Tour: Lifestyle Search

7 Ways You Are Missing the Boat Without Neighborhood Info on Your Website

A Multi-Platform Approach to Your Business

A+ Content on Your Website

It Takes Two to Tango: How Lifestyle Search and Listings Search Dance Together

Top 5 Data Points That Make A Difference

November 17th, 2011

The TORCH has been lit

By Stephanie Guerami, Marketing Communications Manager

Last Thursday, Onboard proudly sponsored TORCH’s Benefit & L.I.G.H.T Awards. TORCH is an organization near and dear to the company, especially Marc Siden, CEO of Onboard, who has been working with the organization for over 11 years.  This event was nothing short of a success.  Marc emceed the exciting and fruitful live auction.  Malik Yoba, actor, educator, inspirational speaker and author, was also honored at the event.

Marc Siden shares his thoughts on the event: “It was such an honor for me to be a part of this years TORCH L.I.G.H.T awards event.  So many people from Onboard came to support the evening, and watched my good friend Malik Yoba, be honored for his work and dedication to the program. TORCH is an incredible organization with amazing kids who just want a “shot” at making it in the world.  It’s always great to be around and watch this level of dedication.”

Steve Bryan, Associate Developer here at Onboard, and fellow TORCH Alumni says: “I have received so much love and support from everyone involved with TORCH that I can never say thank you enough. I can only vow to honor them through my successes in life and by remembering where I came from and most importantly to continue with our tradition and keep the TORCH lit!”

Since 1999, The Torch Program has been dedicated to transforming the lives of underserved New York City public high school students by providing intensive exposure to career training and opportunities in communications and the arts, all while facilitating a meaningful way of increasing the diversity of the workforce in those industries.

To learn more about Torch, or to donate to this great organization, click here.

November 16th, 2011

MRIS takes the lead and is the first MLS to launch Lifestyle Search

By Stephanie Guerami, Marketing Communications Manager

Onboard Informatics, the premier data and technology services provider to top-tier real estate, media, and technology companies, powers Lifestyle Search for MRIS, Inc., which is featured on HomesDatabase.com. This dynamic home search tool allows consumers to identify areas and/or neighborhoods that match their preferred lifestyles, giving homebuyers their best places to live.

The Lifestyle Search Engine combines millions of data points with battle-tested analytics to determine the places that best match the user’s input.  Using a sliding scale, consumers rank the importance of the criteria – whether the area is fun, entertaining, has shops and stores, has highly rated schools, is pet friendly, has easy access to public transportation, is family and child friendly or is in rural, urban or downtown area. The engine finds the best matching neighborhoods and ranks the results, providing the consumer with a targeted list of places that fits their criteria.

MRIS understands the importance of community to the consumer and the effect it has on the homebuying process. This is a momentous occasion for MRIS, being that they are the first MLS to offer this capability, leading the efforts to open the door to other MLS’s to provide this tool.

November 16th, 2011

Onboard Powers BusinessWeek’s Best Places to Raise Your Kids 2012

By Stephanie Guerami, Marketing Communications Manager

“There is always a moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in” - Graham Green

Having children changes parents ideas of what they consider the most “ideal” home.  Priorities shift.  As convenient as it might be to have multiple bathrooms and closets (trust me, I have a lot of clothes and if I could have multiple closets, I would!), that might not be the number one priority. Maybe the number of bedrooms and square footage isn’t as important as being close to a great school, daycare, or specific amenities; maybe safety becomes your number one priority, or maybe it’s the cost of living.  Whatever the considerations are when you have your child, it’s not an easy task for parents to figure out where their ideal place might be.

Thankfully, BusinessWeek is here to make your life just that much easier. In their 6th annual installment, BusinessWeek has published The Best Places to Raise Your Kids in 2012 using Onboard’s comprehensive community data and demographics.

Rating places with populations of 50,000 people or less, considerations included: education (such as school scores, number of public and private schools, colleges), crime, economy (median family income, expenses, job growth, etc.), amenities, air quality and ethnic diversity– all of the qualities you would want in a community for your family.

The cities are listed in alphabetical order, by state, and in the CT/NJ/NY tri-state area (where we are located), the following cities top the list:

Best place to raise kids in Connecticut: Kensington

Nearby city: Hartford
Population: 8,567
Median family income: $83,352

Best place to raise kids in New Jersey: Ridgefield Park

Nearby city: New York City
Population: 12,953
Median family income: $76,240

Best place to raise kids in New York: Hampton Manor

Nearby city: Albany
Population: 2,490
Median family income: $64,354

To read the full list, click here: http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20111115/the-best-places-to-raise-your-kids-2012/

November 8th, 2011

Two Companies, Two Products, One Vision

By Kim Cipriano Prior, SVP, Marketing and MLS Market Development

For the last year or so, the folks at Onboard Informatics and Clareity Security have been working diligently to refine new products. The companies launched their respective products almost simultaneously in early 2011, each a clear representation of unique core strengths. For Clareity – the value of security and compliance. For Onboard – the value of comprehensive data with innovative technology. Unknowingly, both products were unified by one common vision: to empower MLSs, Brokers and Agents with information. As their individual business discussions progressed with MLS executives, it didn’t take long before the Clareity and Onboard folks found themselves around the table.

The outcome? The unexpected harmony of complimentary products.

With this natural fit, and the mutual goal of making life easy for MLS and Broker customers, the teams are working on a plug-in-style integration between the (Clareity) SAFE Syndication and (Onboard) 360insight Advisor platforms.

Both products (and companies) remain totally independent but for clients, this integration simplifies decisions and delivers huge benefit. With the integration, an MLS executive and/or a Broker will have visibility and transparency throughout the data distribution process: from data licensing (license management, compliance and audit) to Publisher and website performance ranking, to revealing crisp, real-time depictions of online listings usage (all listings, across virtually all websites where listing data appears).

Independently and in partnership, the Clareity Security and Onboard Listings 360insight teams are proud to deliver such powerful, unprecedented tools and information that truly empower MLSs, Brokers and Agents.

Clareity Security
Amy Geddes, EVP & COO
Clareity Security
480.444.0014
Amy.Geddes@ClareitySecurity.com

Onboard Informatics
Kim Cipriano Prior
Vice President, 360Insight Solutions
Marketing and Market Development
646.747.4396
kprior@onboardinformatics.com

October 26th, 2011

Homebuyers want school data, so give it to them!

By Stephanie Guerami, Marketing Communications Manager

“The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth.” – Mark VanDorn

The quality of a school and school district is so important for homebuyers that some base their entire home search around the quality of a school district. In fact, the importance that homebuyers put on living within the right proximity to quality schools could hold them back from buying right away and renting instead until the right home becomes available.*

With this knowledge, quality school data on broker sites not only benefits your company, but the homebuyer as well.  Engaging the consumers should start with you. You all probably know this stat, but for those who don’t…90% of buyers use the internet in their home search…don’t let a customer go to a competitors site for information that you can provide them. Learn more about the benefits of school content during this Thursday’s webinar, A+ Content On Your Website, starting at 3 p.m. EST. There’s still time to sign up. Because after all, “an education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t.”