February 23rd, 2010

Z57 Inc. Reports New Client Acquisition Based on Industry-Leading IDX Solutions from Onboard Informatics

By Stacey Ret, Director of Marketing

Z57 Inc., a leading provider of real estate online marketing services, announced the company has transitioned thousands of their clients to the Onboard Informatics’ Listings Web Service platform, their Internet Data Exchange (IDX) solution. With the 2009 integration of Onboard Informatics’ state-of-the-art IDX solution, Z57 REALTORS® websites deliver timely, accurate and useful consumer listing information.

These newly integrated services combined with the historically available products from Onboard Informatics, such as home sale values, comparative values, local information on schools, community, businesses and more, have led to an industry-leading complete solution for both REALTORS® and consumers. This product provides MLS-approved Z57 clients and their site visitors the ability to search for home information based on a variety of parameters including, but not limited to: address; zip code; and local community — with filters for distance, time periods, price range, and property types with relevant localized content.

Z57 recognized the need for REALTORS® websites to meet the changing times and demands of buyers and sellers. With the addition of these data-rich tools, Z57 clients now have a competitive advantage throughout the real estate cycle.

Some of the key benefits of Onboard’s Listing Web Service platform include:

* Fully integrated branding, to convey a consistent message, look and feel.
* Administrative tools are easily accessed in the host’s Marketing Control Center (MCC).
* Visually compelling search forms invite visitor interactions.
* Property search results are integrated with Google maps.
* Comprehensive IDX statistics track results for valuable feedback.

“Over five years ago Z57 identified in Onboard Informatics a technology partner we could grow with — one that provided enterprise-class data gathering, processing and distribution,” said Ryan Whitlock, Z57 COO. “In 2010 we anticipate the expansion of our long-term partnership with Onboard based on new client acquisition from the superior functionality of their IDX solution.”

“Since 1998, Z57 has proven that stamina and technological innovation in the business of real estate website marketing is a winning combination,” stated Marc Siden, Onboard Informatics CEO. “Our strategic partnership with Z57 further supports their commitment to providing their clients with industry-leading content through powerful end-to-end solutions, helping them gain strong advantages in a highly competitive marketplace.”

About Z57 Inc.
San Diego-based Z57 Inc. is a personal Web marketing company for thousands of real estate professionals. Founded in 1998, the company specializes in feature-rich designed websites, with content, listings, lead capture and conversion tools, buyer/seller traffic generation through effective online marketing plans, listing syndication, Search Engine Optimization, drip e-mail marketing and a highly trained and responsive customer service team. Z57 provides clients nationwide with proven real estate solutions matched with personal service from more than 150 dedicated employees. The Southern California Internet marketing firm was recognized as an Inc. 5000 company and San Diego’s No. 1 Web Development and Design Company. For more information, call (800) 899-8148 or visit http://www.Z57.com.

About Onboard Informatics
Since 2001, Onboard Informatics has provided comprehensive local, regional and national real estate data solutions, powerful Web tools and Web services to some of the most innovative companies in the real estate, publishing, and technology. Onboard delivers seamless integration of property listings, community, school, neighborhood, geographic and demographic information to support clients in achieving business objectives on Web and mobile platforms. Privately held since its founding, Onboard is located in the heart of the world’s financial center in the Wall Street area of New York City. For more information about Onboard Informatics, visit http://www.onboardinformatics.com.

Media Contact:
Sue Almon-Pesch
For Z57, Inc.
Phone: 858-205-0516
E-mail: sue@speschialpr.com

Tags: IDX, listings, Listings Web Service, Onboard Informatics Listings Web Service, Z57.

September 2nd, 2009

FAQ: The Industry’s Only Property Listings IDX Delivered Through A Web Service

By Scott Petronis, Senior Director of Product Management

We have been receiving a lot of questions regarding our new Listings Web Service and are excited to answer.  I’ve put together the following FAQ but please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or our sales team if you have further questions.

What is Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
Onboard provides access to listings (IDX content) via a  Listings Search Web Service for use by agents and brokers who participate in and have credentials for the respective MLS they are accessing.  This is NOT an offering to allow those without MLS approval to access listings content.  Clients must still have appropriate MLS credentials and must still follow all MLS compliance rules in order to access, use and display the respective MLS content.

What does Onboard’s Listings/IDX product currently do?
Onboard Informatics builds direct relationships with each MLS to gain access to IDX data on behalf of our clients. We organize and clean the data and enhance it with various standardized search parameters, tagged with Onboard content and make it available for searching on our customers’ websites while ensuring compliance with MLS rules and regulations.

Why should I use Onboard’s Listings/IDX (Internet Data Exchange) solution?
• Quality. Dependability. Support. And the simplicity of accessing the data from a single interface no matter how many feeds needed
• Integration of Onboard’s additional product offerings
• Minimize technology & licensing costs
• No hidden fees for photos and other services
• Minimize internal maintenance costs
• The benefit of additional features to the product, as they are developed

How is Onboard’s Listings/IDX product offered?
There are two ways a client may access this content:

1) We provide a web service that allows search across all MLS feeds through one consistent interface.
2) We provide individual bulk data feeds that allow clients who are MLS approved participants, to load the data into their own databases for search and other purposes. Clients can choose what works best for them.

Who are the target clients for Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
There are two main audiences that will benefit from Onboard’s offering:

1) Real estate brokerages that provide services in multiple geographies (typically regional or national brands)
2) Real estate application developers who build websites, CRM solutions and other systems for agents and brokers that require IDX content

What makes Onboard’s offering unique?
There are three primary differentiators of Onboard’s offering:

1) Onboard is the only company that provides access to IDX listings via a web service
2) We undergo a rigorous process to ensure the data associtate with these listings, is cleansed and mormalized to ensure it is consistent, acurate, and searchable.
3) We optomize the listings with our own content to enable unique search based on parameters that are currently not offered in the marketplace.

How long will it take to implement Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
Once approval from the MLS to use IDX on a client’s website is completed, which can take several days, the technical integration of the search web service can be accomplished in a few weeks time, depending on the technical abilities of the development team. If a client chooses bulk feeds, the integration to the client’s database may be completed in even less time.

What is the pricing model for Onboard’s Listings/IDX offering?
There are pricing models designed to fit both the needs of value-added reseller partners and direct clients. We also offer discounts for current customers and multi-year commitments.

For more information on our Listings Web Service or for how our solutions can best fit your needs contact us at 646.747.3899 or info@onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: IDX, listings, Real Estate, web service.

September 2nd, 2009

Real Estate’s Newest Listings Web Service

By Megan Murphy, Marketing Manager

Businesses across all industries have been working feverishly to keep up with the economy. Are we still in a recession? Are we on our way out? Do I invest now to be ahead when it’s over? Do I cut back to stay above water until it’s over?

These are the questions business owners are asking themselves and have led many to a major crossroad in evaluating the consequences of how they answer the questions that impact the success and life of their business.  

We are no different.

Since we launched the first version of our property listing product at Inman in January of 2009 we too have been working diligently to keep up with our clients and the market’s demands.  While it hasn’t been the easiest road we are extremely confident in the decisions we’ve made to invest and work harder and smarter to be more efficient in meeting demands to stay on top through these tough times.

Last week was very exciting for us. We announced our new partnership with LPS Real Estate Group, formerly known as Cyberhomes, to easily deliver property listings to MLS approved participants and provide the ability to integrate them into their consumer facing websites.   This partnership has significant impact on real estate technology as well as what we are able to offer our clients. 

The listings we are now able to provide our clients, undergo a rigorous process to ensure the data associated with these listings, is cleansed and normalized to ensure it is consistent, accurate, and searchable. The property search results are delivered as an XML to enable website developers to display the results (on consumer facing websites) in an approved manner based on the requirements of each individual MLS.

So taking a step back to see the big picture and recognize the most significant result from all this hard work over the past 8 months…

We’ve not only been able to increase our ability to quickly answer our client’s and the market’s need for a one source,  one-stop-shop for real estate content through partnering with the leading data aggregation company, but we’ve developed a way to deliver listings through our Listings Web Service, a single standardized manner, which adhere to individual MLS requirements. In addition to the standard search features, the Listings Web Service offers various search filters including beds, baths, price, and many other relevant preferences as set forth by each individual MLS rules and regulations.

There may be other providers of listings through IDX products or web services but there is no other provider of a single interface listings IDX solution delivered through a web service .  Not only can our clients and partners have access to listings through our web services, but they have the freedom and flexibility to build out and customize their listings with all our other local content.

What’s the value?

One Source for all your real estate information needs

• Property Listings & Photos
• Community Demographics
• School Profiles
• Property Values
• Nearby Establishments
• Lower internal maintenance costs
• Lower technology and licensing costs
• More time to focus on core business needs
• Up-to-date information via feeds and web service
• Accurate information through rigorous quality control processing
• Expert support to guide you through the development process

The hard work is paying off.

We’re excited about where we are today in rolling out our listings platform and are eager for all the new developments to come and to see how our clients take advantage of this new and cutting edge technology. 

We have been receiving a lot of questions around the new Listings Web Service. Scott Petronis, our Senior Director of Product Management, has put together a detailed FAQ list for our listings platform.

For more information on our Listings Web Service and how our solutions can best fit your needs contact us at 646.747.3899 or info@onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: IDX, Listings API, LPS Real Estate Group, MLS, Onboard Informatics, property listings, real estate search.

March 27th, 2009

8 Crucial Factors for Home Buyers

By Scott Petronis, Senior Director of Product Management

I know what drove my last two home buying decisions.  And I’ve asked everyone I’ve met for the past few months about what’s driving their decisions. But I wanted to get a broader perspective. So I went out and ordered the National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2008.  It was well worth the price.  I have to say, NAR has some great researchers!  I’d highly recommend getting a copy of this if you want to understand who’s buying and what motivates them.

I’d like to share some excerpts from the research and give some examples of how Onboard Informatics’ Lifestyle Listings Engine can be put into action.

I’m going to pause one more time to note that this research was conducted by the National Association of Realtors Research Division.  I’ve tried not to misrepresent the information, misconstrue the results or take credit in any way for their fine work.

Facts and Findings

According to the report, 62% of all home buyers indicated that “quality of the neighborhood” was an important factor in their purchase decision.  There are obviously many factors that influence “quality” including both physical characteristics and overall reputation.  I’d like to dig a bit deeper into people’s heads to turn up how they define “quality.”  I imagine it means a lot of things to a lot of people.  But I am pretty certain that there are lots of variables involved in coming up with the quality judgement.

Sure enough, the NAR research team do drill into many angles and show that criteria vary by age group (young, first-time buyer vs. older, repeat buyer), location type (suburban vs. rural vs. urban), household composition (married couple vs. single female vs. unmarried couple) and other characteristics.  We all know that one “size” does not fit all but this report shows the extent to which that statement is true.

Included here are a swath of factors that influence the purchase decision, in rank order.  I haven’t included all of them in here, just the one that our Lifestyle Listings Engine helps to address (currently).  But trust me when I say that this report goes into MUCH greater detail.

Survey says…

1. “Convenient to job” was ranked as important by just over half of respondents overall, and nearly 2/3 in urban areas. With Lifestyle Listings Engine, a search can be conducted based on an address (i.e., work address) and a distance (i.e., 30 miles). Coming in the next release will be the ability to enter a desired commute time (i.e. 45 minutes or less) or drive distance (i.e., <30 miles).  When gas prices hit $5+ per gallon again, we’ll see just HOW important this one is.  Oh, and sorry to all my friends around the world who already pay nearly double that
2. “Convenient to family and friends” was ranked important by over 1/3 of overall respondents and two in five in small towns.  Similar to above, an address or set of addresses may be entered to determine nearby properties.  I also know from personally talking to many retirees that this one ranks very high on their list.
3. “Convenient to shopping” is important to just over 1/4 of respondents while this inches a bit higher in urban areas. So one of the new capabilities we’ve put into the Lifestyle Listings Engine is the ability to search for listings based on the distance to shopping.  For example, I only want places within 5 miles of a supermarket or pharmacy.
4. “Quality of the school district” is, no surprise, a crucial factor for over 1/4 of buyers and nearly 1/3 for those looking in the suburbs.  This is directly in line with the fact that roughly 38% of all home buyers have 1 or more child under the age of 18 in the household according to NAR.  So we’ve introduced the ability to search based on school performance using ratings from GreatSchools.  “Find me homes where there’s a GreatSchools rating of 7 or better.”
5. “Convenient to schools” was important to just over 20% of home buyers.  So just like convenient to shopping, a search can be conducted to find listings within a desired distance to a school.
6. “Convenient to entertainment/leisure activities” and “convenient to parks/recreational facilities” rank high. Nearly 1/5 of buyers overall want entertainment nearby while this number jumps to 29% in urban areas and over 1/3 in resort areas.  While nearly 1/5 care about parks, especially in urban and resort areas.  So we’ve made it possible to search for listings based on such items as golf courses, swimming pools, parks & playgrounds, cafes, bookstores and libraries.  And we’ll continue to add more amenities.
7. “Convenient to health facilities” ranks quite a bit lower overall but is important to 2/5 of those looking in resort areas.  So we’ve enabled search based on distance to hospitals as well.
8. “Convenient to airport” is important to just under 10%, especially in urban areas.  So we’ve also made it possible to find listings within a desired distance to an airport.  For the rest, they can make sure they’re far way from an airport so there’s a double benefit.

There are a number of other crucial factors that go into the search and decision process that we’re working out solutions for.  But I’ll hold off talking about those until the next release.

If you’re interested in the mean time, details about the first two releases of Lifestyle Listings Engine and other posts regarding lifestyle search can be found out Lifestyle Listings Engine and property Search - Related Posts.

We’ve also been doing some of our own research that we’ll begin sharing very soon.  I will say that our direct focus groups mirror what NAR’s research already confirms–there are many factors that influence the home buying decision that have nothing to do with the home itself.  But we’re also taking it a but further to understand how people go about searching.  We got some very interesting insights into how frustrating it is to conduct a home search.  And we can’t wait to share those insights and come up with solutions where we can.

As always, I appreciate your feedback, comments, criticisms and ideas.  Feel free to email me me at spetronis@onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: data, IDX, Lifestyle, Lifestyle Listings Engine, LLE, MLS, NAR Profile of Home Buyers and sellers 2008, Onboard Informatics, property search, Real Estate.

March 25th, 2009

Lifestyle Listings Engine Web Service - New Property Search Version 0.9 Delivered

By Megan Murphy, Marketing Manager

 Onboard Informatics launched the second version of Lifestyle Listings Engine - Version 0.9 today.

Lifestyle Listings Engine, the first ever enterprise-class property search based on consumer lifestyle, was first announced earlier this year at Inman News Real Estate Connect in New York.  Since then we have been working diligently to launch the  Listings Web Service enabling consumers to search for a home based on school system ratings, amenities, neighborhoods, commute time, and more all at the same time.

The first Listings Web Service delivery in mid February, Version 0.8, focused on two primary search mechanisms - geographic and parametric. Scott Petronis, our Sr. Dri. Product Management, goes into the specific details of Geographic Search, and Lookup capabilities in the Listings Web Service, in his previous post, Lifestyle Listings Engine Web Serivce - New Property Search Version 0.8 Delivered.

In this release, Version 0.9,  there are three new keycapabilities :

1) Search based on school performance:

One of the most significant search criteria for one of the largest home buyer segments is school performance. To this end, we’re enabling search based on proximity to GreatSchools rated schools of a specific value. For example, “I want to find listings that have 3+ beds and 2+ baths for no more than $500,000 that are near a highly rated school.”

2) Search based on distance to amenities:

The next set of crucial criterion are the local amenities such as parks, restaurants, supermarkets and hospitals. We’re enabling search based on a pretty long list of amenities so a user can ask for “Homes within 5 miles of a golf course,” for example.

3) “Get content”:

Once a search is conducted, the next logical step is for the searcher to want to know more. So we’re introducing new calls to pull back specific content based on a specific listing or the geographic container the listing falls within. The first such call allows a developer to pull back all the amenity details associated to a listing so they may present this, for example, on a listing detail page.

Scott goes into much greater detail regarding Version 0.9 in his post from last week.

A few cool new things we’re just completing put the “lifestyle” in lifestyle search. And believe me, this is just the start. To start we’ve focused on exposing some key new search criteria and also added a new content retrieval concept into the Listings Web Service. The concept is simple: there are criteria people will use to “drive” their search and then there’s additional content one wishes to see to help better educate herself/himself on the area surrounding the listing. So we’re exposing easily understood and highly relevant criteria in the search web service. Then we’re exposing more detailed content that may be pulled for presentation on the listing detail page.

What’s Next?

Lifestyle Listings Version 0.9.1 & Version 0.10 — Currently in development and testing. Targeted for release early/mid-April

• Get School District Content:  This will allow the developer to pull back all the school district content associated with a specific listing. Using this, the developer can fill out additional content pages to go along with the listing details.
• Search by commute time / distance: This will allow a user to input a starting address, such as their work address, and a desired time (i.e., 45 minutes) or distance (i.e., 30 miles). The search will then determine the listings that fall within the drivable area. We’re already looking at ways to get public transit as well as to determine neighborhoods and other geos that fall within the commute time / distance.

Lifestyle Listings Engine  Version 0.11 &  Version 0.12 — Currently in planning and design.

• Lead profiling: We’ll be capturing the various search criteria used in order to enable presentation of search preferences for lead forms, analytics reports, CRM applications or other uses.
• Search by community demographics: We’re working on a set of key demographics including age focus, socioeconomic status and household status.
• Criteria weighting and ranking: Providing the ability to weight the importance of individual criteria in each search to ensure the most appropriate results are returned.
• Additional Get Content calls: Enabling the retrieval of additional content to help provide greater details and insight into the community surrounding a listing.

Lifestyle Listinges Engine Software Development Kit — Currently in planning and design.

• We’ll be providing a set of UI widgets, helper code and documentation to enable developers to more quickly integrate our search into their sites and to do so with much more confidence than writing code from scratch. Our goal is to help developers get these capabilities up and running in days or weeks vs. months.

Please contact our sales support team at 646.747.4273 or info@onboardinformatics.com with any enquires regarding Lifestyle Listings Engine.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to Onblog to get the latest news and deliveries regarding Lifestyle Listings Engine and Onboard’s other products.

Tags: amenities, data, home sale records, IDX, inman, Inman Connect, Lifestyle, Lifestyle Listings Engine, lifestyle search, listings, LLE, MLS, neighborhoods, Onboard Informatics, Products, property search, Real Estate, schools, SEO.

February 17th, 2009

Onboard Informatics Announces the Delivery of Lifestyle Listings Engine

By Megan Murphy, Marketing Manager

 Imagine if people could search for a home based on their lifestyle.

New York, NY. 2-17-2009 – Onboard Informatics, the premier data services company for top companies in real estate, technology and media, has announced the delivery of the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) of Lifestyle Listings Engine: the first ever enterprise-class solution enabling property search based on consumer lifestyle choices. 

“With our expertise in data collection, standardization, and analysis, our clients were constantly asking us if we can help them with listings,” said Marc Siden, CEO of Onboard.  “But we wanted to offer something to the industry beyond just the best, cleanest, and most efficient listings.  So by combining our wealth of property data, community, schools, and amenities datasets,  with the best listings data in the industry, then layering on a search logic that takes human preferences into account, we are able to offer the first search engine that works the way the human mind does.”

The Lifestyle Listings Engine, introduced at the Inman News Real Estate Connect Event in New York, features a Human Centered Search (HCS) API enabling a multivariate, multi-weighted search experience.  Users are able to search based on schools system ratings, commute time, amenities, neighborhood info, and more at the same time.

“For years, Onboard has been providing data analytics to companies such as CNN/Money for feature stories on selecting best places to live, best places for retirement, and best places for families,” said Peter Goldey, Chief Information Officer of Onboard.  “We knew that our algorithms and our search logic were something that our clients in real estate could really benefit from, so we’ve created that toolset.”

The Lifestyle Listings Engine also features the most advanced handling of listings data, management of MLS relationships and IDX rules with its proprietary Compliancy Engine technology, and simplifies development by providing a single, consistent data feed from hundreds of disparate feeds.

According to Liam Dayan, Chief Technology Officer of Onboard, the HCS technology is made possible by the robust data handling technology behind the scenes: “What we’ve done is taken our expertise and systems for handling disparate data sources, aggregating them, cleaning them, and making the resulting data easy to use, and applied them to listings.  We then blend that cleaned dataset with the rest of our content, using our proprietary system.  That facility with data is the ‘secret sauce’ if you will that allows us to create applications like Human Centered Search.”

For more information regarding Onboard Informatics or Lifestyle Listings Engine, please either visit www.onboardinformatics.com or call 747.646.4273.

Tags: API, data, IDX, Liam Dayan, Lifestyle Listings Engine, lifestyle search, marc siden, MLS, Onboard Informatics, Peter Goldey, Real Estate.

January 16th, 2009

Lifestyle Listings Engine…stuff. PART 3

By Liam Dayan, GM Listings Group, CTO

Previously on Heroes…

Peter destroys “the formula” to save mankind, Rob–having lost his powers in a legal battle with Brian Larson–gets thrown out of a window, and my dev crew discovers that free Coke is really just a way to keep them awake and coding for days at a time. Save the listings search, save the real estate space…

I’m had intended to write this yesterday, but we’re still trying to build stuff in between blog posts. Ok, let’s talk about some of the things that are generally wrong in listings data aggregation that our system fixes. Here’s the meat & potatoes of what we do to better aggregate listings:

1) Scalability/Speed, Feed Implementation. Based on the current personnel in place, we’re projecting having a little over 200 of the largest and most useful MLSs implemented by the end of ‘09, in addition to other alternative listings sources. Because of the planned (versus organic) nature of our system design, our velocity correlates directly to personnel who can be really smart people trained on a proprietary suite of ETL (extract, transform, load) tools, rather than 20 year vets steeped in esoteric data practices who drink the blood of junior developers (health hazard, and sooo expensive–tasty, though). This means that we could go a lot faster if we needed to, and also that we can more readily take on the “Spackling” of implementing smaller boards/MLSs other providers shy away from because the business case is easier to make.

Something should also be said about our development/implementation approach, since I think it has a very large net effect on our capabilities. Let me ’splain…no, it is too much–let me sum up. Ants marching. The implementation cycles for listings feeds inevitably goes wrong in a variety of ways–bad credentials, data or file structures broken enough to require more serious coding, ever-changing paradigms/protocols/procedures at the source, etc. We have an implementation schedule based on client and market need, but when a feed hiccups it falls to the next bucket and another one gets promoted into the current cyle. The ETL/implementation groups efforts never falter, they never stop, and the feeds keep coming. Like ants, marching.

2) Frequency. Currently, we’re updating listing data on a daily basis, but shortly we’ll be updating it at whatever frequency is made available by each individual source. That could be up to multiple times an hour, though we’re still trying to determine the optimal balance between freshness and a robust quality control cycle.

3) Standardization, Structure. In the data world, generally, you expect to find different structures between different sources even for the exact same data. In the listings data world you expect to find different data structures–daily–within the same source thereby breaking…um…everything. Unless, that is, you’ve had the foresight to build yourself an expert system capable of reacting to those changes by fixing and dynamically remapping that source, alerting human operators, etc.–which, as it happens, we have. Score.

4) Standardization , Content. Content has to be standardized to be searched effectively. First level standardization is for breakage–misspelling, etc. Second level deals with regionalization and source-specific nomenclature, lingo, lexicon, morpheme, etc. Bungalow, secondary suite, semi-detached, mother-in-law or granny cottage–it has to be standardized in order that when you search for one you find the others as appropriate. Finally, we deal with mining data hidden in incorrect attributes, e.g. “Fireplace” found in a marketing field.

Set aside for a moment the more prosaic “fix bad data” aspects of this, because there’s a much more important one. Real estate is a local phenomenon–that’s a common theme among realestistas (cute, Rob, but linguistically problematic), and certainly borne out by the data we see. Listings data is by its very nature regional–to me, the ability of the MLS to preserve and protect this local flavor is one of their core value propositions to their membership, and to the larger RE space for that matter.

We take the data and map it to our standard taxonomy. That a translation mechanisms which is as relevant or irrelevant as our clients’ implementations choose to make it. Using our tools, you could conceivably enable a purely regional search for people in Baltimore that allowed them to search Chicago listings using their “native tongue”. They search for Charm City “breezeways” and find Chi-Town “gangways”–and ain’t that just a study in etymological goodness.

5) Compliance. While some of the listings sources are more…independent organizations, the majority of MLSs have a very strict–and usually at least mildly obfuscated–guideline for what is compliant use of their data. And let’s be clear, while I’m not going to get into a philosophical discussion (at least not here) about who actually owns the listing, for practical purposes this is MLS data, subject to MLS rules, and we honor that. We merely aggregate it on behalf of our clients, using the permissions imparted by their participant relationship with the MLS.

Given the sometimes…mercurial(?) nature of these rules, the heightened state of awareness at various MLSs, and the highly sensitive nature of the broker/MLS relationship, one of our largest value propositions are the personal and abiding relationships our staff has forged with the administrative, technical, and executive personnel at hundreds of boards. Those relationships, based as they are on a history of compliance and responsible use of the data and other services they provide on their memberships’ behalf, allow us to remedy compliance issues quickly and to the satisfaction of all parties without rancor.

6) The “Rocky” factor. Here’s the thing…listings data fails. It just does. No matter what you do, no matter the forsight or how thoughtful the measures you’ve taken are…

Listings…data…fails.

Everything in our system is built to deal with that expectation of failure at the source–servers are offline, file structures are broken, data structures are different, etc. It should be noted that “failure”, like beauty, is in the eye of beholder–for their purposes some of what we consider awful is just fine. That means the onus is on us to make it better, and we do. We do it by bulding a system which reacts, and empowering a highly competent staff who are steeped in domain knowledge about these data sources. Our process takes the punch…and then climbs right back off the mat. The “Rocky” factor is what allows us to meet the obligations of our aggressive SLAs.

So that’s the basic skinny on how we aggregate listings. Sheesh! Only by writing after Rob Hahn could I seem to be the soul of brevity. If you have the time, tune in next week so we can talk about the real reason for agg’ing this data and making it clean and good and connected–Human Centered Search.

- Liam

Tags: data, IDX, lifestyle litings engine, lifestyle search, listings, MLS, Onboard Informatics.

January 13th, 2009

Lifestyle Listings Engine…stuff. PART 2

By Liam Dayan, GM Listings Group, CTO

Yesterday I left off with a promise to explain what an expert system is, and give some insight into how those play into Onboard Informatics approach to aggregating listings (and other) data. Ok…so as cliffhangers go it’s no Stewie Kills Lois, but I’m in this for the art not the ratings.

The first time the phrase “expert system” found its way into the dictionary (Merriam-Webster) was in 1977: computer software that attempts to mimic the reasoning of a human specialist. While there are many other concepts and an almost unconscionable amount of geekspeak jargon that go along with this concept, this definition holds up. Computers are stupid, standard software only mildly less so. In a perfect world I would have a human being working in constant attendance on an individual feed. Actually, make that a team of people all dedicated to one feed since the burnout rate would be staggering if you didn’t round-robin them.

So, acknowledging that human wisdom and expertise is the most reliable way to make good decisions, how do support a solution which scales? By attempting to codify that “wisdom”, i.e. domain-specific knowledge applied within a rules and/or model-based construct, into software. In any given domain there’s what’s generally known, and then there’s what true experts know–the real skinny.

Want the secret sauce? Distill the heuristic knowledge of a body of human experts into a knowledgebase (just think of “heuristics” as meaning “rules of thumb”). Now develop a robust system able to infer/derive new knowledge for decision-making from that knowledgebase, enabling appropriate feedback loops so that the system continuously improves over time. This amounts to a (tragically) long array of IF-THEN assessments which are dynamic in nature, growing ever longer as the system “learns”. We’re hardly the first to this particular party in a general way, but I don’t think it’s been done as significantly in RE before.

Some brief descriptions of what’s going on in this flowchart:

1) Controller: manages the occasionally complex interaction between some of the subsystems, with the heaviest load being the interaction between KnowledgeBase and Inference Engine. Those components make up the bulk of “intelligent” operation in the system and require significant management to maintain correct order of operation, etc. This piece also works as the “scratchpad”, allowing for fast ad hoc iterative assessment and conclusion.

2) KnowledgeBase: this is where the heuristic, IF-THEN rules, fuzzy logic, rules of thumb, expertise, wisdom, whatever you want to call it are stored. Don’t be too impressed, this is just a database, and a pretty simple one at that.

3) Inference Engine: this component is responsible for actually implementing the IF-THENrules, and can do so both sequentially and in parallel based on the need. Ok, you can be impressed with this one–it’s tough.

4) Knowledge Feedback Loop Engine: responsible for determining what information is fed back into the KnowledgeBase in order to refine the systems capabilities, most often (at this point) in partnership with human guides.

5) Human Experts: aka, wetware. These are folks whose brains are being drained (as we speak) into the KnowledgeBase–a relatively painless process. Occasionally they don’t even know they are participating. Obviously these people will be the first casualties of the war when the system inevitably decides it can serve real estate better than us. Heroes, all.

6) Report Generation: the primary way by which the Human Experts can see into the systems activities and provide feedback, correction, etc.–e.g. the system reports that image population in a particular feeds records has fallen below norm, but not critically. Only humans are capable of reaching the intuitive and experiential conclusion that the tolerance may need to be updated due to conditions beyond the systems ken.

“Listings” aggregator - means not the end

I think that might be a good place to conclude, by highlighting that humans are an intrinsic part of this system. We fold humans in all along the way because 1) we just don’t trust the computers that much–they’re dumb, and potentially evil (what…you never saw Terminator?); and 2) the system is in place, but as with any knowledge-based system it’s only as good as its knowledgebase is complete. I’d warrant ours is better than anyone else’s, but it’s too new to be complete and needs to be spot-checked by an actual for-real expert who repairs mistakes and reports them back into the system, thereby improving the knowledgebase and system. The upshot is our system may make mistakes from time to time, but they’ll be caught and repaired quickly, and shouldn’t happen twice.

That our approach uses an expert system puts it way ahead of the curve in the RE space, but I don’t want to overstate it. We’re still at the nascent stages of this. It should also be remembered that our goal isn’t to be an IDX, VOW, or even generic “listings” aggregator–that’s the means, not the end. The result we want to achieve is good enough information about the available properties in a locale that we can formulate effective search pathways, and help our customers create compelling user experiences.

Ultimately, our vision calls for the incorporation of a neural network to allow for some predictive analysis, advanced natural language processing, and some other pieces which are evolutionary by their very nature. “Better than anything I’ve ever seen in real estate” is a phrase I heard more than once at Inman this past week. That’s not a bad place to start, but we have a long way to go to bring this to where we think it can and should be.

So day one was basically a statement of the problem, day two a brief description of the “superstructure” used to solve that problem (trust me, that was brief). Tomorrow, I’ll post about some of the specific problems which occur in the aggregation of listings data, and try to give some insight into how our system handles those recurring issues.

- Liam

Tags: data, IDX, Lifestyle Listings Engine, listings feeds, Onboard Informatics, VOW.

January 7th, 2009

Onboard Informatics Introduces a Lifestyle Listings Engine

By Megan Murphy, Marketing Manager

Imagine if people could search for a home based on their lifestyle.

New York, NY. 1-6-2009 – Onboard Informatics, the premier data services company for top companies in real estate, media and technology, has announced the Lifestyle Listings Engine: the first ever enterprise-class solution enabling property search based on consumer lifestyle choices.

“With our expertise in data collection, standardization, and analysis, our clients were constantly asking us if we can help them with listings,” said Marc Siden, CEO of Onboard.  “But we wanted to offer something to the industry beyond just the best, cleanest, and most efficient listings.  So by combining our wealth of property data, community, schools, and amenities datasets,  with the best listings data in the industry, then layering on a search logic that takes human preferences into account, we are able to offer the first search engine that works the way the human mind does.”

The Lifestyle Listings Engine, introduced at the Inman News Real Estate Connect Event in New York, features a Human Centered Search (HCS) API enabling a multivariate, multi-weighted search experience.  Users are able to search based on schools system ratings, commute time, amenities, neighborhood info, and more at the same time.

“For years, Onboard has been providing data analytics to companies such as CNN/Money for feature stories on selecting best places to live, best places for retirement, and best places for families,” said Peter Goldey, Chief Information Officer of Onboard.  “We knew that our algorithms and our search logic were something that our clients in real estate could really benefit from, so we’ve created that toolset.”

The Lifestyle Listings Engine also features the most advanced handling of listings data, management of MLS relationships and IDX rules with its proprietary Compliancy Engine technology, and simplifies development by providing a single, consistent data feed from hundreds of disparate feeds.

According to Liam Dayan, Chief Technology Officer of Onboard, the HCS technology is made possible by the robust data handling technology behind the scenes: “What we’ve done is taken our expertise and systems for handling disparate data sources, aggregating them, cleaning them, and making the resulting data easy to use, and applied them to listings.  We then blend that cleaned dataset with the rest of our content, using our proprietary system.  That facility with data is the ‘secret sauce’ if you will that allows us to create applications like Human Centered Search.”

The Lifestyle Listings Engine is in final testing, and is slated for release to clients in mid-February.

About Onboard Informatics

Since 2001, Onboard Informatics has provided comprehensive local, regional and national real estate data solutions, powerful web tools and web services to some of the most innovative companies in real estate, media, and technology industries.  Onboard combines its expertise in data aggregation, standardization, and integration with expert consulting, transforming the complexity of data into meaningful solutions to support their clients in achieving business objectives.  Privately held since its founding, Onboard is located in the heart of the world’s financial center in the Wall Street area of New York City.  For more information about Onboard Informatics or to request a demo, visit www.onboardinformatics.com.

Tags: data, IDX, inman, Lifestyle Listings Engine, listings, Onboard Informatics.

December 19th, 2008

IDX, VOW, WTF? The techno-ninja perspective.

By Liam Dayan, GM Listings Group, CTO

I would have thought by now I’d be starting a blog post with the phrase “I get a lot of questions about VOW feeds”. Um…not so much, and I’m wondering why. I think it must be because folks are still trying figure out exactly what the real world implications of that NAR/DOJ agreement are.

I’m no lawyer (not bragging or anything, just saying), and maybe my good friend Das Hahn (The Hahnster? Robtastic?) will chime in if I say something completely wrong or idiotic (always a possibility), but if anyone’s interested in plowing through some inadvertently alliterative parenthetical prose about what a data-geek who’s been in the RE space for longer than he cares to remember thinks about this, here you go. If you want a much sharper legal mind’s take on this, check out Rob’s post. FYI, if you actually are interested in my thoughts on this, you should consider a hobby–I hear free running is a lot of fun, and great cardio.

So what the deally yo with VOW? Some background for the uninitiated (just skip this whole next paragraph if you’re generally familiar with VOW), and here I’m just going to just quote Brian Larson who knows what we in the business call a “crap-load” more about this than I do:

For purposes of the DOJ/NAR settlement, a VOW is:

A web site, or feature of a web site, operated by a Broker or for a Broker by another Person through which the Broker is capable of providing real estate brokerage services to consumer with whom the Broker has first established a Broker-consumer relationship (as defined by state law) where the consumer has the opportunity to search MLS data, subject to the Broker’s oversight, supervision, and accountability. (See Policy Section I.1.)

So, basically, any broker with an MLS participant relationship can serve up listing data online to someone they’ve got a “Broker-consumer relationship” with (more on that momentarily). Well…so what? Isn’t that just IDX?

Duck!

Nope, and the differences are critical and potentially very useful. It may look like a duck, but it quacks like a Hell’s Angel. IDX, Internet Data Exchange, is an agreement brokered by the MLS among its members to allow the limited display of limited listings data on each others’ sites–a marketing quid pro quo. The biggest of those limitations involve the number of attributes (data-geek-speak for “fields”) of which some MLSs only allow a handful in IDX feeds, the outright elimination of certain record types (e.g. most off-market data), restrictions on the display and enhancement of listing data ranging from the merely problematic to completely draconian, and–only in some cases, admittedly–the ability for brokers to opt-out of the program rendering the data-set incomplete.

This is in stark contrast to VOW feeds, which are meant to replicate the brick-and-mortar experience of eons past when listings books lived in every office and could be given to customer to take home and peruse. No really, actual books that were printed on something they called paper–yeah, I know. Those feeds are complete and whole, i.e. the majority of useful-to-the-consumer info about the listing is still there and (critical!) brokers cannot opt-out.

Additionally, these feeds are relatively unencumbered by a user-experience-destroying and ever-changing display policy. Meaning you can take the Christmas tree that is the listing and hang some truly kick-ass ornamentation on it, like really relevant contextual content, interesting search, maybe some tools to improve lead generation/distribution/management for brokers, etc.–even the potential for re-margining broker business in advantageous ways (hopefully we’ll hear more on that later from our resident broker biz expert, Dave Collins).

Say! I might know some folks who can help you with all that stuff. Sweet! Tree-trimming party at Onboard’s!

Before we start doing tequila shots, though, there are a couple of hiccups–some real, some merely perceived–that we need to address. Remember that “Broker-consumer relationship” thing? That’s the one folks seem most concerned with, including our own inestimable Rob Hahn. He sees a threat to brokers here–the prevailing theory being if you have to make people sign-up you kill a site’s “throughput”, providing an overwhelming competitive advantage to sites that don’t (i.e. Realtor.com, IDX-based sites, etc.). Me? I only see advantage, provided they can either negotiate some of the technical (not legal!) hurdles or partner with someone who can.

Between the time that I left eNeighborhoods and when Marc and Jon came and drafted me back into the fray, I spent two years as CTO of a pure leadgen company outside of RE. Reg-path management is somewhere between a science and an art, and I won’t claim it’s easy, but there are a variety of ways to overcome the objection of consumers to signing up, including some technology-based sleight of hand. Frankly, handled right registration can be converted from being a barrier into being a feature. Think velvet ropes and VIP rooms. Also, that consumer objection to signing up is just generally getting quieter and smaller every day as people’s use of social networking mediums that demand sign-up for participation grows. Add single sign-on mechanisms, either individual or one of the social media platform initiatives like OpenID, etc. and this becomes negligible.

And BTW? There’s nothing in the language of the VOW agreement or any other I know of (big caveat on that one) that precludes a broker from maintaining both of those feeds. That introduces some interesting hybrid UX/reg-path possibilities. This is a very solvable problem.

Another point Rob and I disagree on is whether brokers can be prohibited by their MLS from giving their listings to the Zillow’s of the world–he thinks they can be, I think brokers can do what they please with their listing and tell whoever says otherwise to pound sand. It should be noted that this point is pretty much all legal ground not technical, so Rob’s far more qualified than me to assess it. The only point I’ll make is that from a broker-site functional/operational perspective, I think his point is basically moot (and I want bonus points for using legal terminology!).

Even if his premise is borne out, the only “feature” really compromised is syndication, which was only ever engaged in by brokers out of desperation (though I would contend that more enlightened brokers shouldn’t feel threatened by alternative marketing channels). If brokers can get that traffic back from Zillow, et al, into their site (or potentially some other VOW-enabled broker site for the standard split which defines the central value proposition of the MLS to its members) by creating better destination sites, with SEO-friendly content, a better toolset, etc. as a result of having more robust listing data–that sounds like a win to me.

Good, bad...I'm the guy with the gun.

People in the space–brokers, agents, the MLSs, etc.–are going to make arguments that VOW feeds are good for this, bad for that, whatever. I feel the same way about this as when I hear arguments from developers about which language is “the best” for coding in, or from infrastructure folk debating the virtues of one OS over another. I tend towards the agnostic for abstract mechanisms of any stripe, and save my judgments for how appropriate a specific application of that mechanism is or how well it’s been implemented.

Long story short (too late!), smart management of this newly available mechanism could allow brokers to drive back the interlopers (their word, not mine) who are building businesses on the back of listings that brokers spend time and money farming. And they can do it by using that unshackled listing data to create a far more compelling user experience for the consumer, and ultimately a better buyer/home match and more ideal result all around. The natural traffic generated by (properly deployed and supported) listings comes home like the prodigal son, ready to courted and managed into leads by intelligent brokers, and handed off to caring and knowledgeable agents ready, willing and able to put families in their new homes. Happy brokers, happy agents, happy buyers, happy sellers.

Either way–VOW, IDX…I’m the guy with the listings.

- Liam Dayan

Tags: data, IDX, leadgen, listings, marketing, MLS, NAR/DOJ, Real Estate, techno-ninja, VOW.