The Wall Street Journal ran the story yesterday about the San Diego MLS sending in the wrong sales data to C.A.R. for the last year.
I don’t know what’s funnier; that Sandicor never checks their own work, or that apparently no one in the western world cares enough about what C.A.R. has to say to notice a major discrepency for a year.
Nothing about this escapade is surprising though, if you know Ray Ewing, CEO of Sandicor. The realtors are the actual owners of Sandicor, who runs our Multiple Listing Service, and we need somebody to run it. Enter Ray Ewing.
Back in 1992 when Sandicor was formed by the eleven SD association of realtors, it was the first, and the largest in the country to do so. If Sandicor would have boldly set out to provide the a first-rate MLS website and assist realtors with helping their clients, they could served a greater good. It has never happened.
Instead, in May, 2008 the Sandicor folks changed the entire MLS system, allegedly ‘upgrading’ from Tempo 3 to Tempo 5. It was an unmitigated disaster, and still to this day a vastly inferior product.
When a certain blogger complained about the new system, it caused a local news reporter, Zach Fox, called Ray Ewing for comment.
Ray was happy to look up the records and tell Zach that I had taken one of the last Tempo 5 training classes (gave Zach the date and time) and suggested that if I would have gone to additional training I might know what I am talking about.
It is that type of arrogance that is undermining our realtor community every day.
Sandicor has not developed their own public website, like many other MLS providers have done around the country. Instead, people like Redfin, Zip, and even one of our own realtors who developed sdlookup.com have kicked Sandicor’s butt with a better distribution of MLS information.
Ray is good about issuing fines though, and bad-mouthing agents to the press. Apparently his control over the MLS and the data he provides is still a challenge.
I AM GRATEFUL for Ray’s work. He is expediting the demise of realtors as we know them.
Consumers are sick of the lack of transparency, the lack of data analysis, and lack of real-time facts to make decisions with. Ray’s failure to provide any of the above will hasten the creation of an upstart public MLS, and make Sandicor, and most realtors, useless to the community.
I look forward to that day.
I’ll still have a job helping people analyze properties and their value, and putting deals together. How about you Ray?
And Ray, what are you going to say to the thousands of realtors who you have failed so miserably who will be out of work?
Awesome! 🙂
Good for you Jim.
Ray sounds like the head of a property manangement company we had to get rid of. A total arrogant sleaze.
thatta boy Jimmy! You just summed up what all the other realtors in SD had to say.
I love how he calls you out for not attending training. Uh, we’re talking about an MLS data website – how much training should it take? As with almost anything, if it needs an instruction manual, it’s not designed properly.
This is where we need OC Renter to come through with a picture of this bozo. I’m a visual learner, and it’s always nice to have a picture of the morons I read about.
Wow, just wow. But you are just telling it how it is. I’m looking for Ray’s response in a future or perhaps public post. Well done.
Remember, the control of the MLS is the only thing that keeps the realtor business alive. Look what happened to travel agents the minute they lost control of the databases and Expedian and Orbitz took over!!!! the MLS may be bad but it is the only thing that keeps the realtor in the game. Once we lose the MLS every tom dick and harry will be selling/ buying real estate.
Ray,
We all know you’ll read this as it will find it’s way to you, probably already has!. When it does, come clean, respond in your real name here on Jim’s blog.
“Once we lose the MLS every tom dick and harry will be selling/ buying real estate.”
Seems like that’s been pretty true recently as well. Like taxes, the real estate transactions are probably involved enough that most people will still want an assistant.
And Although I’m not sure that the size of the commission is justified all of the time – and the payment structure for buyer’s agents is preposterous, real estate agents can definitely provide value.
Good piece.
I could not agree more!!
Awesome. Thanks Jim.
Dude:
I think you may have crossed the line. If I was Ray the MLS Guy I’d have my Lawyer send you a cease & desist letter via courier today.
Just my two cents.
PS: I also think your dead wrong about Jim Cramer.
Nice. One Quibble, Jim. Realtors don’t need any help causing their own demise. I come from a family of realtors (Mom, sister, cousins…), and they were ranting that the MLS listings don’t often have directions anymore. Instead of putting directions or map grids (Thomas Bros, anyone?), realtors just put in “use GPS” or “consult Mapquest”. Yeah, I’ll be sure to get right at that house.
Or, here’s one (non-S.D.) I heard recently. Realtor held an open house on our block. NO ONE came. Why? Not in the paper. (Realtor missed Sunday deadline.) Not on the website, not on anything. (Its like a secret sale for best customers.) House has been on the market for a month with no open house. Yeah, they’ll get full price….
Jim, you will pay for this!
Oh no, a cease and desist letter. Actually, oh goodie. Now you have something to wipe your ass with, Jim.
Just kidding, that was me writing as Ray.
To Wassup,
Go crawl back into your hole. We need far more people in the real estate industry like JtR.
JtR, you are my hero and if I wasn’t so loyal to my Realtor (a like-minded Realtor to JtR) I would be using you for all my transactions. Thanks for having the courage to tell it like it is. Your the best.
New_Renter
Jim, nice redress of a crappy MLS system (and administrator). I see you got Zach Fox on the story. Did you help break/develop this WSJ story? Were you aware of the data inconsistencies? Have you blogged on this previously? Thanks for the great service you provide.
Wait, so realtors actually take classes on how to use the MLS website? Do you they charge you for those? That reminds me, I will be giving my monthly Twitter classes in two weeks, please email me as soon as possible if you would like to enroll, as they fill up quickly.
Great article, 100% agree. I also really hope this current downturn brings about the end of the private closed-system MLS, and brings in a public system with standardized, correct, and complete information, both in existing listings and historical listing and sales information. It’s really a huge problem that the people controlling the information also have large biases; it makes the market treacherous, inefficient, and prone to large swings and manipulation.
I also agree that there would still be a place for experienced, knowledgeable, and actually helpful RE agents in such a new system. Here’s hoping. 🙂
JtR, the MLS is the lifeblood of the business. Mistakes can be costly and dangerous. You need to lead the charge to get members to step up and demand a change. We are fortunate here in the Coachella Valley that our Desert Area MLS system is powered by Rapattone and our MLS staff is outstanding. The system is excellent: easy to use and has everything and more. It is a model system and public accessible (except for privacy info excluded for obvious reasons). Check it out.
Jim, I like your style.
This is what I find so awesome about Jim! He’s courageous!I think it was on Nightline, when Jim said: “…Buyers just want the truth”. How refreshing to hear that!
People are hungry for the info you provide. House selling and buying is one of the bigger life decisions, and I, for one, am grateful you’re on our side. Keep up the good work, Jim!
I think it is crazy that Sandicor is so out-of-date that it requires Internet Explorer to access the site. There are numerous browsers out there (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc) but they are too lazy to make the site compatible with anything else. For Mac users, they simply can not access the site since Microsoft stopped the development of IE for Macs years ago. They need to hire the web developer for sdlookup.com to redesign the site and make it accessable to all platforms.
Hoo-wee, what a roast! 🙂 I’m not even a Realtor(tm) and I hated the Sandicor upgrade. My wife and I were using the free “trial” account on the old system to find homes, which we would then email to our agent for further research. After the new version (I can’t call it an upgrade), we were locked out and our agent’s vacation was over. (Kidding, she always worked hard for us.)
I don’t think Jim will get into legal trouble for this, it is clearly an opinion piece. Not that it won’t upset Ray, but obviously Jim is directly calling him out so I doubt JtR is worried about that. 🙂
Yeah Jim!
I’m disappointed; not in the jab at Ray the Rat but in your rat graphic. Can’t you bring on RD as a graphics consultant, his exurban blog pics and graphics are the best.
Ray Ewing, co-douchebag of the century with Gary Watts, defender of the value range pricing.
see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/realestate/09nati.html
and:
http://www.socalbubble.com/2007/02/value-range-pricing-and-priced-to-sit.html
There’s some real wisdom in what Ray says… you know, what not to say.
Chuck
I’ll tell you one nice thing that Sandicor has that no other SoCal MLS has to my knowledge: Room Dimensions. That is, this stuff, taken from a random Sandicor listing:
Bedroom Information
# of Total Bedrooms: 3
Master Bedroom Dimensions: 15X13
Bedroom #2 Dimensions: 12X11
Bedroom #3 Dimensions: 11X10
Other Room Dimensions
Living Room: 13X13
Family Room: 14X12
Dining Room: 12X10
Kitchen: 12X11
I’m amazed nobody else has this. This tells you so much about the house.
I didn’t know that wasn’t a standard thing – that was very useful to me when using Tempo 3.
When I run the YOY numbers for May right off the MLS, there’s a third set.
May 2009 Y-O-Y change in sales reported:
CAR = +6.5%
MLS = +7.6%
DQ = +8.8%
Dataquick includes additional sales not on MLS, so there should be some difference, but why do the CAR numbers and actual MLS numbers differ? I need to get to another class!
Class Action anyone? Kidding aside Robert Kleinhenz deputy chief economist of CAR in a San Diego Business Journal article said:
…’It’s not a consistent error. And some points in time the information may have included the pendings, and at other times did not’….
and his ace in the hole so to speak:
‘It’s kind of an art to figure out how to pull right the line-by-line information that can be used in our reports’.
Ha good one Jim. I think people have stopped taking what the industry tarde association says seriously because they rightly understand they have a bias to say “All is well!”
Jim, good on ya mate. The best thing that could happen to you is if “Ray the Rat” comes after you. I’m sure Nightline would be ready with a follow up. We could get the SDAICT* to run public service announcements. You know that there are two dozen blogs with hundreds of thousands of daily visits that would rally to your cause.
I say “Bring it on Ray!”
* San Diego Association of Ice Cream Trucks
Thanks everyone.
While the obvious move by Sandicor would be to somehow fine/sanction me for pointing out their ineptitude, it would be much more impressive if they reached out and took positive action.
Ray – start a blog and solicit input from realtors, the people you serve. We’ll give you the answers, if you want them.
Jim,
The passion you possess for this topic was leaping off the screen. I like guys like you that shoot straight and let it roll. No hiding in the bushes or shooting in the back, just straight up face to face is refreshing in these times.
@Geoptf
The two MLS systems that I have used extensively MRED (Chicago Area) and MIBOR (Indianapolis) both list room dimensions. My quibble with Chicago area is that the MLS does not require square footage entry.
So what I don’t get is this: if the Realtors(tm) control Sandicor, why can’t you guys get things fixed for yourselves?
The sad thing about this whole problem is that the majority of people actually DO believe what the CAR or NAR report. Before the blog world this was the only ridiculous information available.
If I have to hear Barbara Corcoran on the Today show continue to tell me that it has been a great time to buy a house for the last 6 years..I’ll vomit.
By that last line I mean every year for the last six years she has come up with some statistic that shows it was a great time to buy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124638992043975185.html?ref=patrick.net
Jamey-Good to know that Sandicor isn’t the only one in the country with room dimensions. They are the only one in Southern California, however. It’s such an obvious thing I’m surprised that MRMLS, SoCalMLS, VCRDS, and DAMLS don’t have such a space on their listings.
Once we lose the MLS every tom dick and harry will be selling/ buying real estate.
Yeah, just like in the analogy you used, the travel agency business. You can’t swing a cat around here without hitting a travel agent!
(that’s sarcasm, by the way)
The horse is already out of the barn, folks. Clients already know that there are excellent online resources out there full of information. This has been true for years! I live in a backwater, and using realtor dot frigging com I was finding appropriate listings for myself before my realtor did. Back in 2000!
What good realtors DO provide is knowledge about the process of buying and selling, knowledge about neighborhoods, knowledge about the market. The vast majority of buyers and sellers need this help. The realty business needs to focus on assisting excellence in these aspects of the job.