It's Here!!! Realtors Property Resource Is Here!

 On November 1st the National Association of Realtors opened their Realtors Property Resource or RPR website for all REALTORS nationwide. Until then you had to be with a local MLS board that had signed on to it to have access to it. You can go to www.narrpr.com to set up your free account. You will needs your NRDS number, if you don't know it, you can go to www.Realtor.org to find yours, or look at your REALTOR magazine address label.

 When you get there you will learn that you now have a national database of information for REALTORS only that you can get information on everything from what you could get on your own local MLS, but much more, with ready to print reports that will help you be the true expert when you meet with your clients. As we are all aware our Cheese moved as Realtors, and continues to do so, with all the information our clients can get on their own. If you want to show more value to them, take advantage of this amazing tool that only Realtors can access.

 Unfortunately, our own Metropolitan Board of REALTORS has chosen not to participate in RPR.

" The MIBOR Board of Directors has been following the RPR™ discussion for the last three years. The Board has formally discussed whether MIBOR should contributed BLC® listing service data to RPR™. In each discussion the same concerns have arisen; at this point there are concerns about the accuracy of the information and philosophically, the Board has been opposed to releasing data under an arrangement where RPR™ intends to resell the data but not compensate the brokers within the listing services who have provided the data. For those primary reasons, the Board has adopted a “wait and see” approach. We will continue to be part the discussion with RPR™. BLC® listing service participants will have access to RPR™ regardless of whether your data is included. Member feedback on the how useful RPR™ is to your business will be part of the decision making process moving forward. "  Dona Keefe, Communication Liaison for MIBOR.

 It seems that MIBOR has much the same concerns too many agents hold, that somehow that their only value is the information that they restrict to only be available to come from them. To me, that is locking the barn door after the horse ran away. The information is out there now, our clients are accessing information through Google that we can never take back. If you believe that your only value is your access to information, quit selling yourself short.

 Have you ever been upset when a client comes to you with their "Zestimates?" Have you ever complained about the inaccurate information clients are finding? Now is a chance to do something more about it. The RPR is a tool for Realtors by Realtors to open up the entire country at your fingertips so you can be that expert. It will also help to capture more and more accurate information. If you are sitting down to list a house and in RPR it says it is a 3 bdrm 1 ba, and you know it is a 4 bdrm 2 ba, you can change it online right then and get it correct. Think Wikipedia, an encyclopedia of Real Estate information and data that not only scrapes the MLS and government systems to provide you information but you and your fellow Realtors can correct mistakes when you find them.

 This system could be truly a silver bullet for some of the challenges that Commercial agents exerience. How does a nationwide database of commercial properties and all the information you need on them at your fingertips sound to you?

 NAR came to our office and showed this system to us about two years ago, we have been excited about it ever since. What they did this month was give each and everyone of you a chance to access it, see it, play with it and if you see the potential we do, you can call MIBOR and ask them to let you have access to all it has to offer.