Fall 2009 MLS Platforms America s MLS Platform Vendors & Market Distribution Goomzee s MLS Vendor Market Research Over 500 MLS organizations were polled in this research report. This was initially an internal project but we decided to share our findings with others. Enjoy! Goomzee Research Introduction Beginning in January of 2009 and concluding in June 09, Goomzee conducted a two-part survey of America s REALTOR Associations and MLS groups. Of the 573 offices contacted by phone, 397 responded with their estimated membership, listing, and vendor analytics. Only 48 states are included in this report, excluding Alaska and Hawaii. Here are just a few of the interesting trends revealed among America s MLS groups and vendors: LPS had 121 accounts across the U.S; MarketLinx was runner-up with 101 MLS accounts; MarketLinx was #1 by users, however. The LPS Real Estate Group, formerly FNRIS, dominated 22 of the 48 states by # MLS clients. MarketLinx was a close second to LPS, claiming market dominance in 18 of the 48 states. California had the most MLS groups at 53 statewide. Florida was second with 40 statewide MLS groups. The Pacific region had the largest number of MLS groups, but was one of three regions with the lowest differentiation between MLS vendors. East North Central had the largest vendor differentiation, with 12 distinct MLS vendors hosting accounts within the region. MLS Vendors Custom Conexxus ConsulTech Creative (CTI) DynaConnections EZList FBS First Team LPS (Fidelity) MarketLinx MFM ProMatch Rapattoni Real Focus Realty Server SEI Solid Earth Tarasoft Technology Concepts Vorstar Based on surveyed MLS response "The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain And simple to express: Err And err And err again But less And less And less." - Piet Hein
MLS Overview US MLS Vendor Distribution Displayed are 448 MLS and their respective vendors. The Others category includes the following vendors: Custom Conexxus ConsulTech Creative (CTI) DynaConnections EZList First Team MFM ProMatch Real Focus Realty Server Tarasoft Technology Concepts Vorstar National highlights There are currently over 1,200 REALTOR Associations, and 900 MLS organizations throughout the United States. This report accounts for the 400 MLS organizations who shared their summary statistics and platform vendor when contacted. The high per-capita population in the South Atlantic, and MarketLinx s high concentration of MLS clients in the region, gave the vendor the #1 position in the U.S. in terms of users. South Atlantic: #3 (total MLS) MarketLinx was #1 in terms of members, but LPS (Fidelity) held the top spot by MLS accounts. The Pacific region was the largest in terms of MLS organizations. California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina and New York had the highest concentration of MLS groups, vendors, and members. MarketLinx 101 MLS 439K users 1.6M listings LPS (Fidelity) 121 MLS 2 106K users 230K listings
Regional Breakdown Goomzee divided the U.S. market by ten regions. The following statistics provide a summary view of each region, their dominant MLS platform vendor, and average # members and listings per MLS organization. #1 Pacific (incl. CA) #2 Mountain (incl. AZ) #3 South Atlantic (incl. FL) Pacific The region includes Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, and Hawaii. 75 MLS groups; 7 different vendors. Avg: 3,995 members and 18,082 listings. Mountain The region includes Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. 65 MLS groups; 7 different vendors. Avg: 2,065 members and 3,774 listings. West North Central The region includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. 29 MLS groups; 9 different vendors. Avg: 2,453 members and 5,775 listings. West South Central The region includes Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. 55 MLS groups; 7 different vendors. Dominant vendor: MarketLinx. Avg: 2,112 members and 4,275 listings. East North Central The region includes Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. 53 MLS groups; 12 different vendors. Avg: 2,449 members and 5,909 listings. East South Central The region includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. 20 MLS groups; 8 different vendors, Dominant vendor: Solid Earth. Avg: 2,457 members and 7,447 listings. 3
(continued) North Atlantic The region includes New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 23 MLS groups; 9 different vendors. Avg: 5,781 members and 11,949 listings. New England The region includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. 9 MLS groups; 4 different vendors. Dominant vendor: MarketLinx. Avg: 7,313 members and 8,639 listings. Middle Atlantic The region includes Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Washington D.C., Maryland, and North Carolina. 41 MLS groups; 8 different vendors. Dominant vendor: SEI Avg: 2,599 members and 6,262 listings. South Atlantic The region includes Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. 63 MLS groups; 13 different vendors. Dominant vendor: MarketLinx. Avg: 3,277 members and 9,679 listings. MLS Vendor Detail Statistics As shown, MarketLinx had the majority of U.S. MLS members on contract at 35%. This was a very peculiar finding, since it is exhibited elsewhere that LPS held a commanding share of U.S. MLS accounts, but only hosted 8% of the nation s MLS members. LPS was even outdone by Rapattoni, who boasted 15% market share. Due to the varying size of LPS accounts, MarketLinx was able to claim the top spot as far as members are concerned, most likely due to the dense population of the South Atlantic region. Also interesting, Tarasoft (with only 5 MLS accounts) was host to 9% of the member market share. Vendor Accounts Total Users Total Listings Avg. Users Avg. Listings Custom 23 183646 277236 9666 17327 Conexxus 1 700 2100 700 2100 ConsulTech 1 425 800 425 800 Creative Technologies 7 2513 8992 359 1789 DynaConnections 2 57000 117000 28500 58500 EZList 3 1066 3663 355 2815 FBS 42 66025 104152 1693 2815 First Team 4 407 1425 91 475 LPS 121 107008 230635 964 2116 MarketLinx 101 437231 1631824 4651 19660 MFM 1 45000 106000 45000 106000 ProMatch 12 1119 5157 102 469 Rapattoni 56 183789 395211 3468 8782 Real Focus 1 3900 12168 3900 12168 Realty Server 1 300 650 300 650 SEI 46 17948 50594 408 1204 Solid Earth 16 23080 66175 1649 5090 Tarasoft 4 110000 215000 27000 53750 Technology Concepts 3 660 3900 220 1300 Vorstar 2 560 1700 280 850 * Values were gathered during telephone interviews with each MLS respondent. Most are approximations made by the MLS. 4
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MLS Organizations By State 6
(continued) State # Vendors Vendor Majority AL 10 Solid Earth AR 12 FBS/LPS AZ 12 LPS CA 53 LPS CO 12 FBS/LPS/MarketLinx CT 2 LPS/MarketLinx DE 1 MarketLinx FL 40 MarketLinx GA 26 SEI IA 5 Rapattoni ID 11 LPS IL 17 LPS IN 16 LPS KS 3 LPS KY 3 Rapattoni LA 4 MarketLinx MA 1 FBS MD 1 Tarasoft ME 1 MarketLinx MI 7 LPS/MarketLinx/Rapattoni MN 4 LPS MO 3 Rapattoni MS 2 MarketLinx MT 8 LPS NC 33 SEI ND 4 FBS NE 6 LPS NH 1 MarketLinx NJ 6 LPS NM 13 LPS NV 3 MarketLinx NY 11 LPS/MarketLinx/Rapattoni/Vorstar OH 7 Rapattoni OK 3 MarketLinx OR 7 Rapattoni PA 6 MarketLinx RI 1 MarketLinx SC 3 LPS SD 2 LPS/Rapattoni TN 4 MarketLinx/RealFocus/Solid Earth TX 36 SEI UT 3 FBS/MarketLinx VA 2 Rapattoni VT 1 MarketLinx WA 12 LPS WI 2 FBS/LPS WV 3 LPS/MarketLinx/ProMatch WY 1 LPS 7
Fall 2009 About Goomzee Headquartered in the scenic northern Rocky Mountains, Goomzee provides enterprise-grade technology solutions to individuals, small business and enterprise customers worldwide. Our company began in 2003 offering hosted online storefronts to small businesses, helping them sell online with the same capabilities as sites like Amazon.com, Buy.com, etc. Our business evolved and we leveraged our deep expertise in enterprise applications and mobile technology to offer an innovative marketing platform called Realty Connect. Using text messaging technology, we deliver product or service information upon request to mobile phones throughout the United States. Goomzee's management has assisted some of the world's largest companies and brands. We leverage our expertise to offer our customers the latest technology while delivering a true return on investment. We connect buyers and sellers. Authors: Austin Smith, Michael Sparr Researchers: Austin Smith, Lon Whittier PO Box 5692 Missoula, MT 59806 866.472.6062 www.goomzee.com Conclusion & Thanks To Participants This concludes the findings of Goomzee s 2009 MLS market research. Illustrated in the charts, graphs, maps, and tables above are the interesting dynamics between America s MLS vendors and their clients. The most notable vendors were LPS and MarketLinx, who, when put together, had only 4 fewer accounts than all the rest of the vendors combined. Unsurprisingly, the largest Associations were based out of metropolitan areas. The East Coast trended toward harboring larger, regional MLSs, while the Mid- and Southwest states featured a multitude of smaller Boards and Associations. Our goal for this report was to produce information and market metrics as accurately as possible. Unfortunately we were unable to gather statistics from our entire target list, but the numbers we did collect are presented herein as truthfully and precisely as possible. Goomzee would like to thank all MLS organizations and REALTOR Associations that participated in the survey and aided in the creation of this market report. We hope you find the information useful and informative. If you have any questions feel free to contact our Customer Support Team toll-free at 866-472-6062; you can also log onto http://www.goomzee.com and send an email request to our Support Team.