As many of you have noticed, I have been away of this blog for over a year.
Last year I was hired to implement the first true RET´s Multiple Listing Service in Ecuador, and today is a reality.
Although, the idea of implementing an MLS system, was conceived in early 2012, it wasn´t until last year that the project started to take place.
As many of you know, I was a REALTOR® for the State of Alabama. But in 2012 I moved back to Ecuador. Today I am an International REALTOR® Member in Ecuador
It is fair to say that one of my wishes was that, if "I ever went back to Ecuador, I would like to introduce the Multiple Listing Service".
That wish became a reality in late 2014 when I was introduced to the person who was in charge of the MLS project.
How did they run in to me?
It was quite interesting the way this event took place. In early 2013, I was getting my Ecuadorian Real Estate License (it is fair to say that before then, I didn´t even know there was a license requirement in Ecuador)
In one of our Marketing classes, one of the instructors, whom has lived in the United States too, was teaching a class about CRM. At that time I was a RE/MAX agent in Quito, (and, as many of you may know, RE/MAX has IList, a listing system owned by RE/MAX, that is used by its agents in many countries, except the USA since every agent lists at their local MLS)
Since the CRM topic was not really understood by many of my classmates, I had the great idea of telling the instructor that I have access to a CRM, and that he can use it to teach the class... His response was: Why don´t you teach the class tonight! I really didn´t have the chance to object to the request, but I think it was a great 3 hour oportunity to teach what a CRM was and better yet, a CRM that was linked to a Listing System, which is very similar to a Multiple Listing Service.
Time went by and, in September of 2014 one of my classmates, Miguel, was a good friend of Consuelo L. who was the person in charge of doing the research and implementation of the MLS for the Pichincha Real Estate Board, and in a casual conversation, Consuelo was talking to Miguel about "This MLS project that she was assigned by the Board of Directors"... I am glad Miguel remembered that day that I thought the CRM class. A month later, I was hired to implement the system.
The Challenge(s)
We had many challenges along the way. The biggest of all was the "Cultural Change" challenge, which prevails until this same moment. Implementing the MLS platform was a challenge too, due to the fact that many of the municipalities didn´t have information about the exact number of neighborhoods in their own cities. Almost every parrish and every neighborhood or town was entered manually, and who really understands statistics understands that for data purposes, every neighborhood has to be entered into the system. It took a lot of time to gather this information. But believe me when I say that implementing the system was relativately easy compared to change people´s "competitive chip" to a "co-operative chip"
Although, the user expectations were a lot higher than the present result, we are about 53 people (whom I will call "Pionneers") that have become part of this culture change. Eventually, we want to take the MLS to the municipalities so they have a more accurate way to assess property taxes.
The benefits of an MLS are infinite, not just for the Real Estate professional, but for the economy of this country
This is the link to the MLS webpage: http://marketinmobiliario.ec
Last year I was hired to implement the first true RET´s Multiple Listing Service in Ecuador, and today is a reality.
Although, the idea of implementing an MLS system, was conceived in early 2012, it wasn´t until last year that the project started to take place.
As many of you know, I was a REALTOR® for the State of Alabama. But in 2012 I moved back to Ecuador. Today I am an International REALTOR® Member in Ecuador
It is fair to say that one of my wishes was that, if "I ever went back to Ecuador, I would like to introduce the Multiple Listing Service".
That wish became a reality in late 2014 when I was introduced to the person who was in charge of the MLS project.
How did they run in to me?
It was quite interesting the way this event took place. In early 2013, I was getting my Ecuadorian Real Estate License (it is fair to say that before then, I didn´t even know there was a license requirement in Ecuador)
In one of our Marketing classes, one of the instructors, whom has lived in the United States too, was teaching a class about CRM. At that time I was a RE/MAX agent in Quito, (and, as many of you may know, RE/MAX has IList, a listing system owned by RE/MAX, that is used by its agents in many countries, except the USA since every agent lists at their local MLS)
Since the CRM topic was not really understood by many of my classmates, I had the great idea of telling the instructor that I have access to a CRM, and that he can use it to teach the class... His response was: Why don´t you teach the class tonight! I really didn´t have the chance to object to the request, but I think it was a great 3 hour oportunity to teach what a CRM was and better yet, a CRM that was linked to a Listing System, which is very similar to a Multiple Listing Service.
Time went by and, in September of 2014 one of my classmates, Miguel, was a good friend of Consuelo L. who was the person in charge of doing the research and implementation of the MLS for the Pichincha Real Estate Board, and in a casual conversation, Consuelo was talking to Miguel about "This MLS project that she was assigned by the Board of Directors"... I am glad Miguel remembered that day that I thought the CRM class. A month later, I was hired to implement the system.
The Challenge(s)
We had many challenges along the way. The biggest of all was the "Cultural Change" challenge, which prevails until this same moment. Implementing the MLS platform was a challenge too, due to the fact that many of the municipalities didn´t have information about the exact number of neighborhoods in their own cities. Almost every parrish and every neighborhood or town was entered manually, and who really understands statistics understands that for data purposes, every neighborhood has to be entered into the system. It took a lot of time to gather this information. But believe me when I say that implementing the system was relativately easy compared to change people´s "competitive chip" to a "co-operative chip"
Although, the user expectations were a lot higher than the present result, we are about 53 people (whom I will call "Pionneers") that have become part of this culture change. Eventually, we want to take the MLS to the municipalities so they have a more accurate way to assess property taxes.
The benefits of an MLS are infinite, not just for the Real Estate professional, but for the economy of this country
This is the link to the MLS webpage: http://marketinmobiliario.ec
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