On behalf of our team at REcolorado, I hope your year is off to an amazing start. It’s hard to believe February 2022 is here already – time has really flown! As we move full speed into the New Year, I want to share key accomplishments and give you a peek at what is on our roadmap for the year ahead.
We were all busy in 2021 and I am thrilled to report all that work paid off. Through our great partnership—and by using REcolorado tools—you made home ownership dreams a reality for more than 63,000 clients, which equates to $38.5 billion in sales. Whether you were helping a first-time homebuyer, renter, family looking for more space, or anyone in between, you are impacting lives. We are honored to be the partner you rely on every step of the way.
IRES Data Exchange and Integration
At REcolorado, our goal is to make a greater depth and breadth of data available to all real estate professionals throughout the state, so you’re positioned as the expert and have all the tools you need to serve your clients. To accomplish this in 2021, we strengthened our partnership with IRES, making listing data from IRES available in REcolorado Matrix, the REcolorado App, and on our public website REcolorado.com, as well as in IDX data feeds, Homes Pro, Realist, InfoSparks, and FastStats.
BrokerBay Showing Management Ecosystem Launched
All REcolorado subscribers can now see the BrokerBay button on listings in REcolorado Matrix that are configured with BrokerBay, so you can schedule a showing on any listing that has been set up in BrokerBay. In December 2021, we began a phased onboarding approach of BrokerBay. Onboarding a smaller number of offices first will give our team the chance to make any necessary process adjustments to ensure office onboarding runs smoothly when it is made available to everyone. All offices will soon be invited to onboard with BrokerBay, making it available to their agents. I encourage you to use BrokerBay when it is available to you. As a practitioner with more than 30 years’ experience, I can assure you it is a great tool.
New REcolorado.com Public Site Launch
If you haven’t done so already, take a moment to check out REcolorado.com. It’s more than the place you log in to access your MLS tools. REcolorado.com gets nearly 30 million visitors each year and is the preferred locally run home search site in the state. After we received feedback from consumers last year, we updated the look and feel as well as the functionality of the site. The reason we created REcolorado.com is to give you a public platform where you can advertise your listings to consumers without having to pay extra or compete with other agents to be featured on your listing.
Subdividable Listings Available in REcolorado Matrix
When listing land for sale, many properties may be eligible to be subdivided into smaller parcels. As the listing agent, you might want to market the full property as well as the smaller parcels without having to enter a listing for each option. With the new Property Subtype, Subdividable, you can do just that.
Say “Yes” to the MLS Campaign
We heard your feedback about the need for key information about rules and regulations to be more broadly available and easy to find. In response, our team deployed the Say “Yes” to the MLS campaign and added a Rules and Regulations panel to your CONNECT dashboard to give you easy-to-access information about Clear Cooperation, listing input, marketing rules, data reporting, and much more.
Leadership Recognition
I’m incredibly proud to share that several folks received recognition for their outstanding work and service to the real estate industry in 2021. Kevan Lyons, CEO of REALTORS® of Central Colorado, received the Smith Society Award for his leadership and significant contributions to ROCC and our own Deborah Shipley and Jennifer Costello received Distinguished Service Awards. Additionally, this year I had the privilege to continue representing REcolorado on committees at the National Association of REALTORS®.
New REcolorado Education Center and Office Space
In October 2021, we unveiled our new REcolorado office space, which is designed to boost our productivity and give us more ways to connect digitally. For you, we have a larger Education Center where you’ll have access to hands-on education and development. In this larger space, you’ll have a dedicated workspace that includes a computer so you can follow along with our trainers. We look forward to opening our office to you this year!
2022 Roadmap
You have a choice when it comes to your MLS partner, which is why we work hard to earn your business, as well as the business of real estate professionals across the state. In 2022, our focus will continue to be growing and enhancing the value real estate professionals like you receive from REcolorado.
Partnerships – In Colorado and Nationally
In our industry, relationships and partnerships are the keys to success. The partnerships we form as your MLS ensure you have the very best products, services, and data to be the expert consumers need. In 2022, we will continue to build on our partnership with IRES and use it as a model for forming new partnerships. Through collaborative efforts, both locally and nationally, our goal is to be the partner that will make more data available to you. Our data is incredibly powerful on its own, but when it’s combined and enhanced with other data sources, it can bring even more value to your business. We are open to exchanging data with any MLS or REALTOR® association.
Safeguarding Your Data
Your data is a very important asset. Through partnerships, we not only hope to exchange data, but to also make sure it is secure and used appropriately to power advanced tools you can use for your business. MLS organizations throughout the country are collaborating on these efforts and we hope to share best practices and form partnerships that will benefit you.
More Time for Clients and Deals
Spending less time on administrative tasks and more time marketing your business and engaging with current and prospective clients is so important! In 2022, we plan to fine-tune our back-office resources, enhance systems, and streamline processes so you can quickly and easily manage your REcolorado account, get answers to your questions, and more. We’ll also continue to strengthen our existing resources and give you new resources and tools to help you better serve your clients.
Listening to You
Your feedback is a powerful guide that gives us insight into which direction we should go as we chart a path forward. In 2022, we will be asking for your thoughts on technology tools, information, processes, business needs, data, and more. Please sign up to join the REcolorado Think Tank if you’re not a member already, answer our surveys, and participate in our focus groups. You are the experts and the more we hear from you, the better partner we’ll be in your success.
I hope you’re as excited as we are to see each of these goals come to fruition this year. Please read your REcolorado Email Newsletter and the Resource Center to stay up to date on the latest news and announcements from REcolorado. It means so much to us to be your MLS partner. We look forward to empowering your success in 2022.
Gene Millman
REcolorado President & CEO
