Learn how entrusting real estate data management to an expert can save your proptech hundreds of person-hours and let you reallocate resources to more strategic, value-added tasks.
“Trying to map your data feeds yourself is a losing battle. There’s no reason to try to reinvent the wheel.”
— Product Director at Major Proptech Company
In real estate, everything runs on data. Most of this data is gathered and maintained by the patchwork of 500+ multiple listing services (MLSs) around the country. As anyone who has tried it will tell you, managing MLS data feeds yourself is very, very time-consuming.
Are you curious about all the ins and outs of MLSs?
One product director we've spoken to said she'd spend five business days or more per MLS going back and forth just to map the data, standardize field names, and troubleshoot any issues. It took an enormous amount of time, and imagine having to do it 500+ times (spoiler alert: that's 2,500 business days or nearly 7 full years).
Since MLSs have their own systems and methods for collecting, organizing, and sharing data, it can be hard to know where to start. And that’s without even mentioning everything that comes after the feeds are set up, which we discuss below.
The solution? Working with an expert who can manage all of these things for you. Let's look at how a proptech partnership with a data aggregator might look.
Data management: proptech challenge number 1
These challenges create a major pain point for a lot of proptech companies that are trying to scale. Without the right data, it’s impossible to create innovative real estate solutions, but managing that data takes literally hundreds or even thousands of hours a year away from product and business development, customer service, and strategic decision-making. An increasing number of companies are outsourcing their data management to free up internal resources and focus instead on what they do best.
Is it time for you to start outsourcing your real estate data management?
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The importance of proptech partnerships
For a lot of proptech companies, it's important to find the right partner to outsource their data needs to. What does the right partner look like? Let's look at some key characteristics:
- Breadth of services - Data aggregation is just one piece of the puzzle. There's also MLS contract management, relationship management, customer service and support, and more. For many proptechs, the right partner needs to do them all.
- Level of expertise - MLS data management can't be mastered overnight. The right partner has been working in the field long enough to have encountered (and overcome) the main challenges and roadblocks proptech companies will face.
- Size and stability - The world of proptech is driven not just by emerging technology, but also by mergers and acquisitions. But dealing with a new data partner getting bought out every 12 months is not a recipe for success. The right partner has a solid footing and isn't going to change names next year.
As one proptech we've partnered with has observed, “Working with such a knowledgeable team has been amazing. Constellation1 is extremely tech-savvy. No matter what our issue is, we call up the team and they have a solution for us. They know exactly how to manage any issue we’re dealing with.”
Working with an expert also means a fast return on investment. Every MLS has a unique way of doing things: fields, ranges, data options, and more often differ from one to the next. Cleaning, normalizing, and deduplicating all that data to make it usable is a major lift. Few companies have the years of experience, number of dedicated employees, and data quality we have at Constellation1. We know how to solve most data feed problems because we’ve seen them during our 20+ years in the business.
Does this sound like a partner you'd want to have?
The benefits of data aggregation
Most proptechs see the benefits of collaborating with a real estate data partner right away.
Saving and re-allocating people hours
First, they start saving people hours immediately. For one proptech we've partnered with, it was 40+ business hours per real estate board for setting up data feeds, plus even more for feed maintenance. When you’re a growing tech company, those savings add up very quickly.
For all of the 500+ MLSs we work with at Constellation1, we’ve already done all the back-end work to provide usable data feeds. Our customers can spin up new feeds almost as easily as turning on a tap. The data is clean, high-quality, and ready to use, and we have custom APIs to make data integration painless and seamless.
Eliminating compliance risk
Second, MLS compliance is another pain point of trying to manage data in-house. Some data teams rely on searching the Web for the latest requirements, hoping they're accurate and up to date. But hope isn't a sound business strategy, and for many, this poses a serious risk, as MLS non-compliance can lead to fines and even account suspension. You don't want to worry about your data getting turned off, and with a data partner, you don't have to. You save even more time (and stress) by relying on an expert.
Creating more added value
Outsourcing data management allows proptechs to focus on their core business, scale, and create a better customer experience.
For example, imagine investing time not in troubleshooting data feeds, but in building features that increase user adoption, reduce cost per lead, and add major value to your product. It's possible when you take the easy route!
Don’t reinvent the wheel for your MLS data feeds
Data management is our business; let us take it off your plate so you can focus on yours. There’s no reason to try to reinvent the wheel on your own. You’ll get where you’re going faster and with better results, if you work with a data partner like Constellation1.
Stop struggling, start scaling!
