I had a thought
Reading the comments and having conversations (yes, people do call me) over the last couple of weeks got me thinking. Why worry about data standards? Why worry about data at all?
Do we really need it?
Most any and all information that is relevant to commercial property is gathered and processed by the Listing Broker. Why share? Keeping it in house allows the broker to keep the sensitive financial data that can impact negotiations and the ability to maximize the value of the listing or asset. Sound ridiculous? How much data is shared on the lease side? Show me your lease comps and I’ll show you mine.
Why pay for what we already have?
As Broker’s representing property for sale or lease the only real reason to give any data is to form a basis for a user to….what? Compare its value to other properties? Create a real value for a comparable sale? Form a basis for analysis? Maybe, it’s just to entice the potential client. Oh, and we as Broker’s are smart enough to pay into what are basically aggregators of that data for…..what? The information we already have.
Why change?
It’s working perfectly now. Is it not? There has been a push to standardize commercial real estate data by www.oscre.org. The general information and feedback I have received is that not a whole lot has been accomplished. Maybe the need doesn’t really exist?
Will we have a choice?
Well there is that little company out there called Google. How hard would it be to use the data that already exists let’s say between Co-Star, Loopnet and Catylist/Commercial IQ.? What if just for fun we added in a little Google Mapping and a bit of Google Goggles. How about the Realtors Property Resource (RPR)? It will have all property data available to any broker.
Will we hold on forever?
Take a look at Residential. Did I just loose you? Now residential has NOTHING to do with Commercial Real Estate. What if there was no MLS? Look at this post. Read through the comments. Tell me why we in Commercial Real Estate are so so different!
