Season 9 Episode 2 - MLS-Now Update with Garry Marsoubian

MLS Now CEO, Garry Marsoubian is back again to bring our ACAR members up to date with what's been happening at the MLS.  He's here talking with ACAR CEO Mike Valerino about the market, new products and all the great things coming to the MLS in the near future.  If you have questions for Garry, you can reach him at the MLS Now headquarters via email at garry@mlsnow.com.

Questions about the content in this podcast? Contact your ACAR Communications Director Kelli Moss by emailing kmoss@akronclevelandrealtors.com. 

Transcript

Welcome back everybody to ACAR’s #HomeForAll podcast. We are so glad to be back with you this week as we move further into our 2026 podcast season. Today we are in the studio with a frequent guest that our members are getting to know pretty well actually, and that is MLS Now’s Garry Marsoubian. Garry is here to talk about what's currently happening at MLS Now, and to tell us what we can expect for the next several months.

So, it's time to grab your coffee and your ear buds and make this spot your home for the next 20 or so minutes. We're happy that you're here.

The ACAR #HomeForAll podcast is a biweekly production where we will host interviews, facilitate conversations, and talk about what's happening in the world of real estate. We'll introduce you to important people in your community and help you learn how to grow your real estate related business. This is an adult show, and some adult language might occasionally creep into the conversation.

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes, and the opinions shared on the podcast do not necessarily represent the views of Akron Cleveland Association of REALTORS®, Ohio REALTORS®, or the National Association of REALTORS®. That said, let's move forward and find out what makes Northeast Ohio the best #HomeForAll.

Well, welcome back everybody listening today. I am here in the ACAR studio with our CEO Mike Valerino. How are you doing today, Mike? Good. How are you doing, Kelli? Good, it's been a busy day here at the office huh? You could say that again. You got a lot of people in and out of here today, so.

Well, since you're here, how about we go forward with you in the driver's seat, and I'll sit back and run the tech and does that work for you? That sounds great, Kelli, thanks. So, we're welcoming today, back to the podcast studio, Garry, Marsoubian, CEO of MLS Now. Welcome Garry. How are you doing? Great. It's great to be back. 

Thank you. Thank you, Kelli thanks, you. And you know we love doing this. We're grateful to Garry for coming back. We're, you know, we're trying to do this on a regular basis because we think that having Garry in to speak to our members through the podcast is really beneficial. It's really great to hear from you on a regular basis on what's going on in the MLS world and how that pertains to our market here in Northeast Ohio.

So, speaking of that market, let's look at the housing market a little bit. January numbers show that the new listings are basically flat our pending sales are down 17.5%, closed sales are down 8.5%, but median price is up 11% to $217,000. What story do those numbers tell you? Well, first my I want to predicate my comments, although they're based on numbers and the numbers you just threw out there.

I'm not an economist and I'm not a broker. I don't practice day to day. It's technology and operations of a business and managing the corporation, but based on the numbers, I do have some opinions. I will say that both for Ohio and Akron Cleveland in our marketplace, things are fast, selling faster than the national market.

Even with the tighter supply and the lower inventory, it's a steep price discount as you compare it to the rest of the country. That's why NARs identified Ohio and our area as a hot market for 2026. So even with those numbers, I think we've got some good things going for us. So, whoever's listening outside of this area, move to Cleveland.

Or Greater Cleveland. We have less transactions, but I think the sellers still hold the cards. I'm not going to call it a seller's market going into the spring market. It's not a simple seller's market story. It's a story about shrinking transactions. I believe the story for your members and our members going into the spring market is one where buyers are pulling back sharply because of affordability concerns.

It could be those numbers we just mentioned. The median price, rates dipped but went back up, really quickly. I think they're pulling back. I think sellers are in a holding pattern, with their listings and not going aggressive. I think the median price reflects, which homes are actually closing. Not a broad market strength. You know, I had overnight to think about all this when, Kelli sent these things over.

So, I believe agents who understand pricing precision are the ones that are going to succeed through the through the, through the spin market. I'll give you a personal example. I'm not ready yet, but I poke around, saw a condominium in the flats at a building called the Plaza. Built ins. Beautiful. Just probably most beautiful design internally of all those units.

The top floor units priced grossly. It was insanely priced. It got withdrawn. I think it expired. It was relisted with another brokerage with that precision pricing, and it sold within a week. That's the example of what I'm talking about, the precision pricing. I think we're going to talk a little bit about some of the products, we've delivered and are enhancing this year.

One of the ones I want to point out is a product called Will Reports that has amazing capabilities for them to help our brokers and agents with that precision pricing. We offered that product to our membership, at. No. No additional cost at the base level. There are upgrades, that are called seller reports and buyer reports that through CMAs deeper than any other CMA that I've ever seen.

That will help, our agents and brokers precisely price the properties that are dealing with the new contract we have with these folks are the discounts for those upgraded reports with 33%. And the new contract, we negotiated 66%. So, it's something every whoever hasn't heard of it. Shame on us. Whoever has heard of it and isn't using it, shame on them.

Because it's a powerful tool. Reports. Yeah. And I think we just saw the other day there was an announcement out about a new product that they've brought forward related to tax it’s called Tax Shot. That's part of the basic, in-depth tax information. It released this morning, coincidentally. So, very happy about that. So how do we, you know, if you're an agent listening. 

How do you engage with this and learn how to use these reports? What what's your what's your advice to an agent that wants to get into real world. Look we’re at associations. We're at offices. We have what's called account executive. And they operate in regions. I don't know who's assigned to Akron Cleveland. But they do frequent visits to the associations.

And if we're not coming here, let us know. Shame on us. They also do, brokerage visits. So those are scheduled ahead of time. I think the schedule is set through, the second quarter at this point. If they don't have visits happening in their offices, they should call in. Get a brief from one of our AEs in our support center and then schedule a time when we can go out to their offices and do, demonstration of everything.

It's easy. Ask and you shall receive as the answer to that question. We have a lot of social media posts. Follow us on Facebook. We do broadcast emails. Soon we're going to have an online learning management product. Where we'll have an advertisement section as well. That's what you and I spoke about. We're extending that out to you as well.

By the way, thank you. So, ask and you shall receive. If we're not communicating enough, we're picking it up. One of the things that I want to talk about towards the end of this block of questions was Kelli's already working with our media and communications? The lead he's reached out to every shareholder association, about training, about when we can come out, about shared communications.

Keeping our people informed and showing value together. Cooperate and communicate together so that we can reach more eyes and more ears. I think that's very important. That's great. And this this podcast is an extension of that, you know, trying to, reach through and share so that our members can see the value. You talked about the precision pricing and about how the real reports can really help, our members to serve their clients better.

Right. That's what it's really all about, right? And look, back-to-back to that topic. The flat listings, I think, it just means the sellers are flooding the market and layered with that, pending sales, plus the closed sales down. You'd think the prices would follow. They're not. Something different is happening. There's a limited pool of homes, and the people that can't afford the mortgage or can't afford that number are out

And the competing pool is what's going after those listings. If the price is strategically positioned, even though there's lower, the inventory is low. They'll go fast as long as it's price. Right. Because the committed a dedicated and aggressive buyer is going to go out and settle on that price as long as it's done right. Now, I recently did an interview with Realtor.com, who's picked up in a few places about, our market, specifically about the potential to unlock it with, with lower rates.

Right. And, and that most of the sensitivity that we're seeing in our area is, is rate sensitivity. You mentioned the price comparison between our, our market in places like, like New York City. And so, yes, if you're if you're listening to this on the coast, you can come you can come in the northeast Ohio and see, incredible value here in terms of the pricing.

Also, when those rates, if and when those rates come down, we may unlock quite a bit of activity in, in our market rate. I agree, I agree 100%. And engaging with tools like we're talking about with, with the MLS can really, really help our, our, our members. You know, the last time we were here, you talked about we talked about rules and, you know, the MLS has that rule book that's more like a rule encyclopedia, right?

It's very thick. Right. And I know you guys have been going to work on that and trying to, reduce and simplify and make it, make it more, make it more efficient. How is that going? Well, I'm happy, proud, elated to tell you that the projects closed out. The task force did an amazing job.

These are volunteers who are, entrepreneurs in their business. Think about it. They’re real estate professionals. They spent 4 or 5, three-hour sessions with us to actually get it done. Our data integrity supervisor has been working on this for a year. Just dissecting and, removing, glossary items and things of that nature, marking them, as I've told you before.

NAR mandatory and NAR recommended, NAR suggested. And then, of course, the local MLS rules. She marked all those, index them. You know, there's other projects going on. So that took a while. The task force got together, like I said, 4 to 5, three-hour sessions. And I'm proud to say the 72-page encyclopedia is down to 17 pages, which is just amazing.

The goal was to simplify, as you said, to modernize, to clarify. And Mike, in many, many ways to get out of the way of the transaction, not create chaos, but simplify it so people can understand it when they read it. It's a 30-minute read at tops, and people will now understand what it's saying. We made a lot of changes.

We loosened up a little bit on things like media, which photos, primary photos and things like that. There were examples where a seller had invested a good three, $400,000 in a beautiful backyard. I fell in love with it as well. And, you know, the broker called and said, this is a major investment for my seller. They're pushing me to use it as a primary photo.

Guess what? I understand that. I understand business, and they're right. So, one of the things I'll just use this as an example is that the primary photo now doesn't have to be the front of the home or condo or the townhouse. It can be any external exterior, image that the broker and the agent think will market that property in a better way.

That was the spirit of what we were doing here. It's done. We're getting together a policy document. Many of the items in the rules, deck, were actually policy items that confuses people. What's your what do you do when this happens? Well, what if there's a concern on photo privacy and you need to delete photos because a famous actor just bought a property and doesn't want their photos to be.

Well, it wasn't in it was a rule. No, now it's a policy. So, it's an internal policy that, that simplified things as well. Again, very proud of the group. We're done. It goes for a vote with the board of directors, in our March meeting. And then immediately we'll have it published. There'll be education around it.

A lot of social, a lot of emails. Everyone did a great job. I'm very proud of the staff. Congratulations on that. Thank you. I know that's a huge lift, for your team. Thank you. To be able to. To come through. With and come out with a, a document that's been reduced and simplified. That much is incredible. And so, then on an ongoing basis, you know, how do you see this playing out?

Is there a way that brokers and agents can provide, input that that gets heard on a regular basis? Do you plan to revisit this periodically or. You know, I know you're just through this, and you're probably not wanting to think. You think too much about revisiting. But what is the cadence, that for rules. That exactly is the cadence periodic review.

In addition to the legacy rules that we had decades old just had to go, in addition to that, we had a list of nine hot topics. That the task force discussed. They're not just hot topics for our marketplace. They're hot topics that I pick up on and others pick up on. As you're traveling around the nation at real estate conferences or MLS conferences.

So, we brought all of that to the table as well. And they were discussed as these things develop. We keep a close eye on the industry. We keep a close eye on our marketplace. We watch what others are doing. We don't want to follow. We're leaders. What we did with these rules no one else has done before.

The attorney that helped us said so much, and he's done 17 of this. He was very proud of the task force. They didn't act like a committee. They act like the task force. So ongoing review, ongoing capturing of the hot topics industry. And here the task force is, composed of brokers of all sizes. It's not a huge 19-person group anymore.

We lowered it down to, 7 or 9 to have that, that that vote, that breaking vote. It's gone well. They get feedback from their agents. We get feedback and data integrity from our subscribers and members. All of those are brought to the table. We know that there's hot topics there. Going on. We addressed 3 or 4 of them just in this round.

Very proud of it. It's ongoing. It's an ongoing effort which I call CSI compute continual service improvement. MLS Now not only improves products and services and documents of this nature, but the processes that deliver continual service improvement means continual. And that's the cadence on this. That's great. And our members have that to look forward to. So, thank you for that.

You know, we talked a little bit before, we started this podcast about oh what's been happening lately with, with public marketing. With the, with the various portals that are out there and, marketing, websites and platforms for, for the public. And we hear a lot in the MLS world about, control of our data, in terms of MLS and, and brokers.

Can you talk a little bit about what that actually means in practical terms for our brokers and agents? What does control of our data all about in terms of, helping our clients? It's about having an agnostic set of data as it relates to listing information sold, pending, etc. in our marketplace. Agnostic meaning anything can sit in front of it and query it as opposed.

And it's sitting somewhere where we can physically go and look at it and touch it. We're in control of our own data destiny. We know where our data is going. We know what feeds are happening without relying on a secondary source. It's taking control of the brokers that are becoming better custodians of that data. Data destiny and agnosticism means that we can write APIs against that data and create our own software in the future, whether it's an AI implementation, a mobile app, analytics tools, etc. that's what this has all been about controlling the data better as the custodian.

Number one, having better capabilities of being able to write applications against that data, knowing where it is and being able to see and touch it. And at the end of the day, being able to serve our brokers with more, richer data sets, analytic tools and software across the board. And so, where do you think we stand right now in terms of, of that. Database is built happy to say, all 32 counties, that that represent our marketplace, have been loaded into the database.

Tax records are in. We are testing the front end for ad edit. Remember, this comes along with the new ad edit tool. The new ad of tool utilizes advanced AI technology. It reduces screen time for rendering listings. It increases accuracy so that people aren't getting that email from data integrity saying you made a mistake. It keeps you from making that mistake.

It has a team’s module, that, compared. Nothing else compares to in the entire nation in the MLS world where teams can collaborate and cooperate. Have some, healthy, competition, goals, sets and things of that nature within the team’s module. So, it's a more advanced media module that allows you to collaborate with, photo and video professionals.

These will come in phases this year. All of those things are front end. The back end is the bonus. The back end allows us again to innovate, by innovating, differentiate. Having control of that data allows us to reach out to our neighbors or other MLS and cooperate and collaborate with them. We have the data set. We can do whatever we want with that data set.

A lot of companies are turned on by that and excited about that. We have built alliances with development companies that are excited that it's an independent, agnostic database that they can now write code against and come up with innovation, innovative tools that help our members productivity further. That's exciting. Yeah. It's amazing. It really is. So, about you mentioned the front end, and I'm sure you hear this a lot as I do.

And, I didn't have this included in the questions, but it just kind of occurred to me, you know, we hear a lot about the experience that the agent, or their, admins have entering information in, entering their listings and setting it up. I know at one point we talked about some of the tools that you were working on, in order to improve that, that experience.

And, and, but because it sounds like, it at one point is very, very time consuming. And I know that that's something that that you all have been working on. What does that look like? Have you been able to simplify that, that process? Yeah, I could conservative conservatively say that entry time will be reduced 60%. Can conservatively say that accuracy will increase 50%.

Screen time. Entry time. This there are going to be more than there are more than 300 sources of data that are brought into the listing as the agent or brokers or the admin is working through it. So, you sit down and within three minutes you've got 60% of that data loaded into, you're listing not only the public records information, but all previous listings of that property.

You can pick and choose what you want to bring over from those previous listings. You don't want to use any of it. Don't you just want to use the public records? Use it. That's still has 300 points of data that are being brought in from 300 different sources to reduce that screen time entry point and increase that accuracy.

It's truly phenomenal. Well, you talk about continuous improvement. That's a huge step forward. And we don't stop here. It happens. It continues to happen. We roll out. We're doing a pilot group within the next three weeks. Then by association by association, we roll it out and the modules come later. Once the project is closed out, you know, it's the latest, methodologies of technology, project management that run the improvements when you get in your car some mornings and you're using Google Maps, you see something, you're like, wow, that's awesome.

That's what we're talking about here. We're talking about modern advancement, modern deployment of new tools and features on a consistent basis. That's incredible. The impact that that should have our members, too. As we look ahead to, to the rest of 2026, what's coming next for MLS Now that our, our brokers and agents should be excited about?

Look, the ad edit front end is huge. That's a big chunk of cheese being moved. You're going to have people that love it. You're going to have people that hate it because we're moving cheese change is hard. Yeah. And it's not like, you know, I'm a I'm a big Doors fan. You know, love the Doors.

You hate the Doors with this, there's probably going to be a little bit in the middle. I'll get used to it. There's going to be the people that say, what have you done? There's going to be bugs. That's what the software world is about. And we're going to work through all of those. I'm confident that at the end of this, everybody will be doing backflips for it.

So, ad edit comes out, then the modules come out, the team’s module, the media module. We are hoping to make some progress with our neighbors so that we can surface data. Our each other's data at each other's marketplace. We have role reports, enhancements, coming and scheduled for the rest of the year. They've asked we don't announce some of the stuff, so I won't.

But it's all scheduled and ready to go. We have enhanced training coming up. With the online learning management system. And I think we've got a pretty good stack of skunkworks like Lockheed's skunkworks related to artificial intelligence, which isn't implementing artificial intelligence for the sake of saying we implemented artificial intelligence. We're not talking about bubble gum and scotch tape.

We're talking about truly innovative ways to prop up our marketplace, helping the transaction to close, make our agents and brokers highly productive. Very excited about all of that. We've built alliances, Mike. We're not just picking things from low hanging fruit. There's other MLSs around the country that have two, 300 products that just throw it against the wall and hope it sticks.

We curate our products for the sake of our membership. Our brokers and agents. We have a curated stack of technology that we're bringing in. And in 2026, we'll start on the road to developing our own technology in the AI space. Collaborating with the alliances and the partners that we've created over the last, since April of 2024.

Very excited. So. So how do you do that? You know, you mentioned AI, which I think is, you know, the hot the hot topic or everybody's sick of hearing about it one or the other. But you know, you've got these tools coming forward. These investments that you're making for a technology company like MLS Now and in an environment where AI is evolving at such an unbelievable pace.

How do you prepare for and stay ahead of that curve without, you know, chasing every shiny object so that you don't have 200 products, that you're able to do that curation that you're talking about. It's strategize watching the market, the industry nationwide. See where people are going. Look what Zillow did with OpenAI. I think that's brilliant.

Forget about the politics. I'm not even going there. But that's brilliant. You know, public search, going to a website. Mike, I don't think it's got legs. I really don't. This is the new way of doing business for our members. And that's the new way that layman and the consumer poke around and get information. And that's what we're after.

The alliances we've built are with reputable technology, organizations, development organizations, both within the industry and outside. When I was a kid at 25 and we grew exponentially on the East Coast, you know, I started there when I was 25 years old. Our success in technology wasn't because we followed the industry. Our success in technology was the fact that we followed technology, the mainstream, smart people creating the stuff, standards, protocols, how things are designed.

The industry has come a long way. We've got those smart people as well, but we're not betting, hedging our bets just on the industry. We're talking to mainstream technology organizations as well. The relationships matter. They're not just partnerships. We're building alliances and hoping that the heavy lifting isn't just on our shoulders. We're doing things jointly in ventures that benefit both our marketplace and other marketplaces around the country.

So, when you're building these alliances, how do you, there's so much out there. How does your vet who's welcome to come into your tent? It's how we treat each other and what the relationship is and what either a letter of intent or an actual contract for a joint venture or a joint project looks like right out of the gate.

You see things on a on a piece of paper that you don't like when you push back. How fierce is the pushback from the other end? How important is it to you and do they understand? How important is it to you? It's understanding each other and communicating, watching what they've done and what their successes have been. In many cases, not being afraid of being on a cutting or even the bleeding edge on certain things.

If it's on the bleeding edge, we're not going to force it down our member’s throat. Because it may need time to stabilize. Cutting edge for sure. Our relationships push back on the legal documents. General communication and track record. It's really it. Now, you've been here almost two years now. It's going to be two years in April.

Yeah. I came the day of the eclipse. April 8th. That's right. Yeah. That's right. And it's you know, I'll tell you, just talking to our, our members that, you know, that may be listening. And I've known Garry now about two years and I can tell you he's working his ass off for you. And I appreciate that.

On behalf of our members, I know that you're, you're out there on their behalf trying to help them, help their clients, doing everything you can for our members. So, I really appreciate. Thank you very much. I appreciate you coming in, to do the podcast again. This has just been a great conversation. I'm hoping that our members were able to get something or a few things out of it.

And certainly, looking forward to having you back again, when you're able to. Yeah, I think we I think Kelli is all over us. She's scheduled three more already for the year. Then, we're all set. And our members can look forward to hearing more from Garry on a regular basis about what's going on with MLS now.

So, thanks again. Thank you. I enjoyed every time. Absolutely. That means time to throw it back to you, Kelli. Thank you. Well, thanks so much, Mike and Garry, for agreeing to be here. For such. Oh, my gosh, such a fantastic Q&A. Wow. I was, like, writing all kinds of notes. So, for those of you, looking forward to future episodes, be sure to keep listening for more with Garry as he is going to be here on a quarterly basis to keep you all up to date.

And that is really all we've got for you for today's episode. We are so glad to be back, you know, in the middle of this new season here and we have more great programing headed your way. So be sure to come back and listen often. If you loved what you heard today, please do us a favor and share it on your socials.

Tag ACAR. And because every time you share out the podcast, you are helping us and hopefully other members at the same time. We appreciate you and hope that everyone out there has a fantastic day and a wonderful, wonderful week ahead. And until we meet again, I hope you're finding your very own meaning of #HomeForAll.