Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back - A Real Estate Podcast

S3E7 - How the MLS Really Works: OneKey COO Melissa King Breaks It Down

• Coldwell Banker American Homes • Season 3 • Episode 7

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In this episode of Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back – A Real Estate Podcast, Mike Litzner sits down with Melissa King, COO of OneKey® MLS, for a behind-the-scenes look at the data, technology, and decisions that power the real estate industry. Melissa breaks down what the MLS really is, how listing data flows to consumer portals, why transparency and standards matter, and how AI and smarter integrations are shaping what’s next for brokers and agents. The conversation also dives into leadership, industry change, and wraps with a fun Drop the Mic moment you won’t want to miss.

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Meet Melissa King And OneKey

SPEAKER_00

My name is Melissa King. I'm the new CEO of Coldwell Banker American Homes.

SPEAKER_03

I've been replaced. Tom's gonna like that one. It's like, wait, I got rid of Mike and I got Melissa. Hey, this is Mike Litzner, your host of the Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back a Real Estate Podcast. We're here at the studio at American Homes in Mount Sinai. And today's guest we have Melissa King, COO of the OneKey MLS. Welcome to the show, Melissa.

SPEAKER_00

Hi, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely, absolutely. So I just want to remind our audience before we start, um, if you like what we're doing here today, just like, subscribe. We'd love to have you um at many of our upcoming episodes. Also, don't forget to stay for the drop the mic question. We always have a lot of fun at the end here. So, so Melissa, you've had uh a little bit of a commute to get here, right? From Orlando to uh Long Island here. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, planes, trains, and automobiles.

SPEAKER_03

Whatever it takes, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So for our audience, right? Some of it, but we got a lot of agents and licensed people, but we also have people who are just interested in real estate. You know, so MLS. They hear the word MLS. Can you just give them a little depth on what MLS is?

SPEAKER_00

I can. Um so interestingly, before I started working for an MLS, I didn't even know what it was. It was major league soccer.

SPEAKER_01

Um, right.

SPEAKER_00

So, but we are uh the listing database, right, that's um within our coverage area, which is Long Island, and then up in the uh lower Hudson Valley. We're realtors and and um licensees, they put their listing information into our platform, and um then they're able to run searches and collaborate with their clients. And I think for a consumer, most frequently the way they understand it is when you look at different major search portals, right? Um, those portals have to get their data from somewhere, and 99.9% of the time it is the MLS.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Now the one key MLS, it it is one of the largest in the country. Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, um, I think we're about number 10 or 11.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so uh we support about 42,000 licensees.

SPEAKER_03

Wow, wow. Do you know how many companies uh that are supported as well?

MLS 101 And Market Scale

SPEAKER_00

Um roughly 4,500, give or take. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So yeah, it covers a tremendous geographic area, right? Right? Obviously, Long Island, Long Island by itself being a pretty robust population to say the least, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Long Island I believe makes up about two-thirds of our subscribers.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, good, good. So Melissa, can you just say uh or or talk to us a little bit? What is what is a day in a life of the COO of One Key MLS look like?

SPEAKER_00

Oh gosh, every day is different. Um yeah, and I don't want to cop out on the answer, but um I mean it's anything from working with my uh my board of managers and doing preparation, um, a lot of things, you know, the escalations come up through me. Right. Um so any issues that we're experiencing, whether they are system issues or compliance issues or industry issues, new um litigation that's hit, like it's installed come across my desk. So every single day is different.

SPEAKER_03

What's been a bigger challenge the last couple of years? Uh uh technical issues or legal issues?

SPEAKER_00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Good answer. Yeah. Good answer.

SPEAKER_00

And I mean, sometimes there's an intersection between the two. It's the the technology changes that we have to make to support uh the different legal uh things that are coming through. But you know, I'd say certainly at one key the last three years, um it's been a huge mix. We know we had the NAR settlement, which we all had to make some some pretty significant changes for. Uh, but we also went through uh growth with the Mid-Hudson MLS, onboarding them, and then a couple of major database um changes. So it's it's been a huge mix of all of it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. So what is the biggest uh goal you would like to accomplish in your you know role as COO of OneK?

SPEAKER_00

Um oh gosh, I have so many. I think I think one of the main ones is uh being able to provide just in an ecosystem for our customers that provides a lot more like interoperability meaning um to be able to say you use Sky Slope.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And you want to be able to log into the MLS, and you want Sky Slope and the MLS platform to be able to talk to each other. Right. And so you're really reducing you know any dual entry, um, you know, repeating a lot of the same sets.

SPEAKER_03

Data entry is one of my peeves. I hate data entry.

COO Role And Legal-Tech Crossroads

SPEAKER_00

So all of that manual stuff, yeah. Um and you know, not just with transaction management, but with any any tools and solutions, uh having these very disparate pieces that don't work well together just create such a terrible user experience. Your administrative um overhead for things like that is increased significantly, and it just doesn't seem like that's how we should be doing the business at this point.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. How big of a technical staff do you have to support 40? What did we say, 47,000? 42,000 agents, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, so technical staff is actually very small. Um so we we have our support staff, which is just anything from listing administration to um product support to like some very lightweight tech issues. Um in that team we've been continuously growing over the last year. So we have close to about 10 people. We have another four that are gonna be starting.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

But as far as technical staff for the products that we offer, um two.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but growing also.

SPEAKER_03

So are you do you look at the one key MLS as more of a liaison between the realtor community and say the vendors, the software vendors?

SPEAKER_00

Yes. However, okay, um, I think historically that's absolutely what it's been. I think most MLSs around the country, that is what they are. I think uh your your really great top-performing MLSs have figured out how to not just curate um, you know, a suite of different products, but provide through developing a tech team and um, you know, some tools and things to to make people's lives easier. Uh we actually just launched, I want to say it was last week, our Keystone dashboard, which empowers brokers to be able to go in and do some administration on their offices, on their listing distribution, um, and really have a lot of transparency and control over you know what permissions their agents have or uh what permissions we have for their data.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And that is in in my experience pretty uncommon actually in MLSs to be able to invest in that way for a better, more transparent user experience.

SPEAKER_03

So for our audience who may understand what you said, no doctor. No, I'm just gonna relate it from the real real estate side, so being a real estate broker here. Um when we get listings, we're charged with bringing them to market, and how do we get the maximum amount of exposure? And the multiple listing allows us not only to expose it to every broker out there who may want to co-broker and work with us, you know, uh put the right buyer, right seller together. That's the key to it, not selling houses to people that you know aren't interested in that style, but finding the right buyer. But the other part is that third-party syndication, right? It allows us to have a vehicle vehicle, so to speak, to take our listing data and it be a conduit, so to speak, to third party portals that already have a potential market share and uh and eyeballs on it, so to speak. Yes.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

So uh it's an important connect connector, so to speak, for the industry.

Interoperability Goals And User Experience

SPEAKER_00

So it is, it is, and I think you know what I'm really proud of that we've done recently is we have a participant agreement, which I'm sure you've you've seen. Yes. Um, and it defines how the MLS is allowed to use um your participant contribution. So all the listing information that you guys put into the service.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Um, we can't just say, okay, we're gonna do what we want with that, we're gonna sell it here and we're gonna send it there and we're gonna be reckless with it. Um instead, within our participant agreement, it details out exactly what our uses as the MLS are with that and anything that falls outside of what we define as the definition of MLS, right? It needs to be searchable, it needs to um be able to um be used in like the the auto emails and things that go out. So outside of those things that define an MLS, um, we put those in our listing distribution dashboards. So you as a broker can say, I don't want my office participating in these syndication sites. And so it's all laid out just very, very clearly and transparently. And I don't know that another MLS in the country actually has that level of transparency with what they are doing with the participants' data.

SPEAKER_03

You know, you've worked at more than one MLS now, so you have some interesting uh I always call it vantage points in the industry. So um what's what is the most interesting thing you've learned working at an MLS or aha moment you've had one of the ones?

SPEAKER_00

Um gosh. I don't know about um necessarily aha moments. I think um as far as interesting, it's really I think some of it has just been um the the intersection of some of the the legal stuff and what's going on like economically and the role that the MLS has in that. It's it's felt important, you know, and um so I think that that has been some of the most interesting, I will say, coming to New York. Yeah, and um so I've worked in Florida, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.

SPEAKER_03

Um so is it true, like it's like we say real estate is is real estate, doesn't matter where, but I I think people are people but there feels like there's nuances in different markets, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely. And I would say going from Florida up to um from stellar MLS to bright MLS, it didn't seem like there was a whole lot of differences. And then coming to one key, and um, yeah, it's just the the things that are most important and like co-ops that you have here, which we didn't have there, the geography killed me when I first started here because depending on if I was talking to someone from Long Island or if I was talking to someone from Westchester, you're calling geographies completely different things. Yeah, so it's a town or it's a city or it's a township, or in the wake up.

Broker Controls And Data Transparency

SPEAKER_03

Can I hit on one of them? Yes, Brooklyn. There's listings that say Brooklyn, and then when we get to the local side, it's like, okay, well, this is you know bed style, or this is you know.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. So then, yeah, and neighborhoods.

SPEAKER_03

And neighborhoods actually, so the uh there's different zip codes that go with that, yet sometimes it seems like it's all Brooklyn. So I I I think it's sometimes the way the software works in other areas, and it's like, okay, wait, there's nuance to these local markets.

SPEAKER_00

This was the most challenging thing when doing the database conversions was trying to um accommodate that nuance, which is completely different in New York City than it is um through the rest of the territory, and then even understanding um you know where I come from, everything's in a city and your cities or in your counties. Right. And I come up here and it's towns, but they're called townships locally.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah. Well, well, you have towns and townships for I I think it's layers of government actually.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Oh yeah, because then you have CDPs, hamlets, villages, and and trying to define each one of these. Yeah, it was New York is very, very unique in that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I'm not sure if I like it or don't like it. It's just I don't think I know any better. I haven't done this over 40 years. Oh yeah. This is what you grew up with, so you just kind of deal with it, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, oh no, I felt I came in and I was like, I don't, I don't know what I'm talking about. And yeah, there was a a couple of fumbles, but luckily our team at OneKey, gosh, some of them who have been there 40 plus years, so they held my hand through it. And yeah, and I've been really involved um with an organization called the Real Estate Standards Organization. Yeah. And they create standards for you know different property types and subtypes and uh different fields that we'd use, trying to um, you know, have something where nationally we're all calling something by the same name.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so um, anyone who who is a subscriber of One KMLS, I'm sure, remembers a year ago going through a data conversion and a system conversion to uh be in alignment with that RISO standard.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And uh it is kind of challenging because you have pockets around the country like New York who, you know, co-ops are very prevalent, but others they're not, and you have volunteer work groups that are coming together to talk about these different things. So we've we've gone back uh since I've been at OneKey to RISO and and the data dictionary work group and have some modifications that are actually being made to the national standards so that they can work within our market.

New York Market Nuance And Data Conversions

SPEAKER_03

So um having standards seems like it sounds like all technical and good, except for when we create like this MLS, which is a database essentially, and then trying to use that information to streamline some of our services. So we have um a third-party site called listing concierge that we help our agents market their listings that they can plug into and we try to automate that data. So when you have something as simple as a just listed, just sold cards that are ordered, they don't have to type in, you know, data entry, right? Well, what what do we run into? So some orders went were going through, and then we realized we were dropping orders. And why were we dropping orders? Well, we realized that the word street, okay, if you write the word street out, or do you put ST, which is a common abbreviation, all of a sudden, you know, the way the agents putting it in and the way the MLS was was interpreting it with two different things, and it's non-matched. So all of a sudden you you look at these standards that need to be, you know, at uh uh adhered to or or aligned might be a better word, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And you and you think, okay, what's this gibberish that they're talking about? But trying to run an organization with a thousand plus agents doing, you know, thousands of listings and trying to provide those services in a meaningful and efficient manner, what you do affects us every day and our ability to support our agents. So it's kind of interesting to see that loop close so I feel that pressure regularly. Uh-oh, there's the fire in his eyes again. Let me get those standards then.

SPEAKER_00

So Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's it's definitely a hard adjustment too to have to make changes to those things, especially when you've been using the same fields for, you know, 30 years in the same MLS platform. And um, you know, going from something that it it has a very, very specific meaning, yes, and trying to take that and turn it into or or match it to what the national standard is, it can certainly be challenging. Yes. Um, but I would say, you know, the kind of the unknown, one of the unknown benefits of that is when you have now multiple platforms that are they're built the same way, they use the same words, they can talk to each other, then you don't have bad translations happening, right? So what you're literally typing into the system is what comes out of the system, is what is published in all of these other products, and you don't have things that are lost in translation. Yes. And then you can have new vendors coming into the marketplace and only having to build the product one way and being able to work with all of these organizations. Right. And so that drives competition, which is great.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Because the more competition you have, um, A, you get better products and quality. The cost goes down because they have to compete with each other. Correct. And so it really uh this why I love RISO and and that organization is um because it has such a broad industry impact.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And truly the beneficiaries of it, which I think um oftentimes the MLS is it creates so much more work for us.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

But the people that are benefiting uh really at the end of the day are the brokers and vendors.

SPEAKER_03

Why don't we pivot a little bit? Because I also found it interesting um that you had um some experience and you worked with a company we might have heard, Compass, right? So what was you know working with a brokerage like Compass like?

SPEAKER_00

Oh man.

SPEAKER_03

Uh so and what was your role there?

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yeah, I was uh director of industry relations there.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Now that sounds interesting. What does that really mean?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I think Compass uh they were really focused on um not only growing their footprint, but also with markets that they were already working with. Um, you know, Compass, I will say, like they were a really, really great company to work for. They're very agent focused, and their agent was their customer.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And so um, and they really wanted to drive adoption of their platform, right? Their Compass.com site and um behind the agent login, they had you know marketing stuff that was all integrated in there. Um but for it to work and for the agents to stay within their platform, right? They needed all of the MLS data. And working with MLSs can be really challenging, especially on like a regional or national scale because they don't all operate the same way, they don't all provide the same level of service or information.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And um, and so in many markets, you know, I was having to work with those MLSs and and some of them teach them their own policy to be able to get the data that was needed to properly power the platform to get agents to not jump out of the platform into the MLS to get specific fields that they need.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, the more places they have to go to complete a task, you know, the more breakage, you know, that happens before we get to the finish line, the task is complete. So I get that philosophy because we actually follow that here at American Homes. We want agents to stay in the platform and be able to deliver every one of their services single sign-on in one in one in one place.

SPEAKER_00

I know I've talked to your CTO about that one.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. He's pretty uh passionate about it. And uh he him him and I uh are are aligned very clearly on that.

SPEAKER_00

So and I'm so am I, and I'll say like I jumped to Compass from MLS because I really was like, you know, I see I think I see how things are moving forward. Um I always wanted to be back in the MLS space, but I was like, I I want to understand what it's like to work with MLSs to know what it looks like to be better.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Um, because I always wanted to be a CEO one day of an MLS. So uh I was like, this is gonna superpower me. Yeah. So I dove in head first, and um, so director of industry relations there, I was actually working with MLSs across uh most of the country. A lot of it was focused on on data acquisition and um and compliance and um you know policy that we wanted to lobby for for the benefit of the brokerage, and uh so then working on a national level on the policy, on policy issues. Uh yeah, it was it was a lot of building, right? Developing processes and tracking mechanisms and things, and yeah, so it was pretty fun.

SPEAKER_03

You know what's interesting is um when you talked about working with compass and they said they look as at the agent as their customer or client.

SPEAKER_00

I think I've heard that once before.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, right, right. Um at MLS, who do you look at as as your customer or client?

Compass Lessons And Data Acquisition

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, um that I feel like that's the question that gets asked all the time um to at every MLS I've been at, even um in conversations with CMLS. Typically so like my customer and at one level is my two shareholders. Okay. So it's the Long Island Board of Realtors and it's the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. They actually they own us.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Um taking it down uh from like the 50,000 foot, I would say the broker participants are probably um because they are our participants. And they have their licensees. But when we make decisions, um, I think what we're trying to do is look at how do we serve the most offices, how do we serve the most agents.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right. And help the brokerages help their agents.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_03

So you get granular to the agent one way or the other.

SPEAKER_00

Right, exactly. And then how do we help the agents help their customer?

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And so it really kind of um like exponentially increases as we're like shareholders, their participants, their licensees, their customers.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, and and depending on what we're looking at and what we're doing, like different ones have to kind of, I don't want to say, I'm gonna say take priority, but you know, when we're dealing with um litigation or like some of the changes that are going on um in the industry, like we really had to put our consumer hats on.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And uh, which is different than when we're looking at our operating agreement.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Because then we have our shareholder hat on.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So um, yeah, yeah, really it kind of depends on on what the issue is.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So um maybe speaking of that, we you know, as the COO of OneKey, what is your team's top priority as of like right now? What's on your front burner?

Who The MLS Customer Really Is

SPEAKER_00

Um, so right now, I hate to admit this. We we have a few projects we're just trying to get pushed out by the end of the year, things that have been in the backlog. Um, but so I so those just kind of need to get done. Uh as far as like where our heart and spirit of the company are. Um, we are working with our board of managers. We're gonna have a long meeting next month and um really start talking to them a little bit about what that vision looks like. They have been our my board of managers has been amazing and supportive, uh such a great team. And um, and I think you know their primary focus is how do we stabilize to the best of our ability and just really, really focus on what's gonna most benefit um our customers, our agents, and and participants. So um I I think a lot of that is gonna look like less onboarding new products and more focusing on better integrations and control and user experience.

SPEAKER_03

As a as a broker, I like that better because I feel like we already have our products, so to speak, and we want them to integrate with the data more cleanly, more consistently, more efficiently. And yeah, and you know, if there's brokers out there that don't have tech, then they need to keep up and invest in it. You know, they shouldn't be waiting for the board to uh to invest for them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, so it's interesting. When I came into MLS 15 years ago and I I kept hearing like we leveled the playing field, and I think it was sometimes misinterpreted. Like that doesn't mean everyone should only have access to this set of products to be able to use. Right. It's it's access to the same information, right? And it's so we're a level foundation, and you should be able to build on that correct whatever you want, and that's what's gonna give you your competitive edge.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And so I you know, to me, it's how do we build or provide a foundation where you have the access to the information you want and the integration abilities to where um you can you can build a sky skyscraper if that's what you want.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, exactly. What whatever's gonna most effectively help you build your own business.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. So I like that. What do you where do you feel the next major technology shifts uh in the real estate industry is gonna be 12 months, 18 months?

Focus Shift To Integrations Over New Tools

SPEAKER_00

I think we're probably in it, truthfully. Um, you know, and I think it's just gonna continue, it's gonna be such a rapid development with uh AI and the role of AI, and um I think in every literally to every aspect of what we do in our business. So, I mean, from the agents, I know we we talked about um agents having fear that it's gonna replace them. Um right now, we had just gone through this big hubbub with um Chat GPT having an integration with Zillow and being able to do um that search and whether or not um that should be allowed, and or if it's viewed as an app or if they're replicating the data. And you know, and like I'm like, this is just the first of what we're gonna say over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think the industry point is like we're we're feeding our data into the MLS. Zillow, which is licensed in the O 50 states, but it's really just a portal, it's not a real estate brokerage, is taking our data and now feeding it out to a third-party app. Are they hurting us? Are they competing with us in the in an unfair way with our data? You know, it's our data license, not theirs. And we just want to make sure we touched on this a little bit early. What are they doing with the data? Yeah. You know, every other broker has the same license to use the data in in their constructive way at the end of the day to transact real estate on behalf of their fiduciary clients, right? So but Zillow's not really using the data that way.

SPEAKER_00

So well, and and so what I will say, they are a participant of ours and they do, yeah. So um I'll but not traditional brokerage, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Oh no, okay. Observing, by the way. So so just that's what we do. We we talk real estate, and these are the things that keep us up at night as well, right? Yeah. As brokers and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

No, mine, I just want to be careful what I say, because yeah, very fair enough. Very untraditional, um, very untraditional brokerage. And so we had a look, we spent so much time on how are they using the data, is this outside of the license agreement? And um, and I don't even honestly at the end of the day, like I don't even know if I can access it through ChatGPT today.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. So that was only announced what about three months ago? So two months.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So uh I don't I I bet you they had some ideas, but it there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes before you get to the promised land.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, yeah.

AI’s Near-Term Impact On Real Estate

SPEAKER_03

So uh yeah, I um it's funny, everything I've been at recently for the last six months, it's AI has been on the top of uh the tongue, so to spoke. So much so that we've launched uh for our agents as part of our platform, we have the Gemini, the Google Gemini Pro account for every one of our agents.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_03

And um, agents are responding pretty good. Agents do not like change, as you know, you've probably seen this, right? They do not like change. And um, so as we've been talking about this, um the interesting quote I've heard, I can't remember who I can attribute this to, and I'm gonna try to not mess it up, but they said that agents shouldn't be worried about being replaced by AI. But what they should be concerned about is being replaced by agents who've who've used and embraced AI. So agents who don't use AI will be replaced by agents that do use AI.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And um so we we said, okay, we we need to be leaning into this and understanding how to use AI to create more efficiencies and uh seamlessness, you know, uh you know, to better better quality, increase quality control, increase uh, you know, speed, you know, whether it's speed to lead, speed to uh um to the to respond, to follow up in every way possible. So we're getting some really creative um functionality out of it. It's interesting when you give it to agents and once you can get them to get their drop their guard a little bit.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Agents can be really creative when they let themselves be.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Work smarter, not harder. Yeah, yeah. We're we're going through it too, and just seeing how we can integrate AI to create more efficiencies. And in for us, it's if we can create these efficiencies here, we can provide better service there. So not trying to automate, you know, ourselves out of having a support center, trying to automate ourselves into a position where our support center can really spend rather than just like let me answer your question real quick, like let me provide you a micro training and see if you have any other questions and let you know, you know, additional information around the thing that you're you're asking about, and just you know, be more of a partner instead of just a call center.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03

No, I like that. I like that. I'm curious to see. I'm kind of anxious to see where this goes and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah, same.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So you have a unique passion for the data side of real estate, right? So was there a moment when you realized that was your true calling or some?

SPEAKER_00

Um I think there were probably two. The first one had to be somewhere around maybe 2012. Um and so Zillow, uh, they were a portal at the time. They used to get their data from a company called List Hub.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. And they uh a decision was made that they were no longer going to get the data from ListHub, but they were gonna get it directly from MLSs. And MLSs around across the country had to turn this around really, really quickly.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I don't think too many of them were really proficient with working with data at the time and configuring um account access. And so it was this big puzzle uh because it wasn't working properly.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Automating Support For Deeper Service

SPEAKER_00

And somehow, and there was an email chain going back and forth with our leadership team and the team at Zillow, and I got copied on it. And I don't think I was supposed to be, but I read through it, and um, and I was managing membership at the time, and I was like, I think I figured it out. And so I was so nervous, uh, but I replied to everyone on the thread, and I was like, I think I got it. Um, and I explained what I thought it was and was like, can you try this? And uh and I did. Yeah, and it was so rewarding, and I realized like on this thread with a group of people whom I respected, and I was like, these are very intelligent people, and and I figured it out, and like that feels good. Like I love doing things I'm good at. So yeah, yeah, that was the the first step. And and the second one, I just I got thrown into the deep end to map our entire MLS database, which was about 7,300 uh values, and um I was told go pull our metadata, and I was like, cool, I don't know what metadata is, and uh and so I had to kind of fumble through it. And once I did that and I fumbled through it, I realized I knew our system better than anyone at that point because I literally touched every single value under every single field, under every single property type, and like that knowledge was so empowering, yeah. And um, and that's when I was like, this is all based on data. Yeah, and so yeah, it was it was those two moments.

SPEAKER_03

They always say you have a calling, your yours was an email, but but isn't it funny how you happen to be on that, you know, and uh and uh it opened up different doors and and uh an opportunity for you. So yeah, that's exciting.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for reminding me of that because it it really was like that was the beginning.

Finding A Calling In Data

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very cool. So, you know, I really appreciate you sharing a lot of uh insight into the industry and and really the backbone of the industry. So it's like you know, the consumer speaks to agents, agents speak to brokers and there's trainers, and everyone has you know the idea of marketing, but it's the data that really is the backbone and fundamental of how our systems work. And and and I don't think most people in the industry actually even understand what that looks like. So I think that you're giving them a great insight into you know the an an another side of the business that that affects their business, but uh they don't get to play in that side of the uh sandbox, so to speak. So it's really interesting. So I you know, on our work hard, play hard part of the podcast, we also like to lean into a little bit of the play hard. We want to find out a little bit more of the the the fun side of Melissa and stuff. So before I jump into that, I just want to remind our audience if you like what we're doing and what you're hearing here today, we'd love to have you at few per future episodes. So like, subscribe, please join us again in the future, okay? And remember, stay for the drop, drop the mic question. So, Melissa.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

So leading a uh it's a huge organization, the OneK MLS. And what is your go-to really move to truly unwind, unplug?

SPEAKER_00

Um on a typical day, uh so embarrassing. Um have you ever heard of paint by numbers? Yeah. I uh yeah, so I I will once I get the kids to bed, I will sit at my dining room table and just uh do paint by numbers and listen to a book or put music on. Yeah. And uh yeah, I'm very not exciting.

SPEAKER_03

So paint by numbers. So you you you you realize that I I I like art, but I I don't know if I have enough uh skill set to do it freehand, so I'm gonna paint by numbers.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, so I like for me it's kind of perfect because my brain, like at the end of the day, it's going and it's hard to get it to slow down. And so um it's like it doesn't super activate creative brain because I'm just following directions, um, but it's keeping my brain engaged enough that it's not spiraling on everything that happened that day or what I still you know, what I didn't get done, or and uh so yeah, it helps it just kind of shut down and me decompress a bit.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, a little therapeutic, as they say, right? Yeah, I would have lost that bet. So by number, thank you.

SPEAKER_00

You would have been like a glass of wine, yeah, something, I don't know, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Music, I don't know, somewhere along the line.

SPEAKER_00

Music is always, it's always in the mix.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, exactly. Uh very cool. So what's what's something you do in your free time that would surprise uh you know anyone who only knows you professionally?

SPEAKER_00

I go to a lot of music festivals.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that's kind of my jam. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, at least a couple a year.

SPEAKER_03

All right, very cool, very cool. Um, who's the uh go-to uh artist?

Work Hard, Play Hard: Unwind And Music

SPEAKER_00

Right now, uh her name is Ruby Waters, she's a Canadian artist, kind of like indie alternative. Um, but I got I listen to everything. Yeah, absolutely everything. So uh, but yeah, she's been she's been my go-to. I just saw an artist named uh Ethan Reagan in uh I was in Austin for that one, and then a week later, Richie Mitch and the coal miners in Denver. So yeah, I I travel for music.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. All right, very cool, very cool. So if you could take a one-week vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?

SPEAKER_00

My bed.

SPEAKER_03

Staycation.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, so I'm lucky. I live in Florida, yeah. Uh so I get water and beaches and and sunlight. Um, but right now, if I were to get a one-weeker, it would be absolutely relaxation focused. So yeah, yeah, that's I said my bed um just somewhere where I can completely unplug. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, very cool, very cool. Let's talk a little bit about the giving back because we have a real strong culture at American Homes that focuses on giving back. We uh we always lean into our own foundation that we have, the Heart of American Homes Foundation. So our our company typically and our agents, but the support of our agents, uh, raises about$100,000 a year, with 100% of that money going back into the community. So it's it's I always say it's housed in our offices, rent-free, there's no employees. So when we say 100% of that money goes back in, that's good. Um and it's it's interesting and and heartbreaking sometimes to hear the need, but it's great that we have the ability through the generosity of our agents and and our team to make a difference, to jump in and and and help people. You serve on powerful industry boards like RISO and NAR. How does volunteering this time get back to the entire aging community?

Giving Back Through Industry Standards

SPEAKER_00

Um well, I mean, I I think by the time I spend at RISO, it's definitely um I I mentioned, you know, we've actually brought back to that group feedback based on our market.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And um, I mean, one of the changes and it's been approved, it hasn't been implemented yet, um, and it's gonna sound very minor, but it all makes a difference is the um elementary, middle, high school fields that we have in the system, and right now they're a single select field. Okay, but we know um within our market, and this is brand new to me, that elementary school you could be in one school K through two or three, and then another school um through fifth grade. And so we had to build the business case. Um, and through my involvement with RESO, like I understand how these things work, and um, and you know, that's just one like little micro example, but right expanding that across um data standards, transport standards, and and things. So it's um having a voice at the table. And although, you know, sitting on the the board, my fiduciary duty is obviously to to RISO, um, but my experience that I bring from OneKey, which um the the class seat that I have at RISO is for an MLS over 25,000 um subscribers. So, you know, there's an expectation that I bring my experience and knowledge and to the table. So uh I definitely I try and make sure I do that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And um, and then with CMLS is another one, it's it's uh I co-chair their best practices advisory council. And it's you know, really taking the um the experience that I have as um COO and and at MLSs to the council of multiple listing services so they can develop best practices to guide other MLSs around the country.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And um and then we can I can take the information that I'm learning from participating in that and and try and apply it to ours. So it's a big trickle-down effect.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. So if you had an unlimited unlimited time or resources, uh we're talking a little bit about giving back, but I want to switch us from say industry. Um what causes would you most like to you know be involved in?

Mentors, Bold Thinking, And Growth

SPEAKER_00

Oh man. Um I mean, certainly anything having to do with um I would say like victims of domestic violence would be major one. Um and especially children who um have suffered that or um children, you know, children that have are in foster care and um yeah, and even like some of the older um, you know, maybe like late teens getting ready to to enter into adulthood and um because it seems like they probably don't get as much support. And uh and that's such a pivotal point in life.

SPEAKER_03

Very pivotal.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. So being able to help some often overlooked people get a stronger start into the next phase of their life. Um, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, all right, I like that. I like that. So who are some of your mentors and how do they inspire you to grow?

SPEAKER_00

Um, I have some weird ones. Uh because I mean no one will probably know who they are. Um, so my friend Taron Tegan, uh, he is an executive at at Zillow Group, um, but works kind of in the in the background with showing uh showing time and and stuff. But um he he was always a great mentor to me. He um just huge supporter, someone I you know I could always bounce information off of. And and he was actually the one many years ago who um he knew that I felt like I had a bit of a a ceiling because living in Florida, working for the largest MLS in Florida.

SPEAKER_01

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00

Um, if I wanted to grow and I had capped out there and I knew I wanted to stay an MLS, there's really nothing I could do. Yeah, because and I have three kids and uh I cannot move. Moving is not uh in the cards.

SPEAKER_03

So, you know, he has we're realtors, we don't like to hear that. Oh, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I mean it's second properties might be. There we go.

SPEAKER_03

You'll have your people call my people, we'll do lunch.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, yeah, that's yeah, that's why we're here.

SPEAKER_03

Right, exactly.

Drop The Mic: Rebellious Side

SPEAKER_00

Um but yeah, he told me back then he was uh Like, you know what, one day you are going to um make such a a a great name for yourself that there will be a company who doesn't care that you are not local. And like you you will succeed, this is gonna happen. And I always think about him ever since I came to uh to One Key. Um because I'm up here every month, but I don't have a physical residence here. And yeah, so I he's he's just been wonderful and and such a great supporter. I also have an MLS CEO, his name's Tim Dane, and he works at North Star MLS, and he is just one of the most out-of-the-box thinkers. Okay, and uh and he's bold. I mean, too, like I'm biting my tongue with how I would typically explain Tim. Um but man, like when when I'm like, hey, I've I've got this thing going on and I just need some like really outside of the box creative solutioning for this, yeah, he's he's a go-to for sure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Alright, that's very cool.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Very cool. It's time for the drop the mic question. Again, I just want to remind our audience if you like what we're doing here, please, we'd love to have you subscribe and and join us for future episodes. So, all right, so Melissa.

SPEAKER_00

You've got me nervous.

SPEAKER_03

I know, I always try to be a little different and what have you. So uh we try not to make this uh real estate as focus as much, but just really more humanize our our thing. So um rumor has it. I don't know, I think I just started the rumor, but that you have a rebellious side. Oh god. What's the most rebellious thing you've ever done?

SPEAKER_01

I can't say that.

SPEAKER_03

Oh god. Um is this being recorded? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I'm trying to uh I was a I was a messy, I was a messy teen. Um so yeah, uh I mean I think anyone who met me in if they were to look at me and they had to take a guess, like I have a lot of tattoos.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Like uh my my arms, my entire back. Uh so I mean I would say like from a very obvious aesthetic. Yeah. Um, it's I've got lots of tattoos. That's it. That's as bad as it gets.

SPEAKER_03

That's as bad as it gets. Alright, well, that's not too bad. That's too I'm I'm tatless, so what what inspires the uh um endeavor into tattoos?

SPEAKER_00

Um it wasn't I never had this goal of like, oh, I just want to be covered. It was I got my first one at 15, which is dumb.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Um, and so I got that, I got my second one at 18. They've both been covered since then.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And um, and you know, when you cover tattoos, you have to do it with a bigger tattoo. Okay, that's the that's it. Yeah, yeah. So it just kind of snowballed, and and I realized more recently in life that uh getting tattoos when you're get going through like a pretty significant emotional event, yeah, probably not the best time.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah.

Closing Thanks And Takeaways

SPEAKER_00

And so uh yeah, and then I was like, I just I just want to be decorated with something that I like looking at that I enjoy. So like have a Picasso painting on this arm.

SPEAKER_03

All right, very cool.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. So I I like pretty things.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. There you go. So well, you've been a great guest. I I love that that you shared so much insight in the industry from a different perspective than our the agents and a lot of brokers are used to seeing. So um, I really appreciate you taking the time. Traveling all the way from Orlando, Florida to sunny downtown Mount Sinai, New York, is Melissa King. You've been wonderful. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you so much.