IRES chooses Cloud CMA!

Published December 18, 2009 Buzz , Cloud CMA , MLS , News 1 Comment

We are super excited about this and wanted to share it with everyone before we formally send the press release out next week. Many thanks to Lauren and her team who have been great to work with.

W&R Studios to provide their innovative new web application, Cloud CMA, to Colorado MLS provider Information and Real Estate Services, LLC (IRES)
IRES to include Cloud CMA as part of their MLS services.

Boca Raton, FL., December 21, 2009 – W&R Studios, a privately held software company, focusing on creating the next generation of web applications for real estate, announced that they have signed a contract with Information and Real Estate Services, LLC, to provide IRES subscribers with their new Cloud CMA web application.

Cloud CMA is a new report system that blends data from MLS systems and top websites. Reports are personalized marketing tools that help real estate professionals take their clients to the next level, whether its signing a listing contract or writing an offer. Cloud CMA reports can also be created by using any smartphone.

Lauren Emery, CEO of IRES said, “Cloud CMA is easy to use, as promised. There is not anything like it in the market today. We believe our members will truly embrace the product and help their businesses tremendously.”

Greg Robertson, co-founder of W&R Studios, stated. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with IRES. They are a great organization and we look forward to working with them and their membership for many years to come.”

About W&R Studios

Founded in 2008, W&R Studios is a privately held software company. W&R Studios focuses on creating the next generation of web-based software solutions for the real estate industry. By providing a “less is more” approach to software design, elegant user interfaces, and using the latest in agile programming, W&R Studios’ software applications are at the same time powerful, yet accessible to everyone. Co-founders Dan Woolley and Greg Robertson each have over 15 years experience developing and marketing software solutions. For more info please visit http://wr-studios.com

About IRES, LLC

IRES was formed in 1996 as a regional Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Colorado by five Boards and Associations of REALTORS® in Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont, and Loveland/Berthoud. IRES is also the MLS provider for Estes Park, Logan County and Morgan County and has gained a reputation of providing an innovative and robust system for real estate professionals. Additional information about IRES (Information and Real Estate Services) can be found on their company web site at www.IRES-net.com.

Cloud CMA makes 2009 Top 5 List!

Published December 14, 2009 Buzz , Cloud CMA , News Leave a Comment

Real estate technology guru and consultant, Matt Cohen, has published his “2009 Real Estate Industry Top 5 Recap”. You can check it out here.

Cloud CMA receives an honorable mention. Matt states…

“Honorable Mention: Cloud CMA – just announced and not big … yet. I think it’s important because it illustrates and brings awareness to the power of mash-ups for real estate business apps.”

Matt was one of the 20 or so demos we gave at the recent N.A.R. convention in San Diego last month. We are super excited Matt sees the potential for Cloud CMA and looking forward to bringing Cloud CMA to the market next month.

Keep tuning in for updates on the launch schedule for Cloud CMA.

Thanks!

gr

It’s that time of year again…

Published December 4, 2009 Vibe , startup Leave a Comment

W&R Studios

INTERNAL MEMO

Date: 12/4/2009

RE: Secret Santa

There will be no Secret Santa this year. This is due to the fact that the company consists of only two people.

Thank you,

Management.

Putting it all together- The look and feel of Cloud CMA

Published December 3, 2009 Cloud CMA , Creative , Development 3 Comments

This is Part VI in our “Does the world really need a new CMA program?” series in which we blog about the creation of our latest web application, Cloud CMA.

Putting it all together- The look and feel of Cloud CMA

First things first I have to start out by giving credit to our design partners at Wake Interactive. Damien and his guys did a great job on Dwellicious and really blew the doors off with the design concepts for Cloud CMA. As I said before we did about 20 demos in San Diego and everyone was blown away by the UI design of Cloud CMA.

Our goal from the start was to lessen the steps in creating a report. Cloud CMA may not do everything that other CMA applications do but it damn well was going to be the most intuitive.

We also wanted to really do something innovative with the way data is displayed and sorted. One of our biggest arguments/discussions/brain storms was centered around the use of grids/tables. Dan thought grids were too old school and wanted to come up with something new. I was worried that while a grid/table might be old school, they worked really well when you wanted to sort and display data.

No Grid!

We went to what we call “listing cards”. They convey information in many ways: numbers, text, color and iconography. See the screen shot below:

Voilà!

You can change the order of these cards (say for a buyer tour) by simply dragging them:

Just click, and drag

When you deselect the listing it simply fades in to the background (very sexy!):

Bad comps don't die, they fade away....

If you want to see further information about the listing you can simply click on the “Detail & Adjustments” link to expand the card:

Listing Card- Expanded view



We think listing cards will be a hit with our customers. They convey a ton of information with just a look. You also don’t have to open another window to see more detail. They might not be useful when you have a lot of listings to sort through, as in an MLS system, but with smaller lists we think they are the new hotness!

We also used this card concept in how we display saved reports. Once you have created a report we save it as a card under the respective tab.

My saved reports

These cards show the report name, when it was last updated and have action links to either edit, delete, email or print reports.

A saved report

So by ditching the grid, opting for more white space and using color and iconography we really think we have done a great deal to make Cloud CMA, for lack of a better phrase, a truly “Web 2.0″ application. There have been sacrifices. It the pursuit of simplicity Cloud CMA will not be as flexible as other CMA applications. But with flexibility comes complexity. We believe Cloud CMA has the right mix of intuitiveness and a rich feature set.

Next up, getting MLS data in to Cloud CMA. The fight for simplicity rages on….

Full Spectrum Real Estate

Published November 23, 2009 Cloud CMA , Creative , Development 1 Comment

This is Part V in our “Does the world really need a new CMA program?” series in which we blog about the creation of our latest web application, Cloud CMA.

Full Spectrum Real Estate

Having just got back from NARDiego Dan and I are super pumped up! There is something special/exciting/nerve racking/terrifying about showing your product for the first time to people outside your company. We gave about 20 private demos to MLS executives and industry colleagues and the response was fantastic!

What I want to talk about today is what I like to call the “Full Spectrum” reports Cloud CMA generates. In a nutshell reports from Cloud CMA augment MLS data with information we gather from top real estate and data providers across the web (or from “the Cloud”, if you will). Currently we access about 11 APIs. What’s an API? According to Wikipedia: “An application programming interface (API) is an interface that a software program implements in order to allow other software to interact with it, much in the same way that software might implement a user interface in order to allow humans to use it.” APIs we use include: a Walk Score from Front Seat, Maps and area photos from Google, demographics, interest rates and recent home sales from Zillow, and school info from Education.com.

Real Estate's Top Sites!

We think of Cloud CMA as a platform. A platform that can access any database. The trick is then to create compelling reports with this information. In the case of Cloud CMA we blend MLS data will relevant data we get from these APIs. We then create what we like to call “Big, Bold, and Beautiful” reports. We believe that today’s consumers expects their real estate professional to provide more than MLS data but also from other real estate websites they have been searching and exploring.

Big, Bold and Beautiful Reports!

Another wonderful benefit about using the data from these great sites is that the information is dynamic. Most agents will email a pdf of the Cloud CMA report they print and present. Cloud CMA pdfs include lots of “hotlinks” so reports come to life when their clients wish to further explore the information provided.

Finally, Cloud CMA reports aren’t just a pretty face, they have a purpose, too! The layout, page order, content and design are all about taking clients to the next step, whether it’s making it an offer, or signing that listing agreement.

Next up, “Putting it all together” or “In which we send your existing real estate software back to the stone age.” ; )

If you can use email, you can generate a report on Cloud CMA!

Published November 4, 2009 Creative , Development , Marketing 3 Comments

This is Part IV in our “Does the world really need a new CMA program?” series in which we blog about the creation of our latest web application, Cloud CMA.

UI- Oh My!

Form should follow function so before I share some of the design elements of the Cloud CMA user interface I want to briefly discuss what key innovations we have included.

Today I’m going to talk about the first.

1. If you can use email, you can create a report on Cloud CMA.

Recently Dan Woolley sent out this Tweet:

DanTweet


Cloud CMA is really a report generator. When we launch Cloud CMA it will be able to generate 3 types of reports:

CMA
Buyer Tour
Property Profile

The idea of using email to generate reports came from using services like TripIt and Posterous. Here’s how it works:

Assuming a Cloud CMA subscriber has already set up their account (loaded their profile and contact information, and chosen a default report theme). Now a Cloud CMA subscriber can simply generate reports by sending an email to one of 3 email addresses:

emailaddresses

In the example of creating a Buyer Tour. All the Cloud CMA subscriber has to do is give the report a title, such as “The Rudolph Family” in the Subject Field, and the MLS numbers of the homes they wish to include on the tour in the Subject Body of the email. That’s it!

BT EMAIL

In mere minutes a completely customized and personalized report will be emailed back to the agent. The agent can then print the report, forward the report to their buyer, or both.

Cloudemail

And if the agent wishes to do so they could include their buyer email address in the CC: field and the buyer will receive the report once it is generated!

Of course they can alternatively log on and use the Cloud CMA web application to create the report, but if they already know the properties they want to include on the CMA, Buyer Tour or Property Profile they can just send an email.

frontpage-bird

This is also a great way for subscribers to use Cloud CMA via their mobile phone. We are also playing around with creating reports by sending a direct message to @CloudCMA on Twitter.

Next up, MLS + API = Something Special

Cloud CMA Logorama!

Published October 29, 2009 Buzz , Creative , Development , Vibe 5 Comments

This is Part III in our “Does the world really need a new CMA program?” series in which we blog about the creation of our latest web application, Cloud CMA.

Cloud CMA Logorama!

We had a lot of fun last year when we asked readers to submit their ideas and give their opinion on logos for Dwellicious.

This year for Cloud CMA we were under a tighter schedule, so we didn’t publicly post the logo candidates we went through. But, since I got a lot of great feedback from our Dwellicious post I thought I would give you a quick walk through of our design process and selection of the final logo for Cloud CMA.

First, the name. For us, the word Cloud had 3 separate meanings/vibe.

The first is obvious: “Cloud” is synonymous with “the Web”, or “Internet”. One of our main goals with Cloud CMA was to augment MLS data with the best data/information from the Internet’s most popular real estate and community sites.

Our second inclination was to have a name that reflects a calming or blissful vibe. Something from nature. This would extend to the web application itself, something that is easy and maybe even a pleasure to use.

The third was a slightly arcane reference to one of our previous product names, “Lightning”, because where does Lightning come from anyway? A cloud!

Round 1

Below are the two design references that were first submitted.

R1 Version A

R1 Version A

R1 Version B

R1 Version B

I was immediately drawn to the B version of the logos. To me, the use of negative space that made the cloud was subtle (too subtle?), but also created a kind of “speaking bubble” effect as well, which I thought might add to the social nature of the application.
Both Dan and I hated the font.

The B version seemed too “sci-fi” to us. Some feedback we got from others we consulted said it looked like a logo from a pharmaceutical company.

Round 2

They added the “bar” to the “A”, but kept the stylized “M”, which was growing on us.

R2 Version A

R2 Version A

Round 2 Version B

Round 2 Version B

We were playing with the idea of calling the application Cloud CMA or Cloud CMA & Buyer Tour. In the end, we decided to drop the “& Buyer Tour” reference even though the application did more than just a CMA report. In this round we had asked our designer to add a “+” symbol to reflect that the CMA report did more, but as I mentioned we decided to drop the “+” altogether and just use Cloud CMA.

Also, we thought the green pea color was wrong and wanted to see what it looked like if the bottom was a sky blue, giving the effect the cloud was in the sky, not coming over the horizon.

Here’s what that looked like:

Round 2 Version C

Round 2 Version C

The effect made it look like “teeth”, so we scrapped it. We also settled on the “cloud” being over “CMA”, not centered on the whole phrase, “Cloud CMA”.


Round 3

In this round we focused on coming up with the correct color green for the patch of grass. We experimented with some other colors. (It’s pretty hard to see the differences on this screen capture). We also started to figure out how to incorporate the product slogan, which is, “Sales Are Looking Up!”.

Round 3 Version A

Round 4

R4 Version A

R4 Version A

We were pretty happy with the color green we chose, and the placement of the slogan. So, I sent the logo around to a few friends and colleagues to get further opinions. To my surprise, a few of them still saw “teeth”. Not good!

I thought more about it and suggested our designers come up with an asymmetrical cloud. We would lose the “talking bubble” effect and a bit of anchoring to the “M”, but I thought it would be worth another round of proofs.

The final logo.

By making the cloud asymmetrical we lost the “teeth” effect, and we knew we had a winner!

cloud-cma_sloganfinal

The funny thing about a logo is that the product starts to become more “real” when you give it an identity. Now the really hard part was about to begin….

Next up, UI, Oh My!!

The DNA of today’s CMA!

Published October 27, 2009 Buzz , Development , MLS , Vibe , startup 4 Comments

This is Part II in our “Does the world really need a new CMA program?” series in which we blog about the creation of our latest web application, Cloud CMA.

The DNA of today’s CMA!

You can’t have a conversation about the history of the CMA program, hell the history of real estate technology, without mentioning John & Jerra Morris.

John is one of the most, if not the most, interesting and smartest people I’ve ever met in my life. Jerra, John’s wife, is just about the most pleasant person on the planet. She is the perfect foil for John’s manic lifestyle.

Most people have never heard of J. Williams. They know John and Jerra’s next company Advanced Access.

Here’s some interesting things about John.

Vietnam Vet. Check.
Owned a restaurant/bar in Santa Monica, California. Check.
Raced sailboats (big ones). Check.
Top producing Realtor. Check.
Professional level racquetball player. Check
Flew hanglinders. Check.
Licensed airplane pilot. Check.
Licensed helicopter pilot. Check.
The best fucking salesman on the planet. CHECK!
Founder of J.Willams ( a company named after his wife’s father)
-creator of Sellmore CMA, ShowPro, and Easy Flyer and OneSource. -Check
Founder of Advanced Access – Check

So what does John do now?

He’s a race car driver of course!!! He also happens to owns a racetrack in Nevada too. Silly you, wasn’t that obvious???

radhistory1

John Morris

When I saw him last, he had a friend of his fly his new Cessna plane (John has a helicopter too) to pick me up in Las Vegas. We then flew to, and landed on, his racetrack. When we landed and I swear he looked many years younger than the last time I saw him which was a few years back.

Anyway, I could talk for hours about John. We met back, in the mid 90’s, because John wanted to include MLS photos in his Sellmore CMA program. This was pre-internet. At the time, Dan Woolley, one of my partners at IRIS had “hacked” Moore Data’s Compass MLS system and figured out how to access their photos. We made a simple script that would match the comps in Sellmore and dial in to the Compass MLS system, then grab and insert the respective MLS photos. This was a huge innovation at the time. No other CMA application could boast MLS photo integration, even if it was sort of a hack. John’s other innovation was the ability to add mapping. He had a license for Thomas Bros mapping application and quickly saw the potential especially for a Buyer Tour type report.

When I think of the biggest innovations of J. William’s Sellmore, ShowPro and EasyFlyer programs (“The System for Sucess Suite” -say that five times fast in a demo!) I have to say:

Content, layout and structure of the reports
MLS photo integration
Mapping

My company, IRIS, ended up acquiring J. Williams’ assets and rewrote the System for Success Suite, which became the Lightning CMA Plus Suite. While the program was much more integrated and we did a deal with Rand McNally for nationwide coverage of mapping, the reports were essentially the same as the original Sellmore and ShowPro reports.

Fidelity, now LPS, ended up acquiring the Lightning CMA Plus products from HomeSeekers/Realigent. Dan and I ended up joining eNeighborhoods. That’s where the next innovation came.

Neighborhood Demographics
School Information
Recent Home Sales

Neighborhood demographics and school information was/is eNeighborhoods bread and butter. By “blending” this data with MLS data in to Buyer Tour reports we knew we had a winner. Plus the recent home sales data was pulled from county recorder offices so we even had FSBOs (non-MLS properties) for a more complete CMA.

But when you look at the rDesk CMA/Buyer Tour and eNeighborhoods CMA/BuyerTour you can see they are remarkably close in content, look, and feel to Lightning CMA Plus (Sellmore). If fact many other CMA programs have copied the old Sellmore content.

So you could say, that every CMA program out there has some of John Morris’ DNA. : )

So that’s the challenge. Dan and I feel like were fighting our own shadows. But as the saying goes; The only new stuff you’ll ever learn is history you haven’t read.

Next up, Cloud CMA logorama!

gr

Does the world really need a new CMA application?

Published October 8, 2009 Buzz , Creative , Development , Vibe , startup 4 Comments

Yes. We think it does.

This is Part I in our “Does the world really need a new CMA program?” series in which we blog about the creation of our latest web application, Cloud CMA.

Anyone that knows Dan and I knows that we have had a history creating CMA software applications. In fact many of our friends were surprised when our new software company, W&R Studios, first launched Dwellicious, a social bookmarking site/tool for real estate, rather than a new CMA application.

Old Hat

Old Hat

To be honest both Dan and I had a “been there, done that” kind of feeling about building a new CMA application. But after successfully launching Dwellicious and Dwellicious Pro our thoughts came back to how we could really do something innovative and fresh with MLS data, APIs and the input and distribution of reports.

So in the next few weeks we are going to write about our process in creating this next generation CMA web application. We are already well under way. Some of you seen we have a name and logo already chosen at http://CloudCMA.com

We also want to talk about the history of CMA programs. Remember SuperCMA? How about J. Williams’ “System for Success Suite”? (Sellmore? ShowPro? EasyFlyer? Anyone, anyone?) I’ve heard there are still a few Lightning CMA Plus users out there.

We think it is also important to discuss how things have changed with MLS, listing data, the real estate market, and the web. A good CMA is a core application/tool for a real estate professional, so we think starting from there is a good idea.

We really have some great ideas about this new app. And it’s always a fun time creating something new. We both definitely have our head in the clouds! ; )

gr

NEW=> Dwellicious Blog-”Chew On This!”

Published September 14, 2009 Dwellicious , Uncategorized Leave a Comment

In the past we had just used this blog , Lightning | Twice, to talk about Dwellicious. But we found that to be problematic since Dwellicious has both a consumer side as well as a professional side; Dwellicious Pro.

So we created a new blog dedicated to Dwellicious exclusively. It’s called “Chew On This!“

To find out what’s it all about come by and visit the site!

gr

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