MLS Conversion Notes

MLS Conversion 2008
The MLS Committee and the SABOR Board of Directors recently took action to begin steps to change MLS vendors upon the expiration of our current agreement with Fidelity National Information Systems (FNIS). Paragon will be replaced with ConnectMLS, provided by dynaConnections - an Austin based company.
Plans are to run ConnectMLS parallel to Paragon during the months of August and September, permitting members to log into either system. All listing entry will be done through Paragon during the parallel time, with updates being made to ConnectMLS several times a day. Training will be conducted during an August/September timeframe and in October the official cutover to the new system will be made. There will be no MLS fee increase to make the change to the new system.
Background: Last year, members were surveyed and focus groups held to determine the effectiveness of our current MLS system. Based on this input, those responding indicated that a change in systems was not necessary, unless a better system could be found, with no increase in MLS fees.
Using this survey information on member needs and expectations, a Vendor Search Task Force was appointed by the SABOR MLS to examine all future options. "Requests for Proposals" were sent to eight leading MLS vendors to examine all system options available to the San Antonio Board of REALTORS®. The Task Force analyzed proposals, participated in product/system demonstrations and after several months of study, made a final recommendation to the MLS Committee and the Board of Directors.
The recommendation was to enter into a contract with dynaConnections for our next MLS system. ConnectMLS runs on new technology and the system has a remarkable response time. In addition to system speed, ConnectMLS has built-in tutorials throughout each function. Our new product will also utilize "Property Info" by REIdata as part of the roll out. "Property Info" has public records in a format giving users many more search capabilities, one of which will be the ability to search public records by subdivision for those counties that provide it. In addition to tax data/public records for Bexar, Comal Kendall and Guadalupe Counties, the following Counties will be added for the new MLS: Bandera, Atascosa and Wilson.
The Vendor Search Task Force was comprised of Dwight Hale, Chairman; Gloria Byington, Linda Rasmussen; Missy Stagers and Sue Trautner. The conversion design team will consist of Tim Brown; Al Cannistra; David Bogue; Jack Jones; and Linda Rasmussen. SABOR thanks all of the members involved in this process for sharing their time, talent and expertise.
Updates will be released periodically over the next few months. Should you have any questions, please contact SABOR's Member Services Department.