Bryan

Thanks for your correspondence this morning. Wish I had more conclusive information to offer you but your interest interests me.

1. We both like the MLS access system you’ve used on and off. As you may know, it’s one of dozens options offered by the vendor community to real estate brokerages. One of their competitive advantages is that it offers ACTIVE listings in a lifestyle decision-making context. The other advantage is that it once offered access to public records from the same interface.

2. It appears that they no longer offer public records showing tax assessments, so my desire to offer clients the opportunity to search 100% of the inventory can no longer be delivered through this vendor.

3. I’ve asked them to confirm the status of that functionality, before I decide whether to renew my account which is currently inactive.

4. I offer another MLS option, and have been selected by a NEW start-up to offer another next generation MLS access option. The new vendor, TLCEngine, will give homebuyers to option to sort listing “matches” by TLC, which means True Living Costs.

5. Knowing you are an architect, if you’d like to be able to BETA test that site, it should be ready to test in the next 30 days if not next week.

Finally, there was a time in my academic life 35 years ago when I aspired to be part of MIT joint architecture / city planning program. As a young parent, I opted to finish the MCP. Over a decade, that path turned towards devoting my life to reforming the real estate industry. Still, I have never lost my interest in architecture, and am pleased that my daughter works at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

I’m intrigued by your development of “this forum as a virtual coffee shop,” and would enjoy the opportunity to have friendly conversation with you offline sometime. I’m at the Starbucks at Wendell St (my last name with two LL’s) and Mass. Ave every morning, but glad to meet anywhere.

Bill