Making informative and even entertaining videos of your listings seems like a complicated undertaking involving a professional camera, lights, editing equipment, and a lot of knowledge of how all that equipment works, but in fact you can be uploading videos tomorrow without too much trouble.

I’ll be talking about this at 1 p.m. today at the NAR Expo booth at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Diego. Maybe you won’t be posting videos tomorrow when you’re back at the office but you’ll certainly see that it’s pretty easy to do.

What I’ll be focusing on is the Flip camera. If you haven’t seen one of these yet, I’m sure you will soon. They’ve been around for a few years, cost about $100 last time I checked, and they’re just too handy for words. They’re a little thicker than an iPhone but they take great video, come with a modest zoom, and you need no cables to upload their content to your computer. You just flip out a built-in USB port, plug that into your computer, and you’re ready to go.

Flip comes with an editing platform but you don’t have to use it. (I’ve never used it.) I use Final Cut Express, about $200, which works seamlessly with the iMovie video editing software that comes with a Mac (if you have the iLife suite). It’s pretty standard today, and iMovie take just a few hours to master.

Final Cut Express is just like the professional Final Cut Pro software. The only difference is depth of capability. The Pro version has much deeper capability, but there is no need to go that deep, especially if you’re just using it for listing videos.

I’ll be talking about how to set up your shots so you get a smooth look. I’ll also talk about editing and adding audio, both narration and music. I’ll demonstrate the use of the Flip, and one of my NAR colleagues from Information Central will walk you through an uploading and editing primer.

If you want to get a professional look, smart editing is essential, and that takes more than a day to learn, especially if you use Final Cut Express. If you use the Flip editing platform or iMovie, you’ll be terrific after a day of dabbling.

Take a look at the two-minute listing video I made above. It’s a mock listing; you won’t find it in any MLS. But it’ll give you an idea how you might make your own video. Even if you would do things differently than I did (after all, you’re the real estate pro, not me), you’ll see techniques that will get you thinking.

The NAR Board of Directors voted Saturday to send two recommendations regarding acceptable use of IDX data back to the Multiple Listing Policy Committee because the committee is currently reviewing all IDX policies with an eye toward updating them. The action came at the board meeting that concluded the national association’s 2009 NAR Midyear Legislation Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C.

IDX, or Internet Data Exchange, refers to a system and process that allows multiple listing service participants to display each others’ property listings on their web sites.

The recommended changes to the IDX rules were as follows (underlined sections indicate proposed additions, strikeouts indicate proposed deletions):

1. Multiple Listing Policy Statement 7.58, paragraph 2, Policies Applicable to Participants’ IDX Sites, Internet Data Exchange (”IDX”) Policy: “Participants must protect IDX information from misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent “scraping” or other unauthorized accessing reproduction, or uses. of the MLS database. This requirement does not prohibit indexing of IDX sites by search engines.

2. Section 18.2.2, model MLS rules: “Participants must protect IDX information from misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent “scraping” or other unauthorized accessing, reproduction, or uses. of the MLS database. This requirement does not prohibit indexing of IDX sites by search engines.

In discussion of the issue at the board meeting, an NAR director from Indianapolis rose to suggest the recommendations be sent back to MLS committee, since this group is already reviewing all aspects of the IDX policy, first implemented in 2002, with an eye toward updating them. The move to refer back was driven not by any objections to the actual proposals, the speaker said, but rather by the fact that neither the MLS committee nor NAR directors had sufficient time to review the changes and consider their implications.

The IDX rule on scraping — a term that refers to the harvesting of Internet data, often for unauthorized use — was passionately discussed on the Agent Genius real estate blog and others last week after a local board of REALTORS®’ interpretation of the rule that was backed by NAR found that the rule prohibited property listings from being indexed on search engines such as Google. In response to the concerns about this interpretation expressed by hundreds of REALTORS® on the blog, NAR’s MLS Committee took up the issue at its meeting earlier this week.

In that meeting, a majority of the committee agreed that “scraping” and “indexing” are different forms of data use and approved the revisions to the IDX rules that specifically allow the “indexing” of IDX data rule by search engines. Revisions to the rule were prepared just days before the committee meeting, so that the committee could consider them at its upcoming meeting.

The NAR director who spoke to the board expressed concern at the speed at which these changes were about to be implemented, possibly without full consideration of their implications.

The vote of the NAR directors to refer the IDX rule changes back to the committee was closest of the meeting, requiring board members to hold up placards after the typical voice vote proved inconclusive.

What do you think of these proposed changes? Would they significantly impact the way you do business on the Web? Let us know!

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® plans to roll out an online database that it hopes will catalog comprehensive information on nearly 150 million residential and commercial properties nationwide.

NAR and the REALTORS® Information Network (RIN) are partnering on the initiative, called the REALTOR® Property Resource (RPR) project. Jeff Young, vice president of association and broker relations for RIN, outlined the goals of the program Thursday morning at a member benefits forum at NAR’s 2009 Midyear Legislative Meetings.

According to Young, one of the main objectives for RPR is to offer REALTORS® rich data-such as information on natural disasters, local school systems, and property taxes-on properties across the United States. The data will come from partnerships with various research and tracking organizations, as well as information purchasing and gathering.

Young also said he intends for this system to be available to NAR members at no extra cost.

The RPR project is still being developed under the aegis of an advisory board comprised of brokers and MLS and NAR executives. Trials will take place over the next few weeks in seven test markets, and a public demonstration is planned for the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Diego.

The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Committee on Thursday approved a decision to update the Internet Data Exchange (IDX) Policy to reflect the difference between site “scrapers,” which steal listing data with malicious intent, and site “indexers,” such as Google or Yahoo. 

Several REALTORS® took the mic at the MLS Forum to argue for the clarification, stating that indexers help consumers and members by ensuring listings are broadly “searchable” on the Web. Among them were Jay Thompson and Paula Henry, REALTOR® bloggers who engaged in a recent Agent Genius debate about indexing vs. scraping. 

“Everyone agrees that the original intent [of the policy] was to prevent malicious intent, and everyone agrees that Google does not qualify as malicious intent,” Thompson said. “This could be handled by adding a sentence to Section 2 [of the policy]” regarding appropriate use by search engines. 

Other speakers mentioned the need for NAR to be “on the side of consumers” and to “do the right thing to modify its policy.” After several statements showing uniform support for the measure, the committee leadership showed a proposed update to policy verbiage, as follows: 

Current policy: 

2. Participants must protect IDX information from misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent “scraping” or other unauthorized accessing, reproduction or use of the MLS database. 

Proposed policy: 

2. Participants must protect IDX information from unauthorized use. This requirement does not prohibit indexing of IDX sites by search engines.

The committee approved the change, which must now go before NAR’s Board of Directors on Saturday.

At today’s Communications Directors’ Networking Session, NAR Social Media Manager Todd Carpenter described a recent “blogostorm” in which he and other NAR staff entered an Agent Genius blog debate about rules prohibiiting “scraping” of MLS listings on the Web. The original blog posting, by Paula Henry (an Indianapolis REALTOR®), garnered hundreds of comments and generated rapid-fire debate about the distinction between search indexers, such as Google, and site “scrapers,” which steal data. 

Todd presented the Agent Genius discussion thread as a great example of why being engaged in such a debate is vital to remaining relevant in the minds of the social-media savvy, an increasingly large group. In other words, participation in social media should not be seen as optional, either for associations, individual members, or their companies. As he said, a given debate is going to go on regardless of whether or not you are involved, so you might as well get involved and do so in a professional and productive way.  

Todd offered the following tips for those looking to break into the blogosphere: 

1. When writing a post, “show where you sit before you show where you stand” – meaning, be transparent about your perspective on an issue before providing your opinion. 

2. You’ll be more effective if you’re not just blogging from 9-5 – REALTORS are always on the clock, so if you leave at 5 p.m. and aren’t back until the next morning, there’s going to be a lot you’ve missed. 

3. “IMO” goes a long way – always explain what is your opinion versus the position of the company you represent. 

4. Look for an opportunity to assert your position by responding to a question or comment rather than initiating such a post.

5. Engage bloggers and other social media “regulars” in efforts to improve that which they dismiss or complain about. 

6. Whether you blog in a company- or association-sponsored blog, or a personal blog, talk to your employer about its policy for expression of your personal opinion. Some organizations are OK with employees expressing their personal beliefs, others are not. Sometimes, the answer is “it depends.” 

7. If you’re just breaking into social media, start with a blog as opposed to a Facebook page or Twitter account, especially if you’re not sure what your audience uses most. The benefit to a blog is that there is no membership requirement. 

The audience appreciated the information but expressed concern about a) having time to monitor and contribute to social media, and b) generating enough support for these activities among business leaders. Todd responded that one of his greatest assets in these efforts is his network – when someone in his circle alerts him to a particular discussion, he knows it’s worth checking out. Hilary Marsh of REALTOR.org also weighed in, saying that getting members information about the “hows and whys” of social media is at the top of NAR’s social media agenda. 

For more information about social media, visit REALTOR.org’s social media page, or read NAR’s Field Guide to Social Networking. 

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