The following letter was sent to all members of July 19, 2017.

Dear Member:

 

Yesterday [July 18, 2017] afternoon, RAHB’s Board of Directors met to review in detail the latest draft of the data share contract provided by ORTIS.

 

Although there are ten areas we still have concerns with, in the spirit of cooperation to get the contract in place, we are ready to accept eight as-is, leaving only two outstanding items we cannot accept. These last two items were already previously agreed to by both RAHB and ORTIS but were deleted by ORTIS in their latest draft.

 

The two items deal with control of the distribution of data and reciprocity of data access. Data is a critical asset for brokerages and members, and proper distribution and control are vital to ensuring the continued success of our REALTORS®. It is unfortunate these last two items were removed, as RAHB was prepared to sign the contract yesterday.

 

Therefore, this week RAHB’s lawyer will write the two deleted items back into the contract, and will seek agreement from ORTIS, which would result in a signed contract. RAHB will also ask ORTIS to not shut off the current data feed, as we understand they plan to do on August 15, 2017, so that CoreLogic would have the 6-8 weeks they need to complete the new data transfer program between RAHB’s Matrix system and the regional system. In this event, RAHB will re-schedule our Matrix go-live date so you will continue to have uninterrupted access to all RAHB and regional listings.

 

Should ORTIS not agree to reinstate the two outstanding items, and in order to provide you as much notice as possible, RAHB will schedule a Members Meeting to be held in August. At that time you can address any questions directly to us and to your Board of Directors since we fully appreciate there has been much uncertainty about the data share. However, until the completion of negotiations, or preferably until the contract is signed, your Board of Directors is not in a position to speak in as much detail as you perhaps would prefer.  We do not think it is appropriate to negotiate business contracts in public or to share drafts on social media sites.

 

An update will be provided again next week as to the status of the data share contract at that time.

 

Thank you for your patience as we work through the final details; and thank you for being a RAHB member.

 

George O’Neill, CEO and Lou Piriano, 2017 President