Cincinnati 's real estate market is considered one of the most popular in the country, but the ongoing effects of a cyberattack could have devastating consequences for both buyers and sellers.
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About 8,000 members of the Realtor Alliance of Greater Cincinnati will vote to decide whether the group will return to using Rapattoni's Multiple Listing Service, more than a month after it disconnected from the Californiadue to a cyberattack that paralyzed home listings for sellers and buyers.
The vote was held at the request of 1,000 members who expressed dissatisfaction with the Perchwell replacement service. They reported problems and inaccuracies in the data regarding houses on the market. The concerns raised led to the vote.
In a statement on behalf of the Greater Cincinnati Realtor Association, Brett Kepplersaid, “After weeks of trying to use the Perchwell system, which has been approved by our local Board of Directors, we have determined that our data has lost integrity and cannot be trusted when pricing a home and searching for homes on behalf of our clients.”
Keppler found that the Perchwell system often has difficulty accurately transmitting information to well-known websites like Realtor.com and Zillow.com.
Real estate agent Casey Stewart said he was confident the board would lead local real estate agents to a more efficient system to serve homebuyers and sellers in the area. However, it was reported that the move to Perchwell was not without challenges.
In a statement, Greater Cincinnati MLS President Anne Uchtmanexpressed that they could never have predicted a cyberattack that would lead to the loss of listing services on the region's stock exchange.
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Joe Duffey, a board member at Comey & Shepherd Realtors, said the board had been working to bring Perchwell online since 2022, even before the cyberattack on Rapattoni. When it became clear that system wouldn't come online quickly, the process was accelerated.
It was reported that Perchwell has agreed to an extensive program for releasing bug fixes and new features as soon as they become available. Duffey noted that Perchwell was the least intrusive option available for real estate, home buyers and sellers as they recover from the MLS outage.
The vote of all Realtor members on the future of Perchwell and Rapattoni in Cincinnati will start online on Sunday, September 24 at noon and will conclude on Tuesday, September 26 at noon.
In a note shared with WCPO, Carl Horst, Director of Communications for the Realtor Association, said: “Please be aware that the outcome of the subscriber vote will determine the course of action for CincyMLS.”
A Rapattoni spokesperson declined to comment and pointed to a “major client that has been with us for over 20 years, the REALTOR® Alliance of Greater Cincinnati.”
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In his statement published on WCPO, Realtor Association CEO Carl Horst said, “I am confident that the outcome of the subscriber vote will determine the direction CincyMLS will take.”
