Data Standards and Service Standards: Helping Businesses in Real Estate, Mortgage, Appraisal, and Related Industries Function More Efficiently

Author: John Cirincione and Sam Bacharach

Start Page: 125
End Page: 138
Volume: 15
Issue Number: 1
Year: 2007
Publication: Journal of Real Estate Literature

Abstract:
Much work is being accomplished globally in many industries to standardize data and online services. Benefits of standards include decreased operational costs, increased employee and workplace productivity, improved accuracy, more open exchange of information, increased flexibility, reduced risk, and more real-time transactions. This article discusses the standardization efforts of four standards bodies working on information technology standards to benefit the real estate market and related markets such as mortgage, property valuation, architecture, engineering and construction markets. These standards bodies are the Appraisal Institute, Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate, and the Open Geospatial Consortium. The article also addresses each organization’s interoperability focus, some of key areas of collaboration, and where they see convergence occurring.