Lubbock real estate agents coping with cyber attack
Nationwide listing service offline while they recover from the attack
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A cyber-attack has shut down real estate listing services nationwide, including here in Lubbock.
Rapattoni, a nationwide multiple listings service announced last week via social media that it was the target of a cyber-attack that caused a system outage. Rapattoni is a software and data service designed exclusively for real estate associations and multiple listing services. It is the ‘hub’ where real estate agents can see the latest information for listings on the market.
“We make our status changes on there: prices, active, under contract, everything goes through this Rapattoni MLS system,” Andi Dunlap, a realtor at Black Pearl Realty, said.
The shutdown is not allowing agents to update their listings to the hub, not just for realtors to see, but also affecting buyers and sellers.
“All of the major, like Zillow Realtor, they get their feeds from the MLS, were manually having to reach out and ask those questions, we’re all busy, so sometimes it takes a little bit to hear back to them to get those specific details we need to know,” Dunlap said.
Listings are still scheduled to hit the market while the system is shut down, so real estate agents have had to get creative.
“We’re still actively getting these listings on the market, we’re just having to do by a sheet. It’s a Google doc that we have access to, to go in and update them,” Dunlap said.
Dunlap said this document is being shared between Lubbock’s real estate agents and on private Facebook groups.
“It’s really made us come together and figure out how we can help each other,” she said.
Although it is an inconvenience, they say they now know how to handle an outage like this in the future.
“We’re going to take those precautions because as time goes on, technology advances. This is just the first it has affected our industry like this, but now that it’s been done, it’s probably not gonna be the last.”
Rapattoni says the attack is under investigation and they are working to get all systems restored, but it is yet to be determined when the MLS will be back up.
If you’re looking to buy or sell, know that agents will be able to still guide you through the process, it just might take a little bit longer until those systems are back up.
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