Ask Not What Your NAR Can Do For You…

For whatever reason, there’s quite bit of chatter going on around the RE.net about the future and role of the REALTOR Association. This Facebook Group is more or less ground zero of the discussion. But I saw an interesting take on the topic from Victor Lund, the influential proprietor of the WAVGroup. Here is his … Read more

Something Positive For a Change: Coldwell Banker Hits A Home Run

Things have been so weird and so negative in real estate for so long that I feel like Notorious has become some sort of a gloomy doom-porn blog, which isn’t exactly my intent. So it makes me happy to report some sunshine and happy stuff for once. The new Coldwell Banker TV advertising campaign absolutely … Read more

Rethinking Brokerages After Redfin 3.0, Part 3

Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here. Thus far, we have explored why Redfin 3.0 is significant, and the hypothesis that the real estate consumer cannot, will not, or in any event does not form relationships with companies or with brands, but only with another person: the agent. We have looked at the … Read more

In Which I Try to Make Sense of the Austin IDX Kerfuffle

  I had to interrupt my series on Redfin 3.0 and what it might mean for brokerages because parts of the RE.net just blew up over the past day or two. AgentGenius (AGBeat?) reports that there is a dispute going on in Austin, Texas, between a group of brokers and agents (who mostly serve the … Read more

Rethinking Brokerages After Redfin 3.0, Part 2

  (Part 1 is here) So in the last post, I made the case that Redfin 3.0 is significant because of who made the decision. Redfin was and remains (a) an innovator in brokerage business models, (b) a technology leader, and (c) led by smart people who don’t make snap decisions. Their decision to move … Read more

Rethinking Brokerages After Redfin 3.0, Part 1

    So many interesting items in the news these days. Last week has been a busy week for blogging. And it ended on a most interesting note. Following all of the excitement around Zillow and Howard Hanna and all that, I saw this news from Redfin: Introducing Redfin 3.0: Redfin Becomes a No-Brainer Redfin is … Read more

Some Thoughts on Zillow’s 2011 Results and Howard Hanna (In Which I Declare Peace In Our Time)

Was it just yesterday when I was speculating on Zillow’s recent hiring of Bob Bemis? Why, yes, yes it was. How things change in 24 hours when you live in interesting times. [Editor’s Note: Obviously, you started writing this on the 15th and didn’t finish? Nice managing the deadline, Rob.] Today, Zillow released their Q4/2011 … Read more