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
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
Longtime readers of this wee little blog of mine know that one of the topics I revisit from time to time is about REALTORS and physical security. My last post on the topic was a sad one, and one in which I advocated that real estate agents — in particular female real estate agents — … Read more
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
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
(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
I’ve seen quite a few posts of late suggesting that the housing market has finally hit bottom. Agent friends of mine are telling me about increased activity in their local markets, multiple bids on houses, low inventory, and so on. We have Stan Humphries of Zillow saying the Spring 2012 season should be positive. And … Read more
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
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