Seven Predictions for 2016: The 90s Dance Music Edition

As you can probably see, this is a special edition of my 7 predictions. I normally post those on my blog at Notorious R.O.B., but not this year! Brad Inman asked if I wanted to share these crazy predictions with the readers of Inman, and I thought, why not? I mean, these are predictions sure … Read more

Grading Time! Reviewing My 2015 Predictions

Welcome to another edition of an annual tradition, in which I go back and grade myself on my predictions made at the start of this year. My track record so far: 2010 Predictions: 6 for 10 (.600) 2011 Predictions: 4.5 for 7 (.642) 2012 Predictions: 2 for 7 (.286) 2013 Predictions: 4.5 for 7 (.642) 2014 Predictions: 3 for … Read more

Follow-Up Post on Brass Tacks: What To Do About Marginal Agents?

Happy Friday everyone. I wanted to do this quick follow-up to my Brass Tacks: What To Do About Marginal Agents post from November 20, 2015. Because the comments on that post were… interesting… so I figured we might get some more interesting comments on this one. If you recall, in that original post, I highlighted … Read more

The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate, 2015

‘Tis the season for year-end lists, best-of lists, lists for Santa, lists for New Year Resolutions, lists of lists, yay! I recently spent a weekend locked in a conference room working on an actually important list — the Swanepoel Power 200 — that was fun, exhilarating, and hard work. But as we get to the … Read more

Marginal REALTORS: Five Things an Association Can Do Today

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday; I personally got some really great news the day before Thanksgiving, so I had a truly memorable one myself. I even managed to hold on to that feeling of profound gratitude as the sentiment turned from giving thanks to indulging in exercises in gluttony that would have … Read more

Futurism: The Rise of Online Education and Real Estate

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I thought it might be fun to do some Big Picture Thinking, rather than overly earnest calls for reform that go silently into that dark night. One amazing story I saw recently deserves some of that Big Picture Futurism treatment. From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with the headline, “Homeschooled with … Read more

Brass Tacks: What To Do About Marginal REALTORS?

My recent post on Zillow and the winds of war led to some predictable responses. The automated bot-scripts posted about how Zillow sucks, the leads are terrible, and how Spencer’s gonna eat your baby, etc. etc., even though my post had nothing to do with any of that. The principal objection of those who actually … Read more

The Winds of War: Zillow's Q3 Earnings Call and the Inevitability of Conflict

By now, if you pay attention to this sort of thing, you’ve seen Zillow’s Q3/2015 earnings report and maybe even listened to the earnings call. And on the financial side of things, ZG appears to have kicked ass once again: Revenue of $176.8 million, up 13% year over year on a pro forma basis. Adjusted … Read more

The Winds of War: Zillow’s Q3 Earnings Call and the Inevitability of Conflict

By now, if you pay attention to this sort of thing, you’ve seen Zillow’s Q3/2015 earnings report and maybe even listened to the earnings call. And on the financial side of things, ZG appears to have kicked ass once again: Revenue of $176.8 million, up 13% year over year on a pro forma basis. Adjusted … Read more