Role of the MLS: Defender of the REALTOR?

As my Red Dot subscribers already know, I published the March Red Dot on the future of the Multiple Listing Service a couple of days ago. I have also been traveling nonstop since last Monday and most of my meetings and conferences have been on the MLS, so I have the MLS on my mind. … Read more

OK, I’ll take the bait: Upstream and CoreLogic are not the MLS

Upstream Corelogic MLS

Rob had some good questions yesterday that many in the industry are probably asking, in “OK, I’ll Ask: How is CoreLogic Threading the Upstream Needle?” For a lot of us in the industry, it can be frustrating when these questions are left hanging over a vacuum fit for conspiracies. Let’s fill some of that void, especially … Read more

OK, I’ll Ask: How Is CoreLogic Threading the Upstream Needle?

So one of the bigger announcements in recent memory went out a few days ago, and… no one appears to be asking the obvious question about it. I am speaking of the announcement that CoreLogic will be the new vendor for UpstreamRE. Since I have good friends in both companies, I congratulate them both and … Read more

Seven Predictions for 2019: K-Pop Edition

[Posted earlier at Inman News; now that it’s actually 2019, figured it was safe to post to my site for posterity.] So it turns out that I started doing musical themes in 2011 with the Techno Edition for 2012. I’ve done great music (like Alison Krauss and Union Station) to hair-curlingly cringey music (like the … Read more

The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate, 2018 Edition

Welcome back to another edition of The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate. I know, I know, as a friend of mine said on Facebook, “Great, yet another list.” It does seem like there are a lot of lists in our industry. But what the hell, I do this mostly for fun anyhow, and this … Read more

A Final Word (Hopefully) on Upstream

As you can imagine, there’s been a ton of chatter about Project Upstream and its “divorce” with Daddy NARbucks. I think I’ve gotten no fewer than three emails from consultants and thought leaders in the industry on the topic. Inman has written not just a news article announcing the split, but an in-depth investigation into … Read more

December Red Dot: Darkness Comes – Excerpts and Special Offer

The December Red Dot, Darkness Comes: Q3 and the Rise of Redfin, is now published and live. I’m pretty proud of it, but I thought I would write this post because I think this report might actually be important. If you are in real estate, or interested in the industry, if you read nothing else … Read more

Things Become Clearer: NAR vs. Zillow; C2EX vs. Best of Zillow

I’ve been busy researching and writing the November Red Dot, which has now been published. But as often happens, when I’m deep in that project, blogging gets light. I apologize. It appears there are a few things to talk about, but none are more important or more interesting than two recent announcements by NAR and … Read more

Will Compass Invest in the MLS?

There is a great interview with Robert Reffkin, CEO of Compass, up on Inman today. Read the whole thing. But I saw something that really made me sit back and think, so figured I’d share it with everybody. Here’s what Reffkin said: And the third is that agents are starting to operate their business on … Read more