How “fixing” the Zestimate isn’t just math

I recently amused myself – and a few others – when I Facebook trolled the CEO of Zillow, Spencer Rascoff for offering a million dollars to anyone who could fix their “Zestimate” algorithm.  My solution was simple – “Hire a REALTOR®” Then I suggested he send the million dollars to the Beverly Hills/ Greater Los … Read more

How "fixing" the Zestimate isn't just math

I recently amused myself – and a few others – when I Facebook trolled the CEO of Zillow, Spencer Rascoff for offering a million dollars to anyone who could fix their “Zestimate” algorithm.  My solution was simple – “Hire a REALTOR®” Then I suggested he send the million dollars to the Beverly Hills/ Greater Los … Read more

Question of Trust: A Response to Tni Leblanc

I do love me some good meaty debates on industry issues, even if it can be passionate. Especially if it is passionate, as long as the debate doesn’t descend into irrational ranting or rudeness. I get to enjoy that with many of my friends, like Sam Debord and Andrew Flachner. I hope Tni Leblanc, with … Read more

Zillow Fever Strikes Again! Instant Offer Triggers Insecure Agents

One of the more amusing things about the real estate industry in the 21st century is the extent to which Zillow triggers some folks to heights of lunacy otherwise seen only in the more extreme social justice warrior types. If Zillow bought Coca-Cola tomorrow, some people would immediately switch to Pepsi. The latest fracas involving … Read more

Pivot? Or Reveal? Upstream Decides to Go Downstream

A few of you have already asked for my opinions on The Pivot, as it is now being called. At the NAR Midyear meetings that took place last week, Upstream’s CEO Alex Lange told the attendees at CMLS Brings It to the Table event that going forward, Upstream will take a data feed from the … Read more

The Difference Between Business and a Profession

I’ve been traveling almost nonstop for a few weeks, so things have been light in the blogging department. My latest stop was Stefan Swanepoel’s T3 Summit in Los Angeles last week, a fabulous event made even more fabulous this year because of agent Eric Boyenga of the Silicon Valley Real Estate Team. T3 attracts  the most powerful people … Read more

Destroy Your Illusions

Last week the well-known real estate author/speaker/consultant Stefan Swanepoel wrote on Facebook that money is flowing into real estate technology. That observation sparked a heated discussion; many argued that real estate doesn’t scale, it’s too complicated, transactions are too difficult, too expensive, and too emotional for technology to disrupt, and so on. To paraphrase Darth Vader: … Read more

HouseCanary, Predictive Analytics and TEOTWAWKI

&nbsBrian Boero’s Friday Flash today is particularly interesting. He talks about the growth of predictive analytics, and writes this: It’s two years from now. Pretty much every agent in America has some sort of predictive analytics tool available to them, either through their broker, franchise, MLS or by buying it directly. They’re all looking at … Read more