Don't Brokerages Compete With Each Other?

Over on Facebook, an interesting and intelligent discussion broke out — which is news in and of itself, I realize. We weren’t discussing The Dress or llamas. Amazing. What we were discussing is MLS taking over syndication, something that Kipp Cooper at North Alabama pioneered. Here’s how it began: The responses were really interesting, and … Read more

On NRT’s New HomesForSale.com (Which Most Folks Are Misunderstanding)

 I know some folks think I’m a Realogy homer. Well, given that’s where I got my start in the industry, maybe I’m a little bit guilty of that whole “cut me and I bleed blue” thing. But I think I’m actually calling things as I see them; I’ve been plenty critical of Realogy when they’ve … Read more

On NRT's New HomesForSale.com (Which Most Folks Are Misunderstanding)

 I know some folks think I’m a Realogy homer. Well, given that’s where I got my start in the industry, maybe I’m a little bit guilty of that whole “cut me and I bleed blue” thing. But I think I’m actually calling things as I see them; I’ve been plenty critical of Realogy when they’ve … Read more

Tell Me Again How the MLS is the “Gold Standard” of Data Accuracy?

I’ll have some thoughts on Realogy/NRT’s new HomesForSale.com later, but I couldn’t resist this brief observation. I kinda knew the problem existed, but until this splashy website came along, we did not have the visual impact/evidence. If HomesForSale.com accomplishes nothing else, it really ought to wake up the industry (particularly the MLS) about the problem with … Read more

Tell Me Again How the MLS is the "Gold Standard" of Data Accuracy?

I’ll have some thoughts on Realogy/NRT’s new HomesForSale.com later, but I couldn’t resist this brief observation. I kinda knew the problem existed, but until this splashy website came along, we did not have the visual impact/evidence. If HomesForSale.com accomplishes nothing else, it really ought to wake up the industry (particularly the MLS) about the problem with … Read more

We Need To Talk About Fannie Mae A Bit

A couple of weeks ago, I learned about a new Fannie Mae program that was rolled out to lenders called Collateral Underwriter, or CU. From the press release: Fannie Mae created the online tool in 2013 to analyze appraisal data it had been receiving from lenders electronically since 2012. With the rollout in early 2015, … Read more

Greed Is Good: In Which I Talk to Victor Lund about the BPP

I just had a fascinating conversation with Victor Lund of WAV Group who is spearheading the Broker Public Portal effort. We discussed a variety of topics from governance to equity to internal politics, shape of the industry, competitiveness, Zillow, Trulia, brokerages, etc. etc. It was awesome, and my thanks to Victor for making the time. … Read more

A Few Thoughts on the New Zillow Group

If you’re in the real estate industry — and why wouldn’t you be if you’re reading this blog — then you know by now that our lords and masters have approved Zillow’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Trulia. The new entity is not named TruZilla, Destroyer of Tokyo; it’s named Zillow Group. I’ve had the opportunity to … Read more

Who’s Down With BPP? Yeah You Know Me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xGuGSDsDrM I figured that my post on the Broker Public Portal would create some conversation, and I didn’t figure wrong. Brian Boero of 1000Watt discussed the BPP on their “Friday Flash” email newsletter, saying: If you want to know all the reasons why a broker-controlled national listing site might not work, read this post from Rob Hahn. I … Read more