Hi intrepid readers. Notorious Junior here to do a follow-up report to Notorious Senior’s parsing of the NAR Organizational Realignment and Core Standards project, Part 1. So why isn’t Rob handling his own follow-up promises? Well, he’s been kind of busy lately, being chased around by the Audubon Society for talking smack about Black Swans and … Read more
So… earlier this year, at the T3 Summit, I listed as one of my Black Swans the possibility that the 1099 independent contractor status for real estate agents might go away. The reason, I thought, was that state and federal governments would want MOAR taxes. You know, Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, whatever taxes that are tied to … Read more
The above is my view right now, as I’m in the Lakes of the Ozarks for an event tomorrow and Friday, so this post is heavily influenced by the fact that I’m sitting at a bar with a tropical drink, listening to Jimmy Buffet. So if it seems a bit of a disconnected ramble… blame Margaritaville. … Read more
A couple of days ago, a friend of mine in the commercial real estate space asked me about Opendoor.com. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I went over to look at what that’s about. Well, this is what the website looks like right now: Hm. “The easiest way to sell your … Read more
My friends at Clareity, Gregg Larsen and Matt Cohen, have just released a white paper they co-authored titled Beyond Syndication that is worth reading in full if you’re interested in this sort of thing. They include an overview of where things stand today, and then make a recommendation or two. Despite the fact that I … Read more
The judge in the non-compete-disguised-as-a-trade-secrets case between Move & NAR v. Zillow & Errol Samuelson has issued a preliminary injunction that looks like a big win for REALTORS and REALTOR-lookalikes. Inman News has the story, and the actual order itself (PDF). As a an interested bystander, the whole thing is sort of sad. Wish my friends would … Read more
The judge in the non-compete-disguised-as-a-trade-secrets case between Move & NAR v. Zillow & Errol Samuelson has issued a preliminary injunction that looks like a big win for REALTORS and REALTOR-lookalikes. Inman News has the story, and the actual order itself (PDF). As a an interested bystander, the whole thing is sort of sad. Wish my friends would … Read more
In case you haven’t seen this yet, Katie Johnson, the General Counsel of NAR, has written an article that comes as close to a formal legal opinion on dangers of failing to syndicate listings. Well, actually, she warns about the practice of pre-marketing, also known as “Coming Soon” but the logic that she uses applies with full … Read more
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I’d submit that a video is worth a million words. Therefore, this post is worth 4 million words, as these four videos tell a tale far more powerfully than your poor scribe ever could. Make the jump to see for yourself. Why the MLS Is On … Read more