In part 1, I laid out some hints of what the Obama Administration has in mind for a new federal housing policy that would “reset the rules of the market” and engage in a “fundamental rethink” not just of the mechanics of housing finance, but of the objectives of housing policy themselves. The Treasury now … Read more
There was, apparently, an earthquake in Washington DC not too long ago. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and no serious property damage occurred as the 3.6 magnitude tremor rolled through. Mere days later, however, I learned that another tremor — this one not registered on any geological survey — centered around Washington DC occurred. From … Read more
On November 6th, at roughly 3:15PM Eastern Standard Time, the National Association of REALTORS declared war on the rest of the real estate industry. To be fair, NAR probably did not realize that it did so. Judging by the initial responses, it doesn’t appear to me that most people see what I saw. But, probably … Read more
I had promised in Part 2 of this series that I would tackle the so-called “K-Dub” model in this part. Well, I’ve decided against it. Looking at the numbers, it seems to me that from a model perspective, there’s nothing particularly novel about the K-Dub (based on Keller Williams) model. Its appeal and power lie … Read more
In Part 1, we explored the traditional brokerage model by the numbers and found that there are significant issues with the current model as constructed. It may be, of course, that my hypothetical numbers are just way off, and therefore, the entire analysis ought to be trashed. I get the feeling, however, that in the … Read more
One of the more insightful posts on the industry came earlier this week from one of the more insightful people in the industry: Nicolai Kolding, COO of Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, and former head of M&A for Realogy. This is a man who knows what he’s talking about. He gave a presentation (PDF) … Read more
Marc Davison (@1000wattmarc) of 1000watt Consulting is one of the top thinkers and one of the most compelling writers in our industry, and his latest posts on the future of brokerage are examples of why one might think of Marc as Master Yoda of the Real Estate Jedi Academy. You can read part 1 here, … Read more
At last. We have arrived at the destination of this series. (See parts 1, 2, 3, and 4). In Part 2 of this series, I spoke at length about institutional CRM and why that can be an unbeatable competitive advantage when properly implemented and used. In Part 3, we examined whether an institutionalized brokerage could … Read more
Brian Boero of 1000watt recounts a dinner conversation and throws down some challenging questions and assertions: This particular debate centered on the following question: “Have we reached the end of the real estate story now that FSBOs and discounting have lost their menace?” As Brian puts it, there were two camps, comprised of him in … Read more