[7DS] Initial Questions and Thoughts: New NAR Franchise-IDX Rule

(Originally posted on the 7DS Blog) As reported by Inman News, NAR’s Multiple Listing Issues and Policies Committee has approved a new addition to the Internet Data Exchange (“IDX”) policy as follows: Display of IDX Information by Real Estate Franchise Organizations Participants may provide IDX information to their real estate franchise organizations (“franchisors”) to be indexed for display … Read more

On Google's Latest Real Estate Foray: Implications & Speculations

From the Search Engine Land site comes news (h/t: Duke Long, @dukelong) that Google has built out what amounts to the start of a national real estate search website: The real estate listing place pages include property information, photos, map placement, Street View imagery and functionality, nearby public transit details, and even AdWords ads. Google … Read more

On Google’s Latest Real Estate Foray: Implications & Speculations

From the Search Engine Land site comes news (h/t: Duke Long, @dukelong) that Google has built out what amounts to the start of a national real estate search website: The real estate listing place pages include property information, photos, map placement, Street View imagery and functionality, nearby public transit details, and even AdWords ads. Google … Read more

Clients, Consumers, Information: Dialogue on My Inman Column

As expected, my latest Inman column brought out only wide agreement and headnodding.  Positively sleepy comments section there.  NOT.  Go read it fast, or better yet, go be a subscriber so Inman can continue to pay me for my ramblings.  (LOOK! A COMMERCIAL PITCH!) First of all, I owe a word of thanks to everyone … Read more

The 900-lb Gorilla Cometh

There are really very few voices in the RE.net I respect more than Russell Shaw‘s. I mean, this is a guy who not only talks the talk, he actually walks the walk. His insights and ideas are great in and of themselves, but they are that much more credible in my eyes because he’s a … Read more

Kudos to Larson/Sobotka – Must Reads on VOW Policy

I think I might have fallen in love with Larson/Sobotka.  I haven’t the faintest idea who they are, but it looks like they combine some business consulting with legal work with something else involving MLSes and such.  Bears looking into more. But they have done a great service for the RE.net by compiling a guide … Read more

From Confusion to Bizarro-Land

The NAR-DOJ settlement is the gift that keeps on giving.  To a blogger at least.  Well, to a blogger that happens to be interested in such an obscure and unimportant topic. 🙂 The latest piece of information is throwing me from confusion directly into bizarro-land.  NAR released a “Special Report” in which it announced that … Read more

The NAR-DOJ Settlement: Journey from Chaos to Confusion

I’m seriously up to my eyeballs in my dayjob (plus, I have to go to my second job of raising two little boys under the age of three after my dayjob — this second job is a LOT HARDER than my dayjob, I have to say…) but I had to emerge and say a word … Read more