Do Not Minimize Ragnarok: Very Serious Legal Threat, Part 2

So my flight is delayed… for hours… which usually leads to drinking. I thought I might do something else instead. Since I posted about the antitrust lawsuit filed against NAR and four large real estate companies, I’ve read a ton of comments from people who are not antitrust attorneys about why this case is frivolous, … Read more

Gotterdammerung: A Very Serious Legal Threat

I realize I just posted on the future of the MLS, and normally, I’d let posts sit for a few days to “mature” but this is far too big an event and far too big a deal to wait. In case you missed it, a class action lawsuit was filed with the United States District … Read more

Data Manipulation in the MLS is a Must Fix Issue

Yesterday, an item on Facebook caught my eye. It was someone sharing a Medium post by Frances Flynn Thorsen, the “Blogmother” of real estate. Before you continue, I strongly suggest reading the whole thing. (You’ll need a Medium account, I believe.) There’s quite a lot of history here, including some sordid drama involving criminal extortion, … Read more

Seven NYC Brokerages and RealScout Do A Dangerous Thing

I’m deep into writing the October Red Dot, but Andrew Flachner of RealScout sent me a personal email this morning with his Open Letter to the industry attached. He’s spoken to me before about this initiative, and asked if I would write about it. Well, the Open Letter is now published, and Inman News has … Read more

Some Answers About KWRI’s Virtual Brokerage

On August 26, Rob Hahn, Founder of the blog, Notorious R.O.B, asked for some answers to his post “Some Questions About KWRI’s Virtual Brokerage.” I’m happy to oblige. As a Market Center owner (Operating Principal) and one of the many architects of Keller Williams (KW) Expansion, I am committed to ensuring KWRI’s virtual brokerages are … Read more

Some Questions About KWRI’s Virtual Brokerage

Two things. First, I’ve been busy with my September Red Dot, so I missed this news when it was announced: KW to launch virtual brokerages for expansion business owners. According to Inman News: During last week’s Keller Williams Mega Camp, a company retreat for select Keller Williams leaders, Keller Williams CEO John Davis said the … Read more

Dynamex and Real Estate: Apocalypse Starts with ABC

I seriously thought about not writing this post. For one thing, this is complicated stuff, and I thought maybe it deserves to be a Red Dot Report in the near future. That might still happen, depending on how things play out over the next few months. This is also one of my Black Swans coming … Read more

Does Fiduciary Duty Require Putting Listings on Zillow?

A really interesting discussion broke out in the comments section of my post last Wednesday titled “The MLS Is Not Doomed! But Most of Them Are.”  A reader with the alias DeRidder LA Real Estate, LLC injected everybody’s favorite topic, Zillow, into the conversation: Disallow compilations of your MLS data to be sent to Realtor.com, Zillow, or … Read more