Realtor.com Tries to Get the Balance Right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1_9WYllhiQ Without question, the big topics coming out of NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings were  about RPR-AMP, Upstream, and the future of the MLS. I’ve already written a few posts about them, and expect to write more in the future. But lost in all of that was a big rebrand and relaunch by Move of Realtor.com. … Read more

2015 NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings: Quick Takes, Without Much Thought

I have a feeling we’re going to be talking about a whole variety of things that went down at NAR Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo (aka, “Midyear”) this year for months and years to come. It’s been a great week, but rough on the sleep schedule, so these are not exactly deeply-thought-out opinions here. It’s … Read more

The Truth About OfferGen & Telephonophobia

I recently had the pleasure of talking to Andrew Flachner of RealScout, who penned this article on Inman recently: The answer to me, and to many real estate veterans, is obvious. A strategy that directly focuses on producing more transactions, while providing more value to the client, is far more rewarding, both financially and professionally. … Read more

Copyright and Solds-Over-IDX

Judging by the stats, it appears that few people actually took the time to listen to my most recent podcast, featuring Brian Balduf of VHT Studios. We discussed a number of issues surrounding copyright of photographs and liability that arises from misuse, which… yeah, I understand those are sleeping aids for most people. Nonetheless, I … Read more

Notorious POD: Episode 12 – Photos, Copyrights, Liability with Brian Balduf, VHT

  It’s been months since my last podcast, but that’s just how things work out sometimes. But with T3 coming up, I figured I should upload this. Brian Balduf, CEO of VHT, joined me to discuss an issue that’s really going a bit under the radar. His post Now Is The Time to Shield Your … Read more

Zillow, The Industry, and Reading the Tea Leaves

This is one of those posts I write from time to time to figure out what I think about an issue. For now, that issue is trying to discern the possible direction of the residential real estate industry in the U.S. If you’re an agent and only care about something that will have a direct, … Read more

In Which I Point Out the Obvious, With Numbers

James Dwiggins, CEO of Nexthome, has become one of my favorite commentators on the state of the industry. He’s extremely smart, has years and years of experience as a broker and now as a franchise operator, and is without question one of the tallest men in the real estate industry. (Maybe Walt Baczkowski, CEO of … Read more

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

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