Look, if you’ve been a regular reader, you know that I don’t do “blogging for clients” type of junk you’ll find elsewhere on the real estate web. My clients are my clients, I don’t talk about them, what I do talk to them about is between me and them, and this blog here is my … 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
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
I’m gearing up for another all-day meeting for a project that I think will actually make a difference in the industry, but… I’m getting a lot of emails and messages asking me what I think about Zillow’s new Coming Soon feature. So here are a few random thoughts and questions. As reported by Paul Hagey … Read more
I recently came across two different listings online, and the difference between the two was striking. One listing had 16 photos, with good descriptions of each, and the listing detail was 18 paragraphs long and filled with great detail like: The building is a walk-up and is not handicapped-accesible. There is a flight of stairs to … Read more
My friend Seth Price, aka, Best Dressed Man in Real Estate, works for a startup called Placester. Many of you know the company, as it makes IDX websites for brokers and agents. High quality design templates and custom websites is Placester’s game. Or rather it was Placester’s game. This morning, Placester announced that it had … Read more
I’m really, really, really slammed with work so this won’t be as in-depth and searching as I’d like, but I do think it’s important to put down these semi-brief thoughts, so I can figure out what I think about what Zillow’s recent personnel moves means. Let me not bury the lede. L’Affaire d’Errol et Curt … Read more
First, the positive, because I do so love accentuating the positives when I see them. For whatever reason, I’m more fascinated by problems and issues and doomporn and such, but it’s so nice to see real estate people doing really cool shit. The example here is Real Living, based in DC. The co-founder and co-CEO, … Read more
Inman News reports that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Realcomp II in a years-long case: Michigan’s largest multiple listing service “unreasonably restrained competition” among real estate brokers by refusing to transmit exclusive agency property listings favored by discount brokers to Realtor.com and other public-facing Web sites, a federal appeals court has ruled. … Read more