NAR

Zillow Strikes Again

by

On the newswire this morning was a press release announcing the broadcast of an interview with Senators Bob Cocker (R-Tenn) and Mark Warner (D-Va) conducted by Zillow Chief Economist and all-round trend prognosticator, Dr. Stan Humphries. The senators are co-sponsors of Senate Bill 1217, the Housing Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013 which seeks … Read more

Deconstructing Obama on Housing

by

As I’m sure my industry-savvy readers — that would be you — know by now, President Obama sat down with Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow, for a half hour interview in which the President answered questions that Zillow gathered from social media. The video is embedded above. Thing is, if we’re going to understand where … Read more

NAR Mid-Year: Cry Havoc, and Let Slip the Dogs of War

by

I have been asked for a recap of the events at NAR Midyear, but as I did not attend the Board of Directors meeting, and as I was busy doing other things, I felt it wasn’t really my place to give a recap. It is, however, my place to offer some thoughts — high-level, unusual, … Read more

Brief Report from NAR Midyear MLS Policy Committee Meetings

by

  Let’s just say that Internet access where I am is shaky, at best. So I’ll try to keep this as brief as possible. A couple of interesting things happened today at the MLS Policy Committee Meeting. I’m sure the full report will be available after Midyear, but these are my initial brief thoughts. MLS … Read more

Is This What Passes for Bipartisan at REALTOR Magazine?

by

This is gonna get political, y’all, by necessity. You’ll see. I went over to the REALTOR Magazine website the other day to check out a piece by Lawrence Yun on something or another. Then I started clicking around as I often do, and ran across this piece on the fiscal situation and real estate. Here’s … Read more

Live by the Code, Die by the Code: A Conversation with Brian Copeland

by

I’m sure that if you’re a reader of this blog, you’ve seen the “I am a REALTOR and I live by the Code” meme that’s everywhere on Facebook. The man who began the whole thing is Brian Copeland, an extraordinary young leader, REALTOR (obviously), and a fantastic karaoke master. I was originally going to write … Read more

Concerning REALTOR Politics, A Few Thoughts

by

  I recently had the privilege of attending an event in Southern California with the Pacific West Association of REALTORS(r) at which a California state legislator spoke on issues facing the state. There were some really interesting Q&A with the brokers in attendance, ranging from property tax issues to whether brokers would be paying payroll … Read more