It’s a busy day here, but I couldn’t resist this. 🙂 Sam DeBord, a really intelligent and perceptive guy, who is also a working broker for Coldwell Banker Danforth in Seattle, wrote a long column on Inman about the possibility of huge liabilities for brokerages because of pocket listings. Read the whole thing. There are … Read more
Last Thursday, Zillow released a report on minority access to mortgages in partnership with the National Urban League. In case you were wondering what the conclusion of the report might have been, it was titled, “A House Divided: How Race Colors the Path to Homeownership“. The topline conclusion comes from Stan Humphries, Zillow’s Chief Economist … Read more
Thanks to a project I’ve been working on for the past few days, I’ve had the pleasure(?) of visiting a number of brokerage websites. As I write this post, Inman NYC is in full-swing, where tech people, consultants, vendors, and experts are telling the assembled brokers and agents on the latest and greatest in innovation. … Read more
I don’t often do these “guest posts” because, well, most such “guest posts” are thinly disguised advertisements for some company or another. I have a co-blogger in the Notorious B.O.B. Bemis, but that’s different. But I thought this post by Jeremy Conaway of RECon Intelligence Services, was really interesting for the points he brings up. … Read more
Although we got to the end of the road Still I can’t let go It’s unnatural You belong to me I belong to you My co-blogger, Notorious BOB Bemis, wrote one of his finest works over the holidays and suggested that perhaps it was time for a divorce between Move and NAR. I was ah… deeply engaged … Read more
I wanted to get to this before 2014 dawned, of course, but… it was more fun to hang out with my boys. And by that I don’t mean my posse of secret real estate pundits, but my actual biological progeny. In any event, it’s customary here at Notorious to make predictions that are sure to … Read more
Welcome to another edition of an annual tradition, in which I go back and grade myself on my predictions made at the start of this year. My track record so far: 2010 Predictions: 6 of 10 (.600) 2011 Predictions: 4.5 of 7 (.642) 2012 Predictions: 2 for 7 (.286) As ever, I hope to be … Read more
If you have been living under your real estate the past few weeks instead of inside it, there has been a verbal war raging in the REweb over the testing by Realtor.com of a new creation called AgentMatch, ever since Realtor.com (RdC) president Errol Samuelson first announced the “experiment” at the NAR Convention in San Francisco in … Read more
 In this episode, Ernie Graham, Director of Product Management for REALTOR.com, joins us for an in-depth discussion about AgentMatch, what consumers want, and what the industry needs to do. AgentMatch — a system in beta testing in two markets — has been controversial of late because it uses MLS data to “rank” agents based … Read more