In commercial real estate, there is a standard analysis that brokers conduct: the Lease-Buy analysis. It is meant to show the client the financial impact of leasing space vs. buying the building outright. For whatever reason, this is not a standard analysis that residential agents conduct on behalf of their clients. You can find online … Read more
Achtung, der Marketingspezialisten! I’m not sure how many others have picked up on this, but I really think there’s something afoot. The zeitgeist has shifted. There is a palpable and noticeable move towards simplicity, towards manual labor, and away from “high-tech” and complexity. Just in the last few days, I’ve seen two examples of companies … Read more
You know what I’d love to see when international real estate companies make grand pronouncements about globalization and its effects on local real estate? Numbers. Joel Burslem profiled REA Group over at FOREM, and this passage jumped out at me: Bottom line however, his [Simon Baker, CEO of REA Group] advice to agents to begin … Read more
Inman News has a very interesting… I guess one would have to call it an Op/Ed or News Analysis on the Washington Post’s story on HUD Secretary Jackson’s last day: An article in last Sunday’s Post deserves credit for attempting to go beyond the allegations of cronyism that forced Jackson to resign, and taking a … Read more
Courtesy of Zillow’s blog, we hear about the economically depressed city of Youngstown, OH razing thinly populated neighborhoods in order to save on public services costs to the area. There are lots of reasons to do this — abandoned homes can become a base for crime, drugs, and other naughty activities that civilized society frowns … Read more
Interestingly enough, just after I wrote about the problem of too many real estate agents overall, I found a post by Dave Phillips over at Bloodhound Blog called “Raising the Bar or Bellying Up to It“. It’s insightful and hilarious. Recommended reading for sure. I’m thinking, what’s all this Sam Adams reference? This is no … Read more
Marc Davison recently issued what I consider to be an important challenge, sort of tucked away into the dictum of his post called “Exodus from the bondage of 1.0 tradition“: Like catcalls from construction workers to pedestrians, false bravado, come-ons and innuendo continue to adorn broker websites. They stand as a gripping example of how … Read more
I’m not entirely sure why I feel this way, but reading Matthew Rathburn just tee off on a couple of people who emailed him unsolicited ‘advice’ was… just refreshing in so many ways. I can’t help the title of this post. 🙂 I urge you to go read the whole thing. It’s insightful and just … Read more
Depending on who you ask, we are either headed for a recession or in one already. There seems to be some sort of a political angle to the whole question of recession, so who knows what the truth is in an election year? What everyone seems to agree on is that we’re certainly not in … Read more