[NOTE: This is a VIP post, for subscribers only. However, given the importance of the topic, I’m going to make it open to all for a couple of weeks. Dumbass comments will be deleted since that’s one major benefit of VIP.] As promised, I thought I would recap and summarize my thoughts on what the … Read more
Judge Andrea Wood of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois just granted class certification to the plaintiffs in Moehrl v. NAR, the mega lawsuit dealing with real estate commissions. This apparently sent shockwaves throughout the real estate industry, which puzzles me a bit. But then again, I’ve been following this lawsuit … Read more
So last Friday, the Department of Justice formally filed an appeal of the trial court’s ruling in its fight against NAR with the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. This was as obvious and as predictable as the sun rising in the East. I wrote about that in a special public VIP post … Read more
For a couple of years now, I’ve been warning that one consequence of the broken housing market will be politics and that the first domino to fall will be the so-called “corporate landlords.” I based that on things that people like Elizabeth Warren were saying in Senate hearings. I know that a number of cities … Read more
I’ve been 100% heads-down on a project. But thought I’d take a moment to comment on the news that CoStar and News Corp are no longer in talks about Realtor.com. This is not a Q4 review; that still remains to be done, probably after all the reports as there have been very few worthy of … Read more
Since I posted my questions (really, more of a “I don’t get it”) about NAR’s victory in the NAR v. US lawsuit, I’ve gotten a few questions from brokerage CEOs and intelligent agents all over. More concerning are the victory laps being taken, and the idea that “The DOJ threat is now gone!” I beg … Read more
[This is a VIP post, but given its importance and the fact that I’d love to hear from antitrust experts outside of the industry, I am opening it up to the public for a while. But hey, if you dig this kind of thing, consider subscribing to VIP.] A while back, when this case was … Read more
I apologize for the lengthy silence. I’ve been heads down on final prep for launching a new project I’ve been working on for over a year now. You’ll hear about it soon enough, I promise. And I hope it’ll interest all of you. In fact, I know it will interest some of you. I know, … Read more
Welcome to another installment of an annual tradition around here: the Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate in 2022. I look forward to this post, as well as my Seven Predictions post, each year. As in earlier years, let me reiterate that Inman does the Influencers list, Swanepoel does the Power 200 list (I help out on … Read more