Information and the Firm, Real Estate: What Does Big Data Even Mean?

  In part 1, we just looked at one person’s view of what Big Data means for corporations, then tried to apply it to real estate. I’ve had a couple of conversations about it with some very smart industry people since posting that, and am trying to wrap my head around the whole concept. The … Read more

Technology Deflation and Real Estate Business Models

Last week, I had what was probably my fifth conversation of the week with a proptech-brokerage-disruptor startup that went something like this: Save somebody (consumers, agents, brokers, MLS) a lot of money Build a large userbase Make money from referrals to service providers (appraisers, movers, mortgage, etc.) As a general matter, I don’t really see … Read more

The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate in 2021

Welcome to another installment of an annual tradition around here: the Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate in 2021. I look forward to this post, as well as my Seven Predictions post, each year. Last year, I went out of my way to select interesting people who weren’t the Obvious Choices. This year, I’m … Read more

Pretty Lies: The Real Estate Agent Edition

In a previous post, I talked about pretty lies that brokerages tell themselves to feel better about things, even though they know deep in their hearts that none of those will actually solve their problems. If you read that post, you know that I’ve been telling myself pretty lies about my weight and physical condition … Read more

The Decade That Was in Real Estate

I gather that with 2020 just around the corner, navel gazing and thinking big thoughts about the ’10’s have become a relatively popular activity. Hell, I did it myself on the Industry Relations podcast with Greg Robertson. But I’m going to do it again, in writing, because it helps me think things through. What’s sort … Read more

The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate, 2019 Edition

Welcome back to another edition of The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate. As in earlier years, let me reiterate that Inman does the Influencers list, Swanepoel does the Power 200 list (I help out on that list), and both are far more respected and important than this short list of mine for a bunch … Read more