Rob Hahn

Managing Partner of 7DS Associates, and the grand poobah of this here blog. Once called "a revolutionary in a really nice suit", people often wonder what I do for a living because I have the temerity to not talk about my clients and my work for clients. Suffice to say that I do strategy work for some of the largest organizations and companies in real estate, as well as some of the smallest startups and agent teams, but usually only on projects that interest me with big implications for reforming this wonderful, crazy, lovable yet frustrating real estate industry of ours.

Why Don't We See More Auctions in Real Estate?

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A curious phenomenon of human nature is the tendency to overvalue what we own. Case in point: fantasy football. I’m in multiple leagues this year as well, and for whatever reason, I really enjoy the trading aspect of fantasy football. And over the years, I’ve definitely noticed a tendency among people to overvalue their own … Read more

Why Don’t We See More Auctions in Real Estate?

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A curious phenomenon of human nature is the tendency to overvalue what we own. Case in point: fantasy football. I’m in multiple leagues this year as well, and for whatever reason, I really enjoy the trading aspect of fantasy football. And over the years, I’ve definitely noticed a tendency among people to overvalue their own … Read more

From the Annals of Wired Straits: More on Relationships

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Ah, the horse ain’t quite dead yet, Matt Dollinger. Nor is the discussion a moot point. I testify, cuz at the September dinner of the Wired Straits Social Club (kinda like a Houston-based Lucky Strikes, which I started in NYC), we discussed this issue at some length. And got something out of it. I figured … Read more

If Real Estate Is Not a Relationship Business, What Business Is It?

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  Over at Inman Next, Chris Smith stirs the cauldron up with a post entitled, “It Is No Longer A Relationship Business – Here’s Why“: Where I disagree is in the stance that I want to have a relationship with my Realtor. I don’t. In fact, I can’t even imagine it. My argument is that … Read more

A Couple of Notes on the REALTrends 250 Top Sales Professionals List

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  RealTrends does some great work. I love playing with their numbers, when they become available. The most recent one is a project they did with the Wall Street Journal ranking the top 1000 real estate agents and teams in the United States. (And, no, I have no idea how they got the data, what … Read more

Should Real Estate Be More Sheepskin-Based?

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  My good friend Michael McClure (@ProfessionalOne on Twitter) has been banging the “Raise The Bar” drum for quite some time now. Recently, he wrote a post accompanying a survey in which he wants to establish “the baseline for professionalism” in the real estate brokerage industry: All that being said, let’s get to the point … Read more

Moore's Law and Real Estate: Speculations

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I’m giving a presentation tomorrow at the Nextgen Realtor Group of the Houston Association of REALTORS. I do believe the actual title of my presentation, as in the program itself, is called Welcome to Dystopia. Somehow, it seems, I’ve become the Cassandra of the real estate industry. But in researching for the presentation, I ran … Read more