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.

Midyear Report: Reflections on REALTOR Party Political Initiative, Part 1 – Wartime NAR

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This post, and this series of reports and opinions from NAR Mid-Year 2011, brought to you by: Thanks again to Zillow for sponsoring the series. I walked around one full day at Midyear with a Zillow shirt, as promised in my Ebay sponsorship listing. Got more than a couple of comments as a result, ranging … Read more

Midyear Report: First Take on Board of Directors Votes

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This post, and this series of reports and opinions from NAR Mid-Year 2011, brought to you by: The historic meeting of NAR’s Board of Directors is now over. I had the privilege of being able to listen in as a member of the “press” — which the blogosphere and RE.net can actually be. I hope … Read more

Midyear Reports: On the Franchise IDX Decision

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This post, and this series of reports and opinions from NAR Mid-Year 2011, brought to you by: [UPDATED Friday 5/13; see end of post] Yesterday, I reported on the decision of the MLS Policy Committee to suspend the Franchise IDX rule and refer it to a new working group for revision by the Annual Convention … Read more

Midyear Reports: Breaking News from MLS Policy Committee Meetings

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This post, and this series of reports and opinions from NAR Mid-Year 2011, brought to you by:   I can report on three major developments at the MLS Policy Committee meeting at NAR Midyear. Civix Patent Litigation Global Settlement First, NAR has reached a tentative agreement with Civix, the greenmailer patent owner who has been … Read more

Mid-Year Series: Syndication Showdown at CMLS Corral, Presented by Zillow

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This post, and this series of reports and opinions from NAR Mid-Year 2011, brought to you by: [kml_flashembed publishmethod=”static” fversion=”8.0.0″ movie=”http://7dsassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/zillow_yahoo_ad.swf” width=”600″ height=”300″ targetclass=”flashmovie”][/kml_flashembed] First, as you noticed with the sponsorship banner above, Zillow won the Ebay auction for sponsoring this series. So thank you Zillow. Make them look good for sponsoring this series by … Read more

Buyer Diaries: The Pregame

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As some of you know, I’ve recently moved from New Jersey to Texas, because my wife got one of them “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunities to join a fledgling company at the ground level. I’ve been thinking and writing about real estate for a few years now, but haven’t really had the chance to look at the experience … Read more

Realogy Numbers Look Pretty Good To Me

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A couple of days ago, Realogy (my old employer) released its Q1/2011 report. Quite a few people emailed and messaged me suggesting that Realogy was staring ruin in the face, since I have defended Realogy in the past. Not surprising, really, considering how the media reported the numbers. For example, Inman News had this headline … Read more

Technology Cannot Save Broken Business Models

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There’s an interesting post discussing the Future of Tech in the Brokerage making the rounds of the RE.net by Harper Thorpe, a senior executive at CoreLogic. It’s a great post, and fully worth a read. I urge you to read the whole thing. In the post, Harper makes the point that success or failure as … Read more

Do REALTORS Have A Duty to Report A Client's Fraud?

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Had a most interesting discussion with a REALTOR friend last night over dinner about professional ethics, and came across an interesting question. We didn’t know the answer, so I figured I’d blog about it and ask you all. The question is whether a REALTOR has a duty to disclose bad acts by a client, or … Read more