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.

The Notorious Interview: Jeff Fangman, Home Security Expert & REALTOR

by

This is a special pandemic edition of the Notorious Interview, which I am making public for everybody. With all that is going on, one of the things that people have gotten interested in is the question of security and home protection. It makes sense. Suddenly, the entire family is home, the kids are being homeschooled, … Read more

Real Estate in the Time of Cholera: The Aftermath, Part 2 – MLS & Associations

by

In Part 1, I looked at the possible aftermath for real estate brokerages in the wake of the current crisis with COVID-19. In this part, let’s think about how organized real estate might be impacted. Since I laid out the possible scenarios in Part 1, if you need a refresher, please go refer to those … Read more

Real Estate in the Time of Cholera: The Aftermath, Part 1 – Brokerages

by

So here we are in the Brave New World of quarantines, lockdowns and barely contained (?) panic. May it be short, as it is simply unsustainable over the long haul. Activity will be grinding to a halt if it hasn’t already. We all know the main stories in the news — stock market plummeting, the … Read more

[VIP] Realogy, Q4 and Full Year 2019: Darkest Before the Dawn?

by

I realize this is almost two weeks after Realogy reported, but… between international travel and my computer giving up the ghost, it’s been a bit of a challenge to write this. It likely would have been a challenge anyhow, because of how much I like Realogy (I have written often about my biases). Q4 was … Read more

The Shape of Housing Politics to Come

by

I got my laptop back, finally, after spending three days in intensive care and undergoing surgery. So to celebrate, I thought I’d put up a brief (hopefully) post for your weekend reading pleasure. Well, “pleasure” might be the wrong word here, given the topic and the issues… but it will give you something to think … Read more

Why Antifragile is the Only Way Forward: Zillow Turns the Page

by

Since it’s been a few days since my VIP subscribers got to check out my analysis of Zillow’s Q4 earnings, I wanted to have more of a public open discussion on two incredibly important things from the Q4 earnings. Rich Barton, Zillow’s CEO, mentioned the Bob Seger song, “Turn the Page.” He was talking about … Read more

[VIP] RE/MAX Q4, 2019: Back to Basics

by

In the aftermath of a disappointing Q3, I wrote: One of my biggest takeaways from this earnings call is how much of the positive spin was put on October. For example, Karri Callahan mentions seeing some “positive traction” on agent count in October, contrasting with last October when RE/MAX lost hundreds of agents. Or there’s … Read more