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.

Greed Is Good: In Which I Talk to Victor Lund about the BPP

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I just had a fascinating conversation with Victor Lund of WAV Group who is spearheading the Broker Public Portal effort. We discussed a variety of topics from governance to equity to internal politics, shape of the industry, competitiveness, Zillow, Trulia, brokerages, etc. etc. It was awesome, and my thanks to Victor for making the time. … Read more

A Few Thoughts on the New Zillow Group

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If you’re in the real estate industry — and why wouldn’t you be if you’re reading this blog — then you know by now that our lords and masters have approved Zillow’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Trulia. The new entity is not named TruZilla, Destroyer of Tokyo; it’s named Zillow Group. I’ve had the opportunity to … Read more

Who's Down With BPP? Yeah You Know Me!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xGuGSDsDrM I figured that my post on the Broker Public Portal would create some conversation, and I didn’t figure wrong. Brian Boero of 1000Watt discussed the BPP on their “Friday Flash” email newsletter, saying: If you want to know all the reasons why a broker-controlled national listing site might not work, read this post from Rob Hahn. I … Read more

Who’s Down With BPP? Yeah You Know Me!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xGuGSDsDrM I figured that my post on the Broker Public Portal would create some conversation, and I didn’t figure wrong. Brian Boero of 1000Watt discussed the BPP on their “Friday Flash” email newsletter, saying: If you want to know all the reasons why a broker-controlled national listing site might not work, read this post from Rob Hahn. I … Read more

Free Advice to The Broker Public Portal

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Much in the news of late is the Broker Public Portal, a project/concept that has been in the works for months, if not years, and appears to be on the verge of happening at last. Victor Lund of the WAV Group has been publicizing the project, which had been shrouded in secrecy for quite some … Read more

MarketWatch Posts Nonsense; I Have A Suggestion

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Real estate journalism in the mainstream media is not exactly the stuff of Pulitzers. But even by that low standard, this “news story” from MarketWatch (via Realtor.com) is amazingly incoherent. Titled “Half of Americans Can’t Afford Their House“, the main thesis of the article is that housing affordability is a serious crisis: Over half of … Read more

Concerning MLS Enforcement of Cooperation and Compensation, An Observation

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In the comments section of my post on Listhub and Zillow, an intelligent discussion and debate broke out. Given the rarity of such thing on the Interwebz, I think we should celebrate that. Now then, the subject of the discussion was around the “value proposition” of the MLS in the 21st century and how the … Read more

Musings On Direct Feeds

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In the aftermath of the Listhub-Zillow divorce, which was my last post, I stumbled on a comment from the famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) Kipp Cooper and the main man at his vendor, Turan Tekin. [Disclosure: I’m friends with both men, like them both, have shared adult beverages with them, and my bias may … Read more