Yesterday, Compass Inc., a real estate brokerage that has been disrupting some of the largest companies in the industry, filed its S-1 to go public sometime this year. I’ve been waiting for this day for quite some time because Compass gives us another traditional split-based brokerage that has to report its numbers. At first glance, … Read more
In this episode, I speak with a longtime friend of Notorious — who even writes here periodically — Sam DeBord, CEO of RESO, Real Estate Standards Organization. But rather than go on and on about real estate data standards, which is of interest to… well… even fewer people than are interested in real estate or … Read more
Roughly nine months ago, after its Q1 results, I beat the hell out of Redfin. I admit it. Much of that was motivated by how disappointed I was with Redfin’s decisions then. I wrote in that post that I was and remain one of Redfin’s biggest fans so its decisions then were truly heartbreaking. Nine … Read more
Got a press release this morning from Zillow — well, Zillow’s PR agency — that the Zestimate is now the offer price from Zillow Offers. Rich Barton talked about it during the most recent earnings call, but a mere days afterwards, here it is: “For 15 years, homeowners and home shoppers have come to rely … Read more
A year ago, I wrote these words while analyzing Realogy’s 2019 results: But I can’t ignore the fact that 2019 was not a good year, nor can I pretend that Q4 was particularly strong because of the optimism coming from Schneider. There are real problems at Realogy, and real reasons for concern. At the top … Read more
Since this is earnings week in real estate, with Realogy, Redfin and RE/MAX all reporting… I figured any non-VIP stuff I want to write, I should get in today. And as it happens, there is something I wanted to discuss and explore. In a crazy seller’s market like the one we have today, why aren’t … Read more
Forgive the rant, but after lo these many years, I have to get this off my chest. Since this is rant — though potentially a helpful one if you are a brokerage owner — do feel free to skip it completely. Won’t hurt my feelings, and you might not want to confront reality. On Facebook … Read more
Okay, so I got into a discussion on Facebook with Glenn Sanford of eXp on the difference to the seller between selling to Zillow Offers vs. listing with a traditional agent (Full Service Agent, as per Glenn). I thought it was an interesting little intellectual exchange, but then Inman picked it up as an actual … Read more
I love this industry, I really do. It has some of the best people I have ever met, real salt of the earth people who genuinely care about their clients, their communities, about each other, about the country, about the world. They’re real sweethearts and genuine and fun, fun people. But there are times when … Read more