An interesting article appeared in Inman News back in early July. It might have gone unnoticed but for a reminder video they posted this past week. It was coverage of a new brokerage, Suitey.com (pronounced “sweetie”), that opened this year in Manhattan. In the video, one of the founders David Walker gave one of their … Read more
My last post dealt at some length with Federal policy. But in many of my writings, presentations, and comments, I point out that the folks who are most likely to get all up in your business are municipalities. Case in point: the city of Eastvale, CA, with some 57,000 residents, is contemplating telling real estate … Read more
In this episode, I have a great conversation with Carol Seal, CEO and EVP, and Mark Blazek, the President of the Greater Chattanooga Association of REALTORS. Topics range from their new website (at GCAR.net), their reasons for relaunching the public-facing portal, commercial real estate and the Association, off-market listings, third party websites, business models … Read more
A quick addendum (you’ll get the joke soon) to my post yesterday…. From the comments, a little discussion erupted because MRED — the Chicagoland area’s regional MLS — instituted a new rule about putting listings into the MLS, unless the seller opts-out. And then MRED provided a form: Seller Listing Exemption Addendum-1. Click through if you … Read more
So the last few weeks have been all sorts of interesting, and busy. Sold a house, bought a house, packed, moved, went to Inman, immediately went crazy waiting for Comcast to install the Internetz (who missed three appointments), then went to talk to a group of Government Affairs Directors, and then finally spoke to a … Read more
I’ve been in the real estate market the last few months. It has been an interesting experience all around to be a straight up consumer, both selling and buying. And I’ll tell you what: it has been absolutely amazing to see the good, the bad, and the ugly of the industry personally from a consumer’s … Read more
Every once in a while, some thought leader in the real estate industry issues a challenge, a plea, a lamentation about the inability of various parts of the industry to work together. If only we could set aside petty politics, set aside irrational suspicion, and figure out how to work together for mutual benefit, things could … Read more
Blogging has been very light as I’ve been at the wheels of a large Penske truck driving across half the United States. The reason: my mother is retiring and moving overseas, and there is a piano that I could not allow to be sold or taken out of the country. Tons of sentimental value to … Read more
At the Midyear meetings, I got into some conversations with fellow attendees about the whole MLS public website debate. Obviously. Again. Still. It was a lot of fun, and interesting thoughts were shared. But given that I have written that agent teams are the biggest threats to brokerages, I kinda got curious about something. Just … Read more