Recently, I found out that the Pinnacle Group Project — something I had heard rumors about for a few months — had officially launched. What the hell is Pinnacle? From the website (the URL is “thechangechampions.com” by the way): A two year intensive course of study for Association Leadership and Management. This program includes: Eight … Read more
So that whole Austin IDX kerfuffle is back in the news again, courtesy of Inman: A contingent of Austin Realtors say listing agents should be clearly identified when brokers and agents publicize each other’s listings on their websites. With two of the city’s prominent luxury brokers leading the charge, they’ve asked the Austin Board of … Read more
This is a tough post to write. I’m actually debating for the first time while typing this into the little WordPress window whether I would actually hit “Publish” at the end of it. If you’re reading this, it means that I’ve overcome whatever hesitation I’ve had, but I want you to understand how hard it … Read more
Jeff Corbett, my good friend and former partner at 7DS Associates, recently penned a fantastic call to arms at the RETSO blog in which he got into some depth about the concept of an Open Source MLS: As a self described ‘Agent of Change’ around the real estate and mortgage space, I’ve sat in the … Read more
A few weeks back, Bill Lublin and I engaged in a spirited debate about the future of the Association, stemming from this post of mine from March. Bill’s initial response is here. Well, my post then became the basis for my presentation at RETSO, which gave me impetus to expand on the topic. During … Read more
Back in November of 2010, I wrote about Move’s acquisition of ListHub and what it might mean for “Syndication Quality”. I thought then that the reason why Move acquired ListHub was strategic — to control the source of listing data, in order to impose on its main competitors the same restrictions that Move had … Read more
For whatever reason, there’s quite bit of chatter going on around the RE.net about the future and role of the REALTOR Association. This Facebook Group is more or less ground zero of the discussion. But I saw an interesting take on the topic from Victor Lund, the influential proprietor of the WAVGroup. Here is his … Read more
I had to interrupt my series on Redfin 3.0 and what it might mean for brokerages because parts of the RE.net just blew up over the past day or two. AgentGenius (AGBeat?) reports that there is a dispute going on in Austin, Texas, between a group of brokers and agents (who mostly serve the … Read more
Was it just yesterday when I was speculating on Zillow’s recent hiring of Bob Bemis? Why, yes, yes it was. How things change in 24 hours when you live in interesting times. [Editor’s Note: Obviously, you started writing this on the 15th and didn’t finish? Nice managing the deadline, Rob.] Today, Zillow released their Q4/2011 … Read more