A couple of weeks ago, NAR’s Second Century Ventures announced the 2019 class of companies in its REACH program. What is REACH? Here’s the official description: “The REACH® accelerator focuses on providing early- to mid-stage companies with access to NAR’s industry expertise, influence and key relationships as businesses launch into the trillion-dollar real estate space.” … Read more
In Part 1, I looked at the economics of iBuyers generally, and concluded that we need to analyze them as market makers, using market maker economic models, rather than as investors or brokerage companies. In this part 2, I wanted to get a bit more detailed and granular, using some data I was fortunate enough … Read more
A few random, or perhaps not so random, thoughts this morning from three recent news stories. First, we get a story in the mainstream media by Andrea Riquier of Marketwatch, about Keller Williams entering into the iBuyer space: Keller Williams, the sprawling national real estate franchisor, plans to launch an instant offer service later this … Read more
I was recently at a real estate conference for a major brand watching a panel discussion. I’m leaving names out because it’s not important to the question/point I’m making and don’t want the distraction. The panel was a younger moderator (in his 40s) and two industry executives who have 40+ years of experience each. These … Read more
Okay, so just had an exchange on the Book of Faces with my good friend, James Dwiggins, the CEO of NextHome. He’s really one of the smartest and nicest guys in the business, and it’s always fun to talk industry issues. And I started to write a response and thought, why not, a short blogpost. … Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I gave a presentation at the Clareity MLS Executives Workshop in Scottsdale, AZ. It was on a topic that is near and dear to my heart, as I actually wrote a whole business plan way back in the day on introducing Open Source software to the MLS industry. I abandoned … Read more
(Pardon me a moment while I go put on my asbestos suit for the inevitable flames coming my way.) The Zillow Group Q4/2018 earnings call yesterday was a shocker in many ways. What most people immediately focused on was the change at CEO from Spencer Rascoff to Rich Barton. I gather from social media this … Read more
Rob had some good questions yesterday that many in the industry are probably asking, in “OK, I’ll Ask: How is CoreLogic Threading the Upstream Needle?” For a lot of us in the industry, it can be frustrating when these questions are left hanging over a vacuum fit for conspiracies. Let’s fill some of that void, especially … Read more
I’m taking a break from writing my February report, and thought I’d think through something with you all. It’s not directly relevant to my Red Dot topic, but it’s so interesting that I couldn’t help but want to do some “read what I wrote to see what I think” type of a thing. We all … Read more