Will COVID Finally End Local School Districts?

THE hot topic in my small cul-de-sac over Wednesday night happy hour is whether schools will ever come back. Here in Las Vegas, the Clark County School District will be going online-only to start the school year in August. There are real conflicted feelings among parents in my neighborhood, and I assume it’s the same … Read more

A Brief History Lesson on REALTORS and Race

I didn’t really want to write this, because I assumed it was relatively common knowledge within the U.S. real estate industry that we have a sordid past of open racism, discrimination, and bigotry. Plus, I’m frankly tired of writing about and talking about social issues that go beyond the real estate industry. I feel like … Read more

The Hard Stuff: Systemic Racism and Real Estate

This is the followup to the first post, in which I asked whether the real estate industry was serious about race and racial issues. I am choosing to believe that we are, and that the various leaders speaking out about the need to do something are serious about that. If so, we should see more … Read more

Is the Real Estate Industry Serious About Race?

Every American of good conscience is hurting now, both from the evil of police brutality and the evil of looting and rioting. I have been silently seething because I felt I had nothing useful to add that literally everyone with a conscience agrees on. What happened to George Floyd was a shocking and horrifying murder … Read more

Industry Relations Ep. 46: What’s Next for Real Estate

As threatened, Greg and I recorded a special live version of Industry Relations, inviting everyone to join in on a free-flowing conversation about what’s next for real estate. It was… an interesting experience, and one unlikely to be repeated anytime soon. Turns out, “call-in radio” style might not be our strong suit. 🙂 Nonetheless, we … Read more

Industry Relations Ep. 45: Best-Case Predictions for Real Estate Post-COVID

In normal times, today would have been Uncle Sam’s favorite day of the year: Tax Day. But of course, we’re all on lockdown, including the IRS to some small extent. So… since y’all are also on lockdown, I thought you might find this latest episode of Industry Relations interesting and entertaining. Greg and I discuss … Read more

Industry Relations Ep. 44: What Forbearance Means for Mortgage Markets – with Rob Chrisman

Happy Friday, everybody! Hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy, and in as high a spirit as possible given our current situation. Just a quick post to let you know that Greg Robertson and I recorded an episode of Industry Relations with Rob Chrisman, a widely-recognized expert in the mortgage industry. We discuss what the … Read more

Real Estate in the Time of Cholera: The Aftermath, Part 1 – Brokerages

So here we are in the Brave New World of quarantines, lockdowns and barely contained (?) panic. May it be short, as it is simply unsustainable over the long haul. Activity will be grinding to a halt if it hasn’t already. We all know the main stories in the news — stock market plummeting, the … Read more

NAR’s New Fair Housing Action Plan: Add One Key Missing Element

NAR is in the news, but for a positive reason for a change. Hoooray! It appears that the leadership team at NAR met in Washington DC on January 8th to formulate a plan on fair housing. From NAR’s website: The leadership of the National Association of REALTORS® met in Washington today where they unanimously passed … Read more