The Future of Brokerage Black Paper, Now Available

So in advance of Friday, which is when I figure most people might have time to read something like this, I wanted to let everybody know that the Future of Brokerage Black Paper is now available. Some of you who requested a copy received it by email a week ago (check your filters if you … Read more

The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate, 2017 Edition

So I’ve decided to add to my end-of-the-year workload by starting something new this year. I call it the Interesting List, and there are seven people — a number that is sacred to me as well as many of the world’s oldest religions — on it. Hence, The Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate. … Read more

Redfin to Overtake Realtor.com by 2020?

I’ve been extraordinarily busy due to a bunch of deadlines for a couple of projects. That isn’t an excuse, or an apology, but a setup since it was research for one of those projects that leads to this post. Let’s not bury the lede: On current trends, Redfin will overtake Realtor.com as the second most … Read more

Please Stop Fighting the Last War

One of the recurring problems of the real estate industry is that it is almost entirely reactive when it comes to problems. We continually look backwards, rather than forwards, then wonder why things don’t improve. A good example is the latest recommendation from Victor Lund of the WAV Group, who promotes Redfin’s idea that IDX … Read more

The Impact of Redfin Post-IPO: Part 3 — Technology Vendors

Okay, it turns out that Part 2 was the difficult one to write, because of how complicated organized real estate is. Part 1, the impact on brokerage, is here in case you missed it. The final question is the impact on technology vendors in real estate. They are actually a pretty important part of the … Read more

The Impact of Redfin Post-IPO: Part 2 — MLS & Associations

I have to be honest here. I thought this post would be easy to write after Part 1, where I talked about impact on brokerages. Turns out not to be the case. There are several reasons why, but the biggest is that there are a lot of “if-then” branching scenarios that made me get into … Read more

The Heat Is On: A Response to Sam DeBord

I know, I know… another post about Redfin… that isn’t Part 2 which deals with the impact on parts of the industry that aren’t brokerages. But I’ve been busy, and still thinking through the impact on MLS, Associations, tech vendors, etc. In the meantime, my good friend and regular guest contributor to this blog, the … Read more

Follow-Up to the Redfin Post-IPO Post: BooM!

I had planned on my second post about Redfin to be its potential impact on Associations, MLS and maybe tech vendors. But you know, this whole Redfin thing is sorta big news in certain circles — tech and finance journalists as an example — and there have been a couple of interesting articles on Redfin … Read more