Author: Kris Berg (page 2 of 5)

Realtor, Associate Broker

September 5, 2007

News You Can Use – Real Estate is a Business

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

When I want the news I can use, I head straight for the San Diego Union Tribune. From yesterday’s Currents section, in an article addressing the health benefits of swimming as exercise, they gave us this bit of sage advice:

Who is swimming not good for?

Swimming is not a good activity for someone who doesn’t know how to swim.

I think this should be an ongoing feature series. “Piloting a jetliner is not a good activity for someone who doesn’t know how to fly”, “Skydiving is not a good activity for someone who doesn’t have access to a parachute”, and “Attending a Barry Manilow concert is not a good activity for someone who…” – Well, that last one is just plain wrong.

Do you know what else is just plain wrong? Attempting to grow a successful business is not a good activity for someone who lacks the ability or willingness to think like an entrepreneur, to constantly evolve, to continually strive for excellence and to establish their brand as superior to that of the competition.

I suggest that rather than the Broker’s new-hire training beginning and ending with lessons in the fine art of bulk-mailing, working your sphere, passing out pumpkins on Halloween and flags on the 4th of July, and sitting open houses, the first lesson should be a boot camp on business basics.

New agents, and even the veteran hangers-on who are feeling stalled and challenged, would do well to start thinking like the self-employed business owner they are. Once licensed, it is not your divine right to make a living in real estate. It is not preordained that, once assigned a cubicle and a business card, you will enjoy untold riches or even eat. There are tens of thousands just like you. Only when you reach the point where they are NOT just like you and your customer knows it will you realize any consistent success.

Keep Inventing

The minute your product is finished, so are you.

Years ago, I had one of the first “car phones”. In those days, it was cutting edge, truly a thing of envy. It was hard-mounted to my dash, had the little curly Read more

August 31, 2007

Individual success is not a collective endeavor

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

What’s the issue here, really? I am speaking of the anti-NAR revolution at hand, of course. Is it:

The public’s poor perception of the profession and the professional? While some may argue that NAR, in their ongoing (and I will argue) oft-misguided yet well-intended attempts to be supportive of its members, has done more damage than good to our collective credibility, it is all too convenient to place blame entirely on their shoulders.
The standards, ethics, and professionalism of many agents which we find substandard and a drag on our consumer’s perception of value? Guilty-by-association is certainly a concern, even a reality, yet this applies to any career class.
Licensing standards which by their very nature serve not to limit entry to those who are competent but serve rather as an open invitation to anyone who can fog a peep hole? The tricky part here is that the skill sets which the truly great agents must possess are not testable; Entrepreneurship, moral and ethical resolve, devotion to hard work, business acumen, commitment to personal and professional evolution, a right-brain which not only coexists but works in harmony, with the left, and compassion for the client are all attributes which can only be demonstrated once given the opportunity to perform.

Lest I am accused of just having made a case for sending agent licensing requirements to the guillotine, let me assure you that this is not the case. I have had some pretty hideous plumbers in the past, and have even been to some really terrible doctors. While I will consequently not give my business to these poor performers again, I will still expect my next plumber or doctor to have met some minimum training standards. And I understand that these “credentials” are not a guarantee that they will be spectacular at what they do, but it is a starting point.

Ask not what your profession (or professional organization) can do for you. Maybe it’s time that each of us who has more than a casual concern for our reputation and our future survival ask instead what we can individually do for the profession. No cooperative of those claiming to be ethically, skillfully or attentively Read more

August 16, 2007

The extinction of the pterosaur – If your goal is long-term profitability, skimming the surface can kill you.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

From the San Diego Union Tribune, dateline August 16, 2007:

Paleontologists studying pterosaurs had theorized that some the extinct flying reptiles fed by skimming along the water with their mouths open. However, a new analysis by British scientists indicates pterosaurs were too large and would have created too much drag to feed in this way.

And this is precisely why I see the traditional real estate agent not only surviving but thriving. Many predict the demise of the likes of me. They predict a future where I have been stripped of my MLS, at least in the proprietary sense, and where I have been stripped of my paycheck, rendering me crippled and ineffective chum.

Good, successful traditional agents find their sustenance in a much deeper ocean, while this point seems to be lost on the new fisherman, the alternative for-fee, for-less business models, and even the fish.

360-Marlow wrote last week about how Lennox Scott of John L. Scott Realty, speaking at the recent Inman Connect conference, “seemed unable to articulate why a commissioned sales person may be preferable to one paid on salary”. Well, let me give it a shot.

The salaried employee is not required to front their own money (in my case, thousands of dollars per month per assignment) on the promise (not to be confused with “guarantee”) of some future paycheck.
The salaried employee does not run the risk that, having worked on their employer’s behalf for months (and months and months), their employer will “change their mind”.
The salaried employee does not bear the burden of their employer’s overhead.
If the salaried employee’s employer is unsuccessful in selling their product to the end user, the salaried employee will still be paid for their time expended.
The salaried employee wakes up each morning knowing they have a job, a job secured by a single interview, where their commission-based counterpart must attend job interviews on a daily basis. (Job interviews take time and money; let’s, just for fun, call them “non-billable hours”).
The salaried employee is assured lunch breaks and days off. The salaried employee clocks out at the end of the shift.
The salaried employee’s job description does Read more

August 14, 2007

What’s love got to do with it? Shopping for a commodity instead of a home.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

In the days of yore (one yore = 5 years on the metric conversion chart), open houses were much different. I almost enjoyed my Sunday afternoons. They were spent with people sincerely looking for a home, a home that fit their personal needs on both a functional and emotional level. The event went something like this: Agent makes home available for showing as a courtesy to the seller who wants to sell and the buyer who wants to buy, potential buyer tours home and makes assessment as to whether the home fits his needs, interested buyer asks questions to learn about features of said home and neighborhood, interested buyer compares recent sales to establish fair price and, having made his decision to purchase, enters meaningful negotiations.

These days, our open house experiences are very different. As an agent, I am a soldier being called to active duty. I am the enemy, and donning pith helmet, medieval shield and evil death ray deflector, I enter battle.

Steve and I both got the open house nod this weekend, and it was so painful as to be funny in hindsight. We enjoyed the usual Happy Hour debriefing, and our experiences were woefully the same.

“How long has it been on the market?” “Why are they moving?” That’s it. That is all anyone wanted to know, and these questions were generally flying as one run-on sentence before they had passed the threshold. Steve suggested that it was time for a little open house strategic planning, a preemptive strike if you will. Post it on the front door, or better yet, adopt Greg’s policy of using those nifty custom yard signs and display the vital statistics there. Even better, include the information in the open house ads we tirelessly run each weekend. No need to have anyone to driving across town when I can save them the trouble.

Keep in mind that we aren’t talking about the hobbyists, or the neighbors, or even the world-weary, sincerely-seeking-a-home contingents. We still get a smattering of these at our open houses. Steve related to me the story of a couple in the latter Read more

August 9, 2007

In closing… and on hiatus.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

To be fair, Sweet Digs in its current form is innocuous enough. It didn’t begin that way, but that’s where it has landed.

And, to be fair, my mini-eruption this morning had nothing to do with Sweet Digs but everything to do with the role Redfin has assumed of industry hate monger. Take the Forums.

I made reference to a comment posted on the Redfin Forums in which the writer referred to traditional agents as conniving and greedy con artists. I had seen this remark a week ago and the words had been on a slow boil in my brain since. Redfin the Real Estate Company didn’t pen these words, but in effect they did. Their rhetoric from inception has been carefully crafted to incite riot. When I go to an appointment with a buyer or seller, I go intent on demonstrating how I bring more value than my competitors. What I do not do is attempt to elevate my position in their minds by criticizing and demeaning others whom they may be considering.

And, now we have gotten to the bottom of my recent attack on their little locally focused blog, and my sudden unease with even talking about this Redfin stuff at all. I listened to Glenn himself say recently that you should never promote yourself; let others do it, and it becomes viral. Is cancer a virus? By just “putting it out there”, I am giving their business model and their business practices (which I find offensive on many levels) increased exposure and credibility. By lambasting that with which I am in disagreement, I do them one better. I set myself up to be portrayed as that agent living in fear of their “new and better way”, the personification of the old industry guard which has become their poster child for all that is evil in the world.

Traditional agents hate us, traditional agents fear us, traditional agents are pond scum – These are the battle cries of a Redfin trying to get noticed. While they are so obviously wrong on each count, every Redfin rant I post will suggest otherwise to Read more

August 9, 2007

“They are conniving and con artists” – Redfin launches Southern California Sweet Digs

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

And for the record, Redfin, the title was a quote taken from one of your Southern California Forum posters, and it was directed at me, or rather my ilk. I started writing this with every intention of giving you the publicity you asked for, the “don’t promote yourself, let others do it, and it will become viral” marketing which has been your hallmark. I changed my mind.

This morning Redfin issued a press release announcing expansion of the “Online Magazine Formerly Known As”, well, something else.

SEATTLE — August 9, 2007: Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today launched its online real estate magazine, “Sweet Digs,” for Southern California. Home-buyers in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego neighborhoods can read daily, local real estate market information via the Sweet Digs blog or email newsletter.

The new Southern California Sweet Digs will offer as many as 40 candid, saucy and analytical write-ups each week of recent sales, price reductions, open houses and real estate trends in local areas, including Beverly Hills, Irvine, Newport Beach, Ocean Beach and Westwood. Southern California already boasts some of the top real estate blogs, and Sweet Digs complements them with its hyper-local, data-driven format written by real estate fanatics, not agents.

We are talking about real estate fanatics here, as in, people marked by extreme enthusiasm for real estate, not agents, since we all know real estate agents have little interest in real estate. Fanatics, as in people being paid to show extreme enthusiasm for that for which they were paid. One of my first jobs was at Bob’s Big Boy (during the Steel Age). I was fanatical about the Big Boy Combo, but this was in large part due to the fact that the Big Boy cut my paycheck.

Okay, in all fairness, I know what you were trying to say. The newsletter-blog thingy will be written by non-industry professionals. I get that, and I can see an appeal. And, in the name of fairness, I wouldn’t enlist contributors to my Blog who were Redfin disciples.

Sweet Digs launched December 2006 in Seattle and February 2007 in San Francisco to provide Read more

August 3, 2007

Project Perfect Blogger – Applying What I’ve Learned.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

Yesterday I shared the formula for the perfect Blog post. I acquired this wisdom at the Inman conference, and now it is time to test my new skills as I attempt to target the Scripps Ranch home buyer (and risk killing this bit once and for all). Note to feed reader clients: You may not get the photos, which is a big part of the schtick.

________________________________________________

HOW TO FIND A SCRIPPS RANCH REAL ESTATE AGENT FOR BUYING A SCRIPPS RANCH HOME KRIS BERG KRIS BERG KRIS BERG

If you are planning to relocate to Scripps Ranch from somewhere far from Scripps Ranch, you will probably fly to Scripps Ranch. When you arrive in Scripps Ranch, boy, will your arms be tired!

Many Scripps Ranch real estate agents, like myself, live in Scripps Ranch. Many unnamed others have won awards and recognition for their service to consumers wanting to buy homes in Scripps Ranch. Certainly, you have many choices when selecting a real estate agent, and you will likely want to align yourself with someone ranking above the 85% percentile, or one standard deviation above the mean, on your typical Bell Curve, but this Normal Curve is anything but normal in that the population is diverse, thereby resulting in a flatter graph.

You will be 172.9% more likely to find the perfect Scripps Ranch home, when compared to the 30-day Gross Domestic Product rolling average and taking into account the annualized per capita income of Celtic women, than other consumers if your agent is a Scripps Ranch neighborhood specialist.

If you have children, you are probably concerned with Scripps Ranch schools in Scripps Ranch. Hypothetically speaking, your agent might have two daughters currently attending Scripps Ranch High School and would therefore be the perfect Scripps Ranch Realtor to help you buy a home (in Scripps Ranch). This illustrative “type” of agent would also be infinitely (a figure of speech as, technically, it is not possible to divide a number by zero) more likely to speak to local sports opportunities, such as Volleyball Camps, and even Exchange Programs to, say, Cairo. That is, if you find Read more

August 3, 2007

The Perfect Blog – The Preamble (but it’s not really a Blog)

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

I can go home happy now. In just one short morning spent in the Palace Hotel Gold Room, I learned how to write the Perfect Blog. No one person has the answer, of course, but by aggregating the wisdom shared by the collective mind of the blogging greats who spoke to us this week, I have the fail safe recipe for blogging infamy and success. I won’t name names, but following are the essential ingredients according to the blogging Who’s Who:

Blogs should be short. Readers are Scanners (they are busy, busy people), and five paragraphs in size is the ABSOLUTE MAX. Otherwise, you will… What was I saying? Oh, yeah. You’ll lose your… What do you call them? Readers. Do I smell pot roast?
Avoid being self-congratulatory. No particularly reason given, but we can take the leap that nobody likes a braggart. As one who has never been recognized nor been the recipient of a prestiguous honor, ever, I totally agree.
Focus on the consumers, not on the agents. The consumers should never see healthy discourse among agents. Where’s the fun in that? Much better to have a site where you receive, oh, zero comments on a lengthy (five paragraph MAX) position statement on the value of hiring a top-producing neighborhood specialist. If people enjoyed voyeurism and lurking, they would frequent porn sites.
Make sure your title and your content are Keyword Rich. Whether you aspire to dominate San Diego real estate or the picnic catering industry in Maricopa County, you should pick words that work toward that end. An expert who does this stuff for a living said (and I am not making this up) that, within 6 months, my blog should be getting 2,000 unique visitors a day. After 15 months, I am just 1974 shy of that number. (Self derogatory comment alert! 5 Bonus Points awarded for achieving #2 above).
Use tons and gobs and bizillions of pictures. See #1 above (Technorati Tag: Attention Deficit Disorder).
Use Technorati Tags. See #3 above. The consumers are all searching on Technorati for the best real estate agent in (name your city). The guy who lives Read more

August 2, 2007

Am I missing something? The NAR Experience.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

Am I missing something?

At the moment, I am conventioned out, one tired buckaroo. So, I am playing hookie this evening and, undoubtedly, missing out on some life-changing announcement. “Zillow has made a $40 gazillion offer to purchase the San Diego Home Blog. Is Kris Berg in the audience?” Nope.

Last night, Noah Rosenblatt and I were briefly discussing the Great Divide that is the audience at Inman. In the far corner of the ring we have the geek-inclined or, more appropriately, the brokers, agents and other industry players who are giving their all to stay relevant and to evolve: To survive. In the other, we have the challengers who are retreating to the lobby after each session to debate the day’s hottest topics, such as how to spell Truliadotcom or, for that matter, how to open their web browser.

Who was NAR CEO Dale Stinton speaking to? The answer is “c”. None of the above. Or, maybe I’m just missing something.

Unlike Greg, I was impressed with Zillow‘s Rich Barton. Call his remarks an attempt at poetry or self-serving fluff, but this guy is trying. And, I sincerely believe that he believes that not only is the fabric of our industry changing, but the fabric of our world. He is smart and cunning, and attempting to lead the revolution. And he is amassing more wealth than I could hope to accumulate in 40 lifetimes doing what I (love to) do.

Then came Dale. Forgetting that his demeanor was the incarnation of the stereotypical, bureaucratic, myopic real estate agent image that has become our industry albatross, his big light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel, “I’m comin’, Beany-Boy!” message was that our Realtor dues would be increasing. Why?

He gave many examples of great new things that our dues would be underwriting. Since I am too lazy to go back and watch Inman TV, I will paraphrase. First, the BOARD (bow heads in reverence) has allocated funds to send Dale to “more of these kinds of events”. Great. I’m paying for Dale Stinton and me to go to Inman. Next, the BOARD (avert eyes in respect) has authorized vast amounts of our money Read more

August 1, 2007

Great Taste – Inman Update

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

I am not a towering figure, for sure. At 5′ 4 3/4″ inches, I can typically find my way through a crowd with some stylish heels in the equation.

Last night, I felt like a Hobbit. And 360-Marlow (Harris) was right there with me. Who knew Zillow’s Drew Meyers (shown here with Marlow and Uber-Mike from Ubertor) was so tall?

(Correction: Alert reader Steve Jagger from Ubertor pointed out that this is actually none other than… Steve Jagger, although I still say he was channeling Drew. Sorry, Uber-Steve. Now, put my Ubertor website back online).

Beer with Bloggers was a kick in the proverbial britches. The infamous and utterly delightful Ardell was there with her entourage of strapping men including her charming and striking husband, her Project, Kevin Tomlinson (who I think moonlights as an Abercrombie model and assures me he is of legal drinking age), and the Rain City Boys (Dustin also assures me he is of legal drinking age, though the jury is still out).

And speaking of tall, Noah brought his super-model caliber wife. Now I’m a Hobbit and I feel the sudden need for Botox.

I schlepped the camera to the Thirsty Bear, the site of the Suds Fest, and the subsequent Trulia bash with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, I returned to my room with mostly pictures of the floor, my purse, and the lens cap. I was distracted, by the Who’s Who of the crowd for sure, but also by Mortgage Reports Dan (Green) who kept spilling my drinks, one resulting in glass shards. And, don’t let him tell you otherwise.

Kevin Boer was there, as were the Sellsius boys, Boise Phil Hoover, and about four hundred thousand others. Apparently, somewhere between the two events, 872 new blogs and bloggers were born, as the Trulia event was stifling and reminiscent of a Stones concert. I bailed early and, Steve will appreciate this, unable to find the bread crumbs I had left throughout the streets of San Francisco earlier in the evening, returned to my hotel one hour later via Albuquerque.

Last night was fun. Today I am on a mission to identify Read more

July 31, 2007

Why Author 12 Hates to Fly

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

And so it was that I arrived in San Francisco for the big event looking as if my hair had been styled by an angry ring-tailed lemur.

My trip began innocently enough. Operation Packing Plan B was an enormous success. Sure I was a little short on time, but I compensated by piling my artificially golden, wet locks up in a fashionable clip. For every person that would think I was a wreck, I was certain that another would consider me whimsically, see-how-much-I-don’t-try-too-hard eccentric.

I made it to the airport with an hour and a half to spare. I immediately parked at Terminal 2. I did this for two reasons. First, I was flying American Airlines. I knew I was flying American Airlines because my eTicket, which I booked on AmericanAirlines.com, said “American Airlines” all over it. Second, American Airlines is located in Terminal 2, that is if you believe the numerous airport directional signs, the logos on the parked planes at Terminal 2 gates, and my experience from having lived here for the PAST 30 YEARS! True, my eTicket didn’t specifically say “Go to Terminal 2”, but I suspect few can argue with my logic here.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t privy to one little detail, a detail written in secret, invisible ink on my eTicket, a detail so safely guarded that only the truly psychic would possibly make their flight this morning. As I attempted Self-Service Check-In, I got an error message on the screen along the lines of “Danger, Abort, Unauthorized Access Attempted, Hide Your Children, Secure Exit Doors!” It was then that Helpful Lady at the Check-In Counter, shaking her head in disgust, explained that San Francisco departures are on their Partner airline. “You will have to walk down there“, she said (pointing to, oh, North Dakota), “carry your (49.8 pound) suitcase down that flight of stairs, and check in at Terminal 1″.

No problem! I had time, and as luck would have it, Terminal 1 was not nearly as crowded as stupid-snooty Terminal 2. Then came (insert creepy music) SECURITY. This is where I and my fellow Terminal 1 travelers Read more

July 29, 2007

Cyberhomes vs. Zillow – Dueling Valuation Tools for Your San Diego Home

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

For the uninitiated, the title is a bad joke. Moving on…

At our most recent office meeting, between the property pitches and the vendor pitches, our office manager promoted our company’s new affiliation with Cyberhomes. Now, being too lazy to do a site search this morning, Cyberhomes has undoubtedly been talked about ad nauseam here. And, as I have confessed many times lately, I have been too time-challenged to be the good little feed reader “reader” I should be of late, so the subject of Cyberhomes has probably been beat to death elsewhere. That’s the beauty of ignorance – I will barrel bravely ahead.

Prudential California Realty is in Beta with their Cyberhomes affiliation. For now, a home valuation feature has been added to the Prudential website but, ultimately the feature will be included in all individual agent pages. It is being promoted to us as superior to Zillow in that (according to our office manager) it incorporates “MLS data as well as public records”. I found this confusing. Aren’t MLS sales ultimately a matter of public record and, therefore, inherent in the Zillow model as well? With the help of a colleague, we stumbled on what he meant.

My colleague and I decided to play a little Zillow. In our version of investigative reporting, we proceeded to embark on some exhaustive comparative analysis. By exhaustive, I mean, we decided to look up the value of both of our own homes on both Zillow and Cyberhomes. Elbow to elbow, armed with dueling computers, undaunted by the challenges which might lay ahead, we Searched.

In each case, our homes were valued approximately $150,000 lower on Cyberhomes than on Zillow. Bummer. Being blessed with the keen eye for detail, we suddenly realized that we live in the same subdivision and in the same model, one block apart. Where scientific method is concerned, we are the Suxors. What about a different neighborhood? I threw out the address of an active listing I have a mile away. Ready, set, show us the money! His “Zestimate” returned a number in the ballpark while my CyberValue (back off, I’m copyrighting that) Read more

July 25, 2007

I’ve Been Working Too Hard! Ask the Wall Street Journal.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

Thanks to Athol for this definitive guide on how to sell your own home without all of the inherent hassles and baggage of dealing with a professional real estate agent. And, I do mean “thanks” since, being a wee-bit short on discretionary reading time this week, a Permalink has to slap me upside the head.

Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for finally giving us the bottom line on this crazy real estate transfer process. If you read the blogs or listen to the industry, or even if you have merely used an agent in the past to assist in the sale of a home, you might have been left with the impression that the process is complex, involved, and fraught with potential difficulties and liability. Even I have fallen into this trap. We can make it hard, or we can make it easy.

Accordingly to WSJ.com, it is all so very simple really. Just follow these three easy steps, and your home is as good as sold! No muss, no fuss, and no “6%” fee, which they point out is “a hefty penalty for selling your home”. Who wants penalties?

Find out what your home is worth. There is … a group of free services on the Web, such as Zillow.com, that allow you to estimate the value of your home by comparing it with neighboring properties.
Market your property. The goal when marketing your home… is to “drive as many buyers as possible to your ad,” so make sure you choose a site with a lot of traffic, and augment your listing with high-quality color photos and a compelling description. You might even try a “virtual tour” if you’re willing to pay a little extra.
Transfer the title. Once your home is sold, you need to call in the professionals… Regardless of who handles yours, you shouldn’t pay more than about $500…

That’s it! Zillow that house, take some color photos (not black and white, and absolutely no pencil sketches), consider one of those newfangled virtual tour thingies, and cash in the loose change from between the sofa cushions. Congratulations! And to think I just Read more

July 23, 2007

Stuck in the middle – Real Estate Business Basics and Clearing the Cobwebs

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

My life is a series of Post It notes. They are stuck to my computer screen, they clutter my desk, and they litter my backyard when a light wind kicks up in the vicinity of my patio table. They can be found in the floor of my car, at the bottom of my purse and, more than occasionally, on the foreheads of my children.

My organizational skills are not so hideous that they would be the subject of the next Lifetime family movie, but my life (we will call it my “back office”) is certainly, at this point in time, in a state of disarray.

I could read a book about organization and time management, but I simply don’t have the time. I think I will make a note to do that tomorrow. In the meantime, I will come to my own defense – It’s not my fault!

Lani’s Internet which has become such an essential part of our lives, Greg’s Internet which is well on its way to replacing the paper book, and our collective Internet which births eighty-seven more ways each day to make our lives easier has simply made me numb.

My frying pan runneth over with fish. Jeff Brown turned me on to Jott awhile ago, thinking it would be useful to a girl on the go. Call the toll free number, speak your message, and the next morning you will be emailed a transcript. A virtual To Do list. Now, I have to remember to Jott.

And I have to remember to blog and comment and trackback and linkback, to be a Trulia Voice and a Zillow neighborhood specialist, to log onto Meebo when I am “in” and off when I am “away”, and to download and study my Altos charts. The list goes on. With each of these exciting opportunities comes an email reminder, and each of these “to dos” involves a brave new world of email inbox populating never before seen. So much so, that I find myself “saving” these messages for another time, a time that often never comes. So large is my inbox, that it has lost Read more

July 18, 2007

Why stop now? Tell Redfin that there’s more where that came from.

by Kris Berg

Realtor, Associate Broker

Of course Greg scooped me. If you believe his 11:53 PM time stamp, he was analyzing and typing away while I was dreaming up another real estate vignette. At least now I know to check the blog first. Bloodhound has all but replaced my feed reader.

In any event, a routine 6:00 am review of my email box found the news from Redfin’s Cynthia Pang that they are the proud parents of a $12 million bundle of VC joy. This, they say, should do it. Said CEO Glenn Kelman:

We expect this to be our last round of venture financing, so we looked for a guide on the long journey ahead who could help us generate profits and lead our market.

One obvious reaction might be, “Who possessing a pulse would sink $12 million dollars into what to date has been a completely failed business venture?” One obvious answer would be – people with money and brains in inverse proportion.

This came to me a few days ago from “IDRIS”:

I am writing you this letter because I believe that you are capable of helping me. I am looking for a reputable business partner to invest a huge sum of money in lucrative businesses in your country.

A huge sum? Say, $12 million? A coincidence? I think not.

So, I say to Glenn, don’t stop now! I am here to tell you that there is plenty more where that came from, and I now realize that the $12 million dollars you secured was all but mine had I just read my emails closely and not been so distracted actually representing buyers and sellers in successful transactions.

Of course, I didn’t listen. Frederick Mugabe from Zimbabwe recently offered me $450,000 to help him handle the placement of $14,982,000 into a “profitable business investment”. And, just yesterday, I learned from bank officials in Amsterdam that my email address was attached to the “winning ticket”, entitling me to 2 million euros. On second thought, forget that one. The exchange rate isn’t favorable.

On the other hand, last week a nice God-fearing lady in Darfur who recently lost her husband and is now Read more

Author: Kris Berg (page 2 of 5)

News You Can Use – Real Estate is a Business

by Kris Berg

Individual success is not a collective endeavor

by Kris Berg

The extinction of the pterosaur – If your goal is long-term profitability, skimming the surface can kill you.

by Kris Berg

What’s love got to do with it? Shopping for a commodity instead of a home.

by Kris Berg

In closing… and on hiatus.

by Kris Berg

“They are conniving and con artists” – Redfin launches Southern California Sweet Digs

by Kris Berg

Project Perfect Blogger – Applying What I’ve Learned.

by Kris Berg

The Perfect Blog – The Preamble (but it’s not really a Blog)

by Kris Berg

Am I missing something? The NAR Experience.

by Kris Berg

Great Taste – Inman Update

by Kris Berg

Why Author 12 Hates to Fly

by Kris Berg

Cyberhomes vs. Zillow – Dueling Valuation Tools for Your San Diego Home

by Kris Berg

I’ve Been Working Too Hard! Ask the Wall Street Journal.

by Kris Berg

Stuck in the middle – Real Estate Business Basics and Clearing the Cobwebs

by Kris Berg

Why stop now? Tell Redfin that there’s more where that came from.

by Kris Berg

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