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Category: Blogging (page 64 of 84)

November 26, 2006

Furious fusillades of blistering BubbleHead flatulence: Foghorn Leghorn declares “WAR!”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Well.

That was even more lame than I expected. Foghorn Leghorn–er, Keith at HousingPanic has declared war by commanding his troops to… read.

And to read BloodhoundBlog of all things!

Yeah, that’ll work…

The specific marching orders are pretty stupid, but that’s hardly a surprise.

The troops are supposed to prove that the Phoenix housing market has crashed, which has proved to be a problem, given that it hasn’t.

They are supposed to “flame away, and hard,” with the objective of chasing away future clients. Do your best, boys. Anyone who will listen to you — I don’t want.

This one I love:

Dig up postings, articles and quotes from Greg Swann for all to see. Where he admits having unlicensed or out of work realtors working for him.

The specific post cited says nothing of the sort, but, of course, Keith can’t read. But most BubbleHeads are much smarter than their “leader,” so do please read all you can here. This is one of the most serious real estate weblogs on the net. If you open your minds, you’ll learn a lot.

There is more — for example, a repetition of the false charge that I have posted comments at HP — but the whole call to action is pretty pitiful.

How’s the war going? I think this comment says it all:

What a pile of excrement is here in this blog.

It’s a waste of time to try to read blood whatever.

You better go anywhere else on the web.

This site is brain dead.

In other words, the poster is fighting out of his class and he knows it.

To our BubbleHead visitors: Even if you can’t stand on your own, surely you can do better than this moron you follow so slavishly…

And to our regular readers: This will be all heat, no substance. You do not have to respond to every comment — nor to any of them. They are not paying you for your time. I tend to choose comments by people who are better-behaved and who are raising points I want to talk about.

Ultimately, this has nothing to do with real estate. This is about the wounded vanity of a vile, ignorant Read more

November 25, 2006

NAR Got It Right & Greg is Correct Too

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

I stand corrected – what I wrote was wrong. I said,

“Some interesting stats (that NAR should have evaluated but doesn’t dare – as it would look like they favored “traditional brokers” over the current crop of leeches)”

2006 NAR President, Tom Stevens did correctly evaluate that data and NAR did a wonderful job of it too. You can see it all here, in an article by Blanche Evans – who is, by far, the most well informed and relevant estate columnist around.

Greg Swann wrote about the extremely nutty Keith at Housing Panic and I laughed out loud when I read it. Greg – in a different post – wrote about Ace Reporter, Catherine Reagor – protesting her lack of relevant data analysis. He closed that post with:

Why are newspapers dying? How about because they refuse to tell the whole truth…?

I don’t believe that Catherine Reagor is refusing to tell the whole truth – I believe that she can not correctly evaluate relative importances or has an editor who has gone WAY out of his or her way (for years) to always make her look bad. Has she ever written anything that you (“you” here would be anyone reading this) thought, thinking to yourself, “Damn, that was good!”. Compare any random droppings from Blanche Evans to Catherine Reagor’s work and you will notice that Blanche tends to compare statistics so that after you read what she wrote, you are better informed – and now know more about the subject. But the quality of their real estate writing really isn’t true for everyone at the Arizona Republic, I’ve enjoyed reading Bob Golfen’s car columns for years – and even if I didn’t like the car he was writing about, I liked reading what he had to say about it. A couple of really bright and decent people in the editorial area there are Richard de Uriate and Doug MacEachern. Also, I don’t believe that the Arizona Republic would have anything to gain by intentionally withholding “the truth” – about any subject.

Giving any statistic without comparing it to SOMETHING RELEVANT tends to make the statement Read more

November 25, 2006

Keith at Housing Panic is for sale . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Who didn’t know?

Here is Keith from Housing Panic volunteering to “go easy on me”, to “pull his punches” — essentially to “take a dive”.

Why? Because he can’t bear up to the ridicule his ridiculous behavior incites.

Responding to this post, days late, Keith sent me this email (click here for full source — provided to prevent the wanker from trying to deny it):

From: housingpanic@yahoo.com
Subject: your choice
Date: November 25, 2006 11:18:34 AM MST
To: GregSwann@BloodhoundRealty.com

I’ll give you a choice.

1) A war with the thousands of HP’ers so harsh and loud your practice and reputation in Arizona likely wouldn’t survive (beyond the damage you’re doing yourself)

2) A truce

Here’s your post that is way beyond the pale, and made you look like some unprofessional weirdo. I’d suggest this be pulled by the weekend.

Your choice

Keith

Here is the specific language Keith is objecting to:

Finally, it might be nice if everyone would chip in to buy Keith at Housing Panic some lubricant. The poor sod has been Masturbating to Armageddon for months now, to no discernible result. It’s gotta chafe…

Here is a post, one of hundreds, in which you can witness Keith Masturbating to Armageddon.

It’s easy to make jokes about him, because the man is such an outsized fool, but, in fact, he is completely beyond parody. I used to think he might be dangerous, not so much anymore. Months ago, someone asked me to write a few words about him, and this is what I came up with:

We speak of trolls casually, but the Norse idea of the troll is a much more serious thing. A troll seeks chaos, another fine word ruined by overuse. I wrote once that a troll is “a spark of hell’s fire seeking ready tinder on the earth.”

This is what Keith is, a true troll. He has the gift of finding the evil bone in men with no will to evil. He tickles it until they become their worst possible selves.

The only true capital is human capital, which is not just mental but also moral power — not just the skill but also the will to do Read more

November 25, 2006

Content piracy on the RE.net . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

An aggregator weblog called Real Estate Chatter is resyndicating the feeds of these 25 real estate weblogs:

My presumption is that this is being done without permission — it was in the case of BloodhoundBlog. In other words, this seems to me to be a case of RSS feed piracy.

Good news: The site is run by an actual human being, Ian Holsman, who says he will remove feeds upon request — which he has done with BloodhoundBlog.

Why these dinks can’t just ask permission in the first place, I don’t know.

Lorelle on WordPress has much, much more on dealing with content theft — and her advice is not-for-WordPress-only.

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November 21, 2006

A pre-Thanksgiving thought-feast: Blogtalk, techtalk, Zillowtalk — and the mysterious allure of ephemeral catastrophe . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Jeff Brown has come out from Behind the Curtain. His new weblog (blogrolled, of course) is BawldGuy Talking.

The Hamptons Real Estate Blog (blogrolled) has also moved to a new WordPress platform. One less Blogger weblog out there. The speed at which people can abandon software platforms should give every Google investor pause.

On that subject, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy has news about a new Point 2 Agent weblogging platform.

The Landlord Blog has started a Carnival of Real Estate Investing. I like the specialization. There are some very smart people in that corner of the RE.net.

Kevin Boer at Three Oceans Realty has maps! I am ambivalent about whether map searching actually does anything to sell houses, but it’s slicker than whale snot anyway. Kevin also has a real estate office in two boxes.

RSS Pieces has a great article on choosing the right domain name.

Rent or buy? Ask Todd Tarson at MOCO Real Estate News. I’m on the bubble on this question, and, not to bust any bubblehead bubbles, but I’m selling more houses than I expected to at this time of year.

Greg Tracy at BlueRoof.com Blog argues that Zillow is relevant, accuracy be damned. I agree from a different direction. Zillow is the elephant in the room right now. Its relevance is a given. As the BalwdGuy says, Zillow might be Pong, ultimately just a blip on technology’s radar. Okayfine. But: Pong was big news for its time.

Send a prayer out, if you can, for Jonathan Dalton’s father. Pneumonia, the worst of house guests — shows up unexpectedly and takes forever to clear out. Take good care of your own selves, too, as the weather cools. Pneumonia is what you get when you tell yourself you can ignore a chest cold.

Hey! Where is Kris Berg? I hope some San Diego newspaper is paying her big bucks for her sprightly sense of humor. If not that, I hope her absence is explained by a big stack of new contracts.

Finally, it might be nice if everyone would chip in to buy Keith at Housing Panic some lubricant. The poor sod has been Masturbating to Read more

November 21, 2006

Dual Agency Smack-Down: The RE.net smacks back . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Here are some weblogs addressing the Dual Agency Smack-Down from their own points of view:

Whenever we talk about Dual Agency, the most fascinating remarks to me come from Christine Forgione at NY Houses 4 Sale. Because they’re still working from sub-agency, we look like aliens to each other.

More from New York from Douglas Heddings at True Gotham.

Daniel Rothamel at The Real Estate Zebra explains the industry’s ambivalence about Dual Agency with a sports metaphor.

And Ardell weighs in with two posts. I like to see her picking up Dustin’s link-a-bration slack…

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November 19, 2006

Reagor-mortis? On-the-spot real estate news coverage only a few weeks late . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

October 26th: NCRC files specious complaint against Zillow.com.

November 19th: Crack Arizona Republic real estate reporter Catherine Reagor yawns, burps, goes back to sleep:

The popular Web site zillow.com gets a lot of hits as people frequently check the values of their homes and their neighbors’ in the fast-changing housing market.

But not everyone agrees with Zillow’s figures. I have received several calls and e-mails from people questioning its data. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition agrees. The Washington, D.C.-based non-profit has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission saying Zillow’s home-valuation tool is inaccurate.

Further deponent sayeth not.

Reagor was in love with Zillow when it was brand new, but this was because she hadn’t bothered to test it. The idea of reporters actually checking things seems to have died with Hildy Johnson…

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November 18, 2006

Saturday morning links . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Todd Tarson goes flat fee for buyers. I’ll be interested to hear how this flies in the high desert. Inlookers, Mohave County, where Todd works, is boom country. The new bridge over the Colorado is expected to turn the SR-93 corridor from Kingman to the river into bedroom communities for Las Vegas — which is running out of land. You might consider giving Todd one day of your Vegas vacation to take a closer look.

Greg Tracy at BlueRoof.com asks: What if Zillow Got Serious? Indeed. This is what makes Fidelity’s half-baked AVM interesting, actually. They already have the title farm, and they already have the Realtor relationships. This could be fun…

Jay Reifert, a true buyers-only agent in Madison, Wisconsin, sent me a link to a form buyers can use to cling to their unrepresented status. Jay has a lot more at his real estate reform web site.

RSS Pieces advises us that it is a myth that stand-alone web sites for listings drive traffic. This is probably true in the large. It is certainly false from an incremental and long-term perspective. But the real point is: So what? The purpose of a discrete web site for a home is not to drive traffic but to sell that house. Do they work? Oh, good lord, yes! Lately, I’ve read a number of tone-deaf observations on this subject, and I don’t know if the writers just don’t get it or if they’re playing dumb to rationalize playing it cheap. Here’s how you do this: You have a summary listing on your main web site, just like everyone else, except that the summary links to the stand-alone site for that particular listing. Now you have searchability at your main site and a link back from the satellite site, marginally improving your Page rank. More importantly, you have knocked the socks off your seller, your prospective buyers and the entire neighborhood. We sell to people, not Google. Don’t forget.

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy has a new “Ask the Lenders” feature, which I think is a rockin’ idea.

And: Jim Cronin at The Real Estate Tomato asks: “Who Read more

November 15, 2006

Meeting Russell Shaw: It turns out there is no topic of conversation except real estate . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Years ago, when I lived in Boston, I knew a computer programmer who had no interest in computers outside of work — not even to use, much less play with. I thought this was so weird, because my work completely dominates my attention. It’s all I think about, it’s all I want to talk about, it’s there in the back of my mind no matter what I’m doing.

When Todd Tarson came to visit us, we talked about real estate for every minute he had to spare.

Last night Cathy and I met Russell Shaw in person for the first time. We closed a Mimi’s Restaurant. We got together at 7:30 p.m. and left at midnight, just before they called the cops on us. No liquor, mind you — iced tea, cappuccino and ice-water. But we were drunk all the same, awash in ideas.

We talked about real estate the whole time. Russell is very smart, and very forthcoming with information — as you know from reading him here. We covered a vast horde of topics, from tiny marketing details to big-picture analysis of the NAR/DOJ/FTC fiasc-o-thon.

It was an amazingly wonderful evening for me — my birthday, by chance — entirely my style of living. Cathy has been making notes from memory all morning.

Here’s one concrete plan that came out of our scheming:

We’re going to debate Dual Agency in BloodhoundBlog, with Russell on the affirmative and me on the negative.

Russell is all over the idea that, while forbidding Dual Agency with buyers can make sense for us, we should not rule it out for sellers. He makes a very compelling case, and he may yet carry the day.

But, as the the great Arizona patriot Sam Steiger used to say, we’re just a wave, we’re not the water. The issue is bigger than either one of us can cover. I know there are many stout defenders of Dual Agency from whom we have heard nothing. Opponents may have arguments we have not yet considered. Either way, marshall your positions and tell us what we’re getting wrong.

I’ll post something in the next day or two. With Read more

November 13, 2006

Avid AVM aversion extends only to Zillow.com: NCRC off-shoot starts competing on-line valuation service . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Curiouser and curiouser. Could it be that NCRC’s motive is not to shake-down Zillow.com but to sully its reputation, in advance of going into competition against it? From InmanNews (fingered by Jim Duncan of Real Central VA):

Zillow officials say their valuations should also be seen as a starting point for consumers who want to learn more about the value of their homes.

But the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Zillow does not adequately disclose the degree to which its free automated home valuations can over- or underestimate a property’s value. The site is “likely to cause substantial injury to consumers who rely on the inaccurate representations made by the company,” the complaint alleged.

Zillow officials called the allegations groundless, saying they make every effort to explain the site’s role as a starting point for research, and display accuracy rates for every area covered by the site.

In a confusing twist, a nonprofit group formed by NCRC to promote best practices in the appraisal industry has hired another company, Eppraisal LLC, to provide a service similar to Saris Technologies’ eppraisal.com.

The NCRC offshoot, the Center for Responsible Appraisals and Valuations, is contracting with Eppraisal LLC to operate its www.BuySmartProgram.com Web site, which offers consumers appraisals using an automated valuation model in conjunction with the services of an appraiser.

NCRC vice president David Berenbaum said there is no contradiction in NCRC’s complaint against Zillow and CRAV’s use of an AVM on the www.BuySmartProgram.com Web site.

“The product being offered is an appraisal involving a site visit. It is not limited to an AVM,” Berenbaum said. “We do not have a problem with accurate AVMs, especially if they are combined with (the services of) an appraiser.”

Berenbaum said Eppraisal LLC is a subcontractor with no influence over policy decisions at NCRC or CRAV.

Based in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, Eppraisal LLC offers access to a network of 10,000 appraisers through its Web site, www.uappraiseit.com.

Scott said the term eppraisal has not been trademarked, and that Saris and its www.eppraisal.com service have no ties to Eppraisal LLC.

Another unrelated company with a Read more

November 12, 2006

Dustin says, “It’s time for a New Name for ‘Blog'”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Indeed! Blog is an ugly word. Weblog is an ugly word.

The relationship I will have with Russell Shaw — blogfather and blogson or blogchild — is delimited by ugly words.

The ultimate ugly word associated with wegblogging, itself an ugly word:

Blogosphere.

It sounds like something Uncle Chester had to hack up every morning before his day could get started.

How soon will these words change?

Right after they fix the HVAC system in Persephone’s winter home…

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November 11, 2006

Links for a very busy Saturday . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’m selling at least two houses this weekend, so I’m catch as catch can. I want to write a very involved Realty Reality story, too, so my Saturday is much enriched. Here are some other riches:

Realty Thoughts ponders the differences between the Inman shows and NARdiGRAS. Here’s one that pops out at me: So far, almost no news has broken at NARdiGRAS.

Both The Real Estate Bloggers and Real Central VA draw attention to The Real Estate Journal’s expose on agent bonuses:

The best defense for buyers may be to insist that agents disclose the compensation being offered on any property under serious consideration. That way, consumers could negotiate ways to share anything that goes beyond a normal pay day for the agent — or at least take the incentives into account in assessing the agent’s advice. But few consumers raise such questions. Daniel Ruben Odio-Paez, a broker in the Washington, D.C., area who operates a real-estate search site, www.tbhse.com, says he believes “most buyers have no clue how their agent is being compensated.”

“‘Ethically, if you are representing the buyer and taking the buyer to a place where you are getting an increased commission, the right thing to do is tell them,’ says Danny O’Sullivan, a senior vice president with Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. in Fairfax, Va.” Ya think? In September, I wrote on Arizona’s laws regarding agent bonuses.

Jim Duncan at Real Central VA is in love with the improvements to GoogleBase announced at NARdiGRAS. I’ll withhold judgement. Even so, its seems inevitable that we are to be XMLated by The Borg. This bodes ill for smaller players, I should think.

Marlow Harris at 360Digest is trading maps for money in a very astute analysis. How hi is Seattle’s tech?: I don’t know of a single map interface at a Phoenix brokerage.

Joel Burslem at The Future of Real Estate Marketing doesn’t like Cyberhomes. Who can blame him?

Finally, The Real Estate Tomato is spreading the spaghetti sauce: Jim Cronin has started TomatoBlogs.com, a turn-key real estate weblog vendor. Pre-launch blogs: The Realty Doctor, The Silver Bee and Sacramento Real Estate Voice. All WordPress, Read more

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