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Category: Blogging (page 78 of 84)

September 4, 2006

Working the numbers on real estate business models . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Altos Research on Redfin.com and other real estate business models:

Sales guru Jeffery Gitomer puts it this way, “if you have to compete on price, You Suck!”

We all invoke financial services as the analog for real estate. What isn’t commonly noted is that as technology swept through the financial services biz, two things happened: prices went down (e-trade et al) and prices went up (hedge funds). Why did prices go up? The same reason they always do. When you provide more value to a customer, you can (and should) charge more. I for one am looking for the real estate agents/brokers/sites that blow away their clients so completely with service, that they’re happy to pay more than 6%. Those are the innovators to watch.

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September 4, 2006

Remarks from Redfin.com Broker Glenn Kelman . . .

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Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Glenn Kelman, chief executive and broker of Redfin.com, posted a comment to one of my entries about that company. I replied to him there, but I’m posting the exchange here, as well, frankly because I consider it Big News.

Here is Mr. Kelman’s remark:

Thanks for this thoughtful comment Greg. Many Redfin customers decide to refund part of the commission to the seller, but this is their choice: the money we refund is theirs, so the choice is theirs. Regards, Glenn

And here is my somewhat lengthier reply:

There we go! Truliamazing, times two!

> the money we refund is theirs, so the choice is theirs.

I agree with this, of course, but I wonder if you would be willing to address the larger issues I have raised here and here (and elsewhere for that matter).

I believe as an Arizona State licensed real estate broker that Redfin.com’s (and BuySideInc.com’s) policy of sending buyers unattended to listed homes is an abandonment of agency, a clear break in the chain of representation. Your company in particular has proved very successful at portraying reluctant listing agents as the bad guys, but, in fact, I believe that cooperative effort is the reason that listing agents recommend that sellers provide compensation for cooperating brokers. You are certainly free to do as you choose with your earned commissions, but my argument would be that you have not earned them by any standard of procuring cause that would be applied to any other real estate brokerage. Can you defend your company’s representation of its clients and therefore defend its having earned the commissions it has disbursed?

Another way of asking the same queston: How much commission would Redfin.com have earned if it sent a client unattended to a new home subdivision?

All that having been said, I think you will get away with what you are doing. But if you do, it seems very reasonable that listing agents will either stop offering co-broke commissions altogether or will condition those commissions on true cooperative effort. No doubt the New York Times will deem this unfair, but in fact the sales price of the home will be lower Read more

September 4, 2006

Labor Day Linkathon: Catching up with real estate topics raised here and elsewhere . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From a comment here, here is the full context of Marlow Harris’s remarks to the New York Times:

“The only complaints I hear about are those noted on the official Redfin blog or talked about by their CEO in newspapers. As I mentioned in my previous email, they have such a tiny -.00001% of the market, I’m sure no one takes them very seriously.

“However, someone may be trying to manufacture controversy, even going so far as to bait other real estate practitioners, invite “war stories” on their blog, and whine to Congress and to newspaper reporters, that they’re being treated unfairly.

“With such dismal sales, if you’re hearing stories from a certain Redfin CEO, I’d take them all with a grain of salt. He can’t blame all his problems on other real estate brokers.”

There is much, much more from Marlow on Redfin.com at 360Digest. Which is not to imply that reaction to the New York Times article is universally negative: The Real Estate Bloggers loved it.

Ardell has ideas on training agents to negotiate commissions equitably. In contrast to Redzilla, a matinee monster at best, Ardell’s ideas combined with the innovations outlined by Eileen Tefft at Rain City Guide suggest a truly new business model for real estate brokerage.

Stephen Jagger at Ubertor raises some additional points on the subject of building custom web sites for home listings. I promise to come back to this topic sometime soon. There are four categories of clients for these custom web sites, and so far we’ve only talked about two of them. In the mean time, though, I think Ubertor builds gorgeous web sites.

ZillowTalk: ChitownLiving on the Sellsius&176; poll results. Michael Daly at the Hamptons Real Estate Blog explores the consequences of hubris in business. My own name is mud on both coasts, so I’ll do what I can to make things worse. Here’s what Michael Daly says:

It will take a number of lawsuits or perhaps even a class action suit against Zillow before they put the appropriate disclaimers on their site.

I’m kinda thinking that they’re on the verge of something like this right now. Take note of Read more

September 4, 2006

A note from the Swan of Avon about Rain City Guide . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

The rain it raineth every day — but one.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man’s estate,
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
Against knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas, to wive,
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, my song is done,
And I’ll strive to please you every day.

The world has begun again…

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September 3, 2006

Note from Dustin Luther regarding the hacking of Rain City Guide . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Quoting:

Of course it happens when I’m whitewater river rafting! Definitely teaches me a lesson!!!

This was the first I’ve been away from the internet for more than a few hours in over a year!!! LOL!

I’ll try to fix it in the morning, but I’m too beat right now.

Thanks to everyone for letting me know the site was down!

Best,

-Dustin

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August 31, 2006

Zindicated! Is this Zillowed seller proof of the need for even greater Zillification?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Frankly, no.

Christine at NY Houses 4 Sale cites a Realty Times article about a seller who immediately pulled his home off the market after a prospective buyer confronted him with a Zestimate $500,000 below his assessed value. His conclusion is that Zillow.com has made his home unmarketable.

My first reaction is simply to say, “Hysterical much?”

I think Zillow.com misleads consumers by implying that its Automated Valuation Method is a valid and useful way of pricing homes, but I can’t believe that there is any report or document produced by Zillow.com that cannot be completely dispensed with by saying, “Are you utterly daft? If you can buy a house in this neighborhood for half-a-million under market, I’ll help you move in. Now get serious or get lost.” On my planet we call that negotiation.

At NY Houses for Sale, Christine writes:

I am sure that soon there will be more and more complaints and I am also sure that as the market continues to change more and more buyers will be “Zillowing” their neighbor, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends houses. Just as I am sure of those things – I am VERY sure that there will be many buyers coming into homes that are listed claiming that they are over priced. But here is my answer.. “The house is NOT over priced – your Zestimate is UNDER priced”.

And all that will be great. Zillow.com wears a media-conferred halo right now. The more people talk about the incredible, obvious, bone-headed mistakes Zillow cannot help but make, the less people will rely on it — or affect to rely on it. At some point Zillow may elect to tell the truth in no uncertain terms about what an AVM can and cannot do — in order to retain at least a shred of credibility.

But as for this seller: Grow up, cowboy. If there were no Zestimates, the buyer would have tried a different lowball tactic. If you want your house to sell, pay $300 for a spot appraisal, price you home at or below it, and leave a copy of the full appraisal report Read more

August 31, 2006

Words, words, words: How evocative listing copy helps to sell homes . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Mike Price at Mike’s Corner is kvetching about clumsy Realtor lingo, and while I’m with him on the main point, I have turf of my own to defend.

Sez Mike:

I’ve often wondered what consumers think when they are subjected to the same goofy tag lines and incomplete sentences that seem to proliferate the inventory of any MLS.

Indeed. It’s possible to overthink this stuff, though. I think most of what passes for experience in residential real estate is nothing more than thoughtless imitation — monkey-see, monkey-do, monkey-don’t-ever-test-the-results. I wrote about tin-eared Realtor marketing last fall, taking particular note of ‘riders’ on real estate signs.

But: I think there is more to this than clumsy cliches versus just-the-facts-ma’am. If that’s the only choice, I’ll take the facts. But my own preference is to express, as best I can, the features of the home as benefits and the benefits as the story of a life enriched and perfected by the home. We call this rhapsodizing, and the listings I like best are for homes about which I can wax rhapsodic at first glance. Most homes don’t seem to glow of their own light at sunset — ain’t that poetic? — but, even then, I’m looking to sell you your life in the home, not the mere details.

In an ARMLS listing, I get exactly 680 characters to do this. We give up space for the address of the home’s custom web site, so, ultimately, I get about 100 words, maybe 110. As you may have noticed, I can write more than 110 words.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Your Moroccan oasis in the city… The style is Spanish Eclectic, but the details come straight from Marrakech. In the midst of the brutal Phoenix summer, you’ve found a refuge that is… cool, shady, refreshing. From the lush gardens front and back to the interplay of light and shadow in the 1935 residence, from the luxury of the Kitchen, Master Suite and Guest House to the simple understated elegance of the Living Room and Formal Dining Room, from the travertine and hardwood floors to the Moroccan arches, this Read more

August 30, 2006

Upping the stakes on real estate listing marketing: A custom weblog on a custom domain . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’m not sure I’m understanding what Jim Kimmons is talking about. He cites an NAR article on building custom web sites on their own domains for listed homes. This we already do, and it knocks the socks off of everyone we deal with. Sockless in the high desert, Jim treads off in a different direction:

I think it’s a great idea, but I do it a bit differently. My custom domain names go to a blog instead of a web site. I’m pretty sure that I, and my clients, gain search engine exposure by using a blog. Also, over time, I can place new posts that will go out as RSS feeds and create new interest and search engine exposure. An interested buyer can subscribe to the blog and watch for price reductions or other announcements.

This is good. This fits nicely with the 4Realization that nothing Googles like a blog. It’s also a nice way to play with graphic ideas until something sings. I don’t love TypePad because of the rassafrassin’ trackbacks, but that’s a detail. I’m going to use WordPress anyway.

The part that I don’t get — and I guess I don’t have to get it — is this: Jim provides a link to an example listing weblog. It’s custom, yes, but the domain name is not property-specific in any way that I can see. I must be missing something.

For my own part, though, I am much enriched even in my bewilderment. There is a WordPress plug-in to make a post sticky — so the introductory matter I would want to stay at the top of the page will stay at the top of the page. A capital-P Page in WordPress is a hybrid construct that can work like a post, like a page full of posts or just like a stand-alone web page. In other words, the idea of WordPress as a Content Management System is easily 4Realized. Setting them up this way is more time-consuming that the procedure Jim describes, but I can leverage the labor from one to the next until I get to something I love. The Read more

August 30, 2006

RealTown: That’s not a feature — that’s a cockroach . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

If a bug is disgusting enough, you’re apt to keep grinding at it with your shoe long after it’s dead. If InternetCrusade has six legs, then The Real Estate Tomato is wearing waffle-stompers. Today Jim Cronin takes on IC’s recent discovery of weblogging, the coolest thing to touch their antennae since Listservs. Here’s a quote from IC’s PR piece in Realtor Magazine On-Line:

There’s no shortage of programs that make it extraordinarily simple to create and update a blog. With no more effort or time than it takes to compose an e-mail, you can have your latest blog entry on the Web. Experiment with different software programs, such as Google’s Blogger or InternetCrusade’s RealTown Blogs, both of which are free.

Jim has much, much more to say, but this bit is particularly funny: As nearly as I can tell, every RSS feed from RealTown is clobbered right now.

Yeah, but it’s free…

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August 29, 2006

Let The Day Begin . . .

by

Realtor, Staging Consultant

Author website

Taking allowance from recent posts here and on other favorite sites that have quoted lyrics, and inspired by having just heard this on the radio, I want to celebrate the joy that is communicated by The Call, in band member, Michael Been’s song Let The Day Begin (covered on The Best of the Call – The Millennium Collection):

Here’s to the babies in a brand new world
Here’s to the beauty of the stars
Here’s to the travellers on the open road
Here’s to the dreamers in the bars
Here’s to the teachers in the crowded rooms
Here’s to the workers in the fields
Here’s to the preachers of the sacred words
Here’s to the drivers at the wheel
Here’s to you my little loves
With blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here’s to you my little loves
With blessings from above
Now let the day begin
let the day begin

Here’s to the winners of the human race
Here’s to the losers in the game
Here’s to the soldiers of the bitter war
Here’s to the wall that bears their name
Here’s to you my little loves
With blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here’s to you my little loves
With blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Let the day begin
Let the day start.

Here’s to the doctors and their healing work
Here’s to the loved ones in their care
Here’s to the strangers on the street tonight
Here’s to the lonely everywhere
Here’s to the wisdom from the mouths of babes
Here’s to the lions in the cage
Here’s to the struggles of the silent poor
Here’s to the closing of the age
Here’s to you my little loves
With blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here’s to you my little loves
With blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Let the day begin
Let the day start.

And isn’t this what most of us are about? Those of us who have jumped on the Real Estate 2.0 bandwagon, blogging and building community and talking about transparency and working always toward the best interest of the client. It’s not just about making our mark in the market, though of course that’s important on so many levels… it’s about doing good first and then doing well as a consequence. So,

Here’s to you Greg
Here’s to Read more

August 29, 2006

Rethinking absolutely everything in real estate . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Jim Cronin is on the verge of something big at The Real Estate Tomato. So is, Eileen Tefft at Rain City Guide, working from a completely different direction. PressReal.com anticipates the demise of the MLS system within months, which seems unlikely to me. But: It remains: These are exciting times to be in real estate. In another post, The Real Estate Tomato solicits testimony on blogging success. I think the best success of real estate weblogging is in this unfiltered, unimpeded exchange of new, better ideas. I come to this banquet every day with my nickel, sometimes just four scuffed pennies. I leave every day stuffed to the gills from a millionaire’s feast. Everything after that is — you guessed it — dessert…

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August 28, 2006

Greg Swann can be an insufferable bastard sometimes — but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong . . .

by

Realtor, Staging Consultant

Author website

Okay. I’ll admit it: Greg is more efficient than I. Of course, that will surprise no one. He is able to communicate great big ideas with an economy of words… prolifically. While I have to sweat out each word, then use too many to get my point across. Sweat might just be the difference. Greg doesn’t sweat the small stuff, but I’m always flitting here and there to make sure I have everything covered. Don’t misunderstand – Greg nails all the detail on his real estate transactions, but that’s because they aren’t small stuff… they’re the kind of stuff that does matter to Greg. Just don’t leave it to him to see that our water bill gets paid! Those are the types of details he won’t sweat. He leaves those to me.

This comes up again and again in our life. Early this morning when we awoke, Greg made a beeline to his iMac, and I dashed outdoors to find out how many feral cats I had trapped during the night. You see, while we’re both great animal lovers, Greg is perfectly satisfied knowing and loving the ones that are known and loved — the ones who have names. While I’m always on the lookout for the nameless ones, the ones who have been lost, neglected, forgotten. So one of the organizations I’m involved with is AZCats, which lends me traps to catch feral cats and helps me to get them spayed or neutered, so I can turn around and release them and care for them (as much as a feral will permit) and know they won’t create even more feral kittens. One who I caught during the night was a kitten, too young to be neutered. So after I rounded up all of the traps and took the older cats to the vet’s, I took the tiny kitten to a neighbor to see whether she would take him in. She did. All this before breakfast. Greg was still sitting, working, writing at his computer when I settled in to work. He wasn’t interested in the kitten; it was just one in Read more

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Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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