BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Category: Group Therapy (page 75 of 81)

August 9, 2008

Redemption is egoism in action: In support of Mike Farmer, even if other people are criminal, I am not — but I will not cause them to become good by becoming a criminal myself

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Not completely off topic, but well above the normal fray. I wrote this ten or twelve years ago:

 
What I want to discuss is Socrates’ question about whether it is better to inflict an injury or to have an injury inflicted upon you. It’s a favorite of sophists and sophomores, I know, but I think it strikes at the very core of justice. The justice I seek and seek to defend is not “out there”, apart from myself. Justice (or injustice) is not what others do to me, it’s what I do to myself and to others. Where I find myself availing myself of the fallacies tu quoque or two wrongs make a right, I am rationalizing injustice, and the worst havoc I am wreaking is upon my own ego.

The Nazarene’s answer to Socrates was this: It is better to have an injury inflicted upon you, because redemption is still possible to one who has not inflicted injury upon another. I don’t believe in an afterlife and I don’t believe redemption hinges upon any one event. But I do believe that a “justice” that is itself unjust is vain at best and evil at worst.

We can make a joke by saying, “Political philosophy is the means by which ethical systems betray themselves.” There are actually a host of reasons for this, and all of them are amusing to me. For one, a political system has a meta-goal apart from the ethical system in which it is rooted: It must function in the real world.

Moreover, the political system itself has a meta-ethical or even extra-ethical goal in that its proponents will tend to imbue it with what they view are essential survival characteristics even if these betray the ethical system in which the political philosophy is putatively based. Any form of argument that the polity can or should or must do what it would be immoral or criminal for any individual to do is a form of this error. The counter is, but if we don’t inflict this injury, the polity won’t survive. And the counter to that is that a dispute resolution Read more

August 6, 2008

The just-exactly-how-dumb-are-you Realtor-spam of the decade: RECS wrecks twenty-six reputations for only a buck

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This

incites no end of questions for me.

For example, exactly how will my mastery of Real Estate Cyberspace have improved by sending these schmucks a dollar?

If I send two dollars, can I be twice as wizardly?

Precisely how much value should my clients put on a real estate designation that is just as difficult to obtain as an Official Inman News sippee cup — but $148 cheaper?

Yes, yes, I’m sure there’s fine print, but I’m a high D and I don’t care. Here’s the question that made me crazy for days:

I don’t know of all of those twenty-six people who lent their names and faces to this vastly stoopid promotion, but I know of quite a few of them. Presumably they took some pains to make themselves famous in the real estate vendor space. My question:

Why would they deliberately wreck their reputations by associating themselves with this sleazy wreck of a real estate designation?

I’m quite serious. I’ve had this email open all week, trying to figure it out. I get slimed all the time by creepoids trying to leech away the value of my recommendations, but the sole power I have in the marketplace of ideas is my reputation for integrity. Because I never attach my name to crap, you know that, if I do praise a product, I’m doing so for reasons I consider valid. I can’t imagine taking money to endorse a product, but, surely, it is far worse to take money to endorse a product that — by its own admission — is not even worth a dollar!

And it’s not one wannabe real estate bigfoot up there, it’s twenty-six of them! Reputation is all there is in the Web 2.0 world. Why would they squander the intellectual capital they worked so hard to accumulate?

I couldn’t work it out, but then I stumbled on an infomercial-like sales presentation that made the whole issue clear to me:

Mind what goes into your mind.

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August 5, 2008

My next journey…a personal note.

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

I just wanted to drop in a personal note on the blog if you will indulge me.

The last couple of weeks have been a busy time at the Blackwell house and there have been a lot of things going on! A while back, I introduced you to the real Team Eric, my family. Many of you got a chance to read about my two sons’ efforts to help others who have autism. While I have always been behind them and supported their efforts, that is about to go to a whole new level.

Yesterday, I signed a book deal with the major Autism / Asperger Syndrome book publisher to author a book that will serve as a simple and practical guide for Dad’s of kids “on the Spectrum”. I have published essays and whitepapers in the past, but have never authored a book. This is a challenge like none I have ever faced before, but I would not have it any other way. It is going to be fun.

Rest assured that this will not affect anything more than slightly altering the frequency of my posts…and then not for long. You can read into that that the Realtor.com stuff is coming. (grin) I care too much for this industry to do anything less. This is just a personal side-trip to support my boys and family in their efforts…and hopefully brighten the world a bit in the process. And I wanted to share in the excitement (read: terror) of the moment with you. (grin)

Have a great day!

July 28, 2008

What Has Your Local Association Done For/To You Lately?

by

CEO, PA Association of Realtors

Author website

Many of the Bloodhound writers and readers are rather disdainful of the entire Realtor® organization – all three levels (local, state and national). Greg Swann, in particular, has a penchant for wishing for the demise of the organization that keeps him on a leash. In fact, Greg, I’d suggest you stop reading this post now. Not because I will be defending the organization, but because you are already beyond any discussion of what a local association could/should be for members.

For those who are still reading, I will assume you have a least a passing interest in why you are a member of the Realtor® organization and some hope that it can serve you in some way. The fundamental question I’m exploring is the role of the local association in helping members to be successful. There are many different sizes and shapes of local associations out there, so I’m going to attempt to stay at the philosophical level. I will be using my local association, the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors® (CAAR), as an example, so for clarity we have 1100 members in a small but sophisticated real estate market. That makes us a mid-sized local, but to be honest, we act like we are big.

CAAR is currently debating this issue of the association’s role. At each Board of Directors meeting we start off with what we call a “Strategic Discussion” that involves an issue that is important, but not urgent (Covey’s Quadrant 2). Next week the Strategic Discussion on the agenda is as follows:

Strategic Discussion

What is CAAR’s Role on the Internet? When do we compete with members and when do we provide a common service that is in the best interest of most of our members? If we provide valuable public information, do we compete with members who could be providing that same information? Was the NGIC website a valuable service to members and the community, or an interference with our member’s business?

The NGIC website mentioned in this agenda item is a special site we created to help with a major relocation of much of the military intelligence personnel to our Read more

July 27, 2008

Just when you thought Microsoft Internet Explorer couldn’t possibly suck any worse, it finds a way to suck with WordPress 2.6

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Did you ever wonder why Bill Gates doesn’t have any children? It’s because he found a secret incantation by which, having named his company after his pet name for his most private appendage, he succeeded in making schmucks of us all. Top that, Steve Jobs!

Just when you thought you were about to escape into the cloud, Bill Gates has his revenge: There is a bug in Microsoft Internet Explorer that causes it to issue juicy error messages to some users of WordPress 2.6.

No fix but Firefox, so far — or a Macintosh, of course. Your mileage may vary, but if you see the words “Operation Aborted,” you might issue a little incantation of your own…

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July 22, 2008

Gulp… I AM a VENDOR!

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

I had one of those REALLY UGLY commutes to work today. You know the ones…when your mind won’t stop ruminating on the scary thoughts of the hours before you left. I mean…you are trying to focus on the business of the day, but it just won’t happen…

After Hunter’s post about vendors…and Greg’s… It was time for me to do some serious soul searching about what I thought was right. I mean…I hate all these vendors pestering the heck out of me…and lying to me…and doing ANYTHING to get business…And then it hit me.

Gulp… I AM a VENDOR!

My blog over at EricOnSearch is my business. While I limit (severely) the number of clients that I take on to only those that TRULY fit with me, and while the real estate side is limited to SEO. ( I refer out website development to those I trust -see site) I AM indeed a vendor to the real estate market.

I spent my entire 35 minute drive to the office thinking….”I have NEVER solicited business from anyone on BHB. Ever.”
“I have always TRIED to be helpful and spent time and offered FREE advice to many who have asked.”
“I have never paid for an ad or paid a (insert chokepoint Charlie here) for exposure.”
“It has all been Earned Media.”

And yet I AM indeed a VENDOR. I feel dirty. Tainted by the company of people who CALL themselves vendors but who in reality are confidence men (and women). The problem is that con men and women and shysters seem to make up a vast majority of the RE vendor market.

Russell Shaw made a great point in a recent post about the Enemy Line. Maybe this is one of the items on my list that I need to get over.

So I started thinking about distinctions that I believe separate the ME’s from many of the rest. I actually made a pretty good sized list of things that I do differently as a vendor to make SURE that I am firmly putting distance between myself and THEM. But once I looked at the list it all boiled down Read more

July 18, 2008

Will NAR’s Latest 3-Letter Word Be Another Failure?

by

CEO, PA Association of Realtors

Author website

NAR has just been set up for failure. I hope I’m wrong, but history is on failures side. As I reported in the past, NAR is developing a database of every possible piece of information on every property in the United State. Jim Duncan, who served on the task force that came up with the idea, first reported on this in December 07. This project has gone through several names. It started as the Gateway, then changed to the Real Estate Channel, then to the Library/Archive and now to the final and official name, the Realtor Property Resource (RPR).

I’m only half kidding about this – you get to decide which half – but I gave my input along the way as to what name we should use. I said call it whatever you want, but make sure it does not end up with a 3-letter acronym. You see NAR has a remarkable failure rate with things that have a 3-letter acronym. For instance, oldies like PRC and RIN and more recently IDX and VOW. Now, my definition of failure is debatable, but basically anything that involved a major lawsuit or loss of significant money, I consider a failure.

There have been no NAR initiatives with 3-letter acronyms that have succeeded since MLS and even that has faced many lawsuits. I still consider MLS a success because it is the number 1 member service NAR has ever come up with. Essentially, MLS was a killer application that brought order to the marketplace. Like it or not, MLS has been a success. I do not know the date MLS was coined, but it was a long time ago in relative terms to this post.

So, now the latest challenger to the 3-letter theory jinx is RPR. This concept is so BIG in concept that it may be a killer app in its own right. Time will tell, but I am optimistic that it can become a major resource for members.

July 17, 2008

How to tell a hawk from a handsaw…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

“The shame of speaking unskilfully were small if the tongue onely thereby were disgrac’d: But as the Image of a King in his Seale ill-represented is not so much a blemish to the waxe, or the Signet that seal’d it, as to the Prince it representeth, so disordered speech is not so much injury to the lips that give it forth, as to the disproportion and incoherence of things in themselves, so negligently expressed. Neither can his Mind be thought to be in Tune, whose words do jarre; nor his reason in frame, whose sentence is preposterous; nor his Elocution clear and perfect, whose utterance breaks itself into fragments and uncertainties. Negligent speech doth not onely discredit the person of the Speaker, but it discrediteth the opinion of his reason and judgement; it discrediteth the force and uniformity of the matter and substance. If it be so then in words, which fly and ’scape censure, and where one good Phrase asks pardon for many incongruities and faults, how then shall he be thought wise whose penning is thin and shallow? How shall you look for wit from him whose leasure and head, assisted with the examination of his eyes, yeeld you no life or sharpnesse in his writing?” –Ben Jonson

July 1, 2008

Making the pack: How to break your way into BloodhoundBlog

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Lately, I’m getting two or three requests a day to write with us. They come from sweet, smart, earnest people, and, while I look at everything they send to me, I usually don’t have time to write back and decline their requests. That’s the one part of this job I really hate, because I’ve always hated being on the receiving end of that kind of transaction. On the other hand, I know from experience that the attention of readers is not something I give, nor something you get, but, rather, something that the writer seizes, takes by the irrepressible force of sheer talent. I’m in the unique position of being able to share this rostrum we have built with other people. But I can’t make anyone listen — not to you, not to me, not to anyone.

I had email yesterday from John Rowles, and, on the strength of that one email, without looking at anything else he had written, I invited him to join us. John’s letter was simply riveting. I read every work, all the way to the end, but I knew by the fifth paragraph that he would be writing with us. I can think of a dozen things I might think about, if I am deliberating about a potential contributor, and I will sometimes appeal to Brian or Teri or Cathleen for advice. But when a writer knocks my socks off — knocks them all the way across the room — there is nothing to think about.

I owe formal introductions for John, and for all the wonderful writers we added last week. For now, here is John’s email in its entirety:

Hi Greg:

1995-6: I was 26 and four years out from earning my BA in journalism when Web 1.0 happened. I spent those four years tending bar and working in ski shops while I started to build a portfolio of feature-length articles. My girlfriend  managed an apartment complex, and I met Bill while hanging out in her office. Bill had a computer setup straight out of the movie War Games, complete with a voice modulator (“Hello, Bill. Would you Read more

June 26, 2008

Project Bloodhound: And they called it puppy love

by

Rust Belt Realtor

Author website

The Bloodhound Blog has puppies!

This is a frisky and fearless litter of pure-bred Bloodhounds, each with their own unique goals, skills, voice, and talents. They are being added to the contributor’s panel to blend their own howling to the symphony that makes Bloodhound the remarkable place it is. I prefer to let them tell you their own stories in their own words, but I’ll give you a little glimpse into the breadth and wisdom of this amazing group that we’ve assembled.

What I think you will find so intriguing about this group is that the focus of their blogs varies quite a bit. During Project Blogger, we were all real estate bloggers with a local focus. That is so-o-o 2007. This is 2008, and this is Project Bloodhound. This is a lender, and a true hyperlocal blog, and a green multi-user blog, and this a few city-wide real estate blogs of different price points and markets.

Project Blogger was mentors and newbies. Not Project Bloodhound. We have a true pup, just starting to cut her teeth in the Web 2.0 world; we have experienced bloggers who are hunting for a more engaging writing style; a long time blogger who is on the scent of the SEO secrets for dominating his market. There are a few pups who are gnawing on the dashboard of their WordPress platforms, and bloggers who are happily chewing Blogger and RSSpieces blogs, thank you very much.

Who are these pups?

Christine Beaur-Mortezaie: VoilaLongBeach

Brad Coy: SanFranciscoRealEstateServices

Michelle DeRepentingy: AllAboutAthensGA

Stephanie Edwards-Musa: TurningHoustonGreen

Hunter Jackson: ColumbiaSCRealEstateHomes

Tom Vanderwell: StraightTalkAboutMortgages

How is Project Bloodhound going to work? Briefly, the pups are going to post here, and we- we being anyone- are going to take those posts as a starting point and continue the conversation in comment threads, on our own blogs, and here on BHB posts. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge, but also your chance to ask your own questions and pick the brains of the best bloggers out there.

One short year later, it is a real joy to pay my own experience forward and I hope you will welcome this new litter of Bloodhounds with Read more

June 22, 2008

The world you find is the world you’re looking for…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

The Associated Press has a story this morning on on how weak and powerless people feel when they spend too much time obsessing over the news and not enough time pursuing their values.

I thought I’d share with you a photograph that seems to me to be a perfect expression of how weak and powerless humanity really is:

(Many more here.)

The universe, by definition, is everything there is. But your every experience of the universe starts and ends inside your mind. Your experience of life will be precisely as splendorous or as squalid as you want it to be. Do you want to change the universe, forever, for the good? Start by changing the way you think.

June 14, 2008

Don’t hang Vlad Zablotskyy out to dry: Making a donation to his legal defense fund is what matters most right now

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Here’s what doesn’t matter:

Here’s what matters:

Of the money Vlad Zablotskyy has had to spend so far on legal fees, three-fourths of every dollar has come out of his own pocket.

It doesn’t matter who says what about whom. It doesn’t matter if this issue draws more attention up the food chain. It doesn’t matter if people write posts or post the donation button.

But it does matter if you hang Vlad Zablotskyy out to dry.

I don’t know if the cause is cowardliness or cliquishness or simply cluelessness, but I have been all but completely dismayed by the response of the RE.net to this vicious attack on one of our own. A few principled people stepped up to the plate right away — last week, but also in the months leading up to last week. A far greater number have ignored the issue, with the result that Vlad has found more vocal champions outside the real estate weblogging world.

How sad for us that Vlad is willing to stand as a martyr for our right to speak as we choose, and we can’t even be bothered to make a donation in his defense — much less stand up on our own two legs and cry havoc — not even when we’re offered choice bribes for doing so!

We’re alone right now, you and I, just words on phosphors silently invading your mind. I don’t care if you’re a coward, or if you’re clique-ridden or clueless. It suits me fine to think that you’ve been distracted, and you’ve been meaning all week to make a donation. That’s perfectly wonderful. Read more

June 13, 2008

Sun Tzu takes the art of war to Mr Roger’s Neighborhood while the RE.net creates pablum pimps who deal in warm fuzzies

by

Rust Belt Realtor

Author website

I’m a fifteen year cancer survivor- does that make you feel pity? Don’t you dare- not even for a moment! I am not telling you this to manipulate your feelings or thoughts, and I don’t want or need your warm fuzzies. I’m telling you this because surviving cancer makes you a believer in the power of truth. When I was told I had cancer, it came on the heels of a 3 year stretch where my husband Jamie and I changed jobs, had 2 kids, and lost 5 close friends and family members to various diseases and sudden or accidental deaths. Jamie had just finished fighting a serious health problem of his own and at that point in our lives, we were in full battle mode. Hearing the diagnosis of cancer is immediately clarifying. If there is any doubt about what is important in your life, cancer will instantly put those priorities in order. There is extraordinary power in that truth. You are told the truth about the disease, the truth about your options, the truth about your prognosis. A cancer diagnosis is not an easy thing to hear, but once you hear all the facts, and only once you hear the facts, can you begin to fight.

At the time of diagnosis, your first thought might be that your life is completely out of your control- but it isn’t. Once you understand that you do have some control, now you can map out a battle plan. There were times when it was tempting to boo hoo to people, and I’m sure I gave that a try. Who doesn’t want some strokes when they are feeling sorry for themself? I was fortunate enough to have family and friends around me that refused to hear it.

Chris Johnson’s post made me think. I’ve never been entirely comfortable spending much time in the RE.net, but lately it seems that a big reason for being online for many of us is simply to get validation from other real estate professionals. Have we become addicted to posting pablum for the warm fuzzies? Have Realtors, not one of Read more

June 10, 2008

The fall and rise of a real estate titan: “Tony has the most valuable asset known to man: unwavering spirit and confidence in himself”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

In line with Chris Johnson’s post this morning, a charming real estate story from The American Spectator:

Recently, I was contacted about a hot deal in Buckeye (the fast-growth, west side of Phoenix) by a very bright, young Phoenix wheeler-dealer.

We’ll call him Tony (not his real name). Tony was, and still is, one of the smartest guys I have ever met. I first met him as super-charged go-getter sitting in one of the thousands of real estate cubicles on Camelback Road. At that time, he brought me a deal that turned out very well, and he was pleasant and honest throughout the whole process. Over the years, as I predicted at the time, Tony would quickly move out of the cubicle and into something bigger and better. History proved me correct and by 2004, Tony had a fancy office on the Camelback Miracle Mile with a secretary that looked like she just stepped out of Vogue.

Sitting in his plush office, Tony was still Tony, going 1,000 miles per hour and talking up deals, but in a nice and pleasant way. He had picked up a few nice souvenirs of the ongoing boom, including a fancy spread in the 85253 zip code where he entertained lavishly, a sleek new private jet, and a very cool yacht in Marina Del Rey. At Tony’s 2005 Christmas Party, I could have sworn that half the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders were there at Tony’s Paradise Valley house.

Anyway, Tony was calling me after a long absence. I had missed the ’06 and ’07 Christmas parties, but I can only imagine their lavish scale. Tony was now on the phone saying he had a great deal that I should look at “right away…this one you’re gonna love.” I have heard that line a million times, but in Tony’s case, I trusted his judgment and agreed to meet that day at my office. Tony arrived, pitched the deal (I was already fairly familiar with the location and the dynamics of the site), and indeed, it was a deal. It was exactly right for one of my clients in Read more

June 9, 2008

Support the Vlad Zablotskyy Legal Defense Fund: A real estate weblogger is being throttled by corporate bully ePerks.com. The free speech rights you will be fighting for are your own…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Update: It seems likely that Vlad’s cost to defend himself from this specious claim (if you read the complaint, you will discover that the alleged offense is entirely absent from Exhibit A) is going to start with a $5,000 retainer. It seems unlikely to me that the matter will go to court, but, if it does, things will get really expensive. If you haven’t done so already, click on the “Donate” button. You’re not defending Vlad, you’re defending yourself.

 
The months’ long persecution of real estate weblogger Vlad Zablotskyy by ePerks.com’s Ben Behrouzi came to a head today. Behrouzi has served Zablotskyy with a lawsuit claiming that a post on Zablotskyy’s weblog caused Behrouzi to suffer “harm and damage.”

Behrouzi also claims that Zablotskyy has exposed him to “hatred, contempt, ridicule and disdain.” The petition itself is a bad joke, but it is beyond all doubt that that Behrouzi has exposed himself to “hatred, contempt, ridicule and disdain” by the months of ludicrous posturing he and his attorney have engaged in.

At some point the full petition will be available for us to read. [Amending this: You can read the complaint on Vlad’s weblog.] In the mean time, Vlad Zablotskyy needs your help. The lawsuit was filed in California, but Vlad lives in New Jersey. He will have to fight a lawsuit seeking compensatory and punitive damages by remote control, paying law firms in both states. The suit itself is a complete joke — a Personal Injury law firm with a drive-up window comes to mind — but it will still cost serious money to defend.

I’ve set up a Vlad Zablotskyy Legal Defense Fund through our PayPal account — and I’m about to put the bite on you in two ways.

First, click on one of the “Donate” buttons you see in this post or on our sidebar and give as much as you can. I know that many Realtors and lenders are hurting for money right now, but there is no better cause for you to fight for than your own right to speak and write as you choose. If you happen to be 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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