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Category: Marketing (page 133 of 191)

April 25, 2007

Waxed Fruit Hegemony: The Director’s Cut

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Okay, here’s the videotape we made of our little escapade this morning. It’s about 21 minutes long, and it’s mostly just the tedium of real life, true video verit&233;.

Cathy does a de facto interview with me about the Reagan amendments, so it ends up being not just painfully dull but also mildly informative.

As is discussed at the end, we got a huge spike in traffic at BloodhoundRealty.com. This resulted in a whole bunch of people filling out our form to get a CMA, presumably thinking that we were Zillow.com.

In consequence, I am HouseValues.com for a day. If you are a real estate licensee working in one of the cities listed below, email me and I will front you the lead. Probably useless, but you never can tell. The price is right, anyway.

  • Greensboro, NC
  • Toronto, OH
  • Staten Island, NY
  • West Bloomfield, MI
  • Staten Island, NY
  • Oconomowoc, WI
  • Woodlawn, VA
  • Germantown, MD
  • Pittsburgh, PA
  • Oswego, IL
  • Greenwood Village, CO
  • Woodland Park, CO
  • Wildwood, MO
  • East Hampton, NY
  • Canton, GA
  • Alexandria, KY
  • Riverside, CA
  • Ojai, CA
  • Riverside, CA
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Sherman Oaks, CA
  • Des Moines, IA
  • Grand Rapids, MI
  • Hernando beach, FL
  • East Rockaway, NY
  • Gaylordsville, CT
  • Ft. Tgomas, KY
  • Hidden Hills, CA
  • Cataula, GA
  • Beavercreek, OH
  • Pringle, PA
  • Orlando, FL
  • Shreveport, LA
  • Martinsville, VA
  • Lafayette, LA

They’re continuing to come in. There may be more if they re-run the segment.

And because all true art films should end in a way that leaves you wondering if you really got it, I’ll conclude with a link to the Jewel lyric I quote just before the TV broadcast starts.

Roll the credits…
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April 25, 2007

Waxed Fruit Hegemony: Taking over the world one random media appearance at a time

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Appended below is the Fox New Channel footage from this morning. Later today I’ll have our own video verit&233; version of the extravaganza.

I think I’ve said before that this sort of thing is akin to being a piece of waxed fruit in a centerpiece: You’re there not because there is some inherent worth to you or to what you have to say, but, rather, because you fit just right in the overall composition.

I’m not griping. If you want to talk on someone else’s dime, you do it on their terms. But, as will be clear as you watch, I was a totally fungible commodity in this broadcast, the nod who was every bit as good as a wink.

Our tape is more fun, I think, but conversion to iPod format takes time, so you have to wait.

My takeaways, conferred upon me mere moments after the taping was done: “Smile and stare deeply into the camera.”

I’ll do better next time.
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April 25, 2007

Arizona appraisal bill, amended to permit AVMs such as Zillow.com to operate in state, fails to pass

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Arizona SB 1291 failed to pass Tuesday afternoon in the Arizona House. The bill would have required a two-thirds majority and passed by less than that. I’ll post further when I know more.

Further notice: Here’s what it all means:

To have passed, the bill would have had to have passed by a two-thirds majority. Then it would have gone back to the Senate, where is also would have had to pass by a two-thirds majority. This is a Constitutional bias in the Arizona legislature against new laws of any sort — generally a good thing.

Since the bill did not pass the House, this means the old version of ARS Chapter 36 is still in effect. It is this version of the law that Zillow.com is alleged to be violating by the Arizona Board of Appraisal.

That allegation has not been tested in court, nor have any of Zillow.com’s direct competitors been alleged to have violated ARS Chapter 36.

As another wrinkle, the amendments made yesterday to AZ SB 1291 that would have clarified that offering the output from an Automated Valuation Model at no cost is not an appraisal, subject to regulatory oversight, could be appended onto another bill. In other words, the existing language of ARS Chapter 36 could be revised to achieve the same effect as yesterday’s amendments.

This is a statement released by Zillow.com this afternoon:

From Lloyd Frink, Zillow co-founder and President:

The issues that Arizona Senate bill 1291 sought to address went far beyond questions about automated valuation models for real estate. The fact is we are still extremely pleased that the Arizona House of Representatives decided to amend SB1291 to recognize the value that sites like Zillow bring to consumers in providing free and easy online access to real estate data and home valuations. We remain confident that any future reviews will similarly recognize the importance that sites like Zillow deliver in creating better informed and educated real estate consumers. Nothing has changed and we will continue to make Arizona Zestimates available for free to all Zillow users.

Additional details RE: AZ Board of Appraisals:

We strongly believe that providing Zestimate home Read more

April 25, 2007

First Russell Shaw Sales Success Seminar: Podcast #3

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Linked below is the third of five podcasts from the First Russell Shaw Sales Success Seminar. This event was held on March 13, 2007, and lasted for about four hours. That seminar, along with another held on April 17, 2007, are precursors to the forthcoming Russell Shaw Sales Success FAQ files. Russell will take questions from these podcasts, along with others you send to him by email, and answer them in a series of FAQ-like video and audio podcasts. His plan is to end up with a complete real estate sales training course in podcast form.

This podcast is available in audio format only.

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April 24, 2007

Me, on TV: Technical assistance needed

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Subject to the vagaries of the news business, I will be on Fox News Channel tomorrow morning at 10:20 am EDT, 7:20 am MST/PDT.

The topic: Banning Zillow.com in Arizona, of course.

But: I need technical help. I would love to turn the segment into a video podcast, but I have no idea how to capture televised video. If you do know how, speak up. If you can capture the content and throw it to me by FTP, I’ll make it available tomorrow when I get home.

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April 24, 2007

First Russell Shaw Sales Success Seminar: Podcast #2

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Linked below is the second of of five podcasts from the First Russell Shaw Sales Success Seminar. This event was held on March 13, 2007, and lasted for about four hours. That seminar, along with another held on April 17, 2007, are precursors to the forthcoming Russell Shaw Sales Success FAQ files. Russell will take questions from these podcasts, along with others you send to him by email, and answer them in a series of FAQ-like video and audio podcasts. His plan is to end up with a complete real estate sales training course in podcast form.

This podcast is available in audio and video format, with Russell covering the same material in each podcast.

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April 23, 2007

More Strip Monopoly: Icahn sells Nevada casinos

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

More on the theme of Strip Monopoly: Billionaire Carl Icahn is selling all of his Nevada casino holdings to Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds for $1.3 billion.

This is interesting on a number of grounds, taken more or less least to greatest.

Third, Icahn is going to net out about a billion dollars in profit on the deal. He’ll probably never make as much on casinos as Donald Trump has managed to lose, but a billion bucks is a billion bucks.

Second, Goldman Sachs is convinced that it bought a Strip-front property in the Stratosphere, along with 17 acres of underdeveloped Strip-front land the Strat has accumulated over the years. This is technically incorrect, and it’s an error buyers have made at that location since it was Bob Stupak’s Vegas World.

The Strip ends at Sahara — where the City of Las Vegas begins. The Strip developed in what is still unincorporated Clark County to avoid the kind of meddling municipal governments are best at. The Strat is not a grind joint like the dumps downtown, but it plays at a distinct disadvantage against its bigger, better-bankrolled rivals further south.

Today’s deal also includes a casino in Laughlin, and the two Arizona Charlie’s casinos in suburban Las Vegas. As with Boyd Gaming’s Sam’s Town properties, these are seen by analysts as being locals casinos, but, in fact, they draw their own segment of the tourist population — think of them as low-rollers with RVs. MGM Mirage’s announcement of the closing of the RV park at Circus Circus may prove a boon to these casinos.

But: First, if Carl Icahn is selling now, it argues to me that the bloom is off the boom for Strip-fronting (or pretend-Strip-fronting) real estate. MGM Mirage paid over $17.2 million an acre for the 33.4 acres it is acquiring at Circus Circus. That land come with a corner premium, to be sure, but is is for now the weakest corner on the Strip Monopoly board. If Icahn is selling, it’s because he believes prices are at their peak for now.

Is he right? Hide and watch. But with $4 billion in Read more

April 23, 2007

Zillow.com dodges bullet in Arizona: Amendment would permit consumer-oriented automated valuation models to operate without regulatory oversight

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

From a press release from the office of Representative Michele Reagan:

Arizona homeowners can still access their “zestimates” with the preliminary approval Monday of a bill that bars the Arizona Board of Appraisal from torpedoing online businesses that provide property value estimates.

An amendment sponsored by Rep. Michele Reagan to SB1291 allows web sites to offer free opinions regarding the value of real estate if it is not an actual appraisal. The bill impacts most notably Zillow.com, which provides free estimates of a property’s value.

“Companies like Zillow.com provide an easy way to get an idea of the value of a home anywhere in the country,” said Reagan, R-Scottsdale. “Government should not put the kibosh on such an informative online tool.”

The Arizona Board of Appraisal sent two cease and desist letters ordering Zillow.com to stop offering its free service in the state. The board is also considering suing the Seattle-based company despite its wide popularity in Arizona and around the nation. In addition, the board asked the Arizona attorney general to prosecute Zillow.com for offering “zestimates.”

“Zillow.com provides a valuable resource for Arizonans and an unelected board’s desire to hamper consumers’ efforts to get as much information as possible makes no sense,” Reagan, chairwoman of the House Commerce Committee, said. “Instead of protecting Arizonans, the Board of Appraisal wants to stifle access to valuable market information.”

The bill received initial approval Monday and is expected to get a vote on the House floor this week. The bill then goes back to the Senate for final consideration.

This is not over yet, but it’s movement in the right direction. If I can lay hands on it, I’ll post the link to the revised bill and highlight the change.

Further notice: The amendments are here: one, two and three. In addition to allowing for consumer-oriented AVMs, Reagan seems to have restored the balance of civilian oversight of the Arizona Board of Appraisal. For comparison: The proposed legislation prior to these amendments.

There are two changes to the language that stand out:

Page 3, between lines 41 and 42, insert:

“9. AN INTERNET WEBSITE THAT GIVES A Read more

April 23, 2007

KTAR Radio on Arizona’s attempts to stifle Zillow.com

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I was interviewed by KTAR Talk Radio in Phoenix today about the State of Arizona’s attempts to shut down Zillow.com. We end up with a 37 second story, which actually turns out to be a fairly decent distillation of the whole story.

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April 23, 2007

The Carnival of Real Estate . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

…is up at Trulia Blog. Jay Thompson did well with Why Do So Many Agents Fear Zillow? We entered and lost with Zillow.com at the Dawn of the Age of Abundance: Working for free is not a crime, trying to forbid it is… That post scored well at the Carnival of the Capitalists.

The Carnival of Real Estate Investing is at EquityScout.com. Two BloodhoundBlog contributors were represented in the results: Brian Brady writing at Long Beach Real Estate with How To Get The Best Home Loan – Neatness Counts When You Want a Home Loan and Jeff Brown with Designations — Real Education — Marketing — Give Me A Break.

Plenty of great writing at all three carnivals. Give ’em a look.

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April 23, 2007

First Russell Shaw Sales Success Seminar: Podcast #1

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Linked below is the first of five podcasts from the First Russell Shaw Sales Success Seminar. This event was held on March 13, 2007, and lasted for about four hours. That seminar, along with another held on April 17, 2007, are precursors to the forthcoming Russell Shaw Sales Success FAQ files. Russell will take questions from these podcasts, along with others you send to him by email, and answer them in a series of FAQ-like video and audio podcasts. His plan is to end up with a complete real estate sales training course in podcast form.

This podcast is available in audio and video format, with Russell covering the same material in each podcast.

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April 21, 2007

BloodhoundBlog round-up: Kenneling the last of the dogs, a new way to follow the trail and podcasting our way to fame and fortune

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

All the dogs are in the kennel at last. When I built BloodhoundBlog last Summer, I set it up as a subdirectory of BloodhoundRealty.com. Had I known where we were headed, I would have bought a separate domain for the weblog. And had I thought that far ahead, BloodhoundBlog would have been called something else.

Why? Because BloodhoundBlog.com was already owned by a software company in Texas. I discovered this when I finally thought to tie down the domains last Fall. I was able to buy BloodhoundBlog.net and BloodhoundBlog.org, but all I could do was back-order BloodhoundBlog.com.

It’s a problem I’ve been nursing on and off ever since. But as of today, BloodhoundBlog.com is finally ours. Like the two other domains, it is redirecting to the subdirectory I set up in the first place. A small enough thing, I suppose, but most big things are made up of little things.

And here’s another little thing: As of this week, it’s possible to subscribe to BloodhoundBlog by email. It’s not something I’m apt to think of. RSS is too easy, too fast, too wonderful. But if people don’t have access to feed readers, or if they don’t want to use them, they can get email updates when new posts hit the weblog. As it happens, Seth Godin added email subscription the same day we did. Great minds think alike? Can’t be. Great minds Think Different.

But here’s a big thing: Starting Monday, we’ll be rolling out audio and video podcasts from the Russell Shaw Sales Success Seminars. I have five audio and two video podcasts set up for this week, and we’ll do another five of each next week. This is all about building a curriculum for a real estate sales training course in podcast form, so, if you have questions for Russell, don’t be shy.

Linked below is a short video segment of me extolling the benefits of real estate weblogging with the help of Jay Thompson and Tony Marriott.

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April 20, 2007

What’s the hottest game in Vegas? Strip Monopoly!

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Oh, keep your shirt on… Strip Monopoly refers to that famed Parker Brothers board game (now owned by the soulless Hasbro, alas) as played with the real-life real estate on Las Vegas Boulevard — a/k/a “The Strip.”

Earlier this week, Kirk Kerkorian’s MGM Mirage acquired 33.4 acres of Strip-front real estate surrounding the company’s Circus-Circus property. This brings the Circus-Circus site, already 68-acres huge, to over 100 acres of land fronting on one of the priciest streets in the history of pricey streets.

MGM Mirage is already building the $7 billion Project City Center on and around the old Boardwalk property — apposite appellation strictly coincidental. The company plans a similar city-within-a-giant-casino development on the Circus-Circus site.

Vegas Today and Tomorrow has a nice Monopoly map to show you who is winning the game. Here’s a way of thinking of things: The green spots on the board are split between Wynn Las Vegas and The Venetian. Harrah’s owns the orange and the yellow properties. The railroads and utilities are divided among Boyd Gaming, Station Casinos and various minor players. Everything else belongs to MGM Mirage.

Harrah’s is technically the largest gaming company on earth, but MGM Mirage owns more undeveloped Strip-fronting real estate than Harrah’s owns in developed land on the Strip. All three of the companies that merged to form MGM Mirage — MGM Grand, Mirage Resorts and Mandalay Resort Group — have been persistently greedy in acquiring land on Las Vegas Boulevard over the years.

Circus-Circus was built by the man who may have understood Las Vegas best, Jay Sarno. He also built Caesar’s Palace, thereby inventing the idea of the themed casino-resort-hotel. Caesar’s, of course, has become almost a city unto itself, and it was the success of the Forum Shops that led other Strip casino operators to explore the convergence of gaming and shopping. MGM Mirage pledges to refurbish Circus-Circus as part of its development of the newly-assembled 100 acre parcel, so both of Sarno’s creations will live on in the city he influenced so decisively.

But what’s next for Strip Monopoly?

Other than Caesar’s Palace and The Paris, most of the Harrah’s Strip-front Read more

April 20, 2007

Zillow.com notes: Fear and Ludditism, advertising, a better farming strategy and more

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Zillow notes: Jay Thompson, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy asks “Why do so many agents fear Zillow?” He makes the same point in a BusinessWeek article on the Seattle-based Realty.bot.

Brian Brady, America’s Most Opinionated Mortgage Broker and a BloodhoundBlog contributor, covers some of the same ground: “Is your Realtor threatened?”

Both gentlemen are objecting to what we might characterize as the opportunistic bandwagoneering going on with respect to the Arizona Board of Appraisal’s attempts to outlaw consumer-oriented Automated Valuation Models. I can’t speak for them, but for me this is a matter of vitally-important principles, liberty the first among them.

I may write more about this over the weekend, because the issues involved are vast and very interesting — at least to me. Earlier this week, in email, I wrote, “When the sabot is a Ferragamo, Ned Ludd has a whole new style.” I have no doubt that this regulatory and legislative initiative is Ludditism in a Brooks Brothers suit. It’s bad enough that Zillow is afflicted, but I expect this is but the first salvo in a long war.

Witness: This came in as a comment last night, but I wanted to highlight it:

MLSPIN of Massachusetts just sent out this notice:

“RULES AND REGULATIONS REMINDERS:

I. Recently, the On-Line Valuation site, Zillow announced a new function being made available to advertise listings for sale on that site, whether or not you are the listing broker/agent. The MLS Rules and Regulations, STRICTLY PROHIBIT the advertising of another broker’s listings without their prior WRITTEN consent. The REALTOR&174; Code of Ethics, Standard of Practice 12-4 also prohibits the advertising of a listing without proper authority. Better safe than sorry; do not advertise another office’s listing anywhere without prior written approval.”

“Better safe than sorry” is an interesting choice of words.

Even more interesting is the fact that MLSPIN is arguing that MLS members have fewer rights to act than ordinary people. As things stand now, any non-MLS member can advertise another party’s home for sale, but, of course, no one does. Why? Advertising costs money. But anyone except MLSPIN members can announce that another party’s home is for sale Read more

April 19, 2007

Protecting whom? There are no complaining parties in Arizona’s quest to outlaw free consumer-oriented home evaluations

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I hear a lot of rumors, as you might guess. They’re usually way less than half the truth, but they can be useful for shaking the real truth loose, so they’re not entirely a bad thing. In any case, I’ve been hearing ugly rumors about Zillow.com in Arizona. Zillow Public Relations Specialist Amanda Hoffman has been working night and day to help me pin them down.

Like this:

  • Q: Is Zillow being sued by Arizona homeowners who regret having used Zestimates as opinions of value? Anywhere else?
    A: “Nope. Not true.”
  • Q: Are there any extant complaints about Zillow before the Arizona Board of Appraisal? In other words, have any real persons claiming standing as victims come forward?
    A: “Not that we know of.”
  • Q: Do you have any comment about Arizona Senate Bill 1291? Has Zillow had any involvement with the debates on this legislation so far?
    A: “We recently learned about the Arizona bill and we’re looking into what it may mean for Zillow users. We believe it’s important for home buyers and sellers to have easy access to real estate data and home valuation tools.”

I’m reading that last response to suggest that they might only have heard about the bill today.

The first two responses are significant because they argue that there are no self-identified injured parties appealing for relief from Zillow.com in Arizona. I don’t think offering an unwelcome opinion of value can be conceived of as a tort, but no one is complaining of an injury in the first place.

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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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