BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Month: October 2008 (page 7 of 7)

October 2, 2008

2009 started yesterday…

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

One of the coolest parts about my job is that I get to hang out with some of the best REALTORS that Louisville has. That’s not hyperbole. I am not blowing sunshine up anyone’s hindquarters. It is simply the truth. Often, when I am lost in my own thoughts or troubles, or in solving the latest issue at the office, or maybe even worrying a little too much about the latest market news, one of these great people will snap me out it.

Case in point.

Michael Higdon is one of the agents in our office. He dropped by on Tuesday, and plopped down in a chair across from my desk. “2009 starts tomorrow, and nobody around here knows it.”, he announced.
“At least they are not acting like it.” It kept coming. “They are gonna slow down…do less prospecting…when what we are doing today will be the checks that get cashed in January.”

*2009 starts Wednesday, October 1.” he said with finality.

My first response (in my own mind) was “That’s a great way of mentally overcoming all of the negativity.” (I did not say it out loud, but my mind was still churning on the fact that my wife had just called with an plumbing issue at home, I had not finished up the taxes, the incessant bad economic news, a 5 year old nephew that had just been diagnosed with leukemia, and a myriad of other issues….the same ones that ALL of us have).

He went on to chat with me about some of the things he was doing to CREATE the RESULTS and the WORLD that he desires for himself and his family (and more importantly how he was going to not let the outside world be the arbiter of his efforts). Bottomline: He was taking ACTION. As my mind let go of the troubles of the moment, I started to focus more clearly on the IMPORTANT things that needed to be done. I gained some clarity that rather than worrying about the stuff I could not control, I could turn the knobs that I was able to and, as a result, create Read more

October 1, 2008

Zillow.com creates a directory of real estate agents who can’t sell

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Okay here’s the good news: You have another opportunity to garner a do-follow link from Zillow.com.

And here’s the bad news: For that link to do you any good, your best bet is to be a really bad listing agent. The more listings you can accumulate on Zillow.com — which implies listings that don’t sell — the higher your ranking among your peers.

Yikes!

Or: Too frolicking stoopid…

Zillow’s Professional Directory is new as of this night, so — who knows? — maybe it will get better. In the neighborhoods we understand, it’s an exceptionally valuable glimpse into the world of lister dysfunction: Who can’t sell how much real estate how slowly? If you want to know for sure who cannot sell the greatest quantity of real properties over the longest spans of time, Zillow.com has the answer.

It gets worse: The “Top Zillow All-Stars” are, for the most part, bubbleheads. Everything is measured by contributions, where what Einstein does and a cat-box deposit are equally “contributions” — equally additions to Zillow.com’s great big cat-box of crap.

This is wicked-dumb, far dumber than the usual agent-rating schemes. Where those other “tools” can be gamed, Zillow’s system is based on measuring, first, a meaningless metric, and, second, by actually rewarding incompetence. Quantity not only is not quality, the number of listings a Realtor is carrying is very often a negative indicator — a symptom not of quality performance but of its absence.

Even acknowledging this, measuring velocity of turnover would not improve things, particularly since this is a metric that could be gamed. And even adding in true — meaning verified — list price to sales price ratios might not be enough. Readers here can correct me if they think I’m wrong, but I don’t think there is any reliable, objective way to rank Realtors by quality of performance.

And that’s as may be. It remains that graduating them by their inability to move product is inarguably a terrible way to rank real estate agents. The Professional Directory is a truly amazingly tone-deaf addition to Zillow.com.

As you might have deduced by my absence from these environs, I am very, very Read more

October 1, 2008

A Look past the hyperbole of “The Great Depression”

by

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

My Grandmother is 89. In 1929, she was 10, living in Duquesne, PA, a steel mill town not far from Pittsburgh.

Grandma is still a story teller, although Alzheimer’s has mixed up the palette of her recollections, which makes for some interesting mash ups. Before Grandma’s synapses got all Web 2.0, it was the Depression stories that fascinated me the most.

They were even better than the WWII stories, which were pretty good because she worked in an ammunition factory, but that’s a story for another crisis.

All of Grandma’s Depression stories, from the time a truck carrying oranges jackknifed on the road right before Christmas, to the beautiful indoor pool, gym and library that Carnegie built (where Aunt Emma secretly played basketball), to the truant officer chasing down Uncle Joe, all of them had a three-part moral:

  1. We were dirt poor.
  2. You don’t ever want to be that poor.
  3. Save your money just in case anything like that happens again.

As I got older, I started to understand how being a “Child of the Depression” had molded my Grandmother. The bargain shopping. Walking across the parking lot of the A&P stooped over not because of age, but because she was looking for dropped change. The look of disbelief Christmas morning when my brother and I sat in a pile of un-boxed toys surrounded by shreds of wrapping paper a foot thick, looking for more.

The lingering impact that living through the Depression had on my Grandmother used to interest me as an exercise of amateur psychology, a topic I’d toss around with my parents to show them they got something for the four years I spent doing keg-stands at URI: She was conditioned. Using a tea bag twice is a mild sort of PTSD. Aren’t I clever?

I don’t feel so clever, now. Now I’m recalling Grandma’s somewhat more reliable pre-Alzheiner’s stories looking for tips, or hope, or something…She did always say, poor as they were, they were happy. That’s something, right?

This morning a friend forwarded me a link to something that is on the Wikkipedia page for The Great Depression, a page that probably has gotten more traffic Read more

October 1, 2008

It Takes The RIGHT Kind Of Village

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Years ago, when my kids began asking questions about presidential campaigns it became necessary to sit down with them, explaining the foundational beliefs of the two basic ways of thinking in our country. The first of these talks took place with my son, (now the Brown who’s after the ‘and’) ’92 when he was a 12 year old middle schooler, during the presidential campaign. Later, at about the same point in the ’96 presidential race, the talk was repeated with his sister.

Here’s how I explained the difference between the two belief systems. Would love your thoughts. (Ready Pandora?)

A thousand years ago there was a river hundreds of miles long. Two villages were located on the river, but were totally unaware of each other’s existence. Both villages were based upon the water and fish provided by the river.

The first village discovered they had families among them who weren’t doing as well as most others. Today we call those folks, poor. The leaders cared greatly for all the villagers, so this couldn’t be ignored. What to do? They decided the solution was simple.

They went to the best 20% of fishermen in the village and demanded much of their catch be given at no cost to those who were having ‘bad luck’ fishing. Any of these 20% who refused were visited again by the leaders, this time armed with spears and knives. The message was received, and the fish was given away to those who couldn’t or wouldn’t get the job done.

Over time, the most talented fishermen and their families stopped catching so many fish, as having ‘extra’ had become a painful experience. Since they didn’t ‘need’ any more fish, they simply caught just a little more than they necessary to keep their family well fed. They had tired of fishing for others.

The second village had the same problem — there was a small percentage of families who just weren’t makin’ it. The leaders got together and came upon the solution they would employ. They invited the village’s best fishermen to meet with them. They asked these elite fishermen if they’d Read more

October 1, 2008

How To Guarantee A Plethora of Future Bailouts:

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Pass this one…and many many more will follow.

Hell, even the stuff already enacted by fiat guarantees that failure is emboldened.

And soon, every single industry will come crying with their hand out.   Even the hint of passing this one–and the beginnings of it have had the auto industry lining up to start sucking at the teet (or if you believe as I believe, plunging their fangs into the neck) of our worker.   Fear will be the ultimate arbiter.   We have–perhaps too briefly–stood up to the extortion of the unknown for a day or two.  But more folks will come at us with ‘for our own good’ legislation in many forms.

They’ll claim calamity, and they’ll siphon more and more of our power.   The problem that we have is that we’re getting smarter|faster|better & more productive.   We’re creating more to steal, and we still are mollified by an increasing standard of living.   We’re currently creating wealth, knowledge and joy faster than the thieves can steal from us.   And I am glad for it, but I wonder how much we’d accomplish if the stealing wasn’t happening.   What progress has been stolen because of the siphoning off of half or more of our growth, passion, power and love?

It’s not a time where we can blame the seekers of social justice on the left side of the aisle.  The Republicans still rhetorically endorse some ideas of liberty, but in practice, they have been devouring us faster than the liberals.   Government grows and it becomes corrupt when it gains in power.   And seriously, how much cancer is too much?   Even a little must be shocked and starved.

Those in our industry–and I’m talking to anyone lining up at the trough for bailout money–that purport tht they are better equipped to dispense with the fruits of my labor than me…how dare you.  You financiers that tried to maximize risk, knowing full well that the Government would bail you out…you have colluded to weaken the freest society in history.  Mankind has lived thousands of years in bondage and serfdom, and you’ve put us on that path.

Trust and credibility civiity and citizenship Read more

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