BloodhoundBlog

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Archives (page 194 of 372)

May 21, 2008

What happens when a lion of the industry sticks his head in the lion’s own mouth? Glenn Kelman joins BloodhoundBlog as a contributor

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is one of those completely obvious ideas that only takes about a year to bubble up to the surface: We write about the real estate industry. We are not very shy about advocating change in the real estate industry. Redfin.com CEO Glenn Kelman is one of the key exponents of change in the real estate industry. Ergo: Glenn Kelman should be writing here.

I told the man yesterday that I bear my ignorance as a curse, and this is potent evidence of that fact. I should have seen all this long ago, but it didn’t cross my mind until last week. But all we can do, when we make an error, is put it right and strive to do better in the future. Here’s the putting it right part:

Glenn Kelman has been a lightning rod for controversy since the founding of Redfin.com. What we have all failed to notice is that he owns a gentle soul, a thoughtful mind and a prodigious writing talent.

I think this is admirable and courageous on Glenn’s part. I am never very kind to that nebulous population of folks I deride as “vendors,” but I have been especially rough on Glenn and on Redfin. I’m pleased that he trusts us to treat him with the honor and respect a guest in our home deserves, but I am beyond delighted that he has agreed to share the workings of his incisive mind with us.

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May 21, 2008

The Secret Hunger

by

Real Estate Broker, Investor

Author website

Congratulations to Brian, Greg and Cathy, and everyone, for a successful conference. Thanks to Glenn for his presentation. And special thanks to Russell Shaw for contributing. Super special thanks to Rudy Bachraty for yesterday’s live video feed – that was awesome! And on to Orlando!

And all that brings me back to Don Reedy’s comment yesterday about how much he enjoyed Greg Swann’s opening segment that delved into history and philosophy. I wholeheartedly agreed.

I suppose I might be in the minority, but I would happily attend a conference consisting of 100% history, philosophy and linguistics. Greg Swann would be the main event, and I wonder if interesting people from local universities might be found who would enjoy presenting summaries of their particular disciplines.

Oh, and I think I would toss in a public speaking coach, since with the advent of video as a marketing medium, grace and skill in public speaking is becoming an absolute necessity.

I even have a name for this conference: “A Crash Course In Liberal Arts For the Busy Professional”. Seriously. We get so caught up in the frenzy of doing business and finding ways to prospect for more business, that we forget the foundation for all commerce lies in our ability to think, to understand, and to reason. And learning to think, understand and reason is precisely the purpose of a Liberal Arts education.

Keep in mind here the word “liberal” in this context does not relate to a contemporary political opinion, but rather the definition from classical antiquity: The education proper to a freeman (Latin: libera, “free”) as opposed to a slave.

I think the reason Greg’ words resonate so deeply is many people have passed up a Liberal Arts education, opting instead for business-intensive vocational or technical learning. And when we get a taste of that Liberal Arts mindset, we are hungry for more. We find there is a deeper and wider context with which to view our activities and our lives.

I am wondering if a one or two day conference built on that Read more

May 20, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: Commencement news, and then to bed

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I’ve already been to sleep once, briefly. After Unchained broke up this afternoon, we came home to knock out the essential work. Teri Lussier cranked out a solid hour of video clips today, so I started pumping those into the YouTube mill. I’ve got a lot more to talk about, but first I have to go to sleep.

So first: The news.

Glenn Kelman gave a knock-out keynote speech. He spoke about Redfin.com’s recent performance, as compared with the company’s initial assumptions, and we all came away with a better understanding of how more alike our businesses are than they are different.

When Glenn finished speaking, we announced that he will be joining BloodhoundBlog as a contributor. This is a stone obvious idea that should have occurred to me a year ago, but, in fact, it only came to me last week. We’ve talked to other bigfeet in the realty.bot and franchise worlds, but, where the flesh has been willing, the PR department, until now, has always turned out to be weak.

I think Glenn made a lot of friends for Redfin today, and it certainly was an honor to have him with us. Whatever differences we might have had, he’s a fine writer and a thoughtful man, so it will be interesting reading him here.

The other news was Brian Brady’s announcement that we will be doing another Unchained event in Orlando, Florida, at the time of the NAR Convention. We don’t have a date or a location yet, but it will be right around Friday November 7, 2008. We want to be there to catch the Realtors before they rush into the convention center to spend a ton of money on hokey gimmicks that won’t work. This seems like an appropriate mission for a couple of wannabe Jesuits.

Teri’s videos are chugging along, and I’ll get around to tagging them tomorrow or Thursday. Feel free to watch them anyway, as they get uploaded. In the mean time, here is Brad Coy doing what Cathy says is a spot-on imitation of me:

And just to share the love, Brad also gave a parody performance of Brian Brady:


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May 20, 2008

So How Does Your Lender View You As A Customer?

by

Associate Broker

Author website

If Your Lender Is Countrywide – This Telling Email Might Give You An Idea

This email is being circulated on the web… I cannot verify its authenticity or content, so until it can be confirmed, take it with a grain of proverbial salt.

A Real Countrywide Email From the Office of Angelo Mozilo – Email Below Calls Homeowner Disgusting
By Moe Bedard on May 20th, 2008

It isn’t every day that you get to see behind the scenes of the housing and mortgage crisis. Mainstream media usually tells the same homeowner story of pain and suffering and then the “made up” stories from the lenders and servicers who are masters of deception and lip service.

Here is an email that was forwarded to me by a Countrywide Home Loans borrower named Don Bailey. Don joined my forum to get free foreclosure help and assisitance in obtaining a loan modification from Countrywide and that is just what he got. He followed or advice to a “t”, wrote his hardship letter (we provide free samples here and on the forum) and then proceeded to email and fax his information to the email list we provided him.

Email from Don to Countrywide after he received the disturbing email from the Office of Angelo Mozilo sent to him by accident:

Hello,

I took the advice on this forum, and e-mailed my hardship letter to the list of e-mail addresses posted in the threads. Two minutes later, I received a reply……a mistaken reply by Angelo Mozilo to the rest of the people on the list. Here it is. Nothing like this to kick a person while they are down. What hope do I have …

“removed@yahoo.com
CC: Steve_Bailey@Countrywide.Com
Subject: Re: bailey acct# xxxxxxxxxx
From: Angelo_Mozilo@countrywide.com Add Mobile Alert
Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 06:41:34 -0700

This has already been sent on to our senior manager who will determine the facts behind your request and he will take the appropriate actions.

Dan Bailey
05/19/2008 06:37 AM
To Angelo_Mozilo@countrywide.com
Cc
Subject Re: bailey acct# xxxxxxxxxx

Interesting to find that you think my letter is disgusting. I will send Read more

May 20, 2008

Unchained voices: Video clips from the conference and after-hours events: “It’s been like learning more than my brain can fit”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

BloodhoundBlog’s Geno Petro:

Don Reedy talking about his new venture:

BloodhoundBlog’s Cheryl Johnson:

Brad Coy and Andy Kaufman taught a working lunch session on Twitter. Here’s Brad:

And here’s Andy:

Katherine Whiting talking about her own Web 2.0 epiphany:

Teri Lussier and her posse had dinner Sunday night at Durant’s a famous Phoenix steak house. Here are Jeff Royce and Lenore Wilkas at dinner:

Mark Eibner and Dirk Freeman from BrokerIPTV.com:

And we are all of us Greeks, as Teri demonstrates by interviewing the kitchen crew:

There are dozens of other clips on the BloodhoundBlog Unchained YouTube Channel. Even more at BrokerIPTV.com’s UStream Channel.

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: Real Estate Website Makeover…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

Mary McKnight of RSS Pieces will review and suggest improvements to several web sites and weblogs:

  • Mary Burak’s Advanced Access Site
  • JTC Realty Group’s Point2 Site
  • Gulf Coast Associates’s RealEstateWebmasters Site
  • Patti Herrington’s AgentImage Site
  • Karen Borden’s Z57 Site
  • Just for fun: BloodhoundRealty.com’s WordPress Site

Plus a surprise debut of a brand new blogsite for an RE.net mandarin

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: The Way of the Farmer…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

  • Listing strong to farm strong
  • Building single-property web sites
  • Using engenu to dominate the long tail
  • Zestifarming to dominate Zillow
  • Blogging your listings – with SEO power
  • Belly-to-belly farming the Web 2.0 way

Applying Web 2.0 technologies to the the traditional real estate marketing idea of the geographic farm. Greg Swann will take you through a set of techniques you can use to establish an online ubiquity more complete than you could ever achieve with postcards and pumpkins.

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: The Way of the Hunter…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

  • Two words: Ubiquity works
  • Setting traps on the sites that can expose you to consumers
  • Baiting the traps – providing relevant consumer content to match up with the community
  • Building a community – recruiting eyeballs that keep coming back
  • Getting commitment – how to convert engaged consumers to permission-based marketing participants
  • Channel marketing – building a referral network online

Brian Brady teaches you how to be as hard to miss as he is…

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May 19, 2008

BloodhoundBlog Unchained: The Unchained Epiphany…

by

Big, Beautiful Bloodhound

Author website

We’re Unchained, but we’re still wired to the net — wirelessly. These posts are set up so that folks can make notes or comments in real time.

  • You are free at last, a free moral agent with no one to order you around — but no one to blame but yourself if you should fail
  • You are free to thrive
  • You are free to starve
  • But you are not free to escape the necessity of making a choice

An introductory convocation from Greg Swann featuring philosophy, history, stirring rhetoric and some really scary homework…

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May 18, 2008

Kevin Wilhelm on the first day of BloodhoundBlog Unchained: “Today was the first day, which was meant to be a bonus day. But if it ended today, it would be worth the money, period.”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We planned these video clips as a way of communicating Web 2.0 ideas by effecting Web 2.0 ideas. Kevin Wilhelm, shown below, seems to make our point for us:

Here’s Bloodhound Teri Lussier, Saturday night, after a long flight and a day in the desert:

Real estate coach Jan O’Brien and Realtor Vance Shutes:

Nick Bastian, who surprised Brian with a real-time Twitter at our event ten days ago:

Kevin Warmath revised his sitemap while Mary McKnight was still speaking:

Bloodhound Geno Petro on the state of his SERPs:

Andy Kaufman and Brad Coy:

Bawldguy Bar-B-Que: Bloodhound Jeff Brown teaches prospecting with Kam Hubbard at Honey Bear’s Bar-B-Que in Central Phoenix:

Russell Shaw spoke for about 45 minutes. Here he is seen answering questions posed by Kevin Warmath:

There are half-a-dozen other Russell Shaw clips, along with three dozen others, on the BloodhoundBlog Unchained YouTube Channel.

Nick Bastian kicks in this clip of Mary McKnight on backlinks:


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May 18, 2008

BloodhoundBlog UNCHAINED Social Media Marketing Conference brought to you by Zillow.com- We start tomorrow

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Today was the “bonus day” of UNCHAINED.  We were delighted by the appearance of two giants: Mary Mc Knight of RSS Pieces and Russell Shaw of Number1HomeAgent.

Jan O’Brien, a RE Coach with  of Prudential Americana, in Las Vegas, outlined today’s “bonus day”.  Read her recap and get caught up.

Monday’s Schedule:

The conference starts at 8:30 AM and ends at 4PM:

Unchained Epiphany- Greg Swann

The Way of the Hunter Brian Brady

Working Lunch- Twitter- @BradCoy & @AndyKaufman

The Way of the Farmer- Greg Swann

Real Estate Website Makeover- Mary McKnight

6PM- No Host Happy Hour at the Radisson  Light Hors D’Oeuvres Complimentary

A Continental breakfast will be available at 8AM; coffee and water are complimetary throughout the day.   Lunch will be complimetary.The Museum Coffee Shop will be open at 9:30AM- 3PM. The Heard Museum will be open until 5PM and admission is complimentary for conference attendees.

Tuesday’s Schedule

The Conference Starts at 8:30 AM and concludes at 4PM

Traditional Marketing For A Web 2.0 World- Steve Hundley, Louis Cammarosano, Jeff Brown

Blogging For Dollars- Laurie Manny, Theresa Lussier

Working Lunch- Zillow Mortgage MarketPlace for Real Estate Agents- David Gibbons

Keynote Presentation- Glenn Kelman

Online Reputation Management- David Gibbons

Black Pearls and Commencement

A Continental breakfast will be available at 8AM; coffee and water throughout the day. Lunch is complimentary. The Museum Coffee Shop will be open at 9:30AM- 3PM. The Heard Museum will be open until 5PM and admission is complimentary for conference attendees.

There is a morning and afternoon break for personal phone calls.

May 18, 2008

More BloodhoundBlog Unchained video: The antediluvian trickle

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

There’s a ton more in Unchained clips to come, but here’s a quick taste from the work done today by BrokerIPTV.com.

To start with, Brian Brady interviews my best-beloved, Cathleen Collins:

Russell Shaw put in an appearance and spoke for about 45 minutes. We’ll have clips of that later tonight. In the mean time, here’s a post-session interview he did with BrokerIPTV.com’s Mark Eibner:

My take is that we delivered a lot of content for the first day. Our plan is to ratchet things up quite a bit over the next two days.

One of the things that I think is totally cool about what we are doing is that we aren’t just talking about it, we’re doing Social Media Marketing for the conference as we’re doing the conference. All this video is just a piece of that.

I’d love to hear from people who are at Unchained about how the first day went for them.

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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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