Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Neil Armstrong and I

Neil Armstrong 1930-2012

I’m a big space geek. I’ve read way too many books on the Apollo missions and a big fan of what Elon Musk’s SpaceX is doing now and watched the live JPL feed when Curosity landed on Mars.

I actually met Neil Armstrong once. I was working at a sound and lighting company after graduating college. We did the PA and lighting for an event Mr. Armstrong was going to speak. I was working backstage. He arrived a little early, before he was scheduled to speak, I think he was looking for someone.

It’s not really “cool” for a professional working a show to ask the “talent” for an autograph. It’s kind of a unspoken rule, but I couldn’t help myself.

Me: “Mr. Armstrong, would you mind signing something for me?”

He looked at me, a bit irritated.

NA: “Sure, Son.”

I reached in to my bag and pulled out my trusty Fluke multimeter my Dad had bought me.

He smiled, and I handed him a Sharpie and my Fluke. He signed it, right across the top, and handed it back to me.

Me: “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

NA: “You’re welcome.”

True story.

Way back on September 12th, 1962 John F. Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University, that is a favorite of mine. The speech was about how important it is to choose our goals.

“But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” -JFK

Rest in peace Mr. Armstrong.

The return of Sparky

A long time ago I co-founded a software company called IRIS. Our flagship product was an MLS access app called “Lightning“, we later added (after acquiring J.Williams) a CMA app called Lightning CMA Plus.(Pardon me for calling software applications “apps”, that’s what I’ve been calling them for 20 years).

During that time Microsoft introduced what they termed “Office Assistants“. Many of you may remember “Clippy“. These “assistants” could give you a tutorial of your app or appear when you asked for help.

All of us at IRIS thought these little characters were the bees-knees and Windows had a way where you could customize the characters for your own apps. We did this with Lightning but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted our own character (because that’s how I roll). So I called Microsoft.

Microsoft referred me to David Christianson. An animator who worked on many of the Office Assistant characters. We got to talking and we came of of a little Lightning bolt character. I’m not sure who picked the name, maybe we had a company vote, but we dubbed him “Sparky“. Sparky always held a special place in anyone’s heart who worked at IRIS during that time.

Long story short we sold IRIS, the assets transferred to one company after another. We had a rough year after selling IRIS (that’s another post, but I’ll give you a hint, the year was 1999). Sometimes around the office I would see written on white boards the words “Free Sparky”.

The “Lightning” assets now belong to RED -Real Estate Digital. So I called up John Hensley, now one of the owners of RED, and asked if it would be possible for Dan and I to reacquire the trademark and image and begin using Sparky with our new company. John was very gracious and agreed.

I wanted a new drawing of Sparky made, something to celebrate his return, so I Googled David Christianson (Sparky’s animator), I didn’t find him, but I did get in touch with his daughter, and she put me in touch with him. Turns out David is still animating and agreed to the commission.

Cloud CMA just topped 40,000 active users. I have many people to thank, many of those people read this blog. So let me take this moment to thank all of you who supported Dan and I. And special thank you to Lauren Hansen of IRES who did a site license for Cloud CMA before it was ever released, thanks Lauren! After saying this I can’t think of a better time to bring Sparky back!

So, ladies and gentlemen, I’m happy to announce, Sparky Lives!

Sparky!

Reading between the lines of Trulia’s latest broker communication.

Click to Enlarge

Plans within plans, within plans. This entire communication from Trulia is like a word dance.

One thing is clear, ListHub has both Trulia and Zillow by the short hairs. In Trulia’s latest communication they ever so subtlety suggest to their broker clients that instead of using Listhub they can send feed directly to them instead. You don’t ask, you don’t get, I guess.

They also imply that ListHub data won’t appear on their consumer mobile apps (which recently recieved an A- rating on Clareity’s Review of Real Estate Mobile Application for the Consumer). Not true! They resrict data on their agent mobile product. I’m not sure if this is a typo or some sort of Jedi Mind Trick they are trying to pull.

One quibble, while I certainly understand the restriction, it is a clear case of repurposing data, ListHub/Realtor.com has to be careful here. They don’t want to appear they are trying to stifle competition betweeen any competing Realtor.com apps.

Another thing that jumped out at me was that agents were allowed to update listings on Trulia. Does anyone else think that was crazy?

42

42 years.

Co-founders Andy and Niki Rapattoni

Last week Rapattoni Corporation celebrated their 42nd anniversary as a company. Andy and Niki have been in business for over 42 years. A remarkable feat.

The closest company I can think of being around as long is FBS (flexmls) at 33 years.

Think about all the companies getting in and out of this industry, the name changes, the reorgs, the acquistions, etc. Here’s a few…

PRC
Moore Data Systems
Fidelity
LPS
VistaInfo
eProperty
Homeseekers
GEAC
Realigent
Cyberhomes
IRIS, LLC
FNIS
VistaInfo
Realty Plus Online
HomeStore
Marketlinx
RISCO
eNeighborhoods
Advanced Access
Tarasoft

And I know I’m missing a few.

I’m sure, like any company, Rapattoni has had their ups and downs. But as the co-founder of a 4 year old software company the fact that Andy and Niki have been able to keep their company together in this space since Nixon was president is inspiration and deserves recognition. Congratulations.

More on Freemiums

Sarah Needleman and Angus Loten from WSJ: When Freemiums Fail

“The freemium approach doesn’t make sense for any business that can’t eventually reach millions of users. Typically only 1% or 2% of users will upgrade to a paid product, said David Cohen, founder and CEO of TechStars, a start-up accelerator since 2007 with five U.S. locations.”

Great article on why smaller businesses should forget the freemium hype and get money right away.

RIP Shana Pearl

I just heard that after a long bout with cancer Shana Pearl died last night.

I’m not sure of the details. I’ve known Shana for such a long time, she had a big influence on real estate technology in California and the rest of the industry. She had a great laugh and… this is just so damn sad.

#fuckcancer

The Battle In Seattle

Real Estate Bad Ass – Ian Morris

Market Leader just kicked Zillow in the balls.

Here’s an excerpt from an article on Inman Newsdescribing Market Leader’s launch of RealEstate.com as a referral portal.

RealEstate.com back as referral network

Now — nearly one year after acquiring listing portal RealEstate.com from Tree.com for $8.25 million — Market Leader says it has agreements with multiple listing services in more than 150 markets that are providing Internet Data Exchange (IDX) feeds containing information on about 1.6 million listings to the site.

MarketLeader in turn provides leads on an exclusive basis to more than 1,000 brokerage companies and agents that have joined the site’s referral network.

Fucking genius.

But Brian Boero of 1000watt doesn’t think so…

Market Leader’s RealEstate.com play: Welcome to Crazy Town

“Market Leader, the software company previously known as HouseValues.com, bought the realestate.com domain from LendingTree about a year ago.

This week, they made some noise about what they’re doing with it.In short, they are raising a giant middle finger to MLSs, the spirit of IDX and, most significantly, to operating brokers.”

Crazy like a fox, is what I say. For all the talk about how Zillow is a big innovator and disruptor in the real industry Ian Morris just walked the walk.

One side note, the design of RealEstate.com really does suck, so fix that. Thanks. Moving on….

First let me get this straight, the listing portal business can be somewhat sleazy. “Three headed monsters”, “Zombie Listings”, “Sin-dication” and now the you’ve got both Zillow and Homes.com pounding their chest about the opening of two new boiler rooms in Southern California. You almost feel sorry for the poor real estate agent who happens to pick up the phone.

But the industry is reaping what they sowed and you can’t blame Market Leader for taking this path. It’s a bold and risky move; some may say a “Hail Mary” pass. Sometimes, the Hail Mary works.

What matters now is execution. So far Zillow is really killing it. Everyone thought they would be flash in the pan after they went public, not so. The IPO was over a year ago and they have been getting stronger every quarter. Spencer and his team deserve strong Kudos.

Market Leader has been putting together a few big deals of their own; the acquisition and integration of Sharper Agent has gone well, they also won the business to be the lead vendor behind Keller Williams’eEdge platform, combine that with recently announced partnerships with Realogy’s Century 21 and Better Homes & Gardens they seem to have a lot of momentum.

The Battle of Emerald City is now in place:

Ian vs. Spencer

(Granted with names like these it seems they should be fighting over a jar of Grey Poupon instead of online listing dominance.)

But I love a good fight and this is going to be fun to watch!

Kate Jones leaves Metrolist

If you are successful real estate technology vendor you know Kate Jones. Kate oversaw technical support, member services, training, and integrated solutions departments as member of executive team for Metrolist in Denver.

Over her 12 years (yes, 12 years) at Metrolist she saw the real estate industry change in a myriad of ways. I can only imagine the many products and services that have been pitched to her over those years. I’ve always found her to be smart, professional and fair in business dealings and a genuinely fun person. The industry needs more people like her and I’m sad to see her go.

Kate is now a senior consulting manager at Convergys. Please join me in wishing her well at her new gig!

CMLS is just around the corner!

From the wire….

CMLS2012 – Council of Multiple Listing Services Annual Conference Makes its Way to Boston

Shrewsbury, MA (August 6, 2012) – Look out Boston, here comes The Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) annual conference. MLS PIN never predicted The Hub would be such a big draw when they agreed to host this September’s event, which is being held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in the heart of Boston. Just steps away from the hotel you will find the famous Newbury Street, The Charles River, Fenway Park, and The Shops at Prudential and Copley Place.

Perhaps it’s the change of scenery to the East Coast, the current industry hot buttons, the array of talented and knowledgeable experts adding to the attendee list each year, or Wednesday night’s Red Sox vs. Rays game at Fenway ‐ but whatever the reason, MLS PIN couldn’t be happier to host what looks to be the largest CMLS conference yet.

CMLS2012 will take place Wednesday, September 26 through Friday, September 28. Registration is currently open and the conference already boasts 500 registrants and rising, making this one of the fastest‐growing conferences in CMLS history. Hotel rooms at the Sheraton Boston are still available for attendees, but space is limited. Sponsorships started moving very quickly in March, and all exhibitor spots were completely sold out by early July. We are thankful for the generous support of more than 40 sponsors and exhibitors, and excited for the networking opportunities available to all of the CMLS members and guests. Worried about seeing this entire lovely city? Be sure to sign up for the Upper Deck Trolley Tour taking place on Wednesday, September 26. You will see Boston from a unique perspective‐ ten feet above traffic. The tour even includes a two hour stop at Faneuil Hall for topnotch dining and shopping.

The conference agenda will kick off with keynote speaker and New York Times Bestseller author, Jon Gordon, followed by a Barnes & Noble book signing. Other highlighted speakers are lining up nicely, including Economist, Elliot Eisenberg, PhD. Don’t miss informative, exciting, and possibly controversial panels on all of the topics touching our industry. Listen to the experts and get the scoop on topics such as legal matters that matter, who really holds the key to MLS data, apps you do not want to be without, and where real estate technology is headed in the future. And be sure to make some time for fun, we have some exciting things planned for you.

No matter what the attraction, if you are interested in more information with regard to this year’s conference, be sure to visit www.cmls2012.com or contact Sarah Carlton at 919.459.2070. If you are interested in sponsoring this event, please contact Melissa Lindberg at 508‐845‐1011.
Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) is the premier forum and resource for Multiple Listing Services.

MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN) is a privately REALTOR® owned multiple listing service with approximately 29,000 participants and subscribers throughout New England, which manages a comprehensive database of nearly 50,000 listings for sale. It is the largest MLS in New England, and one of the largest in the nation.

SOURCE: MLS Property Information Network, Inc. (MLS PIN) For additional information, please contact:

Melissa Lindberg
MLS PIN Director of Marketing, Communication & Outreach 508‐845‐1011 ext. 7121
mlindberg at mlspin dot com

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