Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

How to survive air travel

Craig ModLet’s Fly – How to survive air travel.

“Arrive early and move through the airport like the Dalai Lama. You are in no rush. All obstacles are taken in stride, patiently, with a smile. Approach the nearly empty check-in counter. Walk up and say, I’m a bit early but I’m here to check in to … Marvel at their surprise and then their generosity. Suddenly you are always able to get an exit row or bulkhead seat. Suddenly, sure, they can slip you into Business. Suddenly tickets that are supposedly unchangeable, cannot be modified, are, after a few calls, some frowns, upbeat goodbyes, specially modifiable for you. This is what happens when there is no one behind you in line to check in.

Great read. I prefer to arrive a bit early, usually about an hour to an hour and a half before flights. Gives time for the unexpected and to get some work done.

via Kottke

Regarding the rumor of Zillow acquiring Trulia

A few thoughts on this.

“Blue horseshoe loves….”

This could all be just Wall Street trickery. Remember how much MOVE stock bounced when it was rumored they were going to be bought by Trulia? It was significant. So maybe someone got the idea to make a bigger play by spreading a Zillow buying Trulia rumor.

Seattle vs. San Francisco

Executive leadership at both companies couldn’t be more different. Think Frank Underwood and Mr. Chips (you make a guess of which CEO fits the part) It’s really hard for me to imagine both teams being on the same page of anything, besides all money they will be making.

A deal could be a good for MOVE.
A Zillow and Trulia merger could be a good thing for MOVE, Inc. Such a large acquisition would be a huge distraction for Zillow, something MOVE could act upon. Plus they immediately bump from the #3 listing site to the #2 listing site. : )

LinkedIn ripple
If you start getting LinkedIn requests from anyone at Trulia then you know the deal is real.

Is it a good or bad thing?
Personally I think it would be bad for the industry. Competition is a good, and with less of it the industry will suffer.

The biggest loser.
Another thought occurred to me. Dominion Enterprises (a privately held company) owns Homes.com. Zillow and Trulia’s market cap is about 8 Billion. Hindsight is 20/20 but you gotta wonder if back in the day Dominion spun off Homes.com and did an IPO what that asset would be worth. Is it too late? Or is the Batten Family too fat and happy? There is big money in this space, without proper investment it will be harder and harder to take them seriously.

28 Billion Dollars?
In an article yesterday the CFO of Trulia was quoted:

““Long-term, we see this as a two-player market and evolving much like e-commerce” with EBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., Sean Aggarwal, chief financial officer at Trulia, said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Technology Conference in June.

He also described online real estate as a “very large category,” with real estate professionals spending about $28 billion a year on marketing. Trulia and Zillow collectively are doing about $500 million to $600 million a year in revenue, he said, leaving $27 billion plus of “potential money” that could come into that realm over the next several years.

Does anyone else think that number is crazy?

Will a deal happen?
No comment from either side. Typically where there’s smoke there’s fire, but I say no.

UPDATE: 7/28/2014 Looks like I got this wrong. Zillow is acquiring Trulia for 3.5 Billion in an all stock deal.

5 MLS Providers select Goomzee for multi-year agreements

Goomzee:

“When technology committees and executives compared Goomzee’s solution to other alternatives, Goomzee was selected, and a record five MLS markets signed multi-year site license agreements with the company last quarter alone.”

Impressive. It will be interesting to see how much traction these mobile MLS apps gain. The apps I’ve seen each have a different perspective. Congrats to Mike Sparr and his team.

Full Press Release Below:
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MLSs Flock To Goomzee’s Mobile App; Reports Record Quarter Growth

Missoula, MT – July 23, 2014 – Multiple Listing Services (MLS) nationwide continue to answer the call to empower their agent customers with better mobile technology tools. Goomzee, a longtime provider of mobile technology solutions to agents, brokers, and MLSs announced today sales of their latest innovation, Mobile MLS Apps, have exceeded early expectations. When technology committees and executives compared Goomzee’s solution to other alternatives, Goomzee was selected, and a record five MLS markets signed multi-year site license agreements with the company last quarter alone.

“I’m flattered that so many real estate professionals and MLS markets are recognizing the increased value our products offer their customers, and clients. We first provided web-based Mobile MLS solutions for over 60,000 agents in 2009, and then completely redesigned our infrastructure before we publicly offered our native Mobile MLS Apps. MLS staff cite the reasons they select Goomzee is because we ‘get it’, our solution is ‘insanely fast’, and our commitment to data accuracy and rules compliance is second to none,” shares Mike Sparr, Goomzee’s founder and CEO. “Last quarter was very exciting and we quadrupled our profits from first quarter, increased our agent users over thirty percent, and our Mobile MLS App contract monthly revenue just surpassed our lead capture product revenue for the first time. We continue to reinvest in better solving our customers’ problems and making them shine, and that trend will continue now even faster than expected.”

The Goomzee Mobile MLS App solution currently supports iPhone, iPad and Android devices and is available in the respective app stores. It enables users to research real estate properties, share and collaborate with others, and even manage transactions and listings from mobile devices. The service can be configured on a per-market basis to offer public access or agent access or even invite-only public access. To easily begin using the apps, agents log in to authenticate against their own MLS system or security vendor without any complex approval or registration process. The apps also include a “Demo Mode” so users or perspective MLSs can try it out. Goomzee’s apps are compatible and/or integrate with leading industry technology and data providers to offer the most comprehensive Mobile MLS App solution available. Popular features include:

– Map, nearby, criteria, address, MLS#, school, MLS area searches
– Search criteria matches local market MLS system criteria fields
– Display results on map, gallery, or list view
– Save searches and listings
– Share listings
– Add/remove/edit contacts
– Update/edit listings (depending on market/system availability)
– Configure custom search criteria
– View neighborhood, schools, businesses
– Public record and non-MLS property lookups
– Agent and office roster search and one-tap access to agent or office listings
– Integration with third party tools like RPR, Clareity Security, Instanet Transactions, CloudCMA, ShowingTime, and more
– Comprehensive real-time analytics for MLS staff on app installs, usage, and data feed syncronization

“Our product team and I have worked hand-in-hand for nearly four years with our MLS customers, agents, and brokers to bring forth the features they need, and make sure it’s blazing fast and doesn’t embarrass the agents when trying to access information over mobile devices,” explains Sparr. “When we introduced our mobile apps we cheekily advertised ‘real estate pros can once again have better tools and data than consumers’. Our continued sales and market growth is evident that our customers have confirmed we solved an unmet need in the industry. We’ve been receiving referrals from other MLSs, and even some that aren’t customers yet, are turning their peers towards Goomzee’s mobile technology. I’m grateful and fully committed to continue to invest in advancing our technology and serving the needs of real estate professionals.”

Recent MLS markets that have selected Goomzee’s Mobile MLS Apps includes San Francisco, CA, Tucson, AZ, Peoria, IL, Grand Rapids, MI, and York, PA just these past few months. Goomzee’s Mobile MLS Apps already serve markets in California, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Arkansas, Arizona and continues to expand. Goomzee’s Mobile MLS apps already serves markets using Paragon, flexmls, Matrix, Rapattoni, and even custom solutions so no matter what system the MLS uses, they can add Goomzee’s Mobile MLS Apps to extend their capabilities.

ABOUT GOOMZEE
Goomzee celebrated its 11th year in business in 2014. The company began as an e-commerce application service provider, powering and hosting small business’ e-commerce websites, but shifted to real estate technology just as the industry fell into turmoil to solve recognized gaps in mobile technology. The company has been serving the real estate industry since 2007, and multiple listing services since 2008. It’s initial real estate product called Goomzee Connect allows agents to capture leads at the property via text message codes on sign riders and a lead capture system. After working closely with MLSs and providing it’s service as a member benefit in nearly 30 MLS markets, representing over 296,000 agents, MLSs approached Goomzee to co-design a mobile solution that would best serve the needs of their members. Their current solution represents a culmination of their first-generation web solution, and two years of research and development to offer a platform that rivals the large portals. For more information, request a quote, or to schedule a personal demo, please contact Goomzee via http://www.goomzee.com.

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Sponsored By Paragon Connect