I recently did a few Cloud CMA presentations in the NTREIS market. One of the associations I visited was the Granbury Association of REALTORS. Wonderful people. Emily Graham and Ilse Farrell were great hosts and I enjoyed their Texas hospitality. On the wall of their meeting room was posted this little ditty I thought I’d share.
#protip
Yesterday MOVE slapped the newly formed Zillow Group with the news that as of next week they won’t be providing listing to Trulia any longer. This seemed to be in response to Zillow’s earlier rebuke of continuing the ListHub agreement past the contract date.
Now it appears that Zillow is seeking a restraining order to keep listings flowing to Zillow.
Oy Vey!
A few observations:
Welcome to the team!
Tough first week for Paul Levine, newly appointed president of Trulia.
The Velvet Glove
I’m going to start calling Celeste Starchild, “the velvet glove”, because she always seems to be delivering the bad (good?) news, but tries to downplay the consquences.
Shit Sandwich
And going back to Zillow’s earlier refusal to re-sign with ListHub, can you really blame them? ListHub was basically forcing them to use a data feed their very own company won’t use on its own site (realtor.com). Zillow take is that ListHub was was serving them a shit sandwich, telling them to eat, and that they better like it.
Lobby bars
Good thing the Clareity’s MLS Executive Workshop next week is serving great popcorn, because the show has just begun!
NTREIS signs direct feed with Zillow
“The Board of Directors of the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc. has approved an agreement with Zillow to provide a direct feed of MLS Listing data. NTREIS Listing content is currently provided to Zillow through a third party syndication partner and various direct feeds from Brokers.”
Another big win for Curt and his team.
“Paul Levine, previously Trulia’s chief operating officer, has been named president of Trulia, reporting to Rascoff. Pete Flint, co-founder and former CEO of Trulia, has joined the Zillow Group board of directors, as has former Trulia board member Greg Waldorf.”
I think Paul Levine is a great choice. What I’m not convinced about is how long they will keep separate companies. Although, by changing the name to “Zillow Group” it does appear that they might stick with this strategy.
I don’t think it could have gone any other way for Pete. But, after selling his company for multiple billions, he deserves to drop the mic and leave the stage.
“In connection with the close of the acquisition, the companies eliminated approximately 280 positions, primarily in San Francisco and Bellevue, Wash., due primarily to redundancy in the combined company’s sales and administrative organizations. Another 70 positions will be eliminated as of the end of the second quarter, at which time Zillow Group will have approximately 2,000 employees. The approximately 350 affected employees have already been notified.”
As the saying goes, “that’s show business”. I was surprised this happen so fast, but I guess ripping of the bandaid was the best solution. Although Trulia did (does?) have a great company culture. I’m sure these “eliminations” hit the team hard.
Bottom line is that the other shoe has dropped. Zillow Group is now in place. Murdoch is still keeping his cards close to the vest. Grab some popcorn.
Free Advice to The Broker Public Portal
“Consider the timeline of the BPP project, as per the website. The “organizational meeting” was in November of 2014. January of 2015 is when financial support and commitment from brokers and MLSs are to be garnered. Then in March/April timeframe, the company will be formed with the $250K seed funding. And then consultants and the Board will get into the RFP process, which will take a few months, and then they have to select vendors, and then finally start building. Along the way, they also have to secure the $15 million in startup funding.
If the first line of code for BPP is written before the end of the year, it will be a miracle.
”
Salient points from the notorious one.
David Carr, Times Critic and Champion of Media, Dies at 58
“In a statement, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., The Times’s publisher and chairman, said: “David Carr was one of the most gifted journalists who has ever worked at The New York Times. “He combined formidable talent as a reporter with acute judgment to become an indispensable guide to modern media. But his friends at The Times and beyond will remember him as a unique human being — full of life and energy, funny, loyal and lovable. An irreplaceable talent, he will be missed by everyone who works for The Times and everyone who reads it.”
“irreplaceable talent” just about sums it up. I’m gonna miss reading him.
CUSTOMER CARE SPECIALIST NEEDED
Trendgraphix, Inc.
“• Supporting and maintaining relationship with existing customers to achieve highest level of customer satisfaction for retention and add-on sales
• Conducting web-based product training webinars and videos
• Preparing sales related email marketing campaigns
• Performing product sales and post-sale client follow-up
• Timely and accurately inputting data in various company software systems
• Promptly and timely responding to and pre-qualifying internet leads and other incoming inquiries
• Assisting in creating proposals, completing contracts within specified guidelines
• Preparing and procuring necessary transaction related agreements, setting up documents (client contact & billing records) in SalesForce software”
To find out more visit the Vendor Alley Job Board.
Great article about how they created Flipboard for the web. It is a bit technical. I love to use Flipboard on my iPad. This quote caught my attention.
“Early on, after testing numerous prototypes, we decided our web experience should scroll. Our mobile apps are known for their book-like pagination metaphor, something that feels intuitive on a touch screen, but for a variety of reasons, scrolling feels most natural on the web.”
That’s exactly the same conclusion we came up with Cloud Streams. On the web people love scrolling through streams of data (think Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest). And when you think about it most MLS portals display some excel looking spreadsheet you need to click to move on to the next 25 properties.
Also this is why none of those viewer plugins popular with publishers to turn their paper Magazines in to a “digital” version never really took off. The interface was lousy and seemed like a hack job.
People want to scroll.
Watch an emotional Jon Stewart announce his Daily Show departure
“”This show doesn’t deserve an even slightly restless host,” Stewart offers by way of explanation, without going into detail. “In my heart I know it’s time for someone else to have this opportunity.” The host and comedian doesn’t have any specific plans for what he’ll do next, other than “have dinner on a school night with my family,” but he does say he has “a lot of ideas.”
One of the greats. Damn.
2 new jobs posted in the Vendor Alley Job Board.
Director of Industry Marketing
MOVE, Inc.
“This individual will be a part of and support Move’s Industry Relations team and will partner closely with the creative team, events team, and when needed, trade marketing leads for specific business units. He or she will drive cross-channel efforts in support of trade marketing initiatives that drive business goals.”
Find out more here.
Account Director/Project Manager
August Partners
“We’re looking for a seasoned account director/project manager and client advocate who loves the creative process as much as order and structure. We need someone who can keep the team in line with clients, and vice versa. You need to be opinionated and diplomatic, so that when there’s an issue you can resolve it to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Find out more here.
And to see all listing on the Vendor Alley Job Board click here.
