“Mark Lesswing, former Chief Technology Officer for the National Association of Realtors, joins T3 Sixty as Senior Vice President. Lesswing, who has acted in a senior technology role for over 30 years, started at NAR at the Center for Realtor Technology and has been involved in hundreds of industry projects and technology initiatives. Lesswing served NAR for 17 years and was promoted to SVP and CTO of NAR in 2006. During the past few years he has focused on best practices in transaction management platforms, cloud-based platform leveraging blockchain, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Jonathan Peterson, a former Vice President at Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies for 14 years, joins T3 Sixty as VP in the Technology division.”
“The contenders — eight women and six men — were each on stage for eight, visibly nerve-wracking minutes: four to present their product using slides and four to get grilled by industry judges, as conference attendees and thousands of livestream viewers looked on. “Our goal with this competition is to identify and showcase concepts poised to help drive the real estate industry forward,” said NAR CEO Bob Goldberg in a statement. Rikki Rogers, Curbio’s vice president of marketing, delivered the startup’s pitch on stage. “We let every homeowner flip their own property and cash in on their most important asset,” she told attendees. “We renovate homes before they go on the market so they sell for the best possible price. And we wait until settlement to get paid. Whether the home sells in six days or six months, the cost to the seller is the same and Curbio is paid for our work at closing through the proceeds of the sale.”
I participated last year at NAR’s inaugural iOi Summit. I pitched Cloud CMA’s new iBuyer Connect feature. I didn’t attend this year but the event last was very well produced and I’ve heard the same about this event in Seattle. I met a member of Curbio’s team, Rebecca, at Inman Connect last month in Las Vegas. I got a chance to hear about their vision and plans for the company. I really think they were on to something. Huge congrats to Curbio.
“If you are having friends meet you out, clear your tab before they show up. It’s not cool if they end up paying, but more important, it’ll make you look like the drunk that you really are.”
Lots of these ring true. Number 21 is a go to for me.
The Constellation Real Estate Group (“CREG”), has announced today that it has acquired certain assets of SmartZip Analytics Inc. (“SmartZip”), a pioneer in predictive analytics and award-winning provider of data-driven marketing automation and lead generation products for the real estate industry. The acquisition includes SmartZip’s SmartTargeting platform, patent-pending predictive analytics, data solutions, and automated referral-building content system, Reach150.
I’m sure every industry has bottom feeders like Constellation Software. It just feels like every time Constellation Software buys a company, a puppy dies.
“The DBD is responsible for developing and maintaining all FMLS external and internal databases, reports, and automated emails/notifications. Acts as primary contact in troubleshooting issues associated with data distribution, reporting, and automated emails. “
“On July 4, 2019 at 6:51 a.m. EST, when most people in Charlotte, N.C., were hitting the snooze button ahead of Independence Day celebrations, Evona Cholewa of RE/MAX Executive was wide awake and doing what she loves: helping a client find the home of their dreams.
That morning, Evona worked with the ShowingTime Appointment Center to schedule a home showing for her client, just as she had done countless times before. Unbeknownst to Evona, however, the otherwise routine action had special significance: it represented the 300 millionth showing managed through ShowingTime.”
What a great story. 300 million is such an incredible feat! I can only imagine the huge sense of accomplishment that Scott, Michael and the rest of the ShowingTime team must feel. Congrats!
“These combinations are fragile. You’re pulling 43 associations together. You’re pulling all these different boards together. You’re pulling all these different things together … so, I suppose you could look at blowing it up and go, ‘Why the hell did you do that?’ [The consolidation of MLSs] was a big deal and was very, very expensive. It really was, both in time and energy and everything involved. But you could also look at it this way: It’s something that had to be done. It really, really did. So, you can take your pain now or later.”
Brian Donnellan is the interim CEO of Bright MLS, a consolidation of nine forward-thinking MLSs in the Mid-Atlantic region that serves 85K real estate professionals and facilitates approximately 250K annual transactions valued at more than $70B. Brian has 13 years of industry experience, serving as CFO and COO of MRIS prior to the merger. On this episode of Listing Bits, Brian shares the challenges of merging different personalities and cultures and explains how the Bright consolidation gave others the courage to follow suit.
Brian also offers insight around the power of relationships in the real estate industry, the factors that influence growing agent attrition, and the value of building a product that helps brokers and agents make better decisions. Listen in to understand why Bright MLS is bringing on new staff from outside the industry and learn how the team’s commitment allowed them to endure criticism during the consolidation and get to a place they can be proud of!
**A quick note, due to a microphone issue the sound quality of this episode isn’t that great.**
What’s Discussed:
Brian’s background in information systems and public policy
How we underestimate the relationship aspect of real estate
Brian’s insight on the factors that influence agent attrition
How building a better product supports agent production
The challenge of merging the cultures of MRIS + TREND MLS
The distinction among members, customers and subscribers
The rocky start to the process of consolidating Bright MLS
How the Bright team endured the criticism on social media
The value of bringing in new staff from outside the industry
Brian’s pride in Bright’s progress and vision of the future
