Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Keller Williams ends partnership with Offerpad

Keller Williams ends exclusive deal with Offerpad

“As Keller Williams does with any product or service for associates, Keller Offers consistently measures the value we provide to ensure we remain a product that agents want in their tool belts,” Gayln Zeigler, director of operations at Keller Offers, said. “As part of that process, we now recognize the need to expand the program beyond Offerpad.”


Going forward, the company will use multiple offers for each home that requests an offer through Keller Offers. The aim, according to Zeigler, is to provide homeowners with more competitive offers and fuel the company’s expansion plans in 2020 and beyond.”

This was not going to last. Gary only wants to work with Gary. Gary wants to be the only vendor that KW agents work with, period. He basically craps on all other vendors, not in private, but on a stage in front of thousands of people. It’s a shame because some of the most passionate and smart agents I meet are from KW.

The multiple offer concept is great, but if you play it out it will never work. iBuyers don’t want to be aggregated, and building a network of independent investors that have the resources to actively service these types of requests in real-time is really hard, if not impossible.

I will say that I enjoyed Gary’s last interview with Brad at the recent Inman ConnectNow conference. I do believe his motivation is consumer-driven. But why all the vitriol towards other companies in the space? There are other good people in this industry who care about agents and have the same beliefs.

Facebook Live Interview w/ the N.A.R.’s new CEO Bob Goldberg


Andrew Flachner, CEO of RealScout is doing a Facebook Live interview with Bob Goldberg this Tuesday.

“For the first time ever, Bob Goldberg, the new CEO of the National Association of REALTORS®, will answer your questions via live video about the issues that are top of mind for the real estate industry.

Tune in for this exclusive Facebook Live event on Tuesday August 15 at 3pm Eastern, 12pm Pacific at: https://www.facebook.com/RealScout/.

You can also submit questions for Andrew to ask on the same Facebook page.

See you at Inman’s Real Estate Connect SF next week

I’m looking forward to attending Real Estate Connect in San Francisco next week. I’m participating on a couple things that I think are worth sharing.

CEO Summit
This is being held on Tuesday the 15th (a “pre-conference” event) I’ve been before and its a good mix of people. I’m scheduled to give 3 live interviews.

David Charron, CEO of MRIS
Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia
Steve Berkowitz, CEO of MOVE, Inc.

I did something similar at NAR Midyear that was a lot of fun. Brad has asked me to ask each of these guys some really “tough questions”. I’ve got a few, and really looking forward to mixing it up. (And if you have a few tough questions of your own hit me up via email or leave something in the comments.)

Marketing Track – “How to Create, Build and Launch Things People Want.”

Dan Woolley and I will also be co-presenting on the Marketing Track Thursday, “How to Create, Build and Launch Things People Want.” We will be joined by the super talented Michele Serro of Doorsteps (Swipe), Winston Welborn of Hawaii Life Real Estate. Marc Davison from 1000watt Consulting will be moderating.

Getting Dan on stage is like pulling teeth, so I’m really psyched to be able to show off the brains of our operation and share our creative process.

Looking forward to seeing everyone. Just email or DM me if you want to hook up.

“The Big Three”, What Now?

I’ve been asked to conduct 3 interviews next week at the MLS Executive Session at NAR Midyear. The session is called – “The Big Three”, What Now?

I will be speaking with Curt Beardsley of Zillow, John Whitney of Trulia and Steve Berkowitz,CEO of Move, Inc./realtor.com

If you have any questions you would like me to ask, drop me an email. The interviews will be conducted separately.

The MLS Executive Session is co-chaired by Wes Wiggins and Chris Carrillo. It will be held Wednesday, May 14th at the Omni Shoreham Hotel – Regency Ballroom, Lower Level from 3:00PM to 5:00PM.

Should be a lot of fun! See you there!

New York Times interviews Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin

Be Yourself, Redfin’s Glenn Kelman Says, Even if You’re a Little Goofy

Short but good interview. Redfin is one of true disruptors in the industry. My favorite line from Glenn.

“If I haven’t found evidence that someone’s ever done anything hard in their lives, then I just don’t believe they’re suddenly going to be able to jump into a phone booth, come out wearing a cape and learn how to be tough on this job”

So true.

Interview with Joel Macintosh, CEO of WolfNet

I had a chance to sit down with Joel Macintosh, CEO of WolfNet, at ARMLS‘ Technopalooza conference last week (which was great BTW).

We had a great conversation covering such topics as the history of IDX, VOWs, owning vs. leasing your website and keeping a business going for 16 years.

Joel Fun Fact: He recently got married. So be sure to congratulate him next time you see him. : )

Enjoy.

Who will be ARMLS’ next CEO?

The big news I can report is that ARMLS has formed a search committee to help choose their next CEO. This position has been opened since former ARMLS CEO, Bob Bemis, left to join Zillow.

Being one of the largest MLS providers in the country has certainly piqued the attention of many in the MLS industry on what ARMLS plans to do to fill this post.

The joke running around is that the next CEO would have to be named Bob, since the last 3 CEO positions have been occupied by people named Bob. Does this mean that Bob Hale is a candidate? Probably not. But Hale has a deep bench so maybe someone like Rene Galvan might be interested. You also have to consider others out there, what about Bud Fogel? I hear Bud spends a lot of time in Arizona, maybe he could make the move permanent? Or maybe someone looking for a warmer climate, say current CMLS president and CEO of Intermountain MLS, Greg Manship. Winters in Scottsdale sure sound better than winters in Boise!

But methinks that its going to be hard to beat Matt Consalvo, ARMLS’ current Interim CEO. The Phoenix market is heating up, and having gone thru a couple rough patches with their membership I think that they will be looking for stability. Matt is certainly up for the task and with the rest of ARMLS’ stellar staff they are certainly well equipped to rise to the challenge.

Interview with Amy Geddes about SAFE Syndication

Full Press Release Below
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Clareity Security Announces New Customers for SAFE Syndication

January 30, 2012 – Scottsdale, Arizona – Clareity Security (www.clareitysecurity.com), the leading provider of data security and syndication solutions for the real estate industry, is pleased to announce the recent addition of the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island and Maine Real Estate Information System to its customer family. Each has signed a SAFE Syndication® agreement and will enjoy the benefits of the leading data distribution and compliance management tool for multiple listing services.

SAFE Syndication is designed to serve as a contract management, compliance and reporting tool for MLS organizations, brokerages and franchisors. SAFE Syndication provides a consolidated system for measuring and reporting on all listing distribution activity. In addition, the compliance tools in the product provide independent verification and reporting by the MLS and/or Clareity Security as a neutral, trusted third party. These features allow the MLS to eliminate unnecessary expansion of compliance costs and refocus internal resources on more strategic projects. Most importantly, SAFE Syndication compliments all existing and emerging syndication methods, products and approaches because the focus is on compliance reporting and complaint tracking, along with producing reports that help brokers and MLS organizations make better syndication and distribution decisions.

“SAFE Syndication is going to help us better organize and communicate our compliance and contract management efforts across the entire MLSLI organization. With Safe Syndication, each of our designated staff members will have web-based access to contracts, complaints, and audits for all of our data customers.” stated Jim Speer, Vice President of Operations.

Clareity Security would like to invite everyone interested in SAFE Syndication meet with our team. Contact sales@clareitysecurity.com to schedule a detailed presentation.

About Clareity Security:
Clareity Security, located in Scottsdale, AZ is the leading provider of security products and services for the real estate industry. It’s SAFEMLS® and SAFEACCESS™ products help MLS organizations and real estate professionals easily and effectively safeguard sensitive consumer information against unauthorized access and provides next generation strong authentication solutions for secure online transactions. Additional information is available at http://www.ClareitySecurity.com.

Contact:
Amy Geddes, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
480-444-0014 or Email

Interview with Chris Heagerty of ARMLS

I was out at the ARMLS’ LEARNaTHON in Phoenix last week and was able to interview Chris Heagerty, their Director of Communications among other things. Bob Bemis has a phenomenal team and I’m super impressed how well produced their events are and the number of agents they attract. At LEARNaTHON we had 4 sessions, each about an hour long, where we could really educate interested members about Cloud CMA. Chris was kind enough to speak to me about how they put together their events. My hope is that other MLS providers might be inspired to try something similar. Thanks Chris!

Interview with Matt Cohen on new IDX policy changes.

I’m in Minneapolis this week and had a chance to hook up with Matt Cohen. There is a lot of discussion going on regarding the IDX PAG recommendations. You can read Matt’s comments on this subject on his blog here.

I haven’t done any interviews of this type before (so pardon my flubs) but Matt was kind enough to share his thoughts with me about these upcoming policy changes. Enjoy.

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