Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Vendor Alley Makes Inman's "25 Most Influential Real Estate Bloggers: 2008" special report

Vendor Alley made it to the “Notables” section of Inman’s Industry Special Report.

The description they gave the site was…
“Greg Robertson
Founder, Vendor Alley
Greg Robertson led the sales and marketing team at eNeighborhoods and had served
as general manager and vice president for the company prior to his departure this year
from the company. He now serves as an industry consultant for Woolley Robertson
Group and as a corporate director for the Council of MLS, a 51-year-old organization
for representatives of MLSs and real estate vendors. Robertson’s Vendor Alley blog is a
sometimes humorous, sometimes down-and-dirty insider’s look at the real estate industry through the eyes of a vendor. It’s a must-read for anyone who has ever attended a real estate industry conference or plans to.”

I must correct Inman in stating that I’m not an “industry consultant” (not that there is anything wrong with that..) but currently building another real estate software company (yet to be named).

Thanks to all our readers who made this happen!!! Don’t forge that you can also follow us on Twitter.

If you are interested in getting the full report click here.

And don’t forget those super comfy Vendor Alley T-Shirts!

Rumors….rumors…and more rumors…

The rumor mill is cranking away today. So it looks like the NAR show next week in Orlando is gonna be interesting.

I’m sitting on 3 HUGE rumors that could be potential game changers in the industry. The first involves agent software, the second involves the NAR “gateway” plan, and the third involves one of the biggest players in our industry.

All I can say is WOW!

RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio makes Time Magazine!

This is pretty cool. The article is called “House Hunters.-By tallying the nation’s foreclosures, a California company defines the housing bust.”

And there’s Jim in the red shirt about to crush Atlanta with his left foot.

Congrats Jim!

NAR EXPO attendance numbers.

Just spoke to some of the higher ups at the National Association of REALTORS(r). They are approximating close to 20,000 REALTORS attending the 2008 Conference and EXPO in Orlando, FL. That number does not include spouses and Vendors. Sounds like Mickey Mouse is doing his job!

Dominion Enterprises can't close the deal

The Virginian Pilot is reporting today that “Landmark suspends sale of most assets, not Virginian-Pilot” Landmark Communications is the parent of Dominion Enterprises.

Dominion Enterprises owns some of the top brands in real estate technology; Homes.com, eNeighborhooods, Advanced Access, Number1Expert and Harmon Homes Magazine (now Homes.com Magazine)

This has got to be a HUGE BUMMER for Dominion Enterprises. They spent all year working on selling these assets. Maybe they took too long. Might be that minding all those “Ps and Qs” cost them some “$”.

The real question now is; What’s next?

Simply put the owners of Dominion Enterprises wanted out. They wanted the cash. They didn’t want to run a big company anymore. They wanted to relax. Rest on their laurels. Live the good life!

And who could blame them? Who would want to run a complex company like Dominion Enterprises, especially now??

I’m hoping that the leadership at Dominion Enterprises can rally and shift gears. There are a lot of Dominion employees, and their families, counting on them to do so..

NAR EXPO is just arround the corner. Are you ready?

I’m starting my NAR training routine today. Thought I would detox a little before the show. Cut down on the alcohol, drink lots of water, and maybe eat something green.

What about you? Any pre “Big Show” rituals?

While you were worrying about the economy…

While you were checking your 401K eNeighborhoods launched their IDX solution on Century21.com, ERA.com and ColdwellBanker.com. A HUGE accomplishment for the boys and girls in Boca. The deal was signed back in November 2007.

Earlier I had posted eNeighborhoods had also re-signed RE/MAX International to provide, among other things, IDX services to remax.com. According to Hitwise, remax.com is consistently in the top five most visited real estate web portals, and the number one most visited brokerage site.

Think about it, one company provides all the IDX data to Century21.com, ERA.com, ColdwellBanker.com, and remax.com. You could say that eNeighborhoods powers online real estate.

Now don’t get me started on how the Realogy brands actually implemented this IDX solution (I’ll save that for another post!), it’s enough that Realogy took the first step in realizing that consumers want to see ALL THE LISTINGS not just theirs.

eNeighborhoods recently announced that they have hired new key executives, Mark Mathis and David Harris.

Being the former General Manager of eNeighborhoods I’m not sure if I should feel flattered that they still haven’t replaced Dan or I yet or feel something else. A big part of us wanted to stay on and see these things through, but I guess a bigger part of us wanted to start something new.

But what I mostly feel today is proud of the eNeighborhoods team that made it happen.

Beth Murphy update

I had heard at the Council of MLS (CMLS) conference that Beth Murphy of RMLS in Portland was ill and has been in the hospital for quite sometime. They announced that you can get status updates at CarePages. I signed up.

She was recently moved to another hospital. Here’s the last update I received.

“Beth has been doing OK this week. Keeps running a temp., low but it seems like it’s everyday. They think it could be a urinary infection. They started treating it yesterday. We’ll wait and see. Beth’s spirits are still up, and still has that smile. Thanks for you comments Beth will enjoy them. Greg”

Anyone who knows Beth knows she is one tough cookie. She has a great laugh, and is a huge asset to the MLS industry.

I’m looking forward to Beth getting through this tough spell and having a beer with her at one of Portland’s famous breweries. Please send all your good wishes and vibes to Beth and her family.

No timetable set for sale of Dominion Enterprises

Kiss The Rabbit!
Kiss The Rabbit!

Landmark Communications had boldly predicted that they would have all assets, including Dominion Enterprises, sold by the end of 2008. Now they are singing a different tune according to an article put out by the Virginia Pilot. Here’s an excerpt…

“The national credit problems have slowed the sales of all of Landmark’s other properties, including The Virginian-Pilot and Dominion Enterprises, an information and marketing services company based in Norfolk, said Richard F. Barry III, vice chairman of Landmark.

“The sales process has been cramped by the credit crunch,” Barry said. “Buyers are having difficulty obtaining financing everywhere for everything.”

Barry declined to say how close Landmark was to completing the sales of The Pilot and Dominion Enterprises. Landmark, he said, still expects to sell all of its businesses.

Barry said his previous prediction that all of the transactions would be completed by year’s end “is getting to be a little bit of a stretch.” He declined to offer a revised timetable.”

Many of our readers know that Dominion Enterprises’ division, Dominion Homes Media (DHM), owns eNeighborhoods, Advanced Access, Homes.com, Katabat, and Best Image Marketing (Number 1 Expert). Looks like these lads will be in limbo-land for the foreseeable future.

I can tell you from personal experience that working for a company that is trying to sell itself is not much fun. I been through it many times. But I also know a lot of talented people work for DHM so hopefully they can keep everyone focused.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

CMLS 2008 “After Hours” Part II

Let’s continue with CMLS “After Hours” Part II with a stop at one of Minneapolis’ favorite restaurants…

Murray’s steakhouse has been in Minneapolis since 1946. Home of the “Silver Butterknife Steak” the service and food were fantastic. A lot of people headed over to Manny’s but I think we made the right choice at Murray’s (thanks SMH!), which had a great “old school” vibe. I mean the neon sign outside says “COCKTAIL LOUNGE”, you gotta love that . We need more cocktail lounges in this country!

Our apologies to the couple sitting in the booth next to us, I guess they had heard their limit of f-bombs and had to leave.

What happen after Murray’s cannot be shared is such a public forum. I’ll just say this….off the hook!!!

Let’s jump forward to “The Kissing Room”. It seems a bar called “The Local” had a “kissing room” where some of the attendees of the Council of MLS 2008 conference found refuge.

I’m told there was both “Vendor on Client” action and “Vendor on Vendor” action. After I heard a few of these stories I stopped by to take a look. The room was in the back of the bar and properly labeled with a couple red lamps adorning the inside. What stories those lamps could tell!!

And who could forget the lawn bowling at Brit’s Pub! The weather was perfect and I can’t think of a more original place to throw a party. I never made it down to “the pitch”, at that point of the day I wasn’t too confident with my hand motor skills.

Also one of my favorite places was a tequila bar (go figure!) called “Barrio“. There is nothing like having any tequila you want served any way you want by young female college students that must traverse up a long ladder to the top of the bar to fetch it! Ay Caramba!


I’ve got one more story to tell, I’ll leave that till next time and I might even talk about what happen during the conference (oh really?!)

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