Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Rapattoni starts NAR Mid-year booth "schwag war"!

Just in case you didn’t get the email (yeah right!) Rapattoni is having a contest where the lucky winner could win a stuffed “Rapattoni lion”.

stuffed_lion

This has certainly raised the bar for booth give away items. Leaves me to wonder what will the competition do? Here’s my suggestions….

FNRES/Cyberhomes, LLC/LPS
Long known as the king of catchy booth-ware (who can forget the “I like BIG BUTTons” t-shirts?) might I suggest a giganto stuffed chameleon to match your ever changing persona?

FBS
The young upstarts from Fargo have been working all Winter filling sandbags to hold back the waters of the Red River. So how about replica sandbags? But instead of being stuffed with sand they will be stuffed with reprints from Mike Wurzer’s FlexMLS Blog! This would be great for the office. Every now and then you could reach in the bag and find a great article about “MLS standards” to read.

MarketLinx
I think you take advantage of having the cool letter “X” in your name and go for the co-marketing opportunity with the release of new “X-Man Origins” movie. You could hand out Wolverine back scratchers!

MetroList adds Dwellicious integration to it's public portal MetroListMLS.com

We are very excited to announce that MetroList Services has included full Dwellicious integration with their popular public portal MetrolistMLS.com!

MetroList(r) is one of California’s largest MLS providers, in terms of membership, and THE LARGEST in terms of geographical coverage of the Golden State. Every listing on MetroListMLS.com includes the Dwellicious “chiclet”, plus a full splash page when consumers visit the site.

Inman just posted about it here.

metrolistmls-home-page

metrolistmls-detail-page

The Dwellicious integration was launched this past weekend and consumer sign ups for Dwellicious have been through the roof!

Read the full Press Release below.

MetroList Services adds Dwellicious to its popular MetroListMLS.com listings site.
New functionality allows site visitors to easily share properties with others.

Marc, of 1000Watt Consulting, has some advice for all of us…

Guilty as charged! Oh wait, is that another cliche??

The top ten things that kill real estate vendor website copy

The funniest and the scariest thing said at Connection 2009

Can you tell the difference?

“Art, you ignorant slut”
Russ Bergeron, CEO SoCalMLS

–>In response to a presentation from Art Carter, CEO of MRMLS, on VOWs.

“I would recommend that all MLS Providers negotiate a 30 day out clause with their tax data providers”
Dale Ross, Broker and 18 years member of the National Association of REALTORS Board of Directors.

–>In response to a question from Bob Bemis, CEO of ARMLS, about the launch of RPR. After Dale Ross gave an update on NAR’s RPR project.

Connection 2009 in Portland… LIVE Coverage

Follow me on Twitter to follow the live action at the Connection 2009 conference at @gregrobertson. We are using the hashtag #cxn and #rmls

Connection 2009 is next week! -Vendors are STILL welcome!

Looking forward to attending Connection 2009 next week in one of my favorite cities, Portland, OR.

As you may have heard or read, Connection is allowing Vendors this year. RMLS decided to allow Vendors because, that’s how they roll!

The agenda has been posted. They will not have an exhibit area for Vendors. Which I don’t think is such a bad thing. We can all hang out in the bar, or maybe even sit in on a few sessions. : )

Attendance is looking good, but I’m sure they are always looking for more. Here’s the details:

When:
April 15-17

Where:
Hilton Portland
921 SW Sixth Avenue
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 226-1611

Cost:
Conference Registration: $325
Attorneys Only Day Registration: $125
Attorneys Only Day and Conference: $400

For full details visit Connection 2009

See you there!

Check out the big brain on Brad!

Our very own Bradley Inman was featured in the New York Times this weekend. In an article talking about the future of digital publishing.

Brad Inman, entrepreneur
Brad Inman, entrepreneur

Brad’s new venture is called, Vook. The site promises to “Experience books in a whole new way. Vook tells stories better.” It is currently in beta, I just requested an invite.

Sounds like stories are told using a variety of different ways (platforms) including words, video and social media (e.g. Twitter). This is interesting to me in the context of the movie industry and how people are wondering if this latest 3D wave is just a fad or with the help of new technology it will stick.

I believe it all comes down to the strength of the story, but Brad’s convergence of words, images and social media seems like a logical next step. Imagine if the digital/virtual book (Vook) knew at what point you stopped reading, and then starting sending you Tweets from characters in the story up until that point, or giving you a tease of what’s coming up next. I can riff a bunch of ideas off this but my head is going to explode!

Good luck Brad! Hook me up with a beta invite!

Looking for a new gig? (VP Sales, Instanet)

Marilyn, from our friends at the WAV Group, asked me to post this job listing. (Looks like Instanet is adding new staff. Good for them! I like writing about companies adding people instead of laying them off!)

POSITION TITLE: VP Sales

REPORTS TO: Chief Executive Officer CLASSIFICATION: Exempt

Opportunity

Instanet Solutions, Inc, a leading provider of transaction management technologies provider is seekng to hire a senior sales executive for the position of VP Sales. The position will be responsible for building revenues by securing new MLS, Association and broker customers to participate in the company’s suite of automated forms, document management and transaction management products. The position reports directly to the CEO.

In today’s challenging economy MLSs, boards and associations are looking for opportunities to increase their value to their members while lowering member costs for technology services. The company delivers a program that helps REALTORS® save time and money while increasing their level of perceived professionalism with their clients.

ORGANIZATIONAL DESCRIPTION:

Instanet is a leader in automated forms, document management and management serving over 300,000 customers annually. In just the past 12 months, the company has facilitated the processing of nearly 3 million faxes.
The company is very entrepreneurial demonstrating flexibility and leadership in the forms and document management area. This new position has been created to continue to increase the company’s growth and success.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Responsible for expanding the MLS, Association and Broker Sales Channels

Responsible for all facets of sales including:

v Lead development
v Presentation of products and business opportunities
v Proposal development
v Interfacing with fellow sales executives as needed
v Product promotion in new accounts
v Account maintenance activities

Position requires travel to trade shows, conferences and account sales presentations.

REQUIREMENTS/JOB SKILLS:

College degree as well as proven senior sales experience. The successful candidate has proven skills in selling technology products and services in the real estate sector. He/she will have multiple years of sales experience and will be adept at presenting and securing business deals working with senior management.

The ideal candidate will have a strong network of relationships with MLS/Association executives and large brokers. He/She will possess superior business and presentation skills this individual has a clear knowledge of the decision making process in MLSs and associations. Ideally he/she will have the reputation and knowledge needed to contact and secure appointments, present technology products, close deals and provide excellent on-going support throughout the implementation and adoption cycle.

The successful candidate will also be a strong “large audience” presenter to promote product adoption after signing when needed. They will also be able to work with individual agents as part of a broker rollout program.

In addition the ideal candidate will be able to negotiate profitable deals and will be able to recommend new business models and approaches to meet the individual needs of each account.

The position requires extensive travel throughout the United States.

COMPENSATON:

Instanet Solutions, Inc. offers a very competitive compensation plan commensurate with experience with a base salary, commissions and full benefits.

For more information or to express interest, please contact:
WAV Group Inc.

Marilyn Wilson
Office: 805 473-9119
Mobile: 805 748-9118
Email: marilyn at wavgroup dot com

Vendor Alley breaks traffic record yesterday!

chart

Many thanks to all of you who came by the site yesterday. Vendor Alley had its highest recorded traffic day on record!!! Wooohoooo!

Vendor Alley also made WordPress’s “Growing Blogs” list.

Lots of fun and great comments. I’ll be publishing a recap later today.

California Association of REALTORS (C.A.R.) announces name change to K.A.R.

In what Joel Singer described as a “necessary move” toward their statewide MLS initiative calREDD. The California Association of REALTORS announced they were formally changing their name to the Krafchow Association of REALTORS or K.A.R for short.

Ed Krafchow
Ed Krafchow

Mr. Singer continued, “Ed was tired of paying all those dues to multiple MLS providers so we had to come up with a way to repay him.”

UPDATE:

In other news, K.A.R also asserted itself beyond the geographic boundaries of California. “Our calREDD project has generated so much interest from outside of California that we are now offering the first 6 months free for all MLS participants 200 miles into the Pacific Ocean as well as 200 miles straight up in the sky.,” offered Singer.

“While we know this is really going to tick off the Chinese and Russians, it simply doesn’t make sense to limit ourselves to just land only. I mean, people do live on boats after all and now we have ex-Microsoft dudes flying into space. It was logical and , believe it or not, our new cool technology is even faster in space. Way, way faster! Like lightspeed faster” stated Joel Singer.

Ed Krafchow had no comment on his new namesake.

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