Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Is Listingbook running out of cash?

LB

The WAV Group’s recent post on their blog is titled, “Investor needed for growth company

The post describes, “WAV Group was recently contacted by a 5 year old company that sells technology products to MLSs. ….They are looking for $500k to $2M in the form of a convertible bridge loan or equity. The company’s product has been “site licensed” by more than 35 MLSs in the past 12 months and has a full pipeline of installations pending. ”

This has to be Listingbook. I could be wrong, but I can’t think of anyone else. I’ve been hearing rumors about them scheduling conference calls with other real estate technology companies about “joint ventures or partnerships”, then, in a few minutes in to the call, it’s pretty clear they are looking for cash.

The weird thing that struck me was the amount of cash they are looking for, “$500K to $2M”. First off, 500K hardly seems worth the effort and doesn’t look like it would last with a crew like this around (and that doesn’t even include Todd!).

Even $2M, which is nothing to sneeze at, seems low. I have no idea what their burn rate is but with 35 MLS’ up and running and “full pipeline of installations pending”, it’s gotta be pretty high and getting higher.

In my opinion these guys should start thinking bigger. I’ve written about them recently, I really think they got a hit on their hands with Listingbook. I’m not sure anyone in this space is in the position to pony up for them right now, but someone in the Valley might.

It’s a good story. I’m still hearing agents singing their praises, they get mentioned in the New York Times, and it seems like they are the front runner in this whole VOW race, even Brian Larson thinks so!

I’ve got a few ideas, some of them good, on how I would approach their current dilemma, but I’ll save those for a future post.

In the meantime let’s all hope Listingbook…

live long and prosper

That's how my blog, rolls…

Not that it’s any big deal but I’ve added the WAV Group and Matt Cohen’s blog to our Blogroll.

I’m positive they both get read more than the swill I put out!!

Which reminds me, I’ll be posting something shortly about the WAV Group’s recent post.

Real estate data standards…

Interesting perspective on web standards via Bruce Lawson’s interview with Ian Hickson, Editor of the HTML 5 Specification.

————

Bruce

Do the browser makers have too much influence on the spec?

Hixie

The reality is that the browser vendors have the ultimate veto on everything in the spec, since if they don’t implement it, the spec is nothing but a work of fiction. So they have a lot of influence—I don’t want to be writing fiction, I want to be writing a spec that documents the actual behaviour of browsers.

Whether that’s too much, I don’t know. Does gravity have too much influence on objects on earth? It’s just the way it is.

————

This made me think of the current state of RETS.

via Daring Fireball

unsubscribe@rapattoni.com….click.

Really Rapattoni? Really??

LionDrawing

MLS vendors take note

You gotta think that instead of trying to come up with the next big feature to add, MLS vendor’s should really focus on making what they have more compelling.

Jason Steele over at Better Homes & Gardens Blog, Clean Slate, narrows in on a good example.

Top 5 Pet Peeves on MLS Listing Alert Emails

These guys are on fire….

While I think their UI is horrible, as I’ve stated previously I believe these guys have a hit on their hands. It will be interesting to see how they start turning these free/semi-free site licenses in to a sustainable revenue stream. Congrats to Todd and Ira and the rest of the gang.

lb_logo_120x100

Listingbook and Arizona Regional MLS Agree to Implement System in Arizona

By Kat Kestler on May 18th, 2009

Greensboro, N.C., May 14, 2009 – Continuing its progress in bringing Client-Servicing to the Western U.S. real estate marketplace, Listingbook™, a leading online service that connects real estate agents and their clients, announced today it has agreed to a partnership with the Arizona Regional MLS (ARMLS). This partnership will revolutionize how Arizona homebuyers and sellers receive real estate listings and communication from their real estate agents.

By utilizing Listingbook’s proprietary agent-managed system, the nearly 33,000 ARMLS real estate agents will be able to empower their buyers and sellers to retrieve key information regarding instant market data through a collaborative relationship. Listingbook automates, tracks and analyzes client activities in an agent-managed, real-time environment that encourages collaboration and communication.

You can read the rest here.

Dan Woolley to lead new "ConnectTech" Workshop at Inman Connect in San Francisco!

This is very cool, and I’m sure he is going to hate me for posting this, but my partner in crime, Dan Woolley, will be moderating a special workshop for all the real estate geeks out there.

Dan Woolley, W&R Studios Co-Founder
Dan Woolley, W&R Studios Co-Founder

We were very flattered when the folks at Inman called us about the idea. And (I might be a bit biased) but think Dan is the perfect choice to moderate this event.

The special workshop, at Inman Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco, is called “ConnectTech”.

“ConnectTech will give CTO’s, developers, entrepreneurs and product managers an opportunity to explore innovation in a program tailored to geeks, not marketers”

Inman News also profiled Dan, where he was asked several questions about his company and new product Dwellicious. You can read the article here.

The agenda has been posted.

The workshop will be held on Wednesday, August 5, 2009, from 8AM to 3PM.

So get your geek on and join Dan for what I’m sure will be a great day!!

NAR Midyear – Don't have too much fun without me!

My wife and I are expecting our third child in a couple of weeks. So needless to say I’m not going to to make NAR Midyear this year.

We have two boys, Cole and Toby, and this will be our first baby girl : )

So don’t have too much fun without me…

gin&tonic-1

But I do have some predictions:

Realtor.com/Move.com
With a new CEO, Steve Berkowitz, and the departure of Lorna “MSDS” Borenstein look for these guys to have a brand new vibe.

ListingBook
When I first heard about this a few years back I was a bit skeptical. But these guys are for real and it seems agents and consumers really love this service. Todd “Obi Wan Kenobi” Colthorp has secured most of the largest MLS providers in the country. I’m still not sure about their business model, but it looks like they have a hit on their hands.

FBS/FLEXMLS
Q. What do you get when you mix a successful MLS conversion (ARMLS), new sales leadership Dave Rifkin, a team of employee owners, and one of the most well respected voices, Mike Wurzer, in the MLS industry leading the charge?

A. A company that is on a lot of MLS Providers’ short list and poised for some big moves.

Midyear MLS meetings
If you want to see a shit storm then don’t miss this year’s MLS meetings. With short sale issues burning and some MLS providers wanting to classify Google as a “scraper” this all adds up to nothing but fun!

That’s all for now….

And please remember, never and I mean NEVER, go big on the first night!!!

gr

Rob Hahn leaves OnBoard Informatics

rsh

This is interesting on a lot of levels. For those of you who don’t know OnBoard Informatics (which changed it’s name from, oddly enough, just plain ole’ “OnBoard”) is a data provider which boasts such clients as Realogy, bigger name brokers and news sites.

A couple of weeks ago Rob had posted this Tweet

rsh-tweet2

Then recently Rob has spent a lot of time upgrading his blog (His great writing makes this a must read BTW -no matter what the layout)

Now this announcement.

“As of Tuesday, Onboard Informatics and I have parted ways, and I am no longer with them.”

Something tells me there is a lot more to this story…..

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