Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Vendor to Vendor: What I learned

The post I wrote called Vendor to Vendor was inspired by an email sent out by 1000watt, called “A little help”. The team at 1000watt offered to do a one-hour video conference, with one company, each day for two weeks. Brilliant, I thought, maybe I could do something similar. I already speak to a lot of other vendors about the particulars and my experience of running a real estate software company. My company, W+R Studios, had done some planning due to the coronavirus crisis, so I had something to share and possibly learn from talking to them. I spoke to 11 different companies. Most smaller, but also larger ones as well. Here are the top 5 takeaways from those conversations.

  1. The biggest worry is the unknown. The unknowns being, how long will this crisis last, and will my customers pay. Both things I’m afraid to say, nobody has any control over.
  2. Cutting “expenses” only goes so far. Being a technology company means that your biggest expenses are people. This weighs very heavy on founders.
  3. Many brought up the CARES act, and how this might help as a “payroll protection” plan for them. If you own a business and don’t know what this is, look it up NOW.
  4. Most companies were adjusting well to work from home. A lot of these companies already had a significant amount of their workforce working from home, so the transition was relatively easy.
  5. Everyone is optimistic. This isn’t surprising. Entrepreneurs by nature have to be optimists in order to build their companies.

Overall the biggest takeaway for me was how many incredibly smart and passionate people we have in our industry.

In the end what our conversations ended up with is something that Mike DelPrete wrote about in this post called “The Real Estate Pandemic Survival Guide”, which can be summarized in two steps:

  1. You must survive
  2. There is no step 2. Survival is everything.

I have confidence that most if not all these companies will survive. I am equally sure that new innovations will arise from this crisis.

But then again, I’m an optimist.

P.S. Mike DePrete is doing a free webinar this Friday, April 3rd, 8 AM PT based on his Pandemic post, you can register by clicking on this link => Survival of the Fittest: The Real Estate Pandemic Survival Guide

Merch Alert: Stickers!

I designed a sticker! Based on the “Be Calm Carry On” poster, they feature a martini glass, a short cocktail tumbler, and wine glass, the stickers are in caution yellow, using a black “Caslon’s Egyptian” typeface.

They are the perfect way to show everyone you are a responsible adult and look great on all your favorite items…

A water bottle
Your laptop
Your cooler
Your Tool Chest
A road case

These are high-quality stickers from Sticker Mule, 2 inches wide by 3 inches tall. I’m giving them away free. Two per person. Supplies are limited.

Just fill out this form and you’ll have something to look forward to in the mail!

Send me my stickers! => Click Here

Little DOM

T3 Sixty releases the “Tech 500”, a list of top real estate tech companies

T3 Sixty – Technology Providers

We see a lot of “all-in-one” promises and many claims of “first,” “only” and “best” and the prevalent real estate tech buzzwords of AI, machine learning, predictive analytics and blockchain. But how do we know what is real versus what is marketing and hype and what will provide real value and the results brokers and agents need?

T3 Sixty, the residential real estate brokerage industry’s leading research and management consultancy, has decided to bring clarity to the real estate tech space with the Tech 500 — a systematic, comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the quality technology providers in the industry. We evaluated approximately 2,000 industry technology providers, selected the quality providers and organized them into 63 categories based on their utility.

T3 Sixty

This thing is insane! It’s the most comprehensive list I’ve seen. The list is organized into 7 sections and 62 categories. Just, wow.

Also, this is a free resource and in a time like this, it will be a great way for brokers and agents to get a feel of the solutions available to them.

I gotta say, I feel T3 Sixty has a hit with its Real Estate Almanac concept. Their list of Associations/MLS and Industry Leaders/Executives are my go-to when doing research and have saved me and plenty of others a lot of time. Next up with will be Holding Co./Franchisors and then Brokerage. A huge asset to the industry.

Hats off to Stefan and crew for putting all of this together.

Vendor to Vendor

I don’t pretend to know everything. But, I started my first real estate software company back in 1992, so I’ve seen a few things. That being said what is going on is unprecedented.

I know a lot of other vendors are feeling uncertain at this time. After speaking to some of you I wanted to reach out with this offer.

My team at W+R put together a game plan(s). If you want to have a one on one conversation with me I would be glad to share our thoughts.

My only ask is to speak to owners, CEOs, or co-founders. Hit me up at greg [at] wr-studios [dot] com and I’ll make some time. I will be as honest and open as I can. And selfishly I’m looking for any good ideas as well.

We are all in this together.

DOM during a Pandemic

MLSs Dealing With The Pandemic: Virtual Open Houses and DOM

“The problem, however, is that pausing DOM distorts the accuracy of the data in the system. Years from now when the pandemic is hopefully a distant memory, we should be able to look back at the data and see the effect the pandemic had on days on market. If we see some markets where there’s no effect (because DOM was paused) and other markets where it wasn’t, that’s going to create a misleading picture. Another reason not to pause DOM is that no competitive advantage or disadvantage is created for any agent, the pandemic is impacting everyone the same. Lastly, the way DOM works in Flexmls, pausing DOM is way more complicated than one might think, so not messing with it really helps us out, too, and creates less of a chance for problems.”

The drama around “Days On Market” never ends. I think this post from FBS makes a good point of why DOM should not be ‘paused”. Good to hear CRMLS decided not to pause DOM.

The sky is not falling on iBuyers

Zillow suspends home buying due to COVID-19

“Zillow said Monday it will temporarily stop buying homes in all 24 markets where it operates in response to public health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest real estate startup to shift how it operates as the disease caused by coronavirus continues to spread.”

TechCrunch

Zillow is the latest iBuyer to suspend buying homes. Redfin was the first to announce and Opendoor after. I believe Offerpad just announced something similar yesterday.

Here’s the thing, I’m hearing a lot of people say that this coronavirus could be the end of iBuying. But its important to remember right now nobody is buying. With “stay at home” and “shelter in place” orders being given it’s pretty hard for any broker, agent, appraiser, county recorder clerk to do any business.

I think there are several factors that will actually help iBuyers once we are out of this crisis. People will want more certainty in the transaction, and less human contact showing homes.

The important thing to remember is that we are all connected, and we are all in this together.

Some People

I’ve seen this post written by Jason Kottke (one of my favorite bloggers) being passed around and I thought it would be good to share it here too.

It’s called, “Some People” and you can go read it here.

Looking for a new gig?

Sales Development Director – Relitix

“Founded in 2017, Relitix uses advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence tools and techniques to analyze real estate listing and transaction data. We use powerful software to allow our clients to visualize data in ways unthinkable just a few years ago. Our analytical products provide insight and decision support to the managers of over a dozen of the nation’s largest and most prominent real estate brokerages from coast to coast.”

To find out about this job and more please visit the Vendor Alley Job Board.

Impact of COVID-19 on Real Estate Showings

Impact of COVID-19 on Real Estate Showings in North America

“Through mid-March, year-over-year showing activity was higher nationwide compared to 2019. The current downturn is indicative of the industry’s response to COVID-19, which is changing daily.
We’ll be updating this chart daily to reflect the most recent data on showings.”

ShowingTime

I continued to be inspired by the ways the vendor community is stepping up. I’ve always been a fan of ShowingTime’s Showing Index, and seeing it used this way gives you an incredible insight into how the COVID-19 is affecting real estate.

Sponsored By Paragon Connect