Andrea Brambila from Inman News
““Rand will be the key industry liaison for the BPP, meeting with individual MLSs and brokers to encourage them to join the BPP and expand this rapidly-growing industry movement.”
Rand will remain the Chief Creative Officer for New York-based Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHGRE) | Rand Realty, the 103rd largest brokerage in the U.S. by transaction sides last year, according to Real Trends. He will still lead the firm’s career development, educational and training programs for its 1,200 agents, but he will no longer serve as the firm’s general counsel.”
Joe Rand is a great choice. He is a master communicator, and I devoured his book, How To Be a Great Real Estate Agent, in one sitting.
“That will free up some of his time to purse a lofty mission: “My two-year goal working with the BPP with Homesnap is to make it the number one real estate search site in the country. We have an opportunity to take the BPP to the forefront of the conversation about our industry’s future,” Rand said in a statement.
Wait, what? Take over Zillow in 2 years? I have to wonder if he was misquoted.
Asked how he will get consumers to give Homesnap a try, Rand said, “I think a lot of people are confused about the BPP mission of creating a better portal for clients, agents, and brokers. We haven’t always explained it well. But I’ve been around the country talking to brokers and agents, and I know how much they need this. It’s a lot better to have an amazing product that we haven’t messaged or marketed well, than the other way around. When we do that side-by-side ‘taste test,’ agents will realize that they have to get the clients on this platform.”
Here’s the rub. Getting real estate agents to do anything (as most of my readers know) is like herding cats (at best). Add to that, beat Zillow in two years (if the quote is correct), from a position that is essentially part-time?
I’m not exactly sure how the leadership structure at BPP works, but if this is their strategy, someone needs to put down the bong. This can’t be taken seriously.
The quote is correct and the goal is lofty. No one achieved much that was worth pursuing if they hadn’t aimed high.
Take you and your wife for example….
Well done!
The people that need to put the bong down are at Homesnap. A few months ago I noticed that Homesnap had a serious lag in listing data accuracy. I got the company line until I presented the data and started making some noise to CRMLS and the OCR MLS Committee, of which am a member.
I created a motion asking the committee to present to CRMLS. The motion consisted two parts, both of which asked CRMLS to apply pressure on Homesnap to solve.
The first issue was to fix the listing data accuracy across every status. Homesnap claims listing status changes within minutes. That far from true at the time.
The second issue is the lack push notifications to consumers for saved searches – the same as other search portals. What good does it do for a consumer to have a saved search if there no push notifications for new and changed listings.
At the same our MLS committee asked CRMLS for help on these two issues, I was emailing back and forth with some leadership folks at Homesnap. The last email I got from Homesnap on June 30th stated they were continuing to work on listing status accuracy. Fine. In that same email they stated that saved search updates would be out “soon”. What the fuck does soon mean to these people?? At one point before that email I was told saved search alerts would not be out until the end of the year. WTF!!
I don’t know the leadership structure at BPP either. But, being that Joe is on the BPP side of what billed as a 50/50 partnership with Homesnap, I hope he can “snap” Homesnap back to the original BPP mission of a top-flight consumer portal and less of an agent revenue model. I hate being fed company-line bullshit when we as agents and brokers are paying for the privilege.
@john Well, I should have know that Andrea the Great would never misquote! And I’m still perplexed why Jenn chose me. Its been 20 years and I still do everything wrong!
Thanks for the kind words, Greg. I appreciate it very much, and it means a lot coming from you.
I realize the goal is out there, but I really think the app is terrific. Dark horses sometimes come in…
Thanks again. Look forward to another karaoke night when we are all allowed to, you know, leave the house.