Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

The Avatar vs. The Mustache

From Marian McPherson at Inman News….

Former Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis poised to jump to eXp Realty amid legal dispute

Former Keller Williams CEO Mark Willis is poised to join eXp Realty in an undisclosed executive role, a major revelation from an 11-page bombshell countermotion eXp World Holdings filed on Monday to dissolve Keller Williams’ temporary restraining order against Willis. Willis helped grow the Texas-based behemoth from a regional firm in 1991 to a worldwide force with more than 112,000 at the time of his departure in 2014.

I tweeted about this being a possibility but to be honest the “Mark” I thought was jumping name ended with a “c”, not a “k”.

But the story is still crazy good and has everything. It’s almost like a Greek drama. Student outshining the master. Jealousy. Payback. Grudges. Betrayal. And lots, and lots of money.

Love this tidbit…

“Sanford and Keller’s relationship allegedly turned sour in the early 2000s when Keller reportedly snubbed Sanford, then a top-producing team leader, by not including him in an elite company group. The tension between the two remained in the background until 2018, when Keller dismissed Sanford’s earlier praise of his leadership.

“Love it, great. Good for him,” Keller told Inman Founder Brad Inman onstage. “I don’t care.”

“I’ll show them” has gotta be the single best motivator in anyone’s life.

And this…

“A source familiar with the matter backed up eXp’s claims and told Inman kwx Founder Gary Keller “went ballistic” when Willis, who’d spent 25 years helping KW rise to the top of the industry, said he wanted to sell his interests and join eXp.

Despite Keller’s personal feelings, eXp said Keller Williams’ interference in its recruitment of Willis is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, as Keller Williams hired former eXp President of Operations Stacey Onnen on Feb. 4.

Et tu, Willis?

This is going to be fun to watch.

Craig Rowe of Inman News says MLS providers should stay in their lane

The 6 tech trends that defined real estate in 2021

“Many of the nation’s multiple listing services are now rebounding with attempts to develop and deliver technology for their members instead of seeking the best possible options in the open market.

Beyond it not being their core competency, building software isn’t easy, cheap or a one-time thing.

There’s simply no way for MLSs to create a system, continually support it and offer training and help to thousands of members (in some cases, tens of thousands) without significantly raising fees, which it will need to do in order to hire more experienced technology professionals, including expensive engineers and developers.”

Inman News

This matches what I hear from a lot of vendors: Remember when all the big franchisors and real estate brokers announced they were “technology companies”, not real estate companies. How’s that working out?

He goes on to cite the vetting process most MLS providers follow.

“How can this not further complicate how due diligence on other products is handled, especially when they provide comparable services? Thus, does it best serve members, or the politics and public image of their organization?

It’s also hypocritical, specifically in any case where an MLS has refused to partner with a vendor for fear of that vendor being acquired.”

Inman

He said it, not me. 😇

W+R Studios debuts 2 new Cloud CMA Live promo videos at Inman Connect Now

W+R Studios ran 2 new promo videos at the recent Inman Connect Now online conference. I think they came out great!

If you are a site license customer and want to add your branding to any of these to share with your membership. Let Katie or I know.

Daily Dispatch with Brad Inman

Daily Dispatch: What might the MLS of tomorrow look like?

“In this Daily Dispatch, Brad is joined by Lacey Conway, Principal Broker and President at Latter & Blum Companies, David Charron, real estate industry advisor, and Greg Robertson, co-founder of W+R Studios. When these four brilliant real estate minds come together, there’s bound to be some controversy: What is the value of the MLS today, and what can MLSs do to define their value proposition?”

Honored to be asked to join Brad Inman on his show. I had a great conversation with Lacey and David while poking fun at Brad and Inman News’ obsession with the “death of MLS”.

Inman Connect – Las Vegas. Are you ready?

I gotta be honest. I’m a little nervous. A full week in Vegas? Yikes. At the same time I’m super pumped. Brad has put together a jammed pack agenda (the best ever?) As a real estate geek I’m going to be in heaven.

You got Mike DelPrete talking about iBuying. Mike is an expert on iBuying and his presentations always give me great insight. Also, Molly Bloom, the women who ran the most exclusive poker parties in Hollywood (great movie Molly’s Game, if you haven’t already seen it), I’m in! Plus Brad is going to interview Zillow CEO Rich Barton, Eric Wu, CEO of Opendoor and my personal favorite GFK (Glenn Fucking Kelman), CEO of Redfin. And that’s just a taste, there’s tons more great content.

Dan and I arrive Monday. And we are bringing a lot of the W+R team with us, so we will be rolling deep!

W+R Studios’ very own Katie Smithson will be on a Data Track panel Thursday at 3:45 PM, discussing with RESO CEO, Sam DeBord, “The Technology Driving Data Policies”.

If you are looking for a bit of an Inman Connect warm up, please check out the latest Industry Relations episode with Rob Hahn (recent Vegas transplant) and I. Which reminds me that on Thursday at 11:45 they will be announcing the Inman Innovator award winners. Two podcasts I produce, Listing Bits and the previously mentioned, Industry Relations are both nominated. ????

And of course I really looking forward to the great conversations I know I will be having with all of you.

But, I feel that I must leave you with this important Public Service Announcement (PSA). I feel that now more than ever, you need to really embrace it…

Industry Relations Episode 37: Inman Connect Las Vegas Pre-Show – RealScout, Opendoor, Redfin and Coming Soon Listings

Fight! Fight! Fight!

We’ve always been told that people love it when Rob and Greg argue.  If that true, then we have one of the best Industry Relations Show ever!

With Inman Connect Las Vegas on the horizon, Rob and Greg are facing off over the trend toward exclusive listings and the new Redfin-Opendoor partnership. What does the development of in-house listing programs mean for the industry? And how will the joint venture with Opendoor impact RedfinNow? Our intrepid hosts have very different answers to these questions.

On this episode of Industry Relations, Rob and Greg are discussing the impact of systematic coming soon listings. Rob makes the argument that widespread adoption will take down the MLS, moving residential real estate to the commercial model. Greg makes the case that pocket listings are nothing new and challenges the idea that the MLS will become a ‘dumping ground’ for properties that haven’t sold privately.

Rob and Greg also weigh in on the new partnership between Redfin and Opendoor. Listen in for Greg’s insight around why the collaboration is a genius move that benefits both parties and learn why Rob sees it as a huge concession on Redfin’s part—a concession that will eliminate their own iBuyer operations in each and every Opendoor market.

What’s Discussed: 

What Rob & Greg are looking forward to most at Inman Connect

Greg’s criticism of Rob’s recent posts on RealScout’s Buyer Graph

Rob’s argument that coming soon programs will take down the MLS

Greg’s counter that exclusive listings are not a new phenomenon

How residential real estate may be moving to a commercial model

Greg’s take on the brilliance of the Redfin & Opendoor partnership

How the new partnership with Opendoor will impact RedfinNow

Rob’s view of the partnership as a concession on the part of Redfin

Connect with Rob and Greg:

Rob’s Website

Greg’s Website

Resources:

Inman Connect

Notorious R.O.B. Blog

RealScout Buyer Graph

HAR YPN

Howard Hanna Find It First

Top Agent Network

Redfin & Opendoor Partnership

RedfinNow

Offerpad

Our Sponsors:

Boost Summit

Notorious V.I.P.

Florida MLS provider kicks Homesnap to the curb

Florida’s Space Coast listing service ditches its Homesnap site

“In an Oct. 2 announcement and email to members, Space Coast MLS said the Homesnap-powered public search on its new association website “wasn’t the right fit for our needs” and had been replaced by a search tool from Financial Business Systems’ (FBS) Flexmls, a previous vendor, while Space Coast MLS works on a permanent solution.”

Looks like Space Coast was iframing Homesnap as their public facing site, which according to Steve Barnes..

““This is really kind of a fringe case related to Homesnap,” Barnes said in a phone interview, adding that none of the other MLSs that iframe Homesnap’s site have chosen to turn it off.

“What it might say is a very local MLS needs unique flavor and a more seamless [tool]. Iframe might not be the best solution for them, but it’s not something that’s actually core to the Homesnap brand,” he added.”

But here’s the rub. According to the article whether you iframe or not you still can’t filter on pools? WTF?

Also, something else. Did you know that you can’t get listing alerts via Homesnap? That’s right you have to login on to the site run a saved search manually (like a caveman) and then find out if properties match your criteria. Unless of course if you just wanted a home with a pool because there is no way to do that currently.

Think about it, it’s 2018 and Homesnap can’t

1. Search for homes with pools
2. Create and send listing alerts (which is ironic because this.)

2 things, I’m sure 99% of IDX vendors have been able to do, for the last 19 years.

Who the fuck cares about “fair display guidelines” if you can’t search for homes with a pool or get listing alerts?

And this is supposed to be “the real estate’s industry answer to third party sites like Zillow and realtor.com”.

I bet they are laughing their asses off in Seattle and Silicon Valley.

But hey, “downloads”, right?

See you tomorrow at Inman Connect SF


Dan and I will be attending Inman Connect SF starting tomorrow, until Friday. I will be on stage at 4:40PM Tuesday on the “New Kids On The Block” panel (don’t ask) making a special announcement about Cloud CMA. We are super pumped about this announcement and think its one of the most innovative things we’ve done….ever. So stay tuned, and see you is SF!

Point Counterpoint on “MLS of Choice”

“MLS of Choice” is really a poor choice of wording. I think someone at Inman News coined the phrase. It gives the wrong impression of what 7.42 and 7.43 are really all about. But lucky for us we have Tom and Stan! Tom Berge Jr., NAR’s current chairman of the Multiple Listing Issues and Polices Committee, did a great job outlining their recommendations in a video which served as a supplement to an F.A.Q. page.

As a counterpoint Stan Harke, CEO of Western Regional Information Systems & Technology, Inc., also created a video outlining their concerns over “unintended consequences” of the policy change. He makes a few good points (His “pocket listing” scenario is quite clever) if you can make it through the cheesy music.

Then there are some who believe this might be a giant conspiracy! Just don’t shoot the messenger.

Inman says “Blow Up Upstream”

The Inman Files: Blow up Upstream – Why we should pull the plug on this expensive and risky effort

“But I still think it’s time to pull the plug on this project. I do not want to trivialize the well-intended efforts and opinions of so many hard-working people, but it reminds me of Trump’s Wall — grandiose, impractical and inspired by fear. Yes, there is a problem, but Upstream is a wrong-headed solution and a political hairball to build and gain adoption.”

Tell us what you really think Brad!

Plus some advice for new NAR CEO Bob Goldberg…

“This is new NAR CEO Bob Goldberg’s opportunity to walk the talk and end a glaring example of old top-down pyramid thinking. Upstream is a classic NAR inside job, intended to benefit a small group of its overall membership.

As in most succession plans, Goldberg has about six months to blame it on the “dead pilot” (former NAR CEO Dale Stinton). Then he must “OWN IT” — good or bad. RPR is Stinton’s love child, not yours, Bob.”

In my interview with Bob Goldberg he told me that all of NAR programs were on the table for review.

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