Woke up early this morning to “catch” this. SpaceX just launched its biggest rocket, which includes Starship. But the trick was they wanted to catch the booster part of the rocket back on the launch platform with what they call, “chopsticks”. And they did it!! I was watching this live on my phone jumping around in the kitchen like a madman!
Oh, and BTW, Starship made it to orbit with no problems.
Some Friday fun. If you want to get a peek in to what I find inspiring here you go.
Rayse Launches to 200 Brokerages, Transforming Transparency and Value in Real Estate Transactions
“Developed in collaboration with leading brokerages, franchisors, and multiple listing service (MLS) providers, Rayse has garnered significant industry support. “We believe in shared ownership of technology solutions to benefit both real estate professionals and their clients,” said Howard W. “Hoby” Hanna IV, CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, an early investor in Rayse. Founding investors in Rayse completed over 1.1 million transactions in 2023, and the combined agent count among brokers and MLSs is over 470,000, according to data provided by T3 Sixty.”
What I appreciate about what James Dwiggins has so far done with Rayse is the shear number of industry participants who have invested real money to launch this new venture. The count of industry investors he has put together is amazing. It lessens the burden of having to rely on one or two big checks and also has the advantage of smart money. If you take a look at the list of people/companies that have invested they are the same people that can actively participate in helping the company succeed. And when Rayse does succeed they all can participate in its success. Love, love love.
My wife and I were in New York recently to help my son settle in for college. His dorm is walkable to the World Trade Center. We took the 9/11 Memorial Museum Tour, which was sad but also inspiring. If you haven’t done it, I would highly recommend it. #neverforget
Clearing the air on Clear Cooperation
“this is about what kind of industry we want to be, and what kind of housing market we want to create: open or closed.
It is that simple. It is that important.“
Brian Boero, 1000watt
Brian writes so well it almost makes me want to give up writing myself. In his “Friday Flash” he breaks down the posturing and rhetoric surrounding CCP and gets down to the real issues. It’s about whether we as an industry want an open or closed market.
I’m with Brian. “I want open.”
This a must read. Especially if you are at the Department of Justice.
Realtracs Expands Access to 1.9 Million+ Listings Through Southeast MLS Alliance
“Realtracs, the technology company providing the largest multiple listing service (MLS) in Tennessee, announced today the data from a recent MLS alliance is available for subscribers. The Southeast MLS Alliance was created in 2023 to allow cross-regional data sharing among agents and brokers in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina. “
Realtracs
I’ve been on the road awhile so I’m catching up on some the recent news and his caught my eye. Users of Realtracs, Canopy MLS, Georgia MLS and Charleston Regional MLS now have a full feed of more than 1.9 million additional listings across the southeast. Boom!
Just love the smile of Eric Stegemann’s face after his company, Tribus, winning the Inman Innovator Award for “Most Innovative Client Experience Solution“. Well done!
While not the biggest news this past week the passing of Richard Simmons got me a bit nostalgic. I hired Richard Simmons to do a meet and greet at our booth at the 2004 NAR Annual Convention. This was on the heels of the NAR Annual Conference in 2003 where we had hired Fabio. But that’s another story. Fabio was a huge success and drew a huge crowd at the eNeighborhoods booth. So naturally we thought, let’s get another celebrity! After some brain-storming we settled on Richard Simmons. You can see page one of the agreement we did with the company repping him below and an ad we ran in REALTOR Magazine:
He was a lot of fun. I remember him calling our wives for a prank, “Hi Honey, guess who’s with your husband right now?!” He would also record voice mail greetings for our cell phones. “Hi this is Richard Simmons and you’ve reached Shane’s voice mail!”
Another thing I remember was how a lot of conference attendees came up and told stories about how he had motivated them to live a more healthy life. When I saw him having these conversations (sometimes he would pull them aside) you could see something in his eyes…he truly cared. Such a great legacy.
My son got accepted to NYU Film School. Jenn and I are extremely proud of him.
The above photo is a picture from a trip he took with his senior class in high school. He came back from that trip buzzing. He had many schools to choose from but in the end I wasn’t surprised when he chose New York City.
This week he started his adventure.
How will my heart work, when part of it is so far away?
Japanese addresses: No street names. Block numbers.
“Mailing addresses in Japan, after naming the province and city, are a series of three numbers: district number, block number, building number. That’s how the building is found. No street names.”
Derek Sivers
I thought the nerdy readers of Vendor Alley would love this.
