Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Sarah Trent Miranda to head business development at newly formed VC firm, Venture MLS

Sarah Trent Miranda

A few things to unpack on this announcement. Here’s a description of Venture MLS from its website…

“Venture MLS has launched a $10MM fund built to back seed and early-stage companies within the property technology space. Founded in 2021 by prominent veterans of organized real estate, Venture MLS seeks companies that can leverage the unmatched experience, expertise, and connections it holds in this well-defined, underserved industry.”

$10MM dollars isn’t chump change, but smaller in regard to many other funds. Not sure, for comparison, the size of NAR’s Second Century Ventures. But I have to say I love everything about the messaging. Again from their website.

“Venture MLS will invest in a portfolio of innovative property technology companies working to deliver high-quality software systems for real estate professionals. The majority of investments in this space so far have targeted vertical integration under a single brand, including brokerages, media advertising, and resellers. Venture MLS focuses instead on brand-agnostic products for all U.S. real estate professionals.”

The story to me here is that MLS organizations are basically saying, well we can’t stop companies from being acquired, so we might as well get paid. Pretty pragmatic, but there are some nuances.

I do think Sarah is a perfect choice to lead the Business Development role here.

She has been with CRMLS for over six years, beginning in the Training and Product Development Department, and soon becoming the Director of Education & Product Development. She has been in real estate since 2001.

I talked to Sarah and she told me that Venture MLS is part of an effort by CRMLS to get ahead of industry changes by investing in technology companies working on MLS-tech that aligns with CRMLS values.

So, instead of hoping that there’s never another merger, acquisition, or other disruptions that uproot the systems CRMLS and its 110K+ users rely on, the nation’s largest MLS is switching to a proactive strategy: invest in new tech now and protect itself against disadvantageous changes.

I asked her if CRMLS would have the ability to “kill” any deals that didn’t “align” with “CRMLS values”. She stated that CRMLS would make its best effort ahead of investing so it only works with companies that were on a path for IPOs and/or aligned with CRMLS values. I guess the devil will be in the details.

Huge congrats to Sarah on her new role. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for this new development.

Jack Miller named CEO of T3 Sixty

Jack Miller named CEO of leading residential real estate management consulting firm T3 Sixty

“T3 Sixty, a real estate management consulting and analytics firm, has named company president Jack Miller as CEO, effective May 3, 2022. He will take over the role from real estate industry icon Stefan Swanepoel, who founded the influential company in 1998 and led it as CEO since. Miller, who has been with T3 Sixty since 2013, will continue to hold the president role and report to Swanepoel, who will move to executive chairman and remain the firm’s largest shareholder.”

Huge congrats to Jack. He is one of the smartest guys in the business. I have to say T3 Sixty’s Real Estate Almanac and their yearly Trends Report have really been an invaluable resource for vendors, MLS organizations, Franchisors, and brokerages of any size. Glad to see Jack take this position and I’m sure Stefan is happy to have such a competent leader take the reins.

Speaking of new gigs…

Rumor has it that Melissa King will be joining Bright MLS soon. Melissa has held positions at Stellar MLS and more recently Compass. Melissa is great to work with and knows her stuff. Congrats Bright MLS and Missy!

Sara Cooper named CRS’ Director of MLS Market

Veteran CRS Data Leader, Sara Cooper, Named Director of the MLS Market

“Over the years Sara has built a customer-first philosophy which has served as a driving force in CRS Data’s sustained growth. In this new role, she will oversee all aspects of the MLS Market, including sales, product, marketing, and customer support while continuing to push the boundaries of the prop tech industry. “

Big congrats to Sara. Always a pleasure to work with and such a great spirit. Her Q&A on the blog post, linked above, is a fun read.

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.

Frances Wiseman joins Sisu

Frances Wiseman

I know what you are thinking; why is everyone leaving you Greg?

For those of you who don’t know Frances, she was our Director of Marketing at W+R Studios. She started with us in 2012, I believe we had less than 10 people at the time.  She was also a big factor in W+R’s success.  While Katie managed all the Enterprises sales, Frances managed a huge part of the agent sales along with company marketing. 

If you love W+R’s t-shirts, then you have Frances to thank. 

She had the almost impossible job of making all my crazy ideas come to life.

Did you order the Mariachis yet?

I think we need more dry ice.

Can we double our order of balloons?

I want to dress Karl up like Bjorn Borg.

I want to turn our office into a speakeasy, can you pull that off?

Yes, she did.

It was also great to see her grow, build a team and lead some of W+R’s awesome events.  I can say that all of us had some fun times together. Here’s an example:

Frances had taken on a smaller role at Lone Wolf, but I knew she was anxious to get back to something she could sink her teeth in too, so while I’m sad to see her leave I know she was ready for a new a challenge.  She has joined the team at Sisu, where she is the Director of Growth Marketing. I hope they realize what a rockstar they have hired.

Thank you Frances. I hope to see “Travel Frances” soon.

Jeff Bosch is the new CEO of IRES

IRES taps real estate industry veteran Jeff Bosch as new chief executive officer

“Bosch has held numerous leadership roles throughout his two-plus decades in real estate, most recently serving as chief operating officer of MARIS, a St. Louis-based MLS. He also previously held titles as director of MLS services and director of broker engagement at MARIS and was a managing broker at Coldwell Banker Gundaker before joining MARIS.”

Big congrats to Jeff and IRES. Lauren is one tough act to follow but knowing Jeff I’m sure he is up for the challenge.

Katie Smithson joins Bridge Interactive (Zillow)

All good things must come to an end.

Katie joined W+R Studios back in January of 2013 and quickly became indispensable to me.  She was a fast learner and began to take over different parts of the business.  She got my sense of humor, told me when I was wrong (many times), and did many parts of the job better than I did.  And to see her become a mother earlier this year filled me with more joy than I thought possible.

I’m extremely proud of what she has accomplished at W+R and the industry, where she has been part of the RESO Board of Directors and the CMLS Board of Directors along with getting CMLX1 certified.  While it’s hard for me to imagine not working with her every week, I am excited to see her continue to grow on this next adventure…..ish.

Thank you Katie. #shakeandbake

Fredrick Herot joins T3 Sixty

Former Realtor.com Vice President of Marketing joins T3 Sixty

“Herot will lead marketing services engagements and provide marketing leadership for T3 Sixty clients, in conjunction with T3 Sixty’s strategic consulting services. Now, T3 Sixty’s integrated professional services provides brokers, franchisors and teams access to marketing expertise to empower their new initiatives, from making assessments of existing marketing and positioning to planning new marketing campaigns, and for developing staff to implement their marketing plans.”

Fredrick will be a great resource for T3 Sixty clients. Congrats.

MIBOR adds new Chief Innovation Officer

MIBOR REALTOR® Association Announces Tamara Flores As New Chief Innovation Officer

Tamara Flores

“As the Chief Innovation Officer, Flores will oversee the operations of the Broker Listing Cooperative (BLC) and focus on creating solutions that improve the delivery of services to our members. 

Flores has been an executive director for 7 years and an administrator for over 15 years. In her current role as the Executive Support Manager at Anthem, she is responsible for project and vendor management, process improvement and daily operations of IT Management for Anthem’s top 150 executives.”

Nice to see some new blood enter the industry. Welcome, Tamara and congrats!

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