Real Estate News and Information: The Latest
Google Glass, Technology Tools and REALTORS….
May 14, 2013 by Eric Blackwell · 2 Comments
These days I am noticing that if you want to get a blog post read, doing your everyday job with Google Glass firmly attached to your cramium is a good way to do it. The editor of ABC News technology desk recently wore here new Google Glass around town and attracted lots of attention. And [...]
Google Glass, Technology Tools and REALTORS….
May 14, 2013 by Eric Blackwell · 2 Comments
These days I am noticing that if you want to get a blog post read, doing your everyday job with Google Glass firmly attached to your cramium is a good way to do it. The editor of ABC News technology desk recently wore here new Google Glass around town and attracted lots of attention. And [...]
NAR revises Home Sales down 14% since 2007
December 21, 2011 by Eric Blackwell · Leave a Comment
As announced in a previous article on Real Estate Industry Watch, NAR today released revisions to its housing sales numbers for the past four years. The reasons for the changes appear to be both an over=reporting of the number of FSBO sales that were not counted through MLS s as well as double reporting for [...]

Century 21 renews marketing agreement with Zillow
January 16, 2013 by Eric Blackwell · 1 Comment
Zillow and Century 21 have announced that they have renewed their agreement of their strategic marketing program. Century 21 was the first nationwide franchisor partner with Zillow. Bev Thorne, CMO at Century 21 noted: “Our relationship with Zillow has empowered our agents with a valuable marketing program, providing extraordinary reach and visibility for their listed [...]
Syndication is not personal. It is business.
January 1, 2013 by Eric Blackwell · 1 Comment
Too often, I think that REALTORS get carried away with the WHO rather than the WHAT of whether something is a good idea or not. That concerns me because in that fog of irrationality is where good sound decisions made based on principles get thrown out the window and those people who normally have a [...]
REALTOR Thought of the Day.
Quote of the Day
Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.
– Thomas Carlyle
Real Estate News Headlines:
Google Glass, Technology Tools and REALTORS….
May 14, 2013 By Eric Blackwell 2 Comments
These days I am noticing that if you want to get a blog post read, doing your everyday job with Google Glass firmly attached to your cramium is a good way to do it. The editor of ABC News technology desk recently wore here new Google Glass around town and attracted lots of attention. And [...]
Real Estate Market 2013: What Agents and Homeowners Can Expect in 2013
April 7, 2013 By Shannon O'Brien Leave a Comment
Real Estate Market 2013: What Agents and Homeowners Can Expect in 2013 Real estate agents are masters at taking historical data and translating it to determine home values. They’re also quite adept at analyzing data from the present to determine current market conditions. How accomplished, though, are they at predicting the future? This question came [...]
International

Hernando de Soto on Property and Political Rights at FIABCI 63rd World Congress
May 28, 2012 By Brian Kinkade Leave a Comment
World-renowned Economist Hernando de Soto, President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy, recently spoke to myself and nearly 1,000 other FIABCI World Congress participants in St. Petersburg, Russia. His pioneering work on behalf of property rights for the poor have led to global acclaim and recognition. de Soto is well known for his revolutionary [...]
Brookfield Real Estate announces franchise acquisitions
December 21, 2011 By Eric Blackwell 1 Comment
It was announced by Brookfield Real Estate Services today that they will consumate deals on January 1, 2012 for several Canadian brokerages to become franchisees under both their Roal LePage and Via Capitale brands. The deals according the press release will be 80% cash on the first of January totalling $2.6 MM with an additional [...]

ICREA and FIABCI Move Forward with Plans for Integration
September 10, 2011 By Brian Kinkade Leave a Comment
In an effort to better serve the international real estate industry, the ICREA and the FIABCI are working toward developing a fully-integrated global organization that will embrace all sectors within the real estate industry. To help achieve this goal, representatives from both organizations have agreed to form a much closer alliance between the two organizations [...]
More International Real Estate News
Inman 2013 Kicks off in New York City
Inman 2013 kicks off this morning in New York City with a new year in the real estate industry to look forward to. On the agenda are a myriad of industry speakers and panelists. The goal: How to Reach a changing consumer successfully by providing a superior customer experience. One of the topics for the [...]

Faces of Hurricane Sandy in the Real Estate Industry
Sometimes we like to think that we are removed from natural disasters. And sometimes we are. But in a world that is increasingly social and increasingly connected, we are able to keep in touch with some of the people involved in these difficulties and it make the experience more real for us. Such was the [...]

National Association of Real Estate Professionals vs Syndicators
One of the top REALTORS in the country has formed a non profit group with the express purpose of combating the listing inaccuracy abuse that is on syndicator websites such as Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com. Ben Caballero is the founder and chairman of NAREP (National Association of Real Estate Professionals) the top individual real estate [...]
What we’ve gone through in the last several years has caused some people to question ‘Can we trust Microsoft?’ – Steve Ballmer
Marketing
Google Glass, Technology Tools and REALTORS….
May 14, 2013 By Eric Blackwell 2 Comments
These days I am noticing that if you want to get a blog post read, doing your everyday job with Google Glass firmly attached to your cramium is a good way to do it. The editor of ABC News technology desk recently wore here new Google Glass around town and attracted lots of attention. And [...]
Google Now (a new Android App) – uses Zillow listings
February 16, 2013 By Eric Blackwell 3 Comments
While some in the industry view this as a game changer (such as 100 Watt Consultings’ Brian Boero) because brokers do not have a similar platform, others such as Atlanta REALTOR Ryan Ward, contend that this makes Zillow’s innaccuracies all the more problematic. His contention is that “Google is outsourcing its own real estate search results [...]
zPro – Zillow offers brokers premium placement and exposure
June 12, 2012 By Eric Blackwell 6 Comments
Effective today a new “free” program will roll out to 10 brokers who will be zPro partners. According to the press release, there will be 5 points to Zillows new incentives and offering: Prominently Displayed Listing Agents zPro brokerage agents will be displayed first and at the top of the page on listings, along with their [...]
More Current Headlines
More Editiorials
The FAA needs to get off its butt and allow REALTORS access to Commercial UAVs
As I mentioned in a recent blog post on my real estate blog, the use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) has been strictly scrutinized by the FAA . Essentially, until regulations go into effect in 2015, REALTORS cannot hire people to use RC helicopters, drones or other UAVs to take aerial pictures and videos of [...]
Syndication is not personal. It is business.
Too often, I think that REALTORS get carried away with the WHO rather than the WHAT of whether something is a good idea or not. That concerns me because in that fog of irrationality is where good sound decisions made based on principles get thrown out the window and those people who normally have a [...]
Your Appraisal Come in Short?
Appraisals in the Long Island MLS area. That necessary evil that inevitably comes around to screw up our real estate deals from time to time. If you are around real estate for long enough you are sure to run into appraisal troubles sooner than later. With this post I want to explore the intention behind [...]
IPO’s are simply postponing the inevitable…
Okayfine, so last week Realogy joined the list of IPO’s and now public real estate sector companies. They are a franchisor, but other recent IPOs have included Zillow, Trulia and several others. In turn, the infusion of cash that came from those IPOs led those gobble up some strategic partners and assimilate them into their [...]






