Abbott Realty Group (ARG) in San Diego may not have fired the first shot in the "to syndicate or not" battle, but they may have fired the loudest one by far. The 25 agent office in San Diego today officially pulled their syndicated listings, and released a video to their clients and colleagues in the real estate industry to open what looks like a long running battle. Their listings will be pulled from Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, Craig's list and all third party sites.In the video Jim … [Read more...]
Edina Realty dumps Trulia and Realtor.com
November 22, 2011 By 2 Comments
In a move designed to retain control over where their listings are displayed, Edina Realty in Minnesota has announced that it will no longer send listings to Trulia effective November 30 and will stop syndicating listings to REALTOR.com effective the end of this year.The real estate blogging community has been mixed in its reaction to the news, with some brokers reconfirming their commitment to post listings EVERYWHERE that they can be syndicated, while other applaud the decision by Edina to … [Read more...]
Zillow buys Diverse Solutions
November 2, 2011 By 4 Comments
In a post on Zillow's blog today, it was announced that they have acquired Diverse Solutions, a company most known for providing IDX tools and solutions for REALTORS.According to the press release the company has 6,000 REALTORS as clients who it provides IDX services and other marketing tools to. The acquisition price of Diverse Solutions according to SEC filings was reportedly $5.5 million in cash and 75,000 shares of class A restricted stock in Zillow, which will vest over the coming three … [Read more...]
Redfin scraps Agent Scouting Reports
October 5, 2011 By 1 Comment
Redfin has decided to take down the "Agent Scouting Reports" from their website. Over the last few days since the start of the program, various parts of the data have proven inaccurate and troublesome and each of these parts has been pulled down as needed. Ostensibly the w eight of trying to deal with all of it has made it more trouble than it is worth.While many in the industry were against the Agent Scouting Reports, many welcome them as long as the data was accurate. One of the biggest … [Read more...]
Redfin Scouting Report – disruptive? Bloggers chime in.
September 30, 2011 By 1 Comment
Redfin's announcement that they will be providing "scouting report" statistics on Real Estate agents in 14 national markets is making waves in the real estate industry. They are providing agent statistics in a convenient package on their site showing everything from currently active listings to number of dual agency transactions, all of which a pretty good kindling to ignite issues with the REALTOR community.This new step in rating other REALTORS (including those not working for them) is … [Read more...]
Zip Realty ends Buyer Rebates
July 2, 2011 By 9 Comments
According to this press release, Zip Realty is ending their Buyer Rebates program that has been a staple of their business since its founding. This comes as the company is struggling to gain profitability and after focus group testing in 4 markets. Also it is important to note that in some of the company's markets, offering rebates is not allowed and thus has never been practiced.“Our recent strategic changes are aimed at addressing the realities of today’s real estate market and moving … [Read more...]
Pinnacle Quest buys Dave Beson Seminars
June 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Pinnacle Quest Consulting announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy Dave Beson Seminars, including its popular LetterWriter series.“We have enjoyed a long-time relationship with Dave and are pleased now to take that relationship to the next level,” said Brent Gray, CEO and co-founder of Pinnacle Quest. “The addition of the popular Dave Beson LetterWriter series and other products to our current product mix adds a dimension to Pinnacle Quest that is a perfect … [Read more...]
Chicagoland Boards look to merge. More to come.
May 25, 2011 By 6 Comments
In the first of what many real estate industry experts expect to be a growing number of REALTOR Association mergers, two Chicago area boards are taking a serious look at merging. According to ChicagolandRealEstateForum.com, both boards have approved the deal: The Board of Directors for both the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® (MORe) and the REALTOR® Association of Northwest Chicagoland (RANWC) have voted unanimously for the merger of the two groups and now just need their members to … [Read more...]
Zillow adds Facebook apps, competes with Move, Inc.
May 25, 2011 By 2 Comments
Since its inception, Zillow has always been apparently aimed at competing for traffic from large national sites like REALTOR.com. In a continued quest for the traffic lead in the real estate space, Zillow has released several new Facebook applications that create tabs on a Facebook business page. The Listings app will create a "My Listings" tab which will show a REALTOR's listings at no charge.The difference between this and the current REALTOR.com tab is that those who are NOT paying for … [Read more...]
NAR makes $40 political fee increase official, angers some agents
May 18, 2011 By 6 Comments
At the National Association of REALTORS midyear meetings, NAR's board voted to approve and put into effect a mandatory $40 increase in fees, known as RPPSI, that would provide that money for NAR to use for donations to political candidates of their choosing. While NAR officials indicated that there was not much discussion about it at the midyear meetings, on the street in the industry, the story brought apparently a number of different reactions."I want to quit NAR" was one reaction."I … [Read more...]
