2009 - Page 4 of 13 - WAV Group Consulting

Morgan Lane Marin to acquire Pacific Union Real Estate

Bucking the odds in a highly volatile, recession-stymied real estate market, Morgan Lane Marin has grown meteorically, from just $52 million in sales in 2006 to $315 million in 2008. Combined, the two entities will have 17 offices, more than 430 real estate professionals and 2009 sales volume projected to be $2.2 billion, according to Mark A. McLaughlin, CEO of Morgan Lane. The goal of the combined operations is to become the Bay Areas leading luxury real estate brand an objective McLaughlin said will be achieved by retaining and recruiting the industrys top-producing professionals and leveraging resources and international marketing [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:23-07:00July 20th, 2009|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|0 Comments

ESPN wins where real estate portals fail

There was significant debate about the concept of Localism in Real Estate on the heals of our whitepaper on the topic. The paper pointed out that a web strategy that links together hyperlocal websites with a central hub site will draw more traffic than a mega-portal. Not content with being a sports colossus with broadcasts in 200 countries, ESPN is taking aim at hometown sports coverage, threatening one of the last strongholds of local newspapers and television stations. And it is working! After a promising test run in Chicago, ESPN is adding local offshoots to three more cities. On Monday, ESPN, which [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:23-07:00July 20th, 2009|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Google Voice for Real Estate

Reprint:Updates to Google Voice By DAVID POGUE It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Google Voice. To refresh your memory, I quote myself: “Google Voice began life in 2005 as something called GrandCentral. It was intended to solve the headaches of having more than one phone number (home, work, cellphone and so on). GrandCentral’s grand solution was to offer you a new, single, unified phone number, in an area code of your choice. Whenever somebody dialed your new uni-number, all of your phones rang at once. (perfect for real estate agents) Continue reading… “No longer did people have [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 17th, 2009|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Real Estate Magazines are a leader in print advertising

At the beginning of each quarter, I sit down with our Broker clients and review the advertising plan and media slotting. In our last meeting, there was plenty of discussion about newspaper advertising given our posts like Newspapers are like Nursinghomes, and Will the Last Newspaper please shut off the lights. It is pretty well known that we do not believe that the current rates newspapers charge for advertising represent a good return on Broker advertising dollars. Agents may need to advertise in the newspaper strategically to meet business committments to sellers, but it does very little for Broker Brand Advertising - [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 15th, 2009|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|0 Comments

A great example of Balanced, Relevant Edutizing

I ran across a terrific example of edutizing today from Prudential Georgia REALTY. The company offers a series of videos describing the state of the national real estate market, local real estate market, and several other topics. What really impressed about these videos is the tone. They are balanced and honest using a variet of credible third party sources to discuss market trends and future projections. While the videos clearly depict the true state of the real estate market they also leave the viewer with a hopeful perspective on the future of the Atlanta real estate market. The video production [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2009-07-15T16:15:16-07:00July 15th, 2009|Main category|0 Comments

Gaining an Edge with Edutizing

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about moving from Advertising to Edutizing. The whole idea is that consumers are interested in working with agents who clearly demonstrate indepth knowledge of all facets of the real estate industry and the local community. The concept of Edutizing is really taking off around the country. The California Association of REALTORS has put together a 3 hour session to help agents take advantage of this new communications phenomenon. The session called Gaining An Edge with Edutizing will be held from 1:30 to 4:30 pm on August 4th, immediately before the Inman conference. The [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 14th, 2009|Main category|0 Comments

CAR 2009 Homebuyer Survey Released

Increased affordability, low mortgage rates motivating home buyers, according to C.A.R.s “2009 Survey of California Home Buyers” Quick Facts: · Share of first-time buyers rose to 38 percent in 2009, compared with 19 percent in 2008 · Forty-nine percent of all buyers purchased a home through a traditional market sale · Eighty-eight percent of traditional market sales were financed through fixed-rate mortgagesLOS ANGELES (July 7) Favorable home prices, record-low interest rates, and the belief that rates will rise in the near future were the primary motivators leading home buyers to purchase in 2009 compared with last year, according to the [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2009-07-09T16:12:43-07:00July 9th, 2009|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

MLS Vendor Accounts by Map
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MLS Vendor Accounts by Map

Main category, MLS Insights

MLS Vendor Accounts by Map

I have been chatting with Mike Sparr, CEO and Founder of Goomzee, thier Realty Connect product is among the premier providers of real estate text message marketing. Mike is preparing some excellent research about MLS, and was kind enough to share a preview of some of his research. Please enjoy this map below which details MLS vendor accounts across the United States. It is very interesting to see the geographic preferences of one vendor over another - Fidelity and Rapattoni are very popular in the west but their number of accounts deteriorate as you move into the South East. Marketlinx [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 8th, 2009|Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Northern California MLS take Leadership role in supporting REALTORS

In a move to keep REALTORS in the center of the conversation between consumers and access to local and concise real estate property informaiton, Six Northern California Associations of REALTORS agree to offer Clarus Market Matrix as a member benefit. The member Associations of of BAREIS and SFAR offering the solution include Coastal Mendocino, Marin, North Bay, Northern Solano County, San Francisco and Solano Associaitons of Realtors. In total, this agreement which pushes the customer count over 100,000 allows the California Association of REALTORS to count nearly 50% adoption of the Clarus product across the state. […]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 7th, 2009|Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Will the last newspaper please shut off the lights

A year ago I blogged about the decline of the newspaper industry in a piece called“Newspapers are like nursinghomes.”. A year later the decline has accelerated. The economic crisis has hurt the newspaper industry as it has so many industries. The question is whether it will recover (or at least rejoin its slower downward path of last year) when the economy as a whole recovers; or has the economic crisis merely revealed the terminal status of the industry. I am pessimistic about a recovery by the newspapers. One reason is the current economic situation. A serious, protracted economic crisis can [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 5th, 2009|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|0 Comments

six real estate strategic thoughts for the second half

Our end of the month client financial reviews were hopeful for the first time this year. June seems like it turned out to be the best month of the year for brokers, and sales are ahead of cancellations for most of our technology clients. Hip Hip Hooray! Nevertheless, this coming winter may be tougher than last winter, so build reserves. We advise keeping these six covenents in mind as you plan the balance of your year. Hold Cash - Be sure to have enough cash on hand to cover cash flow shortfalls between November 2009 to March 2010. Continue to [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 5th, 2009|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

You Think The U.S. Was overleveraged?
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You Think The U.S. Was overleveraged?

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You Think The U.S. Was overleveraged?

in a recent article from China Daily, there was an amazing fact from The China Statistics Yearbook 2008 revealed. They found that the average home price in Beijing was 23 times a local family’s average income, compared with the international level of four to six times. Do you think they are setting themselves up for a MAJOR fall? Their government has come through with up to 30% discounts on mortgages for first time home buyers, but it doesn’t seem like that will be enough to make those loans truly a prudent investment over time. China is also experiencing irrational property price [...]

By THE WAV GROUP|2018-05-03T21:26:24-07:00July 3rd, 2009|Main category|0 Comments