iBuyer Property Analysis Update
In this week’s article, we are revisiting our iBuyer story published last June. The property sold in July and there are some interesting insights about iBuyer financial outcomes.
Five Technology Expenses to Review for Budget Season – Part Two
Part two of this two-part series continues to explore technology expenses and strategies for budget season. In part one, we discussed the importance to review your technology partner agreements and telecommunication expenses. Part two focuses on finding savings in Cloud Services, the benefits of a hardware refresh program, and to capture Shadow IT costs. So, let’s start.
Five Technology Expenses to Review for Budget Season – Part One
As we embark into first week of the fall season, the time is ripe to review and prepare next year’s budget. When technology expenses for 2019 budgets, the following five areas are prime opportunities to harvest savings or craft better budget strategies. This is part one of a two-part series.
Tune-Up Your Listing Presentation
There is nothing more important in real estate than the listing presentation. It is the single most place where you position yourself as the prize, not the contestant. If you want to convert new clients predictably and sustainably, the listing presentation is the first place to start.
Successful Consumer Experience Requires Broker-Agent Partnership
Three-quarters of the year of conferences and workshops have passed, and a common theme – out of many – has appeared. The industry’s dive into the consumers journey in real estate is the epicenter of today’s evolving business models. How these business models deliver a unique consumer experience through the marketing technology stack (MarTech), requires that they solve the fragmented systems of consumer data and find consumers who only engage when addressed with the right message, at the right time, and within the right medium or channel.
WAVes of Tech: Phishing in Real Estate and Recruiting Experience
A key practice to protect yourself and your customers from scammers and hackers is education. When I was asked by Janet Sowers of the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee (RASM) to present at a session on “Beware of the Phish! Wire Fraud in Real Estate Transactions”, there was only one response. Absolutely, YES!
Open API? Yes! Check that Box.
One conversation that is critical in today’s ecosystem of integrated platforms; is the Application Programming Interface (API) checkbox. Here is how a typical conversation on this topic is between a brokerage and their vendor partner. Brokerage:Does your platform have an API to support integration with other tools we support with our agents? Tech Company:Yes! We have an Open API and we integrate with thousands and thousands of applications (a little exaggeration ;) ). Brokerage:Cool! (marking off the checkbox on the list of requirements)
Deadline for Public Comments to the Real Estate Workshop by the FTC/DOJ is Tuesday, July 31, 2018
June 5th was an interesting day in Washington, DC for the real estate industry. The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice held a workshop to gain insight on the competitive environment in real estate.
Three Stories for You to Read: Amazon, Cybersecurity, App Dev
In the advent of Inman Connect this week, these were three stories I found which piqued my interest this last week. Will Amazon Uber-ize the Real Estate Industry? Cisco and Juniper Networks stocks slipped last Friday on news from The Information that Amazon was entering the $14 billion data center equipment business. While searching for more news I stumbled upon investment firm, TwinRock Partners, article about Amazon and real estate.
GDPR is Not Alone, Personal Data Protection Laws Hit the U.S.
Consumer data protection continues to be a focus for governments after the latest round of data breaches and Facebook allowing Collaborative Analytics harvesting of its user’s data. In a hastily crafted bill, California legislatures and the governor passed AB 375, or the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. There is good reason for hardly anyone noticing this new law; it was fast-tracked through the legislative process within seven (7) days. California legislature rapidly created a consumer privacy bill in response to an initiative of a privacy ballot supported by the Alastair Mactaggart’s non-profit, Californians for Consumer Privacy. Mactaggart’s organization garnered [...]
Google Maps – It was too good to last.
Over the last 13 years, Google Maps API has been a cost-effective solution for website developers and owners, especially for those in the real estate industry, allowing the display of maps and geo-location of properties by address for a nominal fee (essentially free). Well, the easy road is over as all this is changing on July 16th.
iBuyer or iFlipper? Let’s Look Under the Hood.
This week, there was breaking news about an iBuyer receiving $325m in series “E” funding as well as lots of talk about their business model and game plan. Given all the buzz, I thought it would be a good time to spend time under the hood, to understand how this motor is put together!