A business friend of mine sent me this link created by the Viriginia and South Carolina REALTOR® Associations that takes a different approach to promoting the REALTOR® code of business practices and the value of REALTORS®.  When you click on the link it takes you to an interim site showing a real estate agent named Ted who is everything you don’t want your agent to be.  It is hilarious!  What is also noteworthy is I was sent this link by someone who is not even in the real estate business, which shows how viral it is. Congrats to The Virginia and South Carolina Association of  REALTORS®!  They [...]

Consumers today are demanding more and more transparency in every purchase they make.  They solicit input from fellow customers about everything from digital cameras to books to doctors.  They look to sites like cNet for objective ratings on electronics and they look to sites like findadoctor.com and lawyerratingz.com to learn about the training, reputation and customer satisfaction levels of professionals like doctors and lawyers. Feedback websites have become popular because they allow a consumer to get information from peers about their satisfaction levels with products and services. Unlike traditional advertising that has fallen out of favor with many consumers, websites [...]

Carl C. Icahn is taking his claim to court to prevent Realogy from debt refinancing deal. Mr. Icahn’s High River Limited Partnership has filed a lawsuit against the Realogy Corporation, seeking to block the company’s $1.1 billion debt refinancing deal. Realogy, owner of the franchised real estate brokers Century 21 and Coldwell Banker, is controlled by the private equity giant Apollo Management - run by Mr. Icahn’s close friend and fellow billionaire, Leon Black. Apollo, which bought Realogy for $6.6 billion in April 2007, wants to reduce the company’s debt load by up to $650 million as it tries to [...]

Since 1999, the CENTURY 21 System has continued its reign as the nation’s most recognized brand in real estate!  According to a study conducted by Millward Brown, a global market research organization, consumers were not only universally more aware of the CENTURY 21 Brand, they were also considered to be the best-known name in the business with higher preference, among consumers who plan to purchase or sell a house in the next two years. In addition, CENTURY 21 Agents are considered knowledgeable and easy to work with by real estate customers.  Not far behind are fellow Realogy brands of Coldwell Banker and [...]

WASHINGTON, Dec 01, 2008 The REALTORS® Federal Credit Union board of directors today announced that veteran credit union leader, Thomas A. Glatt Sr., has been chosen the top executive of the newly chartered organization that will serve the nation’s Realtors®. The RFCU is a not-for-profit cooperative owned by its members and directed by an elected volunteer board. It will not be owned by NAR. Like other credit unions, RFCU is a stand-alone entity, and earnings will flow back to the credit union and its members, not to NAR. Glatt will assume office as the chief executive officer of the RFCU [...]

Remember the private equity boom that lasted a few months in 2006.  Realogy, with brands like Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Sotheby’s, Better Homes and Gardens and ERA were looked quite charming to Apollo Management - now their financing has hit the fan.  They are in the process of getting the bond holders who financed the deal to forgive a significant amount of the debt in turn for preferred payouts if the company fails.  This can also be referred to as a Cram Down - as in, if you want to get paid, we will be cramming this new valuation down [...]

CEO Bob Bemis of Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, aka ARMLS is in the process of presenting a public listing website proposal to the ARMLS board of directors.  Someone alerted the Arizona Republic, the local newspaper who picked up the story. The familiar arguments supporting and desentiing the strategy of public websites are mentioned in the article…..And so it goes.  MLSs who are courageous enough to lead their membership through difficult strategic discussions deserve a lot of credit.  Many CEOs in Bob’s position could easily take the political route and duck the issue.  Koodos to Bob. Listings are everywhere.  Today there are [...]

in the 2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers released in October, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) provided research that leads us down a path to understanding why MLS Websites become so popular, so quickly with consumers. Russ Bergeron of SoCal MLS saw traffic on their new website grow beyond 100,000 unique visitors per month within a few months of launch with no advertising or promotion! Although the sample was narrow, WAV Group reported in their MLS Website Consumer Effectiveness Research that consumers trust the MLS Website because it offers the most accurate and timely listing information with no sales pressure. There has [...]

Inman released the speaker list for the New York Connect conference taking place January 8th. MLS 2014: 5 things to do right now to get ready Top visionaries share the 5 things you must be aware of to best position your MLS for the next 5 years. Moderated by Victor Lund, Partner, WAV Group Beverley Faull, General Manager & Senior Vice President, Fidelity National Information Services Mark Lesswing, Sr. Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, NAR Saul Klein, President & CEO, Internet Crusade / CEO, Point2 Technologies Brian Larson, Attorney at Law, Larson/Sobotka Business Advisors, LLC For more information on the [...]