Union Fees and the National Association of Realtors

There is a lot more at stake at the voting polls this year than who will govern our nation. The President will appoint and the Senate will confirm the replacement of the Supreme Court Justice Scalia. Moreover, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is now 82 and is also quite frail. The candidates will be evaluated by the Department of Justice and they will appear before hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Teachers Union case One of the cases that may be material to real estate is the case of the Teachers Union. In the LA School district, they charge teachers $685 [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 16th, 2016|Main category|4 Comments
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Brokerage Reputation Management Starts With Loving Yourself

Real estate brokers have a difficult time battling the challenges with reputation management. Brokers hire agents. Agents deliver services to the consumer. The consumer judges the brokerage on the service level of its agents. Brokers try to hire well to preserve their reputation. Around and around it goes. Many brokers to do not track their reputation as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). They track unit volume, agent count, broker dollar, and so many other things. Only a few firms use services like Quality Service Certified or Real Satisfied or Testimonial Tree to measure satisfaction. Those brokerages who are following best [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 15th, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Brokerage Reputation Management Starts With Loving Yourself
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California Regionals Breaking Ranks

February is the month of love, but in the case of California Regional MLSs, it may be the month of divorce. There are regional MLSs in California that are in the midst of breaking up. On the surface, this looks like an asymmetrical strategy relative to the regionalization monster that is devouring MLSs across the nation. Perhaps below the surface, collapsing an existing regional may be the first step to creating a New World Order. When most regional MLSs were created, Associations of REALTORS® funded the companies. They are for-profit companies on paper, but typically build reserves then run the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 10th, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on California Regionals Breaking Ranks
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iPad Listing Presentations and Relationships

WAV Group has been working with many companies on listing presentations. They are the Barnum & Bailey Circus of selling real estate. You know the drill, in this ring we have the home tour, in this ring we have comps, and in this ring we have why you should pick me. iPads deliver listing presentations with much higher impact than paper. It’s a great listing tool. There are a few tools that make the iPad sing that I really like. I think that Paperless Agent has put together a great series of education and applications that make the iPad a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 8th, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on iPad Listing Presentations and Relationships
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Realtor.com Seeks to Win the Super Bowl

Last January, I visited Mr. Robert Thomson at the News Corp offices in Manhattan to discuss his plans for the Realtor.com. Joining the meeting were two senior leaders of News Corp: his chief of staff and his chief of sales. They laid out their targets for their new company. What follows is our report card for them. Clear Vision #1: News Corp will leverage its media assets including Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, the New York Post, HarperCollins Publishers, and The Sun to drive consumers to Realtor.com. Successful Result: Thomson reports that Realtor.com average monthly unique users [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 5th, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Realtor.com Seeks to Win the Super Bowl
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Vendor Bonus Paid Forward

I had the strangest experience in 2014. A client sent me a check out of the blue. It was a striking gesture. It came with a phone call saying that he appreciated everything we have done. His business had a great year. It floored me, and my family. Financially, it made a difference. The amount was significant. It was not trivial – like a tip. More like the kind of bonus that people get that work at companies for a job well done. Of course, I was thankful. But it was transformative. This year, I went through a list of companies [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 5th, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Vendor Bonus Paid Forward
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Is Old School Print Set to Rebound?

Print advertising and marketing has seen a striking decline. I love using the phrase that newspapers are like nursing homes. But that might be changing. Here are some thoughts. Years ago, I spent a few years working with a real estate magazine. We helped them expand into digital marketing – online portal, online advertising, agent and broker websites, etc. It was a good thing. We married their loyal customers to new services that escalated in revenue as print dropped off. The relationship remained the same, the revenue by product choice changed. One of the great boosts to the online marketing [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:24-07:00February 4th, 2016|Main category|1 Comment
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Will Zillow’s New Stripes Cause Stock to Decline

WAV Group does a lot of work on Wall Street. We work with leading analysts to deliver research and insights from Main Street about what is happening behind company shareholder reports. Z is making some significant strategic changes and it will be very interesting to see how the market reacts. It may be poised for incredible growth or the slide the stock has experienced may continue. Media Company vs. a Product Company Zillow Group® has been traditionally valued as a media company. Purchasing product companies like DotLoop change that. Expunging MarketLeader™ after buying DotLoop is asymmetrical. Marketing tools like MarketLeader™ are aligned [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:24-07:00February 3rd, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Will Zillow’s New Stripes Cause Stock to Decline
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When to Text and When to Email

I have a 13-year-old daughter. Her style of communication is very different than mine. In truth, I spend a lot of time talking to her along with my younger and older staff members about effective communications. I think that business leaders need to have this conversation with their flock to set expectations. Here are some questions to hydrate the conversation. When is it appropriate to pick up the phone? When is it appropriate to send a text message? When is it appropriate to send an eMail? When you look into the palm of your hand, you have a powerful communication [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:24-07:00February 2nd, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on When to Text and When to Email
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Take A Board Seat With That Purchase

Centris is the MLS that provides services to 13,000 agents in Canadian Provence of Quebec. In an announcement today, they agreed to provide a new service to all of their members called Urbanimmersive. Urbanimmersive is a full suite of online marketing tools that includes photographers that create content to power videos, virtual tours, 3D Tours, aerial photographs, and other digital media. Normally, brokers and franchises would not appreciate the MLS delivering services like this, but Montreal is different. Organized real estate would be at risk in Quebec if the Association of REALTORS® and the MLS had not stepped up their [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:24-07:00February 2nd, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Take A Board Seat With That Purchase
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Price Is What You Pay And Value Is What You Receive

You know the drill. You need to evaluate a purchase. You juggle the balance between what you want and what you can afford. The Oracle of Omaha is attributed to the Buffetism “Price is what you pay, value is what you receive.” Strategy WAV Group works with all types of firms to lead vendor selections each year. It starts with strategy: outlining the goals of the purpose. What happens if you buy? What happens if you don’t buy? What does success look like? Discovery The next step is discovery. Who are the potential suppliers? Who uses them now? What are [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:24-07:00February 1st, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Price Is What You Pay And Value Is What You Receive
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Does Your Brand Have a Strategic Plan?

If you are reading this, you are somewhere in the real estate ecosystem – either part of an MLS, a REALTORS® Association, a large brokerage, or a technology firm that serves one of those personas. We work with some of these personas on strategy, we work with some on story, we all of them on state.   Strategy, Story, and State are business terms that are bantered around a lot. Saying the words has no meaning unless you are able to contextualize them within your own business. That process of contextualization is work that needs to be done by businesses [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:24-07:00January 31st, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Does Your Brand Have a Strategic Plan?
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