Annual Swanepoel Power 200 Recognizes WAV Group

Howard Lund had a philosophy about lists. He said that it is great to be on the good ones, but don't take too much pride in it. He shared his thoughts on this whenever I made honor roll, or was recognized for accomplishments in sports. It is the type of fatherly wisdom that sticks with you. I think that Mr. Swanepoel and his team does a good job in their selection - a process too difficult to imagine. Its an honor to receive the recognition, and I am especially proud of my partner, Marilyn Wilson. Her dedication to her trade [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:25-07:00January 13th, 2016|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

New Jobs: Submit Your Interest Confidentially or Call Us

WAV Group consulting will often involve recruiting key leaders to join a company and support the execution of their strategic plan. WAV Group is searching for a number of key positions now. If you are looking for a new adventure, be sure to let us know. Confidentiality is paramount for most of the recruiting that we do here at the WAV Group. Most often, we are seeking C –Level executives – Chief Executive Officers, Chief Technology Officers, etc. We support our clients in the effort to find alignment with experienced leaders. Here are some of the positions that we are [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:26-07:00January 5th, 2016|Main category, Our Services|0 Comments

MLS Policy for Days On Market

Depending on where you are, Days on Market could be a hot topic. Perhaps the most sensitive area to Days on Market is San Francisco. I had a chance to talk to Steve Mavromihalis of Pacific Union about this topic last week. Steve is one of the most productive agents in the nation. Every year, WAV Group watches the listing count for Pacific Union go down by two thirds starting just before Thanksgiving and lasting until March or April – that’s 5 months of the year. Clearly this has P&L implications and budgeting implications for the brokerage. The truth is [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:27-07:00December 16th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment

Is there a hidden downside to lead generation?

Real estate lead generation research tells us only about 1 or 2 percent of all purchased online leads become transactions. Another way to say that is 98 out of 100 times, an agent fails to turn a lead into a client, or 98 times out of 100, they are being rejected. Yet, the conventional wisdom in real estate is that you only need to turn one lead into a transaction to pay for all the leads you’ve purchased this year many times over. But is there a problem with this logic? Is it looking at only one side of the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:27-07:00December 16th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|1 Comment

Stop Buying Technology

It’s the season. WAV Group is fielding satisfaction surveys to determine how agents and brokers use or don’t use technology offerings. We even encounter a curious situation where we are measuring satisfaction with broker solutions and MLS solutions in the same market. Sometimes the easiest answer to a strategy is the simplest. What WAV Group sees today is that less is more. Too many technology solutions is real estate have feature creep. Regardless if it is a broker CRM or the MLS system – they are too complex.  In real estate technology, usability trumps functionality. Change is Hard The most [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:27-07:00December 16th, 2015|Broker Technology Research, Main category|0 Comments

Hire a Curator

A quick Google search brings up the definition of curator – it is a word derived from the Latin word curare – meaning, “take care.” A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally this word has a connotation of maintaining historical things because it is an official position in museums, but that is not the context intended here.  The role of a curator in today’s business is to keep things current. WAV Group Communications starts projects with an audit. We begin by understanding the variety of audiences that the company engages. We then take a look at how MLSs or [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:27-07:00December 16th, 2015|Main category, Our Services|0 Comments

Millennials, Shmillennials: Why aren’t we marketing to the over 50 crowd?

Advertising contrarian Bob Hoffman gave a talk at Matt Beall's Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers' Worthshop 5 conference last week, which is a wake up call to real estate agents and brokers everywhere. Why are we spending so much time, energy and money marketing to 18-34 year olds when the greatest, wealthiest, most powerful spending group in the world in nearly every major product category is 50+ years old? Remarkably, Bob helps us answer that question and a more important one: How should we be marketing to the over 50 crowd? Full disclosure up front: The majority of the marketing [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00December 16th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment

Pacific Union International seeks Vice President, Business & Digital Intelligence

WAV Group is leading an effort to help Pacific Union International (PUI) find a Vice President, Business & Digital Intelligence (VPBDI). The person in this position will lead PUI's work in market dynamics based analytics, business and digital intelligence and client demographics. This strategic role will be responsible for business and digital intelligence programs and models to drive market share, client retention and decision support for our regional executives, real estate professionals and related business units throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. This key role will lead the industry and our company as the “go to” authority for new technical and [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00December 15th, 2015|Main category, Our Services|0 Comments

7 Surprising Facts from NAR’s Newest Research on Buyers and Sellers

Each year, the National Association of REALTORS releases a study of homebuyers and sellers, which is my favorite REALTOR research publication. The NAR Research Group publishes publishes excellent research  -- including its superb daily Economists' Outlook -- but this one is especially chocked full of golden statistical nuggets, which is ideal for a data junkie like me. These are the kinds of facts I love to pull from research because these data points are what help tell a story, and that’s a great way to earn the attention of a reporter who covers our industry. Here are seven facts from [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00November 11th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|2 Comments

Solving for Technology-Confused Agents

WAV Group supports organizations (Brokers/MLS/Associations/Franchises) to develop support services for the technology applications used by agents. To kick off these programs we audit the systems that an agent has access to. This is an administrative process whereby we inventory all of the tools that they access from any source. 7 Sources of Real Estate Agent Technology (with one common example) National Association of Realtors – RPR State Association of Realtors – Forms Local Association of Realtors – Lockbox Multiple Listing Service – MLS system Franchise – lead management Brokerage - eMail Self – website The Big Problem: 7 different channels [...]

What’s “News” at WAV Group?

WAV Group strives to provide up-to-the-minute information about developments in real estate practices and technology. This means that we are always updating our blog with new articles to keep you informed and on top of things in our industry. Some exciting things have happened since our last newsletter! We’ve collected our recent articles here so that you can get up to speed heading into the NAR meetings. You can also get our updates in real time by visiting our home page (click here) and subscribing to our RSS feed. Tech Helpline Now Available to Orange County Association of REALTORS® CoreLogic [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00November 11th, 2015|Main category, Our Services|0 Comments

5 Hot Trends in 2016 to Look for at NAR

This year’s REALTORS® Convention & Expo in San Diego traces its origins to the first Chicago meeting of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges held May 12-14, 1908. One hundred and seven years later, some 20,000 real estate professionals will visit the San Diego Convention center where more than 400 organizations will display their offerings and pitch their products. 2016 promises to be a pivotal year of rapid adoption of sweeping innovations and the emergence of new powerhouses in the residential real estate matrix. Here are five hot trends to look for and listen at the workshops to learn [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:29-07:00November 11th, 2015|Main category, Marketing|0 Comments