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Changing the Real Estate Industry's Hard Sell Ethos
2008-03-23 20:35:00
Real estate professionals, like all local business providers serving a community constituency, are challenged by a massive, all-inclusive marketing effort to their potential client base. The inclination to shower any and all with a direct "call to action" sales pitch, like dogs peeing on hydrants, becomes fodder for ridicule: (h/t to Jeff Turner's Skitch site) Aggressive real estate agent tactics have become part of the unseemly folklore and perception for the profession. Here's a typical gripe about aggressive real estate brokers from Yelp: dakini c. says: Hi Everybody, I have a question regarding overly aggressive real estate brokers.  My lease terminates in September but since March I have been contacted by an infinite amount of real estate brokers who want to show my apartment.  At first I was very accommodating but the situation has now spiraled out of control.   I have a HUGE notice up on my door stating that I do not want people coming into my apar...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Blogging , Hard , Changing

Fed punishes the commodities speculators
2008-03-20 18:40:00
Although this post sounds like we're talking about lofty oil prices, it's really a corollary to understanding how the consumer ("Main Street") views intangible rallies - how can the price of oil double in one year is a similar question to how can home prices double in five years. In an economic vacuum, it defies logic.Following up on Tuesday's Fed rate cut of 75 points... the lower than expected rate cut served as a "warning to commodity speculators" and today gold and oil continue their plunge as funds unwind their positions. Main Street doesn't realize how powerful market speculation plays on seemingly tangible commodities like oil. They believe oil prices should follow the logic of supply and demand, and can't really fathom why oil prices have essentially doubled since last year.The logical part is the media and economists point to increasing oil demand from China and Asia as their economies grows and to the weakening dollar as the base currency for oil pricing. The unfathom...
More About: Economy , Commodities , Speculators

Bernanke and the Fed show their grasp of the situation
2008-03-19 10:59:00
Yesterday's collective sigh of relief accompanying the Fed's 75 point Fed Funds rate cut and more benign financial reporting from Goldman Sachs and Lehman Bros signaled Bernanke and the Fed's grasp of the market. The Fed likely informally surveyed the i-banks on Monday, realized that a reprise of Bear Stearns Act II was not in the offing, and determined that it didn't need the 100 point rate cut that all economists had been predicting. Instead, the Fed hedged against the inflationary momentum of elevated commodity prices and the drooping dollar with a less than expected rate cut, assuming rightly (at least yesterday) that their creative reactions to solving the credit crisis demonstrated their determination to pull no punches in righting the markets. (Today, the government loosened capital restrictions on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to get banks to make more home loans).Today, oil and gold prices (as of 12:30EDT) are lower 4-5% and the dollar is rebounding, temporarily alleviatin...
More About: Economy , Show , Situation

How Bear Stearns unraveled
2008-03-18 01:14:00
Last week's stars aligned to produce two Shakespearean tragedies: the crashes of Bear Stearns and Eliot Spitzer were parallel images of hubris.Last Monday's now famous Bear Stearns link becomes the financial equivalent of "I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky":Alan Schwartz, President and CEO of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc., said, "Bear Stearns' balance sheet, liquidity and capital remain strong."The British tycoon Joe Lewis lost $1 billion in six months. The shorts, many were the hedge funds promoting the rumors of Bear's illiquidity, made a killing. The government and Fed were forced to unprecedented actions to ensure against a Monday (yesterday) meltdown, and caught flak for rescuing Wall Street, but not Main Street. (Umm, a Wall Street meltdown would slaughter Main Street).The Wall Street Journal chronicles Bear's last week in all its gory, mesmerizing details... and NYT's DealBook chimes in with a rumor mill insider's perspective. And yes, the Street...
More About: Economy

Blogger as Journalist
2008-03-18 00:00:00
Why discuss journalism on Transparent Real Estate? Because real estate bloggers are essentially journalists in their own markets and should understand how professional journalists are working to distribute their content. Blogger s can use the same syndication methods to expand their online presence. Online, mainstream media still rules SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle online) says consumers still go primarily to big brand name sites, but mainstream media can't support their operations on relatively measly online revenues. The top 10 online news sites in 2007 were either big-media operations - such as the New York Times or ABC News - or online aggregators such as Yahoo News or Google News, whose content is largely produced by traditional media outlets."The fact is that the audience still sees a lot of value in reporting about public life," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the initiative. "What (media companies) need to do is figure out how to make money doing that.(author note: a ...
More About: Blogging , Journalist

Sunday Rate Cut + Bear Stearns Bailout? Uhoh
2008-03-16 20:11:00
What a Sunday shocker to see the Fed announce a 1/4 discount rate count on a Sunday afternoon after feverishly prodding JP Morgan Chase's acquisition of Bear Stearns for announcement by the time Asian markets open on their Monday mornings. To do this on a Sunday seems to imply the critical nature of Bear's fall and its effect on the surviving financial institutions.To cut the rate a mere 1/4 point two days before the Fed's official March 18 rate cut announcement seems odd at first glance, but on second reading seems to portend an extra 3/4 point cut on March 18 (or even 17th) to stabilize the markets. Today's 1/4 point cut becomes, in effect, the warning shot - a mechanism to signal to the market that the Fed is ready to go full bore into righting the markets. We'll see how the markets react Monday morning...Here's one more shocker: one year ago, Bear Stearn's share price was $170... JP Morgan Chase's purchase price: $2/share... oh, and that $2/share represents a 93% discoun...
More About: Economy , Rate

Slumburbs
2008-03-15 07:13:00
The spectre of brand new and unsold housing developments in the exurbias of the Central Valley and Inland Empires of California, and other overbuilt areas, imply a new sociogeographic development: "new housing" slums. Carol Lloyd's Surreal Estate explores the idea in her Slumburbia article. Prices on these new homes will eventually bottom out to a nadir when they can attract investors, who will rent them out. Local economies, hampered by the recession that has already hit areas of high foreclosure, may not even support the rental markets. The relative pricing of California exurban housing seems to drop a few thousand dollars per mile away from the coast. Unfortunately, people have figured out that living in Sacramento is like living in a more expensive version of Texas: ?if [Austin] it wasn?t surrounded by Texas it?d be called Sacramento?, Chuck Thompson, travel writer
More About: San Francisco Bay Area

Top 50 blogs for startups
2008-03-13 22:12:00
Even Louis C. at lead generation company HomeGain admits blogging is a natural marketing media for real estate. It shouldn't come as any surprise that there are instructive blogs popping up for all niches of business. Evan Carmichael's 50 Blogs for Startups highlights blogs like: Restaurant startups: Diary of a Food Whore Pet care startups: Pawsible Marketing Retail startups: Retail Design Diva Concession startups: Concession Central Dance school startups: Toronto Dance Salsa Blog Franchise startups: Franchise King blog
More About: Blogging

WCRBlogs.com
2008-03-12 17:53:00
Press release:Members of California's Women's Council of Realtors have launched a statewide blog network highlighting their blogs at www.WCRblogs.com. The mission of WCRblogs is to provide consumers with real time housing information across California cities by leaders of the real estate industry. The participating WCR blogging members come from different brokerages and backgrounds, and together they provide the most detailed up to date commentary on the state of the California housing markets than any other real estate site. WCRblogs aggregates articles authored by its participating blogging real estate agents and displays them in a chronological list. Consumers searching WCRblogs will naturally gravitate towards reading the bloggers in their city or area of interest. By metaphor, WCRblogs.com acts as the "front page" for the headlines about the California real estate market, and the bloggers play the role of journalists who cover these markets on a timely basis. The blog netwo...

RETechSouth - the sudden conference
2008-03-11 09:21:00
retechsouth conference siteMatt Fagioli and I met at several Inman Connect conferences, and we both loved it. Matt wanted to promote real estate technology in his hometown Atlanta, and his conference project entered planning stages. But one comes to the realization that if you haven't done a conference before, planning one seems ethereally simple - find a venue, set a date and invite people. Introduce Brad Nix to the mix only last week, and the sudden RETechSouth conference happens. Matt and Brad are leveraging affiliate marketing databases, local Realtor associations and their networks to virally market RETechSouth to their Atlanta community. Their mission is admirable - it's being produced to educate and excite the community about the paradigm shifts happening in real estate - and that's an important theme to support. I give both Matt and Brad a lot of credit for producing their first annual RETechSouth because they just did it. And their commitment is tangible - within one w...
More About: Events , Blogging , Conference

Recession map
2008-03-09 11:46:00
USA Today recession mapUSA Today, by way of Moody's Economy.com, published a map that charts the states and their metro areas now in recession.First, it's predictable that recession and foreclosure incidence go hand in hand... the states hit hardest had the most housing build activity over the past decade. (Why foreclosure hit Bakersfield is still in expansion? I guess it's based on oil...)Second, 30 states are still in expansion, adding some credibility to Bush's and the Fed's repeated assertions that the US economy may avert a recession.
More About: Recession

Twittering Ben Bernanke
2008-03-07 01:30:00
Hilarious if you like getting a running hourly series of economic jokes through your day - follow BenBernanke on Twitter! The Dow close today (12040.39) x100 felt like prime number to me. Spent good chunk of afternoon checking. Prime factors are 79 x 15,241. about 8 hours ago from twhirl If someone doesn't muzzle The Hammer soon I'm going to take this to GWB. This is absurd. about 9 hours ago from web Marc Faber calls me a destroyer of value? Be serious. I had a predecessor, you know. about 13 hours ago from twhirl By leaving rates unchanged today, the ECB is playing chicken wit...
More About: Comedy , Economy , Ben Bernanke

CBS affiliate adopts widgets and blog networks
2008-03-05 01:38:00
Kevin Boer passed me this email about plans for the local CBS affiliate TV station to create a network of local sites (essentially a blog network) for their online readership: Hello Kevin, I want to introduce the CBS 5 San Francisco/Bay Area network, a network of local sites that cover San Francisco/Bay Area news, sports, lifestyle, politics, arts and culture and invite you to apply for membership. WBZTV.com has partnered with Pulse 360 to help build this network. The main benefits of becoming a member include: Content ? CBS 5 is offering content widgets for you to place on your site in either video or story format.  The content comes directly from WBZ-TV and can compliment your original content to provide an even richer experience for your readers.  To see examples of the widgets, please click here: https://pvn.pulse360.com/pvn/verticals/cb s-san-francisco/  - Click the "See More Examples" link to see the different widg...
More About: Widgets , Affiliate , Networks , Blog

Culture 2.0: the end of Arrogance
2008-03-04 00:07:00
The most interesting political battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton illustrates a clash between social cultures that mirrors how Web 2.0 and social networking are flattening social hierarchies:"Hillary Clinton's campaign model," David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist told me this morning in Chicago, "is a very tired Washington model: 'I'll do these things for you.' Barack's model is 'Let's do these things together.' Arianna Huffington describes the trend succinctly: Microtrends vs. Macrotrends: Why Obama is Winning : [Clinton's campaign manager Mark Penn...] "literally wrote the book on microtrends, but this election is about a macrotrend." Penn and the Clintons set about slicing up the electorate into the "small forces behind tomorrow's big changes" that Penn described in his 2007 book Microtrends. They then devised policies and personas to try to appeal to each one -- only to watch dumbfounded as their microtrend sandcastles were washed away by the macrot...
More About: Culture , Arrogance

Real Estate Radio USA done right
2008-03-02 15:01:00
I've often stated that video, even audio podcasts, for real estate are best produced by experts or professionals. Well, I've discovered "drive time" internet Real Estate Radio USA in the incarnation of Barry Johnson and Barry Cunningham. Produced with a one-minute intro on par with the gawdiest AM talk show, it's the living example of the Web 2.0 trend towards micro-programming, like NPR's Car Talk. I was on last Friday and liken the experience to being on traditional radio or TV interview. These guys understand radio programming - how to engage the guests and the listeners - an art that's difficult for any real estate agent podcasting. They are becoming the microphone of the real estate blogosphere because they're well read and know the personalities we all know, and are immediately ensconced in this family. The radio show format is easy to listen to... check out the broadcast here. I happened to be tagged (a rare occurrence) by Mark Pilatowski in the reincarnated ...
More About: Real Estate

Internet data credibility
2008-02-29 09:17:00
The Internet has always faced a content choice issue based on data credibility - does a search engine actually produce reliable references, or do "experts" fare better in delivering references unbiased beyond agenda? The obvious answer is both interpretations are necessary to assess the relative value of real estate data.  Search item Automated data/search analysis Results customized by human overviewProperty valuationZillow, Cyberhomes Redfin Sweet Digs, Socketsite and Curbed survey properties, but there will also be real estate agents who know the market bestHousing market conditionsAltos Research, Case Schiller indexReal Estate Voices (real estate article submissions) Housing Doom and ImplodeMeter article list (to check on the downside)Positive on Real Estate.com (antidote to Housing Doom)Real estate research Google - driven Swanepoel's Trends reportSearch engines Google - drivenMahalo, About.com - Search Engine Journal 2/28/08 on why Mahalo and hu...
More About: Technology , Data

This wheelchair ramp costs $1.1 million to the City of San Francisco
2008-02-27 22:49:00
San Francisco's city government is lamentable... in the private sector, this would be bid rigging... Here's what else is going into the million-dollar ramp: -- $77,000 for the city's Bureau of Architecture project manager, design and construction fees. -- $455,000 for the actual construction, plus asbestos removal. -- $28,000 for a construction scheduling consultant. -- $3,500 for an electrical consultant. -- $68,000 for the Bureau of Construction Management to oversee the construction and various consultants. -- $12,000 for Department of Technology and Information Services oversight. -- $16,500 for permits and fees. (Yes, believe it or not, the city charges itself.) -- And as much as $65,000 for bid overruns. And a few more quotes that sound just too self-serving for the citizenry: "It's crazy," admits Susan Mizner, director of the mayor's Office on Disability. "But this is just the price of doing business in a historic building." "I deserve equal access to every part of...
More About: Comedy , San Francisco , San Francisco Bay Area , City , Million

Beta Inman News
2008-02-26 20:20:00
Inman News shows off its new site in beta... here are my first impressions:it's blue!a softer Inman cube logo matches the cooler feel of the sitelight gray typeface has a washed out feeling, could be as dark as the typeface in the news articlesit's much cleaner than, say the New York Times what?! another community to join and populate? - recommendation: use that method to bring blocs of friends from Facebook, Linkedin whatever... so I don't have to scrounge around and ask to be friends one by one..."another community" comment aside... frankly, I can feel close to the Inman community... it's more Linkedin professional feel, less Active Rain hyperactivity (which btw is part of its charm)... and it's definitely more focused than Facebook, where I've somehow literally joined thousands of groups from the Warriors to Researchbitch, keep receiving email notifications that somebody has matched my score on Superpowers, and get befriended by my son's 13-year old buds.it's got a bl...
More About: Beta , Inman

New blog directories
2008-02-25 08:11:00
Blogged.com has been receiving coverage for its official launch Monday from the major tech blogs as a human--edited blog directory. Congrats to friends Reggie / Niknik and Joel for receiving high marks from Blogged's reviewers of real estate blogs. In addition, new directories Trafficjam.com and BlogCatalog also serve the same purpose of identifying relevant blogs by industry (in the above links' case, real estate). A number of blog directories have spawned as more consumers become accustomed to blogs as sources of information. The problem is the directories don't generate significant traffic to real estate blogs, because the directories themselves aren't well trafficked for specific industries like real estate. In other word, a reader searching for real estate blogs will likely bypass a generic blog directory in his/her search methodology. This blogger compiled a list of blog directory sites by Google page rank, with the caveat advice that participating in these blog director...
More About: Blog , Directories

Why I'm writing on the HomeGain blog
2008-02-21 19:20:00
A friend asked me why I posted an article on the HomeGain blog, considering HomeGain's position as a lead generation and lead sales company. I refer to an article I posted on the Inman News blog last June: Web 2.0 Disruption : Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of  Homegain engaged - don't dismiss Web 1.0 businesses like Homegain, they work because they are tried and true business models... "Web 1.0 companies, like HomeGain and "bricks and mortar" franchises like ReMAX, will add web 2.0 features when and as it pays to do so. Adding heat maps, HVAL tools, blogs, user generated content is not all that difficult. The trick is making those features pay. Making real estate pay is something that companies like HomeGain and ReMAX have a long history of doing.  Have Web 2.0 companies like Zillow and Trulia figured that out yet?" I see what Mr. Cammarosano means. Simply put, Web 1.0 upheld, even enhanced the status quo real estate business models like lead-gen...
More About: Writing , Blogging , Blog

Forbes Blog Network
2008-02-19 09:21:00
I've discussed how mainstream media is rapidly moving to include user generated content, particularly well trafficked, influential blog content, onto their sites. Forbes .com is developing a blog network of sites in the financial and business arena that is supposed to launch fairly soon. I received an invitation to participate for Transparent Real Estate, but I'm not exactly sure what to expect.  World Beta does the best job shedding light on how the new network, essentially a blog aggregator, works. Forbes seems to be copying the business model of Seeking Alpha, an aggregation of financial and business blog feeds that share revenues between Seeking Alpha and its contributing bloggers. Although slated to start last month, it now appears it will be unveiled soon... members received their site "badges" a week ago. Bill Hartzer started the MyBlog Log tag "ForbesBlogNetwork " to recognize this group. Here are a few other bloggers' commentary... conclusion - no one exactly knows...

Multitasking a boon for work/family life balance
2008-02-17 10:22:00
Mainstream media almost uniformly blasts on the stress of daily life facilitated by "Crackberries", wifi, laptops and multitasking in general. However, for working parents balancing work and family life, the "always on" life makes complete sense for certain character types who are comfortable with peripatetic multitasking. At the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, at chess tournaments and other indoor competitions, parents wait for their children to finish practice or matches in wifi-enabled lounges working on their laptops. The new Conservatory opened last September, and the architects made the common mistake of wiring for too few outlets so there's always a rush for plug position on Saturday mornings. To me, work efficiency makes life less stressful... I would rather spend that hour or two waiting for my children to finish practice on the laptop than wasting time driving back and forth. Moreover, the kids are used to it, they know that when they are finished, they get my full...
More About: Family , Life , Work , The Future , Balance

NBA All Star Weekend
2008-02-16 14:45:00
Love our Warriors... here's what Jeff van Gundy said after the Warriors/Suns game last Thursday:Jeff Van Gundy: "We should let them keep playing. We should let them play all through all-star weekend. In fact we should have these two teams play each other 16 times in a season"
More About: Events , All Star , Weekend , Star

Orange County sets trends for suburban living
2008-02-16 01:22:00
Despite the media portrayal of Orange County as a the new Peyton Place overrun by blondes and bikinied teenagers, this county of over 3,000,000 people is really America's suburban bellwether. Its melting pot demographics of 32% Latino and 16% Asian population defines a multicultural suburb that, by virtue of its trendsetting SoCal pedigree, is ground zero for propagating the new suburban lifestyle trends. After hearing rave reviews about the new Whole Foods located in the District shopping center next to Irvine, I had to visit before going to the airport. The press release says it all better than I can: Since its opening in 1980, Whole Foods Market has helped transform the way Americans eat and think about food. "We want our shoppers to celebrate the joys of eating and living well. We hope Whole Foods Market will continue to prompt change in the way people think about and shop for food" said John Mackey, Whole Foods Market CEO and co-founder. Highlights of T...
More About: Living , Trends , Sets , Orange County

Kinkos disfunctional business model
2008-02-14 10:08:00
We're traveling this week and had to make some copies at Kinko's (now given the tongue twisting name of FedexKinkos... which causes one to consider - does a brand name have such ego that it needs to insert itself into a simple, effective name like Kinkos?). I've always thought Kinko's was dysfunctional - a combination of demanding customers, poor service provided by a staff that seemed to be hired because they lacked the people skills to become barristas, and ugly fluorescent interiors. Well, Kinko's also has a completely backwards business model based on their main product: copies. Copies made by their service staff - collated and stapled if necessary - cost 8¢ per copy.  If I hook up my laptop to their LAN system, I can print directly to Kinko's printers for 49¢ each, 600% higher. It's the only model I've ever seen where automating a procedure takes the back seat to giving employees something to do, like managing a copier.It's backwards... I can't even think of an ...
More About: Business , Disintermediation , Model

Blog as door opener
2008-02-11 11:56:00
When a real estate agent starts developing a blog, the main objective is usually simple, even one-dimensional - to enhance their online marketing profile in order to get more leads. The blogger's progress follows a certain ritual: First, bloggers develop the hyperlocal content that position themselves as experts in their targeted area / city of influence. Example: Sunday's LA Times highlights real estate blogging as marketing tool (h/t to friend Elaine Carlson) As a blogger, the sudden realization they have gained entry into a larger social network of bloggers. Example: Active Rain. They find, and interact with a smaller corps of bloggers for friendship and to trade business ideas, just like physical life. Example: What my Group Blog means to me and you The network becomes a referral source. They understand that bloggers do business with other bloggers for the same surprising reason as any social network they belong to - trust. Example: As referral sources, commission spl...
More About: Blogging , Door

Commercial social networks
2008-02-08 00:10:00
While I was selling my car, I noted that it was still hard to sell items via the social network. Theoretically, transactions between friends in an established network is efficient because the trust factor needs to be maintained... any transgressions will create network friction. Facebook provides a social selling widget Radical Buy that allows the seller to set any commission to an intermediary who connects the buyer with the seller. In the larger scheme, the widget could make Facebook users eBay-like hubs who extend their networks commercially. The social network is being leveraged to facilitate peer-to-peer financial transactions. Read Gartner Group's study on how social banking platforms may account for 10% of retail lending within two year (a striking claim...) Non-bank competitors are pushing aggressively into banking and investment services, threatening to undermine banks in the financial relationship, according to Gartner. The threat is particularly pronounced in two bu...
More About: Social , Commercial , Social Networks , Networks

Help the Tornado Victims
2008-02-07 22:03:00
Kudos to  Agent Genius...their message:[Thanks] All funds will be given in the name of RE.net - our online real estate community.  Where ever you see [Help] around the RE.net, thank them, we surely will with lots of link love, and kudos.
More About: Events , Tornado , Victims

Watch Election 2008 Returns on Google Maps with Media Twitters
2008-02-05 23:36:00
H/T to Screenwerk for pointing out an intriguing way to watch the SuperTuesday Election 2008 returns on Google Maps with Twitter feed comments from all over the country (and world) in real time...See how Twitter is beginning to integrate itself into new media as a vox populi ticker tape?
More About: Media , Watch , Google Maps

Economic doomsayers - part 2
2008-02-05 01:33:00
Two interesting links appeared in comments from yesterday's post on the Armageddon Economy. First (h/t to Sean O'Toole for setting me straight on Janszen's perspective), iTulip's Eric Janszen explains the distinction between two types of economic doomsayers: Deflationistas (Janszen's term) believe that continuing asset deflation is rooted in consumers spiraling deeper into debt while real wages fall due to global wage arbitrage (plus the added bonus of the deflating asset values like stocks and housing). Hyper-inflationistas believe rampant inflation will rear its head with further massive Fed / Central Bank rate cuts combined with a sinking dollar. Janszen argues this won't happen (for similar reasons I've expressed earlier in Transparent): For a nation to experience a hyperinflation, all four of the following conditions need to be met: Large and growing external debt as a percentage of GDP with falling GDP (Yes, like the US.)Politically and economically isolated and...
More About: Part , Economic