Realbird, the Bay Area-based MLS search provider, launched a real estate Wiki about the same time that Zillow made its big December 6th announcement, which also included a Wiki.

Industry wikis have yet to take off, at least in real estate, but now that Inman has acquired Realbird’s Wiki, that might change. Real estate professionals have been reluctant to contribute content to Zillow’s wiki for at least two reasons:

1. They remain eternally suspicious of Zillow’s intentions and are skeptical of making a contribution to a site which they believe will turn on them.
2. There’s currently no way of getting attribution for contributing. (”What do we Realtors want? Linkbacks! When do want it? Now!”) We may be happy to add to the body of knowledge out there, but we want some credit for it. The crude and simple way around this is to put a link back to our own site within our post, but the efficient Zillow cops tend to pick that up pretty quickly. (Drew, are you reading this? )

Inman’s foray into the Wiki space may overcome the first, and for the time being the Inman Wiki does allow for author attribution — see, for instance, the post on my broker, Alain Pinel Realtors, which clearly marks yours truly as the author. (Note to self: need to update this entry to reflect the fact that the VP of Marketing has just left. Done.)

From a consumer perspective, the big problem with an industry wiki is neutrality, an illustration of which is another entry on Alain Pinel Realtors. This one is pure marketing bumph, lifted word-for-word from our corporate-speak-ridden 1.0-era brochure-ware web site. Given the article’s attribution of Inman itself, I have to assume this article was simply copied in order to seed the wiki.

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Exciting couple of days meeting old friends whom I’d never met in person before.  Highlights of the last few days included:

• Getting a post up before Sellsius  (Granted, Joe was in the panel, and sitting up front without a laptop, but hey, I’ll take any advantage I can, fair or unfair!)  I didn’t mean to imply in that post that nobody was interested in the session — as a few people pointed out, I attended the re-run, but the matinee was packed.
• Getting some really excellent customer service from iBahn, the conference’s Wifi provider.  On Monday afternoon I complained about their service, and a scant few hours later, I got an email from Shannon Michael at iBahn asking for details so they could help.  Their customer care director Ponch Thompson also got involved, and all told I got two phone calls and several emails trying to resolve the problem.  In the end, I was able to figure it out on my side, but I feel it’s only fair that if I complained publicly about iBahn, I also need to publicly compliment them for a great customer service experience.  Shannon, Ponch — hats off, great work, and thanks!
• Temporarily topping Google for the search phrase “Glenn Kelman Alan Dalton” — some 12 hours after posting about their duel, beating out the Redfin and Inman blogs.  I’m now down at number 2, but nobody should feel bad about getting Google-out-ranked by RainCityGuide.

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Alan Dalton (Move.com) was in top form tonight in his panel discussion with Glenn Kelman of Redfin.  I predicted three things he would say and I got — well, sort of — 2 out of 3.

Prediction:  “I know Glenn Kelman is a decent man, an honorable man, who really really cares about Realtors, probably because most of his classmates at Berkeley became Realtors.”

Actual:  I’ll have to wait to review a full video of the panel, but he did make a few references to Glenn Kelman (and his cross-town counterpart, Lloyd Frink of Zillow) being “good, decent, honorable” people…but he didn’t mention anything about Kelman’s Berkeley classmates.

Prediction: “I think it’s appropriate that Glenn is here with us near Times Square, the world capital of frivolous neon lights and entertainment, which is really all Redfin amounts to.”

Actual:  Dalton did say something along the lines of “It’s appropriate we’re here in Manhattan…” but then launched into a long-winded analogy about how what Redfin is doing disparages Realtors, and if we did the same with all professionals — doctors, lawyers, etc. — there would be no consumers left to buy anything and we’d all be living in caves.  Very bizarre.

Prediction: “I ask you, what is the real estate public really looking for — the full service value-added model of the traditional Realtor, or a scaled-down web-based half-baked coccamamie jumbo-mumbo service that leaves the consumer to fend for himself?”

Actual: Lots of things along that vein, but not anything of the same wording.

Trust me, you don’t want to be in the ring with Dalton — he’s engaging, witty, entertaining, and thoroughly enjoys sparring.

Off now to some other event…will try to report more on this event later today or tomorrow.

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Our dinner tonight will be at 9:00 pm at Tao, 42 E 58th St, New York
(212) 888-2288
taorestaurant.com

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The Inman conference is warming up…

I’ll be doing my best to live blog during the day — within reason — so keep your eyes out for the Technorati tag “Inman REConnect”.

Only complaint so far is that Inman is not providing free Wifi access!  I had difficulty signing up with the hotel’s Ibahn service, which costs $9.95 per day — I’m more than willing to pay that, but I couldn’t configure it properly.  I tried calling customer support but couldn’t get through to anyone.  That’s not good.  If anybody from Ibahn reads this post, I’d appreciate an email so we can sort it out.
Then I noticed that T-Mobile is an Ibahn partner, so now I’m able to get on with no problem.

There is a RealtyTrac-sponsored “Internet Cafe” with 4 terminals, hardly enough for this crowd.  RealtyTrac, if you’re reading this, I have a suggestion:  plug in a wireless unencrypted no login router; you’ll generate lots of good publicity and good will.  Heck, I’ll get a router and plug it in if you want me to…
I may have also found another solution, so if you need access, ping me at and I’ll tell you about it.

Cheers…

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I’m flying out tomorrow to attend the Inman REConnect ‘07 conference in New York, and it looks to be a packed and informative time.  Heck, it looks downright entertaining!

The keynote address has a nice ring to it: Real Estate Debate — High Touch vs. High Tech.  As alliterative as the title may be, however, I’d say it suggests a false choice.  Is it really “High Touch” vs. “High Tech”?  Are the options for the future of our industry really two distinct paths — one of them the “High Touch” model of old and the other the “High Tech” model that’s causing so much angst?  I think not:  just ask my clients about the “High Tech, High Touch” approach I use.

More entertaining than the title is the thought of seeing Alan Dalton take on Glenn Kelman — now that’s bound to be a good show!  Regular readers may remember Alan Dalton’s bombastic performance at another conference a few months ago.  In the ring with him back then was Zillow’s Lloyd Frink, who may not have matched Dalton in flamboyance, but certainly bested him in substance.

Glenn, if you’re reading this as part of your pre-game preparation, here are my predictions of what Dalton’s going to throw at you:

1. “I know Glenn Kelman is a decent man, an honorable man, who really really cares about Realtors, probably because most of his classmates at Berkeley became Realtors.”
2. “I think it’s appropriate that Glenn is here with us near Times Square, the world capital of frivolous neon lights and entertainment, which is really all Redfin amounts to.”
3. “I ask you, what is the real estate public really looking for — the full service value-added model of the traditional Realtor, or a scaled-down web-based half-baked coccamamie jumbo-mumbo service that leaves the consumer to fend for himself?”

Remember, Glenn, Dalton doesn’t dislike you personally — he’s just running scared of the innovation that Redfin represents.

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Planning on going to Inman Connect in New York next week? Several of us were thinking it would be fun to have an RE blogger dinner one night. Looking at the schedule, Monday night after the 6:30pm to 8:00pm reception seems like the only time that will work.

So, plan on joining us at 9:00pm for a late dinner; venue to be announced. So we can get a good head count, please . I’ll compile an email alias for the group so we can stay in touch at the conference. Please spread the word through your various blogs as well.

If you have a restaurant suggestion near Times Square that could handle a group of ~30, please let me know.

There’s a pre-Inman event as well that may be interesting.

So far the following folks are coming:

• Myself
• Pat Kitano
• Mike Simonsen
• CondoDomain guys
• Sellsius guys (we hope)

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Responding to Alan Dalton’s Zillow-skewering at the recent convention of the California Association of Realtors, Brad Inman of Inman News had this to say:

Money quote to Realtor audience: “Don’t let anyone demean your value by suggesting that you should be threatened by new sources of information.”

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At the recent convention of the California Association of Realtors, Brad Inman, President and CEO of Inman News Features, spoke about how technology has been changing the business of real estate. Inman’s a pretty sharp character, and he “gets” technology in real estate in a way that many industry leaders don’t.

Here’s what he had to say about electronic transactions:

Uh, Brad…next time you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, let me know…we’ll do all the paperwork electronically, and the first and only time you’ll have to put a pen to paper is when you sign the closing documents at the title company. Alas, California law still requires mortgage documents to be signed the old fashioned way.

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