Irony Of Ironies: The Mechanical Turk Behind The

April 2, 2008

Zillow, the perennial surprise-maker of online real estate, has just launched its long-anticipated foray into the mortgage world with a “Mortgage Marketplace.”  The company’s original online real estate product — the controversial “Zestimate” — is a computer algorithm estimating the value of homes.  The logical mechanism behind a “Mortgage Marketplace” would thus also be a computer algorithm — say, a mortgage pricing engine that spits out rates from lenders based on the borrower’s situation.

In a delicious twist of irony, however, the mechanical Turk behind this new product is … a person.  As in, homo sapien.  Specifically, a mortgage professional.

In a pre-launch briefing with “What would David Gibbons do” David Gibbons, he described the all-too-typical grief that a potential borrower goes through with many lenders, whether online or offline:  bait-and-switch salesmanship, hidden fees, inflated rates, and perhaps most egregiously, a complete lack of anonymity.

Zillow’s solution?  Let consumers ask for mortgage quotes without revealing their name.  Let mortgage brokers respond to these requests.  Let consumers sift through the responses and choose the broker they want to work with; then and only then does the buyer have to reveal his or her name.

What about the whole bait-and-switch thing?  Zillow deals with that in a very Web 2.0 way — consumer reviews of mortgage broker performance.  Plus, the participating mortgage brokers are vetted — at least minimally — to confirm that they are, in fact, licensed mortgage brokers.

And here’s something sure to make at least some mortgage brokers sweat a bit:  the competing mortgage offers are visible not just to the consumer who requested them…but also to the other mortgage brokers who submitted offers!

The cost to mortgage brokers?  Zero.  In David’s words, Zillow remains committed to being an advertising platform.  The data they can now gather about consumers — what their home is worth, other homes they’re interested in, and now their income and credit score — makes it possible to target-advertise with nearly pinpoint precision.  David assures us this is not being done in a “Big Brother” kind of way, but if I understand him correctly it may soon be possible, for instance, for Mercedes to target ads that will appear only in front of prospective buyers with an income of at least $100K and a credit score of at least 720.

Other commentary:

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Consumer, Industry | 7 Comments 

Breaking News — 4Realz And Bloodhound Unchained To Merge…First Joint Conference To Be Held On Neutral Ground In Palm Springs

April 1, 2008

Civilians and other normal people — scat.  This post is only for hard core re.net geeks.

This just in via the grapevine…despite an earlier, uh, tiff, Dustin Luther and Greg Swann, formerly best friends, most recently not so tight…have made up.  Dustin’s highly acclaimed 4Realz seminar series and Greg Swann’s Bloodhound Unchained conference will soon be merging.

Surprising news for those of us inclined to follow such events.  Still, it makes good sense.

In Dustin’s words:  “You know what?  We’re targeting the same group of clients.  We’re both trying to help the real estate industry better understand how to use online and offline marketing effectively.  It just didn’t make sense for us to stay separate.”

Greg Swann concurred (I think):  “Luceat lux vestra!  Luctor et emergo,  silentium est aureum.  sic semper tyrannis.  Quid pro quo — quo vadis?  Ipsom lorem.  Sine quo non. In dentibus anticis frustrum magnum spiniciae habes!”

A potential sticking point — where to hold their joint conference — was easily resolved with the help of a slide rule and Google maps.  Palm Springs, CA is more-or-less in between the two previous venues, so attendees of both upcoming conferences will be meeting in the middle.

The truce was apparently brokered by none other than Joe Ferrara, broker, attorney, and blogger extraordinaire.

Other surprising related revelations:

  • The combined entity, to be known as “Bloodhound 4Realz Unchained,” is engaging the dynamic duo at 1000 Watt Consulting to market the event.  At Greg Swann’s insistence, all market collateral will be in Latin haiku.  Said Marc Davidson of 1000 Watt:  “The haiku bit is no problem.  My Latin’s a little rusty.  But it should be no problem.”
  • The combined entity is said to be in talks with Inman.  Joel Burslem:  “People were getting sick of the whole San Francisco and New York thing and indicated a different venue would be quite popular.  We figured we should just combine all three of us.  Details haven’t been finalized, but we’ll let you know as soon as we can.”
  • The official exchange rate will start at 44 Realz to 3.7 Bloodhound Bucks, and 88 Realz will get you on the short list of the weekly Odysseus Medal.
  • The official uniform of the conference will be day-glo-hued spandex tights with huge cod-pieces.
  • Kevin Tomlinson, self proclaimed Google backlink whore, will provide refreshments, primarily Diet Coke and popcorn.

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Industry | 15 Comments 

Dan Green Corners New .Blog Domain Market Within 2 Minutes Of Opening

April 1, 2008

Dan Green, the well-known — and very entrepreneurial — mortgage re.net 2.0 blogger, mortgage broker, businessman, and 50% of the brains behind the re.net’s “Associated Press of blogging” pinged me last night with some interesting, if perhaps geeky, news:  a new top-level domain .Blog has been announced and will be available starting today.

What does this mean?  Quite simple — if you’ve been thinking of starting a blog, you may have noticed that every single possible domain name has already been taken.  Seriously.  Trust me on this.  Say you’re in Wapatachee, WI.  WapatacheeBlog.com, the obvious choice, is already gone, as is its plural form.  WapatacheeHomeBlog and its plural twin — taken.  Same with WapatacheeRealEstateBlog[s].com, WapatacheeHomesForSaleBlog[s].com and so forth…you’d have to content yourself with something like WapatacheeRealEstateAndMortgageServicesInformationForYouFromMeYourTrustedRealtor[s].com

With the new .Blog domains available, you’ll now be able to settle for something much simpler and much more memorable.  Wapatachee.Blog, for instance, would be a good choice.

At just a few minutes after midnight, just after the domains had become available, I thought I’d reserve a few obvious choices for myself — 3Oceans.blog and 3OceansRealEstate.blog.  Guess what — taken!  I did some sleuthing and found both domains had been registered just minutes earlier by a company named DotBlog.Blog, headquartered in Cincinnati OH at 10979 Reed Hartman, Suite 118B.  Some more investigation proved my suspicion:  DotBlog.Blog’s head office is in the broom closet of Dan Green’s mortgage business.

You see, Dan Green is not, in fact, a mortgage broker.  He’s actually a domain cyber-squatter.  He got wind of the new .Blog domains a few days ago and took the time to write an automated blog that reserved every single conceivable re.net domain name within minutes of them becoming available.  Greg Swann — want Bloodhound.blog?  Sorry, Dan’s got it.  Joe — looking for Sellsius.blog?  Same news.

It turns out that through another of his nefarious shell Cayman Island-based shell companies, Dan has started another venture called BringTheMoolahForYourDomain.Blog.com  If you want to ransom your hijacked domain name, send $50 in crisp $3 notes to Dan Green’s West Coast office in Menlo Park.  Email me for the address.

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Humor, Industry | 12 Comments 

Joel Joins Inman, Now Rudy Joins Trulia; Predictions Of Upcoming Blogger Transitions

February 1, 2008

A while back Joel Burslem — author of FutureOfRealEstateMarketing.com — joined Inman.

Today we hear that Rudy of Sellsius has joined Trulia.

Other (still unconfirmed) transitions we hear are in the works:

  • Redfin buys Bloodhound Realty and its associated blog, and Greg Swann becomes Redfin’s Arizona broker-of-record.  Redfin CEO Kelman, distressed at Swann’s self-proclaimed disinterest in national parks, sends him off to Yosemite to distribute Redfin stickers, with strict instructions to send back Latin-only postcards.   Russell Shaw, sick of the traditional broker model, is seen handing out the Book of Kelman on street corners in Phoenix.
  • Overwhelmed by her increased workload, Redfin media maven Cynthia Pang brings aboard uber-consultant Marc Davison — at Greg Swann’s recommendation.  Marc and Greg are spotted writing press releases in Haiku.
  • Rudy’s long-time business partner Joe Ferrara joins Zillow as its “Chief Zestimate Accuracy And Opt-Out Evangelist.”
  • Brad Inman, founder of Inman News, having successfully convinced the real estate industry to adopt electronic signatures, heads to the Middle East to replace Tony Blair as peace envoy.
  • Athol Kay gets hired by Kodak.  His new job?  Do nothing, absolutely nothing.  In particular, PLEASE DON’T POST ALL THOSE BAD PICTURES!!! It makes our industry look bad.

  • Marlow Harris, burnt out with real estate, moves to Memphis, TN, and becomes a Graceland docent.

  • Daniel Rothamel moves to Masai Mara, Kenya and becomes a safari guide.  On weekends, he heads into Nairobi to coach and ref basketball games.
  • Dustin Luther, missing the corporate life, moves back to Move.com.
  • Brian Brady gets an emergency call from Washington.  “Bernanke quits.  We need you.  P.S. Leave the suspenders in San Diego.”

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Industry | 19 Comments 

Outraged At MSM Bias In Real Estate Coverage? How About Some Outrage At Dirty Broker Tricks?

January 29, 2008

I’ve accused David “Hi this is David G from Zillow” Gibbons of having a technorati-enabled chip embedded in his ear that buzzes whenever anybody, anywhere on the Internet mentions his employer. Rumors have been circulating that Greg Swann may have a similar device, which sends out the bat-signal any time one of numerous companies — especially Redfin — is mentioned.

It appears the bat-signal just rang, this time initiated by an article in Forbes about Redfin. The title alone — Swimming With Sharks — immediately reveals the author’s slant, and Greg properly and roundly chews him out. The good guys — in this genre, it’s Redfin, always Redfin — “say” and “write” when communicating, and the bad guys — traditional brokers, in this case exemplified by Gary Bulanti of Alain Pinel Realtors, my ex-broker — “sniff,” as in:

“In our area the consumer is savvy enough to know that they want value and a high-quality agent,” sniffs Gary Bulanti, a Realtor with Alain Pinel Realtors in Menlo Park, Calif.

(I should note that Gary Bulanti does not sniff when he talks. Au contraire, his nasal passages are actually quite clear, thank you very much.)

So, yes, I will agree with Greg that the mainstream media has — once again — done unbiased journalism a dis-service.

But let’s overlook that for a moment — if we can — and think about this: Shouldn’t we be far more outraged at the dirty broker tricks being done against Redfin?

If the traditional industry believes Redfin’s days are numbered, why not let the market take its course? Why resort to middle school-style behavior such as:

  • Not presenting offers
  • Bad-mouthing Redfin
  • Destroying Redfin signs
  • Bribing lobbying state legislatures to outlaw rebates

If these things are actually going on — and I see no reason to believe Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman is “just making this stuff up” — we should be apoplectic! These incidents give the industry a worse name than it already has — a pretty difficult thing to do — and provide the media and Redfin with more ammo.

I personally have not seen first-hand these kinds of things directed at Redfin, but I have seen enough shenanigans in this business to have no doubt that they are actually occurring.

Not presenting offers? Come on! That is such a clear violation of ethics, fiduciary duty, common sense, fairness, sanity…and I can completely believe it happens.

Finally, Glenn, if you’re reading this, I hope you were misquoted when you said: [bold italics mine]

“Every week we have a selling agent tell one of our clients that their offer will go nowhere,” Kelman says. “They say, ‘We control the inventory, and you will never get this house.’”

A listing agent represents the seller. A selling agent represents the buyer. I know, it’s kind of silly, but that’s the way it is.

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Consumer, Industry | 3 Comments 

Roost Levels The Playing Field Between Listing And Buy-side Brokers, But (Speaking From Personal Experience!) How Long Before An MLS Strangles It?

January 27, 2008

Trulia! Zillow! … and now Roost! Where do they come up with these names?

roost-logo.gifRoost, a new startup in the increasingly crowded real estate search space, launched last week to a cacophony of commentary from the re.net. Joel Burslem covered its feature set, its performance, and noted that Roost has the complete MLS inventory because it gets its listings from MLS’s, albeit indirectly. Greg Swann fawned over its business model and complete inventory.

If I understand Roost’s business model correctly, it intends to make money in a way that’s clever, unique, and possibly illegal non-MLS-compliant.  [1/30/08 update:  I've been thinking about my choice of words, and "illegal" is definitely not the word I should have used.  "Illegal" is mugging somebody, or stealing something.  What Roost is doing is 100% legal and above-board.  It may -- and I emphasize may -- be viewed by some as being non-MLS-compliant.]

The unique aspect of its business plan: it offers brokerages the opportunity to sponsor search results and get the resulting click-throughs to their own site. A search in Sacramento, for instance, reveals that the current sponsor is Sacramento heavyweight Lyon Real Estate.

roost1.png

The first three listings I see are from VM Group, Gold Financial Services, and Prudential CA Realty, all clearly identified in compliance with Sacramento’s Metrolist MLS services.

roost3.png

Here’s the tricky bit…if you want more information, you click on “View Details on Featured Broker’s Site.” When you do that for, say, the Prudential listing, you get information about the Prudential listing on the Lyon Real Estate site:

roost4.png

roost4.pngroost5.png

This sleight-of-hand is accomplished through a too-clever-by-half url manipulation, much to subtle to be noticed by the average consumer, but apparently kosher enough to pass muster from the Sacramento MLS — at least for now. What if Prudential gets upset that the click-through on one of their listings on a public MLS-ish site goes through to one of its competitors?

Here’s how (I believe) Roost and Lyon defend themselves: Look at the url. When you search in Sacramento, you’re not actually using the Roost site at all; you’re actually using the Lyon site (GoLyon.com). For as long as Lyon is the sponsoring broker, the search is being conducted at golyon.roost.com — a (sub)domain under the control of Lyon Real Estate — and hence in compliance with those silly old arcane MLS rules.

Watch what happens when you go back to the site. In my case, I ran another search, and this one was sponsored by Intero. Same results, same look and feel, but the search is now running at InteroRealEstateIDX.com…and sure enough, the click-through goes to Intero’s own site.

Very, very clever. I really like this part of their business model, for reasons I’ve explained before: The current real estate business model heavily favors the listing side of the equation, and I’ve been clamoring to the likes of Zillow and Trulia to think about buy-side advertising offerings. If I’m a small brokerage in Sacramento, and I currently only have, say, 5 listings, I could decide to spend, say, $5000 sponsoring X number of real estate searches in that market. The number one bait that still seems to draw eyeballs in real estate is listings, listings, listings, and if I don’t have many of my own, why not leverage those of my competitors?

Now for the questions of MLS legality compliance …without going into all the details, I tried something like this trick about 2 years ago. It involved subtle manipulation of a url so that searches on a heavily-trafficked site were done — technically — using a url that was under my control. A good lawyer could easily have argued that this was in strict compliance with all the MLS rules. No dice. Within hours I got slapped down — not just by the MLS, but by my own broker!

I certainly wish Roost all the best, but I’m afraid they’d better put a sign on their front door that says, “Couriers please deliver cease and desist letters here.” Any business model that requires MLS compliance involves by definition an order of magnitude more headache. Why do you think Trulia and Zillow decided to get their listing feeds straight from the brokers?

Further commentary:

And still more commentary:

* At the last Inman, Brian and I finally answered that great conundrum: Did his ancestors add on “o” or did mine drop an “o” at Ellis Island? The answer: neither. His ancestors are Italian, and mine Dutch. So no, we’re not related — except of course, through Lucy.

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Consumer, MLS, Roost, Trulia, Zillow | 13 Comments 

Another Meme Makes The Rounds

January 24, 2008

Warning:  This post is light, frivolous, low on calories, lean in content, and has absolutely nothing to do with real estate.

Arizona has its share of richly-monikered (or at least richly-nicknamed) real estate bloggers.  We have, for instance, the Jesuit Libertarian Bloodhound (I have to believe I’m not the only one who refers to Greg Swann thusly).  Then there’s Shailesh Ghimire, an Arizona-based mortgage broker, upon whom I hereby bestow the moniker Shailesh “Fried-Momo” Ghimire.

Every few months one of these silly little memes circulates around the re.net, and this time I’ve been tagged by Shailesh.  The rules are:  list 7 things about yourself, then tag 7 people.  Pretty straightforward.  Here we go:

  1. Shailesh may be the first Nepalese mortgage broker I’ve ever come across, but I’m probably the first triple-citizen real estate broker he’s ever met.  Through a confluence of differing citizenship laws, timing, and restless parents, I and my two younger siblings inherited American, Canadian, and Dutch citizenships — and we have the passports to prove it.
  2. I speak only about 50 words of Dutch, and 45 of them are rude.
  3. I know two African languages well enough to say the following tongue-twister:
    Setswana (spoken in southern Africa) — “Go goga ga gago ga go gontle.”
    Translation:  “Your smoking is not beautiful.”

    Hausa (spoken in northern Nigeria and environs) — “Ba ta taba tabata ba, ko ta taba taba taba, ko ba ta taba taba taba ba.”
    Translation:  She has never said for sure whether she’s ever touched a cigarette.”

    Both eminently useful phrases at United Nations cocktail parties where the conversation centers around carcinogenic habits.

  4. I spent part of Christmas morning 1995 flying over Mosi-oa-Tunya in a microlight.
  5. Said waterfall being near the confluence of four countries — Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia — I spent the rest of Christmas morning 1995 navigating 5 international border crossings:  Botswana to Zimbabwe to Zambia back to Zimbabwe back to Botswana and then over to Namibia.  Why?  Because then I could write about it 12 years later.
  6. I have no idea if I like fried mo-mo’s.  I do, however, like kosai and magwinya — neither of which are blessed with Wikipedia entries.  The latter are lovingly referred to in English as “Fat cakes” and that pretty much describes them:  kind of like donuts, only they have more sugar and are even more greasy.
  7. For reasons that only people who have ever lived within 200 miles of here will understand, I have never had the courage to try this (no doubt wholesome and delicious) food.

I believe I need to tag 7 people.  I’ll build up to it over the next few days, but for now I’ll tag Arn Cenedella, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Menlo Park.

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Humor, Industry | 2 Comments 

October 3, 2007: Inman: 25 Most Influential Real Estate Bloggers: 2007

January 6, 2008

From Inman News, October 3, 2007Inman News has compiled a list of the 25 Most Influential Real Estate Bloggers of 2007, reflecting bloggers who are well-known, well-read and have a knack for stirring up debate on important industry or local topics.There are hundreds of real estate-focused blogs online today, which made choosing only 25 bloggers difficult. The 2007 list includes bloggers who showed influence on issues, consistently attracted eyeballs, stimulated conversation and added a fun voice to gnarly real estate issues.
   

Broker and Agent Blogs
Teresa Boardman Teresa Boardman
Founder, St. Paul Real Estate Blog
Realtor, Keller Williams Integrity Realty Teresa Boardman is a Realtor and licensed broker with Keller Williams in St. Paul, Minn. She started The St. Paul Real Estate Blog as an experiment in 2005 and quickly gained national and local attention. Her blog focuses exclusively on the city of St. Paul, and contains hundreds of individual posts and more than a 1,000 photos of the city. She claims the majority of her real estate business comes from people who meet her on the blog. Constantly innovating, Boardman just launched a neighborhood wiki at stpaulneighborhoods.com.
   
Ardell Della Loggia Ardell Della Loggia
Founder, SearchingSeattleBlog
Designated Broker, Brio RealtyArdell Della Loggia is one of the most outspoken personalities in real estate. A tireless contributor, she blogs at Rain City Guide, on ActiveRain and on her own blog at Searching Seattle. At various times, she has been named a Real Estate Super-Blogger, one of the Top 10 Female Bloggers and The Queen of Real Estate Blogging. Della Loggia has been selling real estate since 1990 and recently joined Brio Realty in Washington State as its designated broker.
   
Marlow Harris Marlow Harris
Founder, 360Digest
Real Estate Agent, Coldwell Banker Bain AssociatesMarlow Harris is a licensed real estate practitioner with Coldwell Banker Bain Associates, and has been selling real estate in Washington since 1985. In 2004, she started 360Digest, which focuses on issues relating to the real estate industry at large. In her professional life, Harris’ specialties are unusual homes and she combines her love for unusual architecture and technology in another blog called UnusualLife.com. She also moderates a real estate industry blog for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and is an occasional contributor to the Inman News Blog.
   
Doug Heddings Doug Heddings
Founder, TrueGotham
Founder, The Heddings Property Group, LLCDoug Heddings is a Senior Vice President at Prudential Douglas Elliman and among the top 1 percent of real estate brokers nationwide. His blog, TrueGotham, has as its tagline “Dispatches from the Front Line” and focuses exclusively on Manhattan real estate. Heddings started his blog as a way to combat the negative stereotypes associated with real estate professionals and is committed to providing a forum for open conversation about the market. Heddings is often seen as a technological leader in the industry, most recently by adopting video podcasts for all of his listings.
   
Noah Rosenblatt Noah Rosenblatt
Founder, Urbandigs.com
Senior Associate Broker, Citi-HabitatsNoah Rosenblatt is a native New Yorker and a former professional NASDAQ equities trader. Now a real estate broker with Citi-Habitats, Rosenblatt offers a wealth of advice at his blog, UrbanDigs, to help buyers and sellers get the most profit out of the New York housing market. His philosophy is that every transaction should have true underlying value and his posts often reflect the raw honesty that he shares with his clients. In 2006, Inman News recognized UrbanDigs as the “Most Innovative Real Estate Weblog.”

Community/ Multi-Author Blogs
Dustin Luther Dustin Luther
Founder, Rain City Guide
Director of Interactive Marketing, MoveDustin Luther founded the Seattle-based real estate blog, Rain City Guide, where he earned a national reputation for understanding how real estate professionals can use social networking tools to become an online resource within their communities. Luther inspired many brokers and agents to start blogging and has taught workshops to beginners who want to learn the rules of the road. In 2006, he joined Move Inc., where he drives the creation and adoption of tools meant to enhance community around real estate topics.
   
Greg Swann Greg Swann
Founder, Bloodhound Blog
Broker, Bloodhound RealtyAnyone who’s delving into real estate blogging who hasn’t come across Gregg Swann and the Bloodhound Blog hasn’t dug far enough. Swann, an Arizona real estate broker, is the force behind the blog, and leads a team of talented bloggers writing about various aspects of the business. He is known for his lengthy analysis and ability to show original thought on any issue that comes down the path. Swann is a “mumbling Latinist, a stumbling applications programmer and a bumbling poet,” according to his site.

Mortgage
Morgan Brown Morgan Brown
Founder, Blown Mortgage
Chief Operating Officer, New Day TrustMorgan Brown and partners started Irvine, Calif.-based New Day Trust Mortgage because they were tired of hearing horror stories about people’s past experiences with their homes loans. That entrepreneurial, pro-consumer spirit shines through in Blown Mortgage, Brown’s blog that aims to “blow the lid off the mortgage industry.” Brown gives a mortgage practitioners view of current issues and events unfolding in the industry. He regularly creates audio interviews with important industry figures and observers to discuss issues and also has created videos.
   
Todd Carpenter Todd Carpenter
Founder, Lenderama
Founder, Mariah.comSince 1992, Todd Carpenter has worked as a loan originator, wholesale account executive and sales executive for mortgage and Web companies. What put him on the influential blogger radar was his creation of the Mariah network of Web-based projects covering the mortgage and real estate industry. Carpenter blogs about mortgage issues at Lenderama, which also includes contributions from additional writers. He also is a regular contributor at the Inman News blog and maintains Rembex.com, a real estate and mortgage blog search engine and portal. Rembex indexes blogs written by real estate and mortgage practitioners.
   
Calculated Risk CR and Tanta
Bloggers, Calculated RiskWritten by a retired senior executive and a former bank officer, Calculated Risk focuses on the mortgage industry as well as real estate investing, finance and economics. The bloggers, known only as “CR” and “Tanta”, say they aren’t looking for personal publicity in writing the blog, which explains why not much is known about the authors. The bloggers’ posts about real estate, mortgage and related economic happenings attract dozens of comments from readers each day.
   
HousingWire Paul Jackson
Founder, Housing Wire“It’s pretty simple: This is a blog focused on the mortgage finance industry.” That’s the self-described explanation of Paul Jackson’s Housing Wire blog. Jackson, who’s spent the last few years working in the industry and reporting on it, decided it would be fun to chronicle what’s happening in the mortgage finance for mortgage nerds everywhere. As of April, Housing Wire gets about 4,000 visitors each day by its own count. Jackson pulls together relevant posts on breaking industry news, such as delinquencies, bank closings, industry studies and more.

Housing Economics
Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller
Founder, Matrix
Executive Vice President, Radar LogicWhen quarterly home sales and price statistics are released, many real estate insiders turn to Jonathan Miller’s blog, Matrix, to get his take on what it means. Miller, a veteran of the real estate valuation industry, has been sharing his wisdom on Matrix and also a second blog, Soapbox, since 2005. He writes a weekly post for New York real estate blog Curbed. Miller has studied property values in Manhattan for many years and gives thoughtful analysis to the statistics his company tracks.

Industry Commentary
Kevin Boer Kevin Boer
Founder, 3Oceans Real Estate
Principal, Domus Consulting GroupKevin Boer entered real estate in 2004 after a long stint in technology and consulting and earning his MBA from Yale University School of Management. In August 2006, he founded 3Oceans Real Estate blog, while he was a practicing Realtor with Alan Pinel Realtors in Palo Alto, Calif. He is a fervent advocate of technology, especially paperless transactions, and is considered by many to be one of the most technologically sophisticated Realtors working today. In 2007, he founded Domus Consulting Group with Patrick Kitano, another influential real estate blogger.
   
Joel Burslem Joel Burslem
Founder, Future of Real Estate Marketing
Social Media Manager, Inman NewsJoel Burslem started Future of Real Estate Marketing (FOREM) blog in April of 2006 while working in the marketing department of Prudential Northwest Properties in Portland, Ore. FOREM quickly grew to be one of the key sources on how the next evolution of the Internet was beginning to affect real estate and real estate marketing. With his background in consumer marketing and technology, Burslem is widely seen as an expert in Web 2.0 and is regularly called upon to speak to groups on the subject. In 2007, he joined Inman News where he helps steer many of the company’s social media efforts.
   
Patrick Kitano Patrick Kitano
Founder, Transparent Real Estate
Principal, Domus Consulting GroupPatrick Kitano is co-founder and Managing Principal of Domus Consulting Group, a San Francisco-based management consulting firm that works with brokerages to develop technology marketing strategies. His blog, Transparent Real Estate, aims to document the business strategies of Web 2.0 companies and their impact on the real estate industry. A former investment banker, he managed the business development and financing activities at several Internet technology and real estate companies before starting Domus Consulting. He is an active contributor to the Inman News blog and to Search Engine Journal and is always on the lookout for a “transparency” angle.
Marketing and How-To
Jim Cronin Jim Cronin
Founder, Real Estate Tomato
Owner, TomatoBlogs.comJim Cronin is the founder of the very popular “how-to” blog, The Real Estate Tomato, a must-read for real estate professionals looking for tips on how to leverage the Internet into their marketing efforts. Cronin is a passionate believer in the power of blogging and his company, Tomatoblogs.com, is a leading provider of custom developed real estate blogs. Cronin has personally helped thousands of Realtors get online. In addition to providing Realtors with the tools they need, the man behind the Tomato also provides training and ongoing support.
   
Joseph Ferrara Joseph Ferrara (shown), Rudolph D. Bachraty III
Co-Founders, Sellsius Real Estate Blog
Owners, Sellsius Real EstateSellsius Real Estate Blog focuses on daily marketing tips and one-offs, but there is certainly nothing one-off about the men behind the Sellsius Real Estate Blog. Joseph Ferrara and Rudy Bachraty are two of the most visible real estate bloggers out there today. A pair of real estate brokers from New York, Ferrara and Bachraty have dedicated themselves full time to spreading the word about real estate blogging. Their grassroots effort culminated in 2007’s Blog Tour USA, a month-long cross-country RV trip that ended in San Francisco at Inman News’ Real Estate Connect conference – a feat they promise to duplicate again in 2008.
Local Blogging
Jonathan Butler Jonathan Butler
Founder, BrownstonerBrooklyn-based Jonathan Butler remained anonymous for the first few years writing at Brownstoner. Since revealing his identity earlier this year, Butler left his Wall Street position and is now working full-time maintaining the blog. Originally launched in October 2004, the site focuses specifically on Brooklyn real estate and has become the go-to hub for anyone interested in what’s going on in the borough. Brownstoner was one of the pioneers in the hyperlocal blog movement that focuses on a street-by-street, building-by-building survey of a particular neighborhood.
   
Adam Koval Adam Koval
Founder, SocketSiteAdam Koval founded SocketSite in 2005 after becoming frustrated by a lack of local “buy side” analysis for residential real estate. SocketSite focuses on the trends and local scoop of the San Francisco real estate market and earlier this year, expanded to provide coverage of Silicon Valley. SocketSite is a previous finalist for an Inman News Innovator Award. Prior to founding the blog, Koval was an entrepreneur with a wide variety of early stage and venture-backed companies.

Company Bloggers
David Gibbons David Gibbons
Director of Community Relations, Zillow“Hi, it’s David G from Zillow.com.” Anyone who’s ever mentioned Zillow in a blog post has surely seen this salutation pop up in their comments section. David Gibbons is Zillow’s director of community relations, a role that requires him to rigorously read and engage with real estate blogs and the people who write them. Gibbons frequently engages in real estate blog discussions as part of Zillow’s social media outreach in an effort to help people better understand the company’s services.
   
Glenn Kelman Glenn Kelman
CEO, RedfinGlenn Kelman almost single-handedly writes the Redfin company blog, where he announces news to interested visitors and pontificates on other matters concerning the company, the real estate industry, entrepreneurship and other topics. Kelman has no qualms about speaking his mind about brokerage issues, real estate commission structures and industry rules he says serve to lock thousands of tiny shackles on the company’s ability to innovate.

Journalist Blogs
John Cook John Cook
Reporter, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Writer, John Cook’s Venture BlogWhile John Cook’s Venture Blog revolves around venture capital and startup news, he often gives an insightful take on upcoming real estate companies. Cook is a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and is rooted in the Seattle tech startup community. He has frequently posted blog items about Zillow, Redfin, HouseValues and a host of other Seattle-area real estate startups and keeps up with happenings in the real estate venture capital scene.
   
Peter Coy Peter Coy (shown), Dean Foust, Chris Palmeri, Maya Roney
Reporters, BusinessWeek
Bloggers, BusinessWeek’s Hot Property blogBusinessWeek editors Peter Coy, Dean Foust, Chris Palmeri and Maya Roney chronicle the highs and lows of the housing and mortgage markets on their Hot Property blog. In print and online, the Hot Property team first wrote about the potential downside of lenders pushing riskier, “option ARM” mortgages and the rise in mortgage fraud back in 2005, long before many other media outlets. The Hot Property blog is where readers get the juicy tidbits about housing economics, recent statistics, upcoming reports and a host of other topics that didn’t make it to the full-length magazine articles.

Bubble Bloggers
Keith Keith
Founder, Housing PanicThe chief blogger behind the Housing Panic blog is a 251-year-old sock puppet named Keith. That’s about all that’s known about this blogger, who has made it a priority to poke at real estate and housing finance news each day to find the bubble angle and provide a forum for readers to carry out discussions and debates around the topic of real estate bubbles. While the name suggests an alarmist’s take on the housing market, Housing Panic has become a widely read blog for those who both agree and disagree with the assertion that a bubble exists and has burst.
   
Patrick Killelea Patrick Killelea
Founder, Patrick.net
Blogger, Reality ParserIt’s not unusual for a post at Patrick.net’s housing bubble blog, Reality Parser, to get 200-300 comments from readers. Posts often lead to threads that go on for days. That’s likely because the chief blogger and site creator, Patrick Killelea, has taken on controversial issues in the housing bubble debate. Killelea is an engineer who works on programming for a large bank, and his blog serves some 14,000 readers a day. Killelea spots a bubble when “the monthly loss in interest, property tax, insurance and maintenance is larger than the monthly loss from renting, there is a housing bubble.”

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Real estate | Leave a Comment 

Geno Petro, Krista Baker, And Gary Elwood Top This Week’s Odysseus Competition

October 29, 2007

Greg Swann’s bloodhound inspired not only the name of his business and his blog, but also his weekly re.net writing competion, which in its short existence has inspired some very good writing.

This week’s three winners were as follows:

  1. Geno Petro wins the Odysseus Medal for his post Memoirs Of A Big Fat Liar.
  2. Krista Baker takes home the Black Pearl Award for writing Negotiating Commissions with Buyers.
  3. Gary Elwood grabs the People’s Choice award for proposing a radical idea about getting people to believe you by, uh, telling the truth:  The Curious Secret to Getting People to Believe You.

Head on over to the Bloodhound to read more, then visit this week’s winners yourselves.

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Carnival of real estate, Industry | 1 Comment 

3 Oceans Honored On Inman’s List Of “Top 25 Most Influential Real Estate Bloggers Of 2007″

October 3, 2007

Inman News today announced their list of 2007’s “Most Influential Bloggers.” (May soon  disappear behind a pay firewall)  Yours truly was honored and humbled to make the cut.

A number of equally and more well-deserving folks unfortunately didn’t make the cut, including most prominently — in my opinion — the incomparable Kris Berg, Brian “Puke All Over The Internet” Brady, and Athol “Sock Puppet” Kay.

A number of good friends and colleagues of mine made the list, including (warning to my civilian readers:  corny inside jokes galore ahead…)

The others I don’t know well enough to bestow a nickname, but here they are:

Written by Kevin · Filed Under Glenn Kelman, Industry, Inman | 8 Comments 

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