About Kevin Hawkins

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So far Kevin Hawkins has created 335 blog entries.

NAR Boston 2018: Home Runs and Strikeouts in Beantown

My dad grew up, pre-Depression, on Beacon Hill in Boston. As a kid, we took a lot of road trips. Because my dad worked for Westin Hotels, we stayed at a lot of nice places in big towns for free. My favorite road trip when we lived in Chicago was visiting Boston and the New England area. I had been back a couple of times for business and always loved visiting this city. After this last week at NAR, I absolutely want to go back – but next time for a vacation.

By |2018-11-07T10:24:37-08:00November 5th, 2018|Uncategorized|4 Comments

What Not To Miss and Put On Your List for Boston NAR

Each year, I try to find some of the things you won't want to miss at the annual National Association of REALTORS Conference and Expo. This week, some 20,000 real estate pros are expected to take over Boston, one of America’s great historic cities packed with extraordinary tourist attractions.

By |2019-05-30T16:21:04-07:00October 29th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on What Not To Miss and Put On Your List for Boston NAR

Have You Seen The New MARIS Website?

When I sat down with Tim Dain and Quinn Nichols at CMLS to get a sneak peek at the new MARIS website they were getting close to finishing, they were pretty giddy about their site. They had been working on this for months, so I completely understood their euphoria. Anyone who has given ‘birth’ to a new website knows the pain you endure until it makes its public debut.

By |2018-10-22T09:34:58-07:00October 22nd, 2018|Uncategorized|1 Comment

OJO Labs + WolfNet: “We partnered a Ferrari with fuel”

News reports yesterday disclosed that OJO Labs and WolfNet were becoming one company. The news traveled fast and furious, despite the fact that the "official" news release was issued this morning on the newswire. How cool is it that one of the hottest Artificial Intelligence startups just bought an established, 20+ year-old real estate data giant? Here are some classic quotes from yesterday news coverage of this historic event: RISMEDIA "The largest aggregator of MLS data has been acquired by one of the industry’s hottest artificial intelligence companies."  “This is probably the most impressive fundamental move toward assisting the industry [...]

By |2018-10-11T08:12:45-07:00October 11th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on OJO Labs + WolfNet: “We partnered a Ferrari with fuel”

Love What You Do, And Do What You Love

It’s been a remarkable past few weeks. In September I started my 5th year heading up WAV Group Communications. I can't remember a time in my PR career over the last three decades when I worked so hard but had so much fun. I've enjoyed an exhilarating streak of success for my clients that have made the long hours well-worth those moments of drudge.

By |2018-10-08T09:29:18-07:00October 8th, 2018|Uncategorized|2 Comments

WolfNet speeds up Property Alerts to benefit 250,000 agents, brokers and their clients

WolfNet Technologies LLC has become the quiet data giant in real estate. Think about it. WolfNet provides Websites/IDX to Keller Williams (a client since 2002), the largest real estate brokerage in the world. WolfNet also is believed to be the leading company that normalizes MLS data. WolfNet’s digital footprint is massive: it’s a data goliath managing over 100 million property recordsthat covers 99% of all active MLS property listings in the U.S. and Canada. It hosts 89 million property photos for IDX solutions alone and provides more than 100,000 IDX and Websites to real estate agents and brokers – reaching [...]

By |2018-09-24T20:20:53-07:00September 24th, 2018|Broker-Agent Information, IDX, MLS, Technology|Comments Off on WolfNet speeds up Property Alerts to benefit 250,000 agents, brokers and their clients

Second Largest MLS in Minnesota to Join NorthstarMLS

NorthstarMLS and Southeast Minnesota REALTORS® (SEMR) have come together to announce that SERM will become part of NorthstarMLS. This merges the second largest MLS in Minnesota with the largest MLS as SEMR becomes a shareholder in NorthstarMLS. Congratulations go to all the leadership teams, headed by SEMR CEO Karen Becker and NorthstarMLS CEO John Mosey. Also kudos to CoreLogic's Matt Cohen (Consultant at Clareity), which the parties credit for helping its leadership fully evaluate this merger. Here is the full news release along with a couple of great photos taken at the signing: Second Largest MLS in Minnesota to Join NorthstarMLS [...]

By |2018-09-19T08:57:28-07:00September 19th, 2018|Broker Public Portal, Clients, MLS, Press Releases|Comments Off on Second Largest MLS in Minnesota to Join NorthstarMLS

The Emergence of Dark Social

I was starting to hit my stride helping companies integrate social media into their Public Relations programs when I was mugged by Dark Social. If you are not familiar with the term Dark Social, I wasn’t either, until recently. At first, I thought Dark Social was somehow related to the Dark Web. Fortunately, I was wrong.

By |2018-09-18T07:02:32-07:00September 17th, 2018|Uncategorized|Comments Off on The Emergence of Dark Social

Takeaways from the first NAR iOi: Innovation Opportunity & Investment Summit

Eric Forsman, Vice President of Technology Services of the Florida Realtors, echoed what I was thinking when I bumped into him at the inaugural National Association of REALTORS® iOi conference in San Francisco. “I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. And like Eric, I had the same reaction: we were both remarkably impressed.

By |2018-09-04T08:19:16-07:00August 31st, 2018|Uncategorized|6 Comments

Less Is More When It Comes To Your Corporate Boilerplate

Companies spend a lot of time and money focusing on their Elevator Pitch. As a PR professional, I can appreciate that and endorse the value of a key, succinct messaging to describe your company. My guess is so much focus has been placed on a strong Elevator Pitch because it's highly valued when a firm is out raising capital. I just wished more folks paid attention to their boilerplates.

By |2018-08-27T13:06:03-07:00August 27th, 2018|Our Services, Press Releases, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Less Is More When It Comes To Your Corporate Boilerplate

Real Estate Teams Influence is Powerful, Growing, Studies Shows

REAL Trends, in collaboration with BoomTown, dotloop, and ERA Real Estate, in 2016 to conduct a terrific study of real estate teams. Called The Real Estate Teams Playbook, perhaps real estate’s most comprehensive look at teams, REAL Trends said it surveyed or interviewed thousands of real estate professionals “to understand the foundation and characteristics of today’s most successful teams.”

By |2018-08-20T13:46:32-07:00August 20th, 2018|Uncategorized|4 Comments

A New Battle Cry: I Want My BPP!

Did you read John Mosey, Broker Public Portal Chairman and head of NorthstarMLS, article in the latest issue of Real Estate magazine? “You Got Your MTV, Now Say ‘I Want My BPP’” calls for a new battle cry for the BPP with Homesnap movement. It reminded me, once again, of how people, when they come together, can cause remarkable change. Change everyone thought at the time it started was nearly impossible and certainly improbable.

By |2018-08-14T08:30:14-07:00August 14th, 2018|Broker Public Portal, Uncategorized|2 Comments