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.
The future of the Florida Realtors will be in the skillful and proven hands of a new chief executive officer starting January 1, when Margy Grant takes over from well-regarded association veteran CEO Bill Martin. Margy is Florida Realtors’ current chief operations officer and general counsel of the state's largest professional trade association. The association announced late last week that Martin is retiring at the end of this year.
Flying back to Seattle from San Francisco gave me a couple of hours to reflect on Inman Connect SF. When I bumped into founder Brad Inman mid-way through the event, he looked at me and said with a proud smile and on his face and in his eyes, “It reminds you of the original Connects, doesn’t it?” It sure did.
It's been a little over a year since the Council of MLS rolled out the 1000watt created “Making the Market Work” branding campaign. Remember the initial energy? Social media channels were buzzing. New videos were proudly created, touting the value and the benefits of the local MLS to consumers (and professionals). Website home pages were blazoned with fresh new images promoting this powerful new messaging. New full-page ads run publicly. There was a genuine esprit de corps in the industry.
Always. Never. Every. Everyone. Everybody. All. Must. These are some of the most dangerous words in our vocabulary. For writers and speakers, as my nephew in Alabama would say, these words are as about as useful as a steering wheel on mule. That’s because these words are typically perceived to be an exaggeration.
Ben Caballero has earned the title "real estate legend." 50 years as a Realtor, 18 years as a builder, dozens of years as an innovator, and the first Guinness World Record holder for real estate sales. Today, for the 6th time in a row, he is atop REAL Trends "The Thousand" list as published in The Wall Street Journal. The REAL Trends list is THE ranking of the top agent in the U.S.; highly coveted, it is well documented and the industry's established benchmark for agent ranking.
Victor Lund, founding partner of the WAV Group, and I recently returned from the National Association of Real Estate Editors Conference in Hot Vegas. 107 degrees hot. One of the hottest topics was the iBuyer, and Victor headed up a panel that took that topic head-on. Let's say it was one of the livelier sessions of the conference. The one thing I was sure of, Victor made a great impression among reporters based on the feedback he gave me.
It was exciting to be invited to interview to become part of the Forbes Real Estate Council last year. The biggest attraction for me was the opportunity to be published on Forbes.com. Forbes, for me, is the gold standard when it comes to business publishing.
Milestones. Every career has these extra special events. So what qualifies something for milestone status? I think it's when all you have to do is mention what you did and the immediate reaction from others is: "Wow." Lifelong Realtor Ben Caballero's career is filled with milestones.
Tech enablers. That’s what I will be looking for at the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo, May 14-19 in Washington DC this week, best known as NAR Midyear. I’ll head down to the trade show floor and spend the rest of my time shuttling between the Marriott and the Omni lobbies talking to influencers and tech leaders.
It’s real estate tech’s best sleeper story of super success. Tech Helpline, created and owned by Florida Realtors, is the real estate industry’s number one tech support service. By a county mile. I will bet you can’t even name who is ranked number two. Or three, or four, or any of their direct competitors for that matter. I can’t, and I am a consultant for them. Where else in real estate tech or proptech can you make that claim? Where does a real estate related tech firm dominates a category so profoundly? Tech Helpline is currently available to nearly half [...]
Allow me to share a professional rant. We have to stop listening to the lawyers on this one. Companies are habitually adding registration marks to their news releases. I confess. I have more than one client that requires them. But I have to stop, raise my hand and ask one question. Why?
