The High Cost of “Free” Marketing Whenever I hear a national speaker and supposed industry expert exhort Realtors to give away price opinions for free, as a marketing tool, my reaction is always, “How much are you getting paid to speak to all of us today?” (note: Realtors’ term for a formal price opinion is...Read More
Why Hand Online Cranks a Megaphone?? “In the architecture of online media, comment sections are the septic tanks.” –“Still Kickin”; Mpls St. Paul Magazine (April 2016) I don’t know about other agents, but there’s not much doubt in my mind about whether or not to allow online consumer comments for a listing. In case it’s unclear,...Read More
Double Whammy: Zillow’s Revenue, Realtors’ Expense* [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced.] One of the biggest reasons that Zillow and Trulia — Websites that aggregate real estate listings and whose stocks are publicly-traded — make a...Read More
The Goldilocks Market “Twin Cities Home Prices Best Predictor of U.S. Trends” —headline; U.S. News & World Report (7/30/2014) Call it the “Ohio” of the U.S. housing market. Just as Ohio voters seemingly choose the President every four years (or have, at least every election since 1964), according to Trulia, the Twin Cities housing market...Read More
A Dartboard By Any Other Name Estimated Value: $615,101 Estimated Value Range: $547,440 – $682,762 Confidence Score: 82 Forecast Standard Deviation: 11 –“Estimated Value” by CoreLogic; Hennepin County tax records excerpt. Sorry, estimating a home’s value — with a range of more than $100k (or $136k, in the case of this Eden Prairie home, above) —...Read More
Edina Realty Takes on the Third Party Aggregators, Cont. If you’re joining the action “already in progress,” as it were, here’s what you missed: Edina Realty announced 10 days ago that it was pulling its listings from third-party aggregators such as Trulia. Then all Hell broke loose. See, “Edina Realty Steals a Page From Southwest Airlines, the...Read More
