Disqus - Latest Comments for billlublin

Re: NAR Proposes MLS Policy to Fuel More Broker Cooperation

Bill Lublin — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 14:35:35 -0000

How does this prohibit the ability for competing brokers to conduct business? All the rule proposes is that member of the MLS participate in the MLS on all of their listings. If a Broker believes that they don't need to belong to the MLS or to participate in that Broker cooperative, they don't have to. But if they want the benefits of MLS participation, they should participate fully. Otherwise they're like a husband or wife who only wants to be married when it's convenient, not bound by the marital contract when they think they might get lucky.

Re: NAR Proposes MLS Policy to Fuel More Broker Cooperation

Bill Lublin — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 14:22:55 -0000

Actually, providing options is not anything resembling the reason the MLS was created. The core purpose of the MLS is to provide cooperation and compensation. It is a Broker cooperative plain and simple. There is no consumer based reason for exposing the property to a limited market. If a seller in your example gets an offer at their asking price, a larger exposure to more buyers could have gotten them more then their asking price. As defined by Fannie Mae, for example, Market Value is - "Market value is the most probable price that a property should bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale, the buyer and seller, each acting prudently, knowledgeably and assuming the price is not affected by undue stimulus. " The operative words here being 'a competitive and open market" which requires exposure to the larger marketplace of the MLS.

Your position that any higher offer has to have limiting terms is a self-serving supposition - why does the higher offer have to have worse terms? Instead of presupposing hypotheticals that suit your argument (which would render the consumer unable to make an informed decision) why not let them decide after they see what the full market has to offer them?

Re: TAP IN — Extending our very best wishes for a happy holiday...

Bill Lublin — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 16:43:54 -0000

Thanks for the good wishes Rick! Proud to be part of the system -

Re: Steve Pacinelli Joins BombBomb as VP of Strategic Marketing

Bill Lublin — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 08:29:40 -0000

Congratulation Steve & Conor and the rest of the BombBomb team - I love it when people I like and products I like collide! Best wishes for more amazing success! :)

Re: Some Thoughts on Move & NAR v. Zillow & Samuelson

Bill Lublin — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 04:53:05 -0000

Rob; I like Errol and all the other players as well, but bad actions are bad actions- if one does something wrong, there should be consequences - and if they didn't there should be vindication
But what is harsh about " Samuelson’s testimony initially suggested that he would be improverished such that he wouldn’t be able to afford his house if the court issued an injunction prohibiting from working. A much fuller picture has emerged about Samuelson’s financials, calling the accuracy and completeness of his initial testimony into question."
If the judge has reason to doubt his earlier testimony because his testimony and the facts conflict, that's the fault of his testimony, not the judge being harsh.
I was disappointed in the way Errol handled this entire change of employment, and the more information that comes out, the worse it seems to have been handled.

Re: Coming Soon – Much Ado About Nothing

Bill Lublin — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 20:35:29 -0000

Thanks Mike. Your opinion is always valued

Re: Coming Soon – Much Ado About Nothing

Bill Lublin — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 20:35:13 -0000

Totally agree Patrick. However they develop as a publisher or advertiser, they don't determine the success or failure of the individual agent.

Re: MLSs Must Share Data for Use in AVMs

Bill Lublin — Sun, 18 May 2014 13:02:00 -0000

Meg - a nicely written and very articulate article, but I would add that the policy change includes the right of the MLS to institute third party licensing agreements that can effectively maintain the non-disclosure custom in areas practicing in that manner by not allowing the third party to parse the individual property information from the data feed, providing only the Valuation conclusion, and not allowing the publication of the supporting or contributing property information :) That amendment, added by the MLS committee during its meeting this week, was included to address the privacy concerns you mention in the article. In addition, the Executive committee added a proviso that NAR staff develop some guidelines and model third party agreements to help MLSs develop that type of licensing agreement if such help is needed.

Re: In Which I Speak to Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, Inc.

Bill Lublin — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:48:26 -0000

Nice piece Rob. I was at the Cove meeting Errol attended, and I can't express how disappointing I find this behavior. Business is business, and I would never fault anyone for making a move to benefit their career, but in this case, How this was done is far more important than Why or What was done.
Your sports analogy is spot on - the teams are larger than any individual player, but as you point out, Samuelson's handling of his resignation will impact his career far more than his move will impact the industry.
I would have expected better from him. Its just really sad.

Re: Grading Time! Reviewing My 2013 Predictions

Bill Lublin — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 05:10:06 -0000

Just a note about that "renter nation" missed call http://www.inman.com/wire/f...

Re: Grading Time! Reviewing My 2013 Predictions

Bill Lublin — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 08:11:26 -0000

Rob;
With all due respect, I think you miscounted -

The Renter's Nation concern was actually a miss. Though some brokerages and agents were reviewing property management as an income stream studies showed that consumers , especially since millenials seem to want to own property rather than rent it. And that with some additional consumer confidence was part of last year's marketplace.

I also think you got the Association part wrong- The Realty Alliance aimed their conversation squarely at the MLSs with Craig Cheatem making his declaration at CMLS, an organization outside of NAR, The Realty Alliance and their members actually seeking help from NAR to help resolve their concerns thourhg the MLS I&P committee (which I chair this year) and the Emerging Trends and Technology Advisory Board (on which I also serve).

You are right that ReThink was information gathering, and that information was completed before the November meetings, so little action could be taken before the information was absorbed.

And finally the "syndication wars" are far from over, they have merely entered a new phase with MLSs become active participants and data security becoming an issue in the forefront. I would call that more of an escalation that anything else. Leslie has always been a pretty heavy user and analyzer of portals as advertising so her position was not new, but well established - nothing there to predict.

That would give you 2 out of 7 and a .285 batting average - not great but not terrible , at least for baseball ;)

Re: Will AGENTMATCH Disrupt Real Estate? OR “Look There’s A Squirrel!”

Bill Lublin — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 19:30:00 -0000

Leslie - I don;t think the management piece was that their leads didn;t come from the internet - rather that the leads came from their sites, not the three portals. :)

Re: The Next Phase of My Career

Bill Lublin — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 08:21:34 -0000

So excited for you CC - Best wishes for this awesome adventure!

Re: End of an era: NAR’s legal champion to retire

Bill Lublin — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 11:41:11 -0000

Matt Carter - you are an absolute class act. Your writing is articulate and well thought out, and your responses here only increases my respect for you.

Re: The End of the Real Estate Agent

Bill Lublin — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 09:50:20 -0000

One day , if I'm lucky, I'll do such a good job I'll get my own hot dog stand.... :)

Re: The End of the Real Estate Agent

Bill Lublin — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 09:49:52 -0000

Thanks Miriam - appreciate that :)

Re: REALTORS – Are You Professional?

Bill Lublin — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 05:06:32 -0000

Being professional isn't the same as being competent sadly. One only has to look at the number of bad accountants, lawyers and doctors to see that.

Re: REALTORS – Are You Professional?

Bill Lublin — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 05:05:29 -0000

You certainly are an experience- I didn't realize Motherhood was the world's oldest profession, but I may just hang out with the wrong type of people ;)

Re: REALTORS – Are You Professional?

Bill Lublin — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 05:04:18 -0000

Lori; My point was that additional education is needed for any of us to truly be professional, and that the only places, outside the real estate firm or franchise, that offers education purely directed at professional improvement are the NAR courses and the MCE.I am also licensed as an appraiser, and the course of study required there is not different than that required by IREM for property managers or CCIM for Commercial vendors. If we want to improve ourselves professionally, the opportunities are there, but they are voluntary for the most part

Re: Are statewide MLSs the answer to Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com?

Bill Lublin — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:27:54 -0000

The problem is that this is just an inaccurate statement - a great reason not to pontificate in a 140 characters -

Re: Are statewide MLSs the answer to Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com?

Bill Lublin — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:26:32 -0000

Marvin- I will be writing an article to discuss the process at NAR as I have participated in it, but policies like this are discussed in public forums. The MLS Issues an Policy committee meeting is open to the public, and that was where the substantive conversation was held, and the recommendation was made. The executive committee, which reviews the recommendations of the committees can either pass them on to the Board of Directors as made, send them back to the committee if they feel the recommendation needs more clarification or more work, or, as in this case, suggest that a modified recommendation be sent to the Board of Directors. Since the BOD meets the day after the Executive Committee, wouldn't you agree that its really not unreasonable for members not talk about what the BOD is going to vote on before the Directors get to see the issues?

Re: Are statewide MLSs the answer to Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com?

Bill Lublin — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:21:08 -0000

Todd - With all due respect, your statement is inaccurate. Zillow , Trulia and Realtor.com are advertising sites that have come under criticism because of their pricing policies, and they are using someone else's data feeds to fuel their business. . Though I don't want to appear to be defending Public facing Web sites, the decision to create such a vehicle is made by the members of an organization as a business decision, and they are using their own data to fuel that engine.

Re: Why Telling Google Who the Author is Shouldn’t Be Difficult for the MLS

Bill Lublin — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:36:17 -0000

Matthew:
I hate to disagree with you but the 2011 NAR survey reported that 89%of firms had websites with 2% more planning to add one, leaving only 9% of the firms without web sites. I believe that number could be even higher today, making the point that this would positively impact 91% of the real estate firms in the association.
As far as the delay in the availability of canonical data, you're correct, I don't understand the issue - if the canonical tag is in the MLS feed, and the website is "fueled" by the MLS feed, then the property information and the canonical tag appear at the same time. Please help me understand where the delay might come in. And even more importantly, what the negative impact of a short delay might be.
I don't want you to think that I am unwilling to engage in the conversation, or that I don't value your opinions or expertise. Both of those statements are untrue. I look forward to more conversation on the topic and appreciate your input - even when we disagree :)

Re: Why the MLS Needs to Tell Google Who Owns the Listing

Bill Lublin — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:03:13 -0000

Eric, I've seen some goofy litigation in my time, but that's about as goofy as any I could imagine "Please DOJ, give us a commercial advantage over the source of our content?" Seriously? As long as they have access to the data, limiting their ability to spoof Google by claiming to be the author of information they didn't create shouldn't cause any problems - and they have lots of smart folks working to help them rise to the top of the SEO pile.

Re: Why the MLS Needs to Tell Google Who Owns the Listing

Bill Lublin — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:49:58 -0000

Eric I believe you have this wrong - first of all there are over 500 MLSs without public facing web sites, so they should have no issue with assigning the tags - secondly groups like HAR will make business decisions that are good for their members, whatever those decisions are - if they want the public facing MLS site to have the benefit of the tags, that's fine, but they should still regulate what others may do with those tags. Every MLS is a membership organization and I don;t want to speak for any of them - they have staff, leadersip and memberships to do that. Finally , the MLS should limit ZTR and any other 3rd party sites from using the tags or manipulating them. And since, as I said in the post, they need the feeds, they would comply.