Well, Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World competition is about over, and this is the last post I will write about the contest. My original post has been running at #1 and #2 for most of the competition. At several points during the competition I have had two of the top 10 spots between the post noted and this post.
What we were supposed to learn was that some people are really good at getting attention by writing good content (not that I’m proud of either of my posts on this topic and all the screwing around I’ve done with them). And other people are really good at getting the attention of the Search Engines because they are good at getting the attention of the Search Engines.
In the true spirit of the contest, I’m going to name my chosen winner.
Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World I’m giving to Kevin Tomlinson and his blog efforts as to content, and Brad Caroll of Dakno Marketing who provides the technical support for Kevin’s site and his blog.
Why do I choose them as the winners of Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World? Because I can’t tell which is most responsible for the success of Kevin’s blog.
Is it Kevin’s writing style and good content? Is it Brad’s ability to gain the favor of the SEO God’s through other means? Is it Kevin’s great website that creates what it takes to pull the blog up with it?
Or maybe it’s just because Kevin IS a great agent and so everything he does, he does just as well as he does his real estate activities, including hiring the best people and directing them to their best efforts on his behalf and on behalf of his clients.
And that’s the real success story and the real lesson about SEO placement. It takes a great team. Simply being a great agent is often not enough. Simply being a great blogger is often not enough. Hiring someone to toy around with the Search Engines to bring a mediocre or bad site to the top of the heap, is not going to help you if what readers find at the top of the search is not worth reading, or the agent isn’t worth hiring.
Kevin is the winner because he has it all. No one should have to fight over whether it was Kevin’s talent or Brad’s talent that makes the package work.
It shouldn’t be EITHER content OR SEO knowledge. It should be the best marriage of both worlds.
What? Me? That’s pressure. If any compliment is due, I bring it full-circle to you, ARDELL. You taught me how to blog, taught me the ins-and-outs and how to do it right. No tricks or schemes 🙁 , just good old-fashioned hard work.
Brad has been great and we learned together. The tech side certainly is a big part of what has been accomplished.
RD (that’s ARDELL — it’s easier to type) you mention my Web site and I give you a h/t for noticing that. I believe the blog & Web site have a synergistic effect of each other. Simply having a blog without a strong Web site would have made it MUCH harder.
UTB (ur the best)
Hi Kev!
You know me…I never wait for Google or anyone else to declare the winner.
Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World – prize is in the mail.
Hey Ardell,
Great post and great selection. Kevin is both a great agent and a great blggger. I just saw that he reached the #1 position for his primary term – Miami Beach real estate – what an achievement!
Great post – I have been watching this contest and have learned a lot – Congrats to both Kevin (and Brad) AND ARDELL!!!!!
Search Engine Optimization!!!
The Public and Comsumers should know that’s what this is all about. Search Engine Optimization is the excuse for any type of the very worst sort of self promotion.
People with Real Estate licenses or Brokers with Real Estate licenses can say anything in the pursuit of Search Engine Optimization.
I want to make the distinction that Real Estate agents are actually held to a higher standard.
Normally I don’t waste my time with this blog. There’s no point to it.
Yesterday a new agent in my office discussed this site with me. He found it amusing so I asked why he would read such tabloid press. He said he went to rgc because he was new to the Real Estate business and he was trying to learn.
I want to make my analogy clear so: him telling me he was trying to learn from the rgc is like him telling me he was trying to learn from the National Enquirer.
Then today, last night actually, the skies opened, the sun shined down, and there was the truth; this site is about Search Engine Optimization.
We all do it, we are guilty, it’s a part of all businesses. We want that all important Google search first position placement. The more times we are mentioned the further we move up on the Google search.
Inside of these comments I’m always careful not to mention a company name or person because that is also contributing the blogosphere chatter. rodfun is the best example of creating internet placement by content, blog, and chatter.
My objection is that the chatter in most cases, except for the http://www.seattlebubble.com has nothing to do with Real Estate, the Real Estate business, or Real Estate matters, data, insight, or anything.
Like rodfun most Real Estate websites today are trying to get the consumer to buy into a bunch of bs.
It seems I have to put in an actual link to http://www.seattlebubble.com so let me try that: http://seattlebubble.com/blog/ That didn’t seem to work either.
Anyway, it fascinates me that a guy, Tim Ellis, outside of the Real Estate Industry, actually came up with a web site that offered, data, news, and commentary geared towards Real Estate consumers.
So I don’t, nor have I ever understood this site, until today.
Search Engine Optimization!!!
David,
You are too funny! I don’t understand why you can’t say Redfin though.
David, you might appreciate (or hate) my discussion of real estate agents and websites, here:
http://www.raincityguide.com/2008/02/24/realtor-r-magazine-welcomes-web-20/
Starts at post 4, and coincidentally (you’ll see) post 12.
Hi ARDELL,
I am honored. I do have to admit, with good content and controversial link bait (we all remember the infamous Modona pic), Kevin makes my job pretty easy.
But wait. If Kevin wins, does that mean he gets a free website from my competitor? 🙂 Thanks again!
It’s not funny.
People who own, or want to own Real Estate are coming to the internet daily for information. 99.99% of what’s on web sites concerning Real Estate is geared toward fee generation.
The post concerning commission is a perfect example of disinformation. Real Estate is not a commission sales position. The commission covers the cost of the transaction, more specifically the liability of the transaction. It increases and decreases according to the exposure to liability.
I hired an agent once to handle a purchase for me and it was the stupidest thing I have ever done. Is stupidest a word?
I was buying from an investor. He and I ended up doing the deal without the idiot agents involved. We met in his office, some cash changed hands, and we were done.
The agents still had liability for the transaction so the agents required us to sign up an addendum saying they were innocent by standers. I reupped my license the next week.
Keeping a Real Estate license to do your own deals is expense. Companies began to form with low desk fees to accommodate guys like me.
We do our own deals. We are our own buyers and sellers. We rarely engage or represent people in a Real Estate transaction. There is Errors and Omissions Insurance but that does not cover some one who thinks they have been wronged by fraud, or misrepresentation.
This brings me to the Real Estate attorneys who lurk around sites like this claiming they can fill out paper work for a fee. You guessed it, they will claim no liability in a Real Estate transaction. They are attorneys. They make no representations concerning a property.
They don’t tell you that the wall paper matches your eyes. Yes you can sue a Real Estate agent for telling you the wall paper matches your eyes if any reasonable person can tell you it does not.
Real Estate agents make representations all the time. I know I do. Real Estate agents represent you to the best of thier ability. How good is your agent? How good are the people claiming they will help you for a fee?
OK, pay me, I’ll fill in some numbers on a piece of paper, now pay me. The public is right the very vast majority of people with Real Estate licenses today have that level of ability.
The vast majority of people with Real Estate licenses today don’t know anything about construction, construction practices, neighborhoods, districts, area, city politics, regional economic trends, State Law, or Federal Policies concern Real Estate.
The answer, those many years ago, was eduction. That didn’t help. That education process brought us internet based Real Estate business models. No liability, no representation, just pay the fee and you own a property.
If I understand it correctly millions of people bought a bunch of worthless junk the past few years. The internet chatter tells me you don’t have to know how a house is built in order to buy or sell it.
That’s true, but the person with the Real estate license is still on the hook for selling you a worthless piece of property.
A lot of talk about the lenders and cheap money. Just because money is cheap doesn’t mean a property is worth more. just because interest rates are 5% doesn’t mean a $350K house is worth $430K.
Appraisers are stuck with the price run ups caaused by people with Real Estate licenses misrepresenting the value of a property. How stupid was that?
The public paid a person with a Real estate license to know the value of a property. If the public was lied to, the person with the Real Estate license should at the very least give back an unearned commission.
If the person with a Real Estate license didn’t have you sign a waiver of liability, or if they did not explain to you what the waiver of liability was, you should get your money back.
Sue them. Sue every person with a Real Estate license who misrepresented the value of a property based on the low interest rates of the day.
Sorry, a buyer who is deliberately misrepresented has no liability for thier actions. If you are told that a property is worth whatever a person is willing to pay, sue the person who told you that.
If you believed the propaganda, sue the Board of REALTORS, sue the Master Builders Association, sue the large Real Estate companies first, then sue the small ones.
Don’t buy into the sue happy American crap. You were wronged. The public was wronged. Consumers were wronged, and now everybody just wants to go on with business as usual.
The commission is for the liability of the transaction. The Real Estate company, the Broker, is liable, sue them first. The Broker was supposed to train the agents making representations. If the agent lied, or didn’t know any better, or didn’t have the ability, the Broker is responsible.
The laws are in place, the attorneys should be standing by, but they are not because they think people with Real Estate licenses are going to send them business.
If you were wronged in a Real Estate transaction as I know many of you were, sue the agent. Don’t wait for your government to do anything. Stand up, get an attorney, and use your right to Judiciary system.
Wow Dave, you’ve really gone off the deep end. Not only do you think real estate agents would draw attention to ANY wallpaper in a house, but now you think you’re qualified to give legal advice.
The reason attorneys don’t bring the types of suits you mention is not because some of them might get work from real estate agents (I doubt that would match up well for referrals–malpractice and realty related), but because attorneys have no interest in bringing frivolous suits, and in fact can be sued (or worse) for doing so.
Simply put, there is no liability to an agent simply because a property went down in value after being purchased. That is not actionable. You’d need a lot more.
Kary,
Was my quote of the CEO of Windemere actionable? What has to occur to meet the test of “actionable.”
“And know that if you buy a home today in seven years it will be worth a lot more.” – Geof Wood
No where in that sentence does is say, “possibly, potentially or depending upon….” It says, “…it (my house) will be worth a lot more in seven years.”
I fear another NWMLS disclosure form coming soon regarding “values.”
I think implicit in that statement is that it’s his opinion. I don’t see that as actionable.I believe the term would be called “puffing” if it were as to a particular house, and I don’t see why it would be different as to the market in general. It would probably be more difficult, if anything, to try to bring suit on a comment regarding the general market.
Tim,
For some reason, “puffery” is permitted in most states by law. Just thought I’d throw that in, in case you confused “puffing” with the big, bad wolf 🙂
Tim and Ardell, I assume both of you do business with Windermere agents, John L. Scott agents, Skyline agents, Coldwell Banker agents, Prudential agents, Redfin agents, RPA agents, Sound Property agents and more.
Anyone predicting that prices would go up in 7 years wouldn’t have gotten your criticism, but have it be a ‘name’ source, then you jump on them. Even Glenn at Redfin makes predictions that make sense or nonsense, and I don’t see you criticize them.
Tim, for me, I like a lot of what you say, but I don’t see how I could recommend you. I think you have bias, and I don’t think that’s appropriate. Escrow is the neutral third party for the transaction itself.
You are way off base there Leanne. And you are getting close to personal attacks. This thread had nothing to do with picking on anyone. It wouldn’t matter WHO was quoted as saying that, it could have been a consumer. I was explaining to Tim what Kary meant by “puffed”
Either you had a drink or you need one. Read this thread and comments again…your response was totally inappropriate.
…as were David’s. This post has nothing to do with whatever you two are talking about.
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Leanne wrote: “Anyone predicting that prices would go up in 7 years wouldn’t have gotten your criticism, but have it be a ‘name’ source, then you jump on them. Even Glenn at Redfin makes predictions that make sense or nonsense, and I don’t see you criticize them.”
Me, I’m an equal opportunity criticizer, it’s just that the past few months I haven’t had much opportunity to criticize people who are bullish. The seven year comment (originally mentioned in another thread) is about the only one I remember within the past two weeks.
Thanks Dustin! For stopping by AND for being on topic 🙂
I see that you’ve added a feature so others can leave video comments. Now, I’m wondering if all of the posts on Rain City Guide have this feature, or just this one.
I’ll click on the seesmic option and see if the site accommodates my Flip Video camera without the need for addtional editing software.
Great seeing you!
BTW, I was testing to see if a post written near the end of the contest had any chance of moving through Google and the many entries written since the contest started. It seemed the top entries were written on the first day, and so I was testing if last written could make a showing.
As of this morning, this post moved up to place just behind my original post. So my theory that those who knew about it first had the advantage, is apparently not the case.
Ardell, sorry for going off topic. Blame Kary.
Leane,
Thanks for the feedback. I don’t take it personally at all. So, no worries. I’m not blogging to get business. I blog primarily to inform consumers and enter the fray. It is nice when business comes and it does—between RCG, Seattle Bubble, Activerain & Zillow. You are correct, I do have bias one way or another and I’m not neutral. That’s because a blog is not a real estate transaction in which someone has engaged our office by opening escrow.
I enjoy the topics, issues and conversation. And we all like to argue back and forth, but people learn (as I) that those entering the discussion are treated as if they are at my table or office talking about this stuff over a cup of coffee. It is a public forum or e-mail system per se, so it is a little different.
I don’t think Ardell agrees with a lot of what I have to say, but we do business together. Same for Rhonda and other’s in her office/network. If everyone was trying to find a common denominator and utilized that as the litmus test for working with each other, NOT MUCH BUSINESS would transact. People would disagree with my politics, my faith, my criticisms of our industry, title insurance, my criticisms of the mortgage & finance industry and how it has played a central role in the demise of our markets etc…
Yep, I’m guessing about 35% of our purchase business comes from Windemere agents alone. In fact, as I think about it probably 2/3rd of all the agents we support told us (Lynlee or I) gave us the “thanks, but no thanks” line because the agent uses x title company. But, as we approach our 5 yr anniversary real soon, here we are getting resume’s from some of our earlier competitors who used to work at title companies. It is strange.
Escrow is a neutral party within the confines of a transaction, and we generally owe duties of impartiality to the principals of the transaction: buyer & seller. And, as a matter of practice, we go out of our way to provide good service and support to everyone.
You bring up an interesting issue. I wonder if the executive staff at Windermere or JLS or CBB would find consternation that an employee of a business owned by them, Commonwealth Title & Escrow or Rainier Title & Escrow, for example, would discuss anything on a blog. Anything at all, controversial or not?
How’s this for nutty:
We send WELL into the six figures worth of title premium business to Commonwealth owned by Windermere and the title rep ACTIVELY tries to obtain the escrow business from the same offices we work with. And she gets credit for our business ($$$).
You are still invited to our future party at out place where you can really take me to task! 🙂
Hi ARDELL,
It’s called a Fresh Content Boost. Google has been known to propel fresh content to the top of the search engines. You will probably notice this post stay at the top for a short while and then “settle” in a natural position in the search engines. But long term, your theory is true. Posts with history, authority and links will hold tight at the top (i.e. Your original post). This could be an interesting strategy for people really “working” this contest. I wonder how many people will be feverishly posting Wednesday evening trying to court Google’s “freshbot”.
Tim,
Long response…I was thinking more along the lines of :
“Just because he’s “neutral” doesn’t mean he’s “neutered” 🙂
Brad,
I’m testing the speed and longevity of the “freshbot” with this post. My “end run” plan was always to put in a “freshbot” post, but I was betting it takes a few days to a week for it to work up, and so didn’t save it to the very last day.
I figured that freshbotting too late in the game, would produce a positive result after the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World contest was over on May 1.
Will be interesting to see the post dates of the top ten on the last day.
Actually Tim,
I just read David’s comment #9 in it’s entirety. I think he’s confusing a website with a blog, as some confuse a blog with a message board or forum.
For some reason it reminds me of when I brought my daughter into a dressing room when she was first being potty trained and she proceeded to pee. For some reason the confines of the dressing room gave her the impression that we went to the ladies’ room. 🙂
People wander in to blogs, and the natural conclusion is that it is either a website or a message board/forum vehicle. There’s a tendency to relate blogging to something more familiar that has been around longer than blogs.
The main thing about blogging is that it does, more than any other internet vehicle, reveal who we are. David let us “into his head” between his comments here and on Craig’s post. And we learned a whole lot more than we did from his Zillow EZ ad 🙂
Tim – after I wrote it I knew some would see it as an attack. I actually should have taken it to your post that started it, but it was a response to your comment here, so I went with it, and to everyone else, sorry that it is here again …..
What I think is that all of us shape opinions the public has about every aspect of real estate. And, I’m not promoting any ‘party line’, but I do think our licenses create obligations from us.
As an owner of an escrow company, you have a public duty (IMHO) to be as neutral in public speaking or public writing as you must be during a transaction, when you speak as Tim-the-Legacy Escrow-owner, which you are doing. If you speak as Just-A-Guy-With-No Name, perhaps then you can write less neutrally.
When I discuss issues, I try to keep things generic, and not name any competition in a way that isn’t positive or neutral. Discussion of the issues can be just as effective without naming the brand ….
Responding to a person posting isn’t ever meant to be an attack, but sometimes it feels that way, and I apologize to you if you felt that way.
Leanne,
I run into criticisms of Redfin by agents on the internet all the time. Rarely do I see criticisms of other companies. When I do see criticisms of other companies I see a whole lot more people “crying foul” than I do when the criticism is aimed at Redfin.
There’s clearly an imbalance in that regard.
You said: “Tim and Ardell…Anyone predicting that prices would go up in 7 years wouldn’t have gotten your criticism, but have it be a ‘name’ source, then you jump on them. Even Glenn at Redfin makes predictions that make sense or nonsense, and I don’t see you criticize them.”
The tolerance for Redfin bashing appears to be boundless. But dare to question a public quote of someone not on the other side of the tracks, and all of a sudden it’s a “foul ball”.
Think about it.
I still can’t see why you directed your comment at me. It’s clear from my “prediction” post that I am bearish, and so would dispute random bullish comments from people in the industry. Who made them is clearly irrelevant, and to suggest that I had anything to say simply because it was a “named” source, is not fair or remotely true.
ARDELL,
This will be a great test. I never have really tracked the longevity of freshbot. As far as speed, I have seen content jump rather quickly (hours to days). Of course, speed greatly depends on authority. If a site has no authority, then it will take a while for freshbot to make it to the content and subsequently appear in the SERPS.
I will be keeping a close eye on this. It will be nice to see what kind of “staying power” fresh content has. Thanks for doing this test.
I should have known you already had this in your plan! 🙂
By the way: I already show this post at position 13. So it may appear that (at least for RCG) freshbot is quick to the trigger but rather short lived?
P.S. We’re testing the back end upgrades today that Dustin added last night. If you notice anything odd, your feedback is appreciated. We now have a “say it” button vs. preview and post buttons.
That was not an intended “upgrade”. As I understand it, it’s merely a function of upgrading to the latest version of WordPress.
Since this post is part of a function of testing the impact of Google’s ranking of the keywords Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World, it may as well be a vehicle for other testings as well.
As long as the new upgrades don’t disengage or remove the long term memory of Askimet…I think we’ll be OK with the changes. Most of the changes will impact the authors vs. the readership and commentors, but let us know if you notice anything, especially if you find something particularly annoying or bothersome.
Ardell wrote: “[Leanne] said: ‘Tim and Ardell…Anyone predicting that prices would go up in 7 years wouldn’t have gotten your criticism, but have it be a ‘name’ source, then you jump on them. Even Glenn at Redfin makes predictions that make sense or nonsense, and I don’t see you criticize them.’ The tolerance for Redfin bashing appears to be boundless. But dare to question a public quote of someone not on the other side of the tracks, and all of a sudden it’s a “foul ball
Brad,
Can you define “cleaner interface” for me? Dustin says the upgrade has given us “a cleaner interface” and I keep looking at the site and don’t notice anything different from the public vantage point.
“By the way: I already show this post at position 13. So it may appear that (at least for RCG) freshbot is quick to the trigger but rather short lived?”
I think it depends on the popularity of the keywords. The original speed and longevity of the freshbot was both fast and long, because the contest originators intentionally used a non-common phrase of Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World. Originally there was a distinction in the results from “Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World” vs. “The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World”. Now I see little difference as Google does not appear to be perceiving them as different, they way it did initially.
Zooming to the top and staying there for a long period of time was easier on day one for sites and blogs with higher authority.
My feeling intitially was that, He who had idea to have this contest, also had the unfair advantage of being the first post written on it. No one else could have been first to post. The originators of the contest being IN the contest, didn’t make sense to me for that reason.
If #1ends up being the person who thought up the idea in the first place, does that negate the result? Or does the timeframe erase the advantage of being first? Will be interesting to see how that turns out come May 1.
There are two Erics and I have a hard time figuring out if Eric in the #! spot is the same Eric who came up with the idea for the contest.
My curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to do a search. To follow up on my off-topic wallpaper comment yesterday, in the tri-county area there are only 22 listings (Residential and Condo) where the marketing remarks mention wallpaper. 14 active, 2 sold, 2 pending and 4 other (all going back 6 months on the other than active listings). 12 of the 22 are condos, five in the same new project.
Most common adjectives are custom, designer and dated. Most unusual: New.
Brad,
Here’s another one for you.
I show this post as #4 on google behind my original post (as modified) as being #3. Yet you show it as #13.
Apparently different people Googling keywords from different parts of the Country get different results.
If that is the case, how can someone have “a contest”?
Another one Brad…if you care to comment.
First Generation Tags vs. added after published.
Ardell,
Just so you know, the changes I made were entirely to the backend (with the exception of adding seesmic video comments), so users really should see any changes… Other than the fact that links to old photos appear to be completely broken. 🙁
“I show this post as #4 on Google behind my original post (as modified) as being #3. Yet you show it as #13. …If that is the case, how can someone have “a contest
telling a buyer the wall paper matches thier eyes when in fact in may not be true as determined by any reasonable person in my opinion is certainly “actionable.”
great real estate agents and ggogle placement i don’t get. internet based business and real estate i don’t get. it makes no sense to me.
what makes sense is something for nothing. rodfun collecting a fee for doing nothing. filling out paper work for a fee, not performing the duties of a real estate agent for a fee.
i have on my desk today a listing where the buyer was told a $350K property was worth $430K. how was that ok? thats the question.
oh and you are so right i forgot to say in my comments that i am not an attorney. that’s actionable i know from experience. an attorney told me so. i’m not an attorney.
Dave, I think you’re missing the point on the wallpaper. The only positive spin an agent is going to put on wallpaper is: “Apparently it’s not as hard to remove as people think.” “Good wallpaper” is an oxymoron. 😉
As to the Redfin comment about filling out papers for a fee, that fits with my comment about their having more to worry about from the WSBA than the NAR. Craig should hate Redfin! 😀
Finally, as to someone buying property at a price that’s too high for the market at the time they bought, I find that’s more typical of FSBO sales than MLS sales. When I price something I’m typically amazed at how well most of the comps fit within a range of one another. In the future I’ll have to start looking to see if the ones higher or lower than expected have the same selling brokerage as listing broker, indicating it might be an unrepresented buyer.
David,
Why are you using our site to pick on Redfin? What is your point?
Clearly you can come up with some other agent who does as much or as little. Are you insinuating that every agent in the Puget Sound does it better? Don’t you think using the term “rodfun” suggests that people, male people, are playing with themselves? Do you think you are permitted as an agent to keep taking pot shots at them and using derogatory names to define them?
If you don’t have a legitimate point, I’m going to have to throw you into moderation, something we have never had to do with an agent in the past. Pick up your professionalism PLEASE!
You are not permitted to call Redfin “rodfun” again! I will delete your comment if you do that again. You are also not permitted, as an agent, to dislike one company over others. Unless you list ALL of the companies where you have EVER run into an agent who did lesser in your opinion…stop singling out and demeaning a company on this site!
Thank you.
Thanks Brad!
Sorry for the off topic agent garbage.
you see, in my opinion, this site promotes an internet based real estate business model. i also think that attorneys lurk around this site to sell a service of filling out paper work for a fee. the consumer is hurt in this process.
this site is a danger, in my opinion. it gets worse as time goes on.
you wanted to blog so we’re blogging. if you disagree with me by all means block my comments.
LOL,
David…I’m going to give you a wide berth here because it’s part of the learning curve.
A little blog terminology to assist you:
You are not “blogging”, you are commenting on Dustin Luther’s blog. We are writers who blog/write posts on Dustin Luther’s blog.
I’d be happy to meet with you and give you a blog lesson about not “flaming” people or companies.
You can hate a concept, you can challenge a concept, you can strongly oppose an idea…but you can’t attack a person or a company. Disguising who you are talking about by calling them a derogatory similar name doesn’t eradicate the “flame”.
Hope that helps.
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LOL! You are definitely trying to cut down on your verbiage, for seminar purposes I expect. 41 seconds is NOT long and rambling for you OR me 🙂 The Flip Video is very cool…but so far, not very productive. I should have listened to you in the first place.
Still, I kind of like the “Dear Abby” style where I get to stay 49 until I’m 83.
Are you growing a beard for Inman?
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Redfin thus asks that Congress act to empower the consumer, not the realtor, by giving brokerages of all types fair and equal access to multiple listing services, and empowering the Federal Trade Commission to regulate states’ minimum-service and anti-rebate laws.
This very simple law would make the real estate industry far more competitive, saving the average family $10,000 or more on every transaction. We can think of no other action that Congress could take this year that would save more money for the American middle class.
Billions of dollars later the consumer is facing an national economic crisis. The Kelman guy goes on to his next venture and the Real Estate Industry takes the rap.
I don’t need a lesson, this is a dangerous blog, in my opinion. Like I said I don’t usually bother. The amount of bad information here is mounting, such as instructing me in what a blog is, or better yet accusing me of flaming:
“Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
To deliberately intimidate people, like Kelman did when he went to Congress to talk about how he was intimidated, adds nothing to my business. It adds nothing to the Real Estate business and in fact has proven to be bad for consumers.
So you wanted to blog, we’re blogging. I don’t think I’m hiding, I’m in the self promotion business. I’m not an attorney, I’m a Real estate agent.