We, here in the Seattle area, are in the unique position of seeing first hand, the coming of change. There is no place in this country on a parallel path with technology and the future, like the Seattle area. The hiring of Dustin Luther by Move.com is as significant as Realtor.com BECOMING Move.com It is a sign that the butterfly may finally be springing from its cocoon. MOVE hiring Dustin Luther as the Director of Consumer Innovations, is the starting bell we have all been waiting for, announcing the metamorphosis to come, in an industry long overdue for change.
Back in October, when Realtor.com hired Allan Dalton as President of Realtor.com http://www.realtor.org/realtororg.nsf/pages/realtorcompres?OpenDocument it appeared to be simply another dose of “same old; same old”. I attended Allan’s recent “seminar” in Bellevue earlier this year, and left with the feeling that he was somehow chastising the industry at large and its professionals in the room. It was as if he were screaming “embrace change or BE changed!”
I am sitting here with my signed copy of “REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY GUIDE” authored by the “Tres Amigos”, Saul Klein, John Reilly and Mike Barnett of Internet Crusade. These three men have almost “single handedly” moved the real estate industry into the present with regard to technology, since they met one another in 1995. And yet it would seem that they too are screaming “embrace change or BE changed!”
The hiring of Dustin Luther by “MOVE” is a huge pendulum swing from the hiring of Allan Dalton by “REALTOR.com”
It is a sign that the movers and shakers of this industry may be attempting to “moult from their skins”. For too many years they have lain constrained in the hardened cocoon they themselves have weaved. Like the “constrainedness of the caterpillars and chrysalises, their range of activity and movement has been very little as they have been cumbersomely tied to their food source”, the REALTOR organization.
[photopress:dustin_1.jpg,full,alignright] Time and again we have seen the cocoon harden around the “would be” innovators. Will the industry escape? Is the hiring of Dustin Luther and the Title: Director of “Consumer Innovations”, a sign that the largest and most powerfull conveyor of national home listing info, may be willing to shed its REALTOR shackles and MOVE into the consumer’s long awaited public venue? With the hiring of the white butterfly, instead of another caterpillar needing a food source, I am hopeful. I am very hopeful.
Wow Ardell! Thanks for the vote of confidence in me.
I’ve had some conversations with Allan and others at Move and I can assure you that the organization is run by some very smart (and competitive) people. It seems inevitable that the industry is headed for some change in the near future and I’m definitely looking forward to playing a role.
Wow Ardell! Thanks for the vote of confidence in me.
I’ve had some conversations with Allan and others at Move and I can assure you that the organization is run by some very smart (and competitive) people. It seems inevitable that the industry is headed for some change in the near future and I’m definitely looking forward to playing a role.
No pressure, Dustin. 🙂
Well, Realtor.com needs a lot of “Consumer Innovations” because with Zillow’s new deal with Microsoft Virtual Earth and Google diping their toes into the world of real estate on the net , its looking like they better their act together FAST.
I don’t know what’s in Move’s, Zillows, or Google’s labs. I do know that as of today, Zillow has better technology for their public site, has more momentum, has a big enough budget to get the job done, some very smart software engineers, and appear to have visionary executive management. Google (if they got serious) would be even more formidible.
Granted, it’s not even halftime yet, but the longer I deal with the “industry”, the more I think the outsiders are going to win. Hopefully, the hiring of Dustin will turn the tide. He’s the Joe Montana of real estate bloggers!
I couldn’t agree more with Ardell. (Although I’m 50 years old) I’m just getting into the real estate biz. And the primary reason for my move is that I finally see progress on the technology side of the real estate equation.
I wholeheartedly embrace Dustin’s move to MOVE.com and hope the heck he is able to shoot out the traditional model and help usher in the new age of transactions based on public information instead of secrecy and shadows.
I couldn’t agree more with Ardell. (Although I’m 50 years old) I’m just getting into the real estate biz. And the primary reason for my move is that I finally see progress on the technology side of the real estate equation.
I wholeheartedly embrace Dustin’s move to MOVE.com and hope the heck he is able to shoot out the traditional model and help usher in the new age of transactions based on public information instead of secrecy and shadows.
Interesting stuff, although…
“The hiring of Dustin Luther by Move.com is as significant as Realtor.com BECOMING Move.com.”
This part sounds a little dubious, considering that Realtor.com is not becoming Move.com. Homestore, Inc., is becoming Move, Inc. Realtor.com is staying right where it is, as one of Move’s primary consumer web sites.
Wanderer, If you go to move.com you will see this message” “Move.comTM is the future home of the Internet’s most comprehensive search for residential properties to buy, rent or build.”
When I read “FUTURE home of the Internet’s most comprehensive search for residential properties”, I got the feeling they may be expanding into For Sale By Owner and limited service listings. Even now, many of the listings are not those of “REALTORS”, which is a registered trademark.
Just as StagedHomes.com had to change from “REALTOR ASP”, to “ASP Real Estate Agent”, I see the day when REALTOR.com has to move away from the trademarked designation. To date, court battles to use the term “Realtor” in a generic way, have failed.
Wanderer, If you go to move.com you will see this message” “Move.comTM is the future home of the Internet’s most comprehensive search for residential properties to buy, rent or build.”
When I read “FUTURE home of the Internet’s most comprehensive search for residential properties”, I got the feeling they may be expanding into For Sale By Owner and limited service listings. Even now, many of the listings are not those of “REALTORS”, which is a registered trademark.
Just as StagedHomes.com had to change from “REALTOR ASP”, to “ASP Real Estate Agent”, I see the day when REALTOR.com has to move away from the trademarked designation. To date, court battles to use the term “Realtor” in a generic way, have failed.
Your first two paragraphs just above are accurate. But note that it says nothing about Realtor.com disappearing or folding into Move.com.
Realtor.com is technically the NAR’s Web site, administered (but not owned) by Move, and as such won’t be seeing FSBOs or other similar features any time soon. Move, Inc., intends to consolidate Homestore.com, HomeBuilder.com, and RentNet.com into the new Move.com site, while also continuing forward with WelcomeWagon.com and Realtor.com — effectively consolidating their consumer-facing Web site presence (for the most part) down to these three sites.
Move.com will, as described on the current Move.com page, attempt to do most of what Realtor.com does, while also adding all of those other sorts of listings that you mention (FSBOs, etc.) which the NAR won’t as yet go for on Realtor.com, thus becoming “the Internet’s most comprehensive search for residential properties” in ways beyond what Realtor.com currently can due to NAR restrictions. OTOH, Move can’t simply lose Realtor.com in favor of Move.com, since all that listing data is contracted to Realtor.com…
See http://ir.homestore.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=111114&p=IROL-newsArticle&t=Regular&id=820658 for some of those details.
It will be interesting to see how the relationship between Move.com and Realtor.com evolves as Move.com comes out and NAR watches it alongside Realtor.com…
Hopeful am I, as well, but I strongly suspect that people like Allan Dalton will not allow Dustin or any of the other recent user-experience experts hired by Move, Inc., to stand in the way of their ego-centric domination of the Realtor.com business and image.
Good job, Wanderer. You’ve got your facts straight which benefits everyone here. Ardell, history will tell you that Allan Dalton joined Realtor.com in October – of 2002, not 2005, and with him came an unbridled wealth of ideas, creativity, intelligence, experience, respect for change, and a vision for the future of real estate. He has been instrumental in encouraging and guiding Realtors to reinvent themselves in this everchanging environment to become the very best in adopting technology, to provide strategic and mindful representation for both buyers and sellers, as well as, extend themselves as a conduit of informative resources for consumers worldwide. With all due respect to Dustin, his impressive blogging, and creativity, give credit where credit is due with regard to the players of positive change and leadership in the course of Realtor.com, Move.com, and Realtors from the year 2002 and beyond…the adoption of change has been immense and the resilience and adaptation will continue. And yes, new players are always welcome…stay tuned!
Boomer,
Read the linked story on Realtor.org He may have been hired in 2002 as you say, but that’s not what the press release on 10/05 says.
The fact remains that the Luther hire was brilliant. Dustin’s seminar today was really super stuff.
Ardell…doing a bit of research would have been the appropriate step. NAR issued that piece in 2002 and it may have been logged on the internet through the NAR website at a later date in 2005 – who knows? We all know research is in order to respectfully convey accurate information. The facts would have been found on Realtor.com or Move.com. I’m just clarifying the history, as it stands, and setting the record straight – no offense intended for the error. My point was more directed at the acknowledgement and true history of the immense talent at work at Realtor.com, how change has already taken place, continues to take place, and how all the Dustins and Allans and the creativity and leadership in each of us will enlighten and benefit all as we share with each other.
If it helps to clarify when Mr.Dalton joined Homestore/Move/Realtor.com:
http://www1.move.com/Company/PressArchives/PressRelease.asp?pr=20021002
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-92809383.html