[photopress:galen_ward.jpg,full,alignright]Nathan of nPost just did a great interview with Galen on Shackprices… Lots of gold including some indication of Galen’s vision for the future for Shackprices!
What is your long-term plan for ShackPrices?
I would really like ShackPrices to be a national real-estate search website. Our goal is to make it for anyone in America to search for a home. The plan is national coverage, more features, and a better site for people to search for a home with.
Don’t stop with this quote… Go read the whole thing! 🙂
Thanks Dustin! I’ve been meaning to post more on RCG about the decisions and choices that went into making the site, but we’ve been swamped with work. Stay tuned…
Galen, good luck. I hope you get rich and famous. Did you know Remax already features every mls in the country or will when they finish up by March and interestingly, the NWMLS is pulling out of Realtor.com. I counted a majority of Windermere representatives on the board of NWMLS who voted for this. Windermere has never allowed their listings to be uploaded to Realtor.com as I believe they like to control who sees their listings. Everyone can draw their own conclusions about why the NWMLS will soon no longer be featuring our listings on Realtor.com where something like 85% of the buyers start their home buying process. I need to get Craig to write me a disclaimer so I don’t get sued for saying this! Just like Ardell warned.
I am so delighted to have a chance to post on this subject topic! I am very interested in the subject of MLS because it is a subject close to my heart with in my own industry of appraisal and that is DATA CONTROL…yes I said it…. that little taboo subject. Both the appraisal industry and the brokers who control data are dealing with issues of their own and all at the same time. More about the appraisal thingy later but as far as MLS data I have often felt that a nation wide MLS supported by advertising revenue not only would bring changes to the appraisal industry by leaps and bounds, but also would really say something about consumer rights. A MLS system that would list a listing regardless of location and for free! So much has been printed about the MLS data and property rights and consumer rights and to be honest most real estate agents and the general consumer lack the true understanding of the issue. So why say something… because of another little word: Agency. The brokers control the MLS in an effort to control competition however they do not disclose to the client who they have an agency relationship with that they are not going to really represent to their best ability in marketing the clients property because of this MLS issue. So what if they did disclose, how would that conversation go? I am going to charge you this commission but I will not use all the tools to my ability to do my best to sell your property? I will not market your property to a possible client in India or England because I am a realtor who pays dues to this MLS? The general consumer would not understand this approach at all, or at least would have a problem understanding it. So my question is, does the general consumer have legal recourse under agency because of the MLS control limiting the ability to market their home? Maybe someone will be able to give me some legal opinion. While this issue has been floating around in the real estate industry circles I do not think that the issue has really hit the main stream press in a fashion that would catch the general consumers ear, which is lucky for the traditional broker. I would support a company looking to do the MLS system different in a fashion that would be able to compete with the likes of E-Bay.
Get a life…please. Why dont you just open source everything in the world and then we can all hold hands and sing Kumbaya together. Do you even own a house yet or do you live in your parents basement or apartment? If you had an open source nationwide or worldwide data base would you buy a house in Cleveland?
That’s a pretty sweet comment, anonymous. I find that individuals who anonymously attack other people on the internet are usually very intelligent and successful.
Galen,
I just can’t figure out what he is trying to say. Or how it is relevant to anything in the interview…
Galen and Dustin,
I happened through because I thought we were all going to sing Kumbaya together. I’m very disappointed that we are not 🙁
Not that I’m here…he’s obviously an agent who wants to hold on to the keys, Galen. When the agents sling mud at you…smile…it means you are going in the right direction 🙂 At least he picked the right name for himself…birdbrain.