Move.com Does Good
Obviously I’m not a big fan of Realtor.com. But Move.com (the “parent” of realtor.com) has done a very good thing to help out those displaced by the horrible fires in southern California.
A lengthy (and growing) list of temporary housing in the San Diego / Los Angeles area is posted at Move.com.
There are also links to additional housing resources.
Here is a map showing locations of temporary housing. Click on the map for more details.
Nice work Move.com!
H/T to Dustin Luther
*EASY* Way to Contribute to NAR Wisdom…
Want to contribute here?
All you need to do is register. You’ll automatically get “Contributor” status, which will allow you to log in, and post to NARWisdom.
Use your name, or not. Makes no difference to me.
To register, scroll way down to the footer and click the “Register” link. Or click here. Enter a user name and a valid email (needed to send you your login password).
That’s it. Once you have that, come back, log in (in the footer again) and post away.
I won’t censor a word unless it’s blantant spam or self-promotion.
If registering and contributing gets out of hand, overrun by spamming trolls, abused, etc. then I reserve the right to shut it it off.
Speak out! Start a discussion. Be heard! Learn how to post on Wordpress (it’s not hard). Have fun!
Planet Cluetrain on the NAR
Greg Swann at Bloodhound kinda sorta wants to go to the NAR convention in Las Vegas to address the crowd on what is wrong with the NAR.
I’d pay money to see that. A lot of money.
I’m going to Vegas in November, and I’m going to make it my single mission to find Pat Combs (NAR President) and ask her to reach out to Greg. I’m sure I’ll be wildly unsuccessful, but I’m gonna give it hell.
The NAR needs to listen to people like Greg.
I’m not holding my breath though…
Required reading: When all you have is a hammer — disintermediate the bums!
Think You Can’t Use “Realtor” in a Domain Name? 53,434 People are Doing It
The NAR trademark “REALTOR®” can only be used in a domain name under very specific circumstances.
From the “Membership Marks Manual” (here is the Table of Contents, here is the specific section on “Use on the Internet“):
Here is a brief list of the principal rules affecting use of the REALTOR® marks in domain names:
1. The term REALTOR®, whether used as part of a domain name or in some other fashion must refer to a member or a member’s firm.
2. The term REALTOR® may not be used with descriptive words or phrases. For example, Number1realtor.com, numberone-realtor.com, chicagorealtors.org or realtorproperties.com are all incorrect.
I know of a few people that have received “cease and desist” letters from the NAR regarding their use of the term “realtor” in a domain name (RealtorGenius.com being the most recent I am privvy to).
From my perspective, it appears that the NAR randomly applies this rule.
“Why pray tell do you say that oh fateful editor?”
Well, let me count the 53,434 reasons….
Using a search tool available at DomainTools, you can find 53,434 active domain names with the word “realtor” in them.
Here’s a screen snip:
Granted, many of those 53,434 registered domains are in compliance with the NAR’s rules. However, many are not. I don’t have the time nor energy to review the entire list, but a quick scan shows many many domain names out there in clear violation of the NAR terms and conditions for using “realtor” in a domain name.
I mentioned a few special ones in this post - The NAR Fires a Shot at RealtorGenius.com
Why does the NAR allow domain names that clearly violate their rules to be openly sold?
You can go to just about any site that sells domain names and find examples of “illegal” use of the word “realtor”.
I was going to list some, but the list is apparently endless. Just Google “domains for sale” and take a look.
Thousands of illegal domain names? Hundreds of illegal domains hawked for sale on the open market? This all begs the question — how, when and where does the NAR chose to selectively enforce this rule?
Heck if I know. Does anyone?
Realtor.com vs Cyberhomes.com
Jim Duncan has an excellent post up today comparing Cyberhomes to Realtor.com.
There is no comparison in my opinion.
Realtor.com best get it in gear, quickly, if they plan on staying the top dog. Or whatever dog it is they are trying to be…
There is a fundamental concept that Realtor.com/Move/the NAR don’t seem to have grasped yet. Jim sums that concept up in one sentence:
It’s been said before - consumers want all the information, they want it now and they want it for free.
Quote of the Day
Does NAR have what it takes to create a nationwide MLS? Sadly, probably not. The real estate industry has been playing catch-up with technology over the last several years, and NAR with it’s 99 years of baggage, has been the slowest to evolve. NAR acknowledges their lumbering pace to embrace technology, but they are still missing the mark stating that their nationwide MLS will only be for Realtors, not the general public.
From Robert Nield at The Phoenix Real Estate Technology Exchange Blog.
The linked video in Robert’s post is from Inman’s Real Estate Connect in San Francisco. It’s 51 minutes long, but well worth a look. It’s a “Connect Duet” between Dale Stinton, NAR CEO and Rich Barton, co-founder of Zillow.com.
Sorry for the quick post…
… but I’m on a beach in Mexico… I’ll be back all too soon.
Here’s an interesting read though, from The Big Picture:
I almost miss David Lereah. He was the former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and author of many fabulous books on how to lose all your money in Real Estate (as well as Tech/Telecom/Internet stocks). Since Housing peaked in August 2005, we could always count on Lereah for some utterly ridiculous economic absurdity, explaining why the Housing numbers really weren’t that bad, and why the-bottom-was-in !
24 Hours of NAR on the RE.net
Here are a few posts from the last 24 hours that touch on the NAR….
Real Estate Myths or What I Did on My Summer Vacation — from Sellsius
The sellsius guys compare the oft quoted NAR stat that 77% of home buyers start their search on the Internet to what they found “on the street” during BlogTour USA. A great read!
In the Gospel according to NAR, 77% of buyers use the internet to search for homes. This stat has become sacred dogma, incessantly chanted by MSM and the bloggerati. It provides the philosophical foundation for putting your listings on all manner of websites. It requires you do penance to upgrade to the revered “featured listing”. To question this stat would be a blasphemy akin to questioning the earth’s roundness (actually, the earth is an oblate spheroid, but I digress.)
Don’t live in fear of the NAR or your broker — disintermediate them — from Greg Swann at BloodhoundBlog
Greg is never shy about his thoughts, ideas and opinions. An interesting, thought provoking read.
The stakes are high, as Brian has pointed out. You yourself have been smart enough to build a Web 2.0 marketing strategy, but now you’re faced with the possibility that your broker, with or without the help of the brokers’ cartel, the National Association of Realtors, may try to take it all away. Here are some things you can do to pursue independence now:
Does the NAR & the Big Brokers really want to fight The Blogosphere? — from Rain City Guide
The most interesting part of this post is the comment where ARDELL says, “If NAR would nix it (blogging), I’d just quit NAR.” The only reason I’m in the NAR is to get MLS access. Maybe ARDELL’s MLS doesn’t require it. Makes me wonder why she’s a member if she can “just quit” it.
NAR stepping into wildly unknown territory — from Real Central Virginia
Jim Duncan applies the NAR’s own Code of Ethics to answer this frightening concept:
The RE.net is evolving, and mostly self-policing, much too quickly for the National Association of Realtors to regulate it. Good luck to them if they have any thought that this might fly -
6. Posting unfavorable/unflattering (but truthful) comments to Blogs
There are more posts out there. Your editor is a little busy preparing to leave for Puerto Penasco, Mexico today for a little R&R. Posting my be light through the weekend….
For the Record: The Man Behind the Curtain
Earlier today a commenter mentioned (politely I might add) this:
However, I am happy to stand by what I say to any audience, and please note that MY NAME is attached to EVERYTHING I say online. My father taught me many years ago, “If something is worth writing, it is worth signing your name to it.”
And I think her father provided sage advice.
About an hour ago I got a rather nasty email from someone accusing me of “trying to build mystique” around the blog by remaining anonymous. They then implied in no uncertain terms that I was unethical for “damaging our highly respected trade union” and they were certain the the NAR “technical detectives” would find out who I was and “swiftly shut it down”.
Ironically, the email was not signed and was obviously just created, I assume for the sole purpose of sending this one email. I won’t disclose the email address publicly, but it was basically NARWisdom@SomeFreeEmailService.com.
Whatever. I do have to say I got a nice chuckle at the “NAR technical detectives” comment. I can just visualize a bunch of nerds hunched over keyboards muttering, “Who IS this guy??”
The problem with that visual is anyone with a modicum of technical skills can quickly determine who I am. I have made no secret of who set this blog up. If I had wanted to remain anonymous, would I have done these things??:
1) Registered the domain name publicly instead of using a private registration?
A whois search that takes all of 10 seconds clearly has my name on it (and was “uncovered” in the Inman post about this blog.)
2) Included NARWisdom.com in my own existing MyBlogLog account?
Just click under any of the MBL avatars in the footer and you’ll go to the NARWisdom MBL profile that clearly identifies the author.
3) Used my wife’s somewhat unique and relatively known name in our community as part of the Sitemeter stats setup?
Hover over the Sitemeter chicklet in the bottom left corner and note the URL displayed in your browser status bar — the name “FrancyT” that is part of the SM account name. (but not part of the password. I’m not stupid, so don’t even try…)
4) Told anyone who asked (and several that didn’t) that yes, I was the one that set up this blog?
For the less technically adept (and more so to shut up dolts who send anonymous emails rambling about how evil anonymous things on the Internet are) let’s just put this on the record:
I am Jay Thompson, a Realtor in Phoenix, AZ known to some as The Phoenix Real Estate Guy.
Why didn’t I “disclose” this sooner?
Well heck, the blog has only been online for about 74 hours. To be honest, I thought the only people who would even know it existed would be those I linked to. The Inman article sent a lot of traffic this way, some folks posted about it on Active Rain, and several “Stumbled It” which sent a couple hundred over. That activity was apparently enough to attract the loonies. Now it’s getting linked to in blogrolls and other posts — the whole “viral effect” is taking off. It’s actually quite interesting to watch. But I digress…
I intentionally chose not to splash my name across this blog because this blog isn’t about or for me.
It is about the NAR — the good, the bad, and the ugly (and yep, there is some good)
It is for you — those members of the NAR who want to educate themselves, and discuss amongst their peers their “highly respected trade union” (ack!). Non-members, wanna-be members and anyone else that has an interest in the NAR are more than welcome to participate, lurk and even send nasty emails. If you don’t like what is said here, the solution is simple — don’t read it.
As this blog develops, I suspect I’ll supply very little content. There is plenty of NAR related content generated almost every day across the RE.net. I just want to “collate” it so to speak - to assemble it in one place to hopefully facilitate discussion. I will of course, inject my opinion where I see fit — because that’s just what I do, I like freely expressing my opinion.
So yeah, I “run” this blog. But really, I just pay for the hosting and manage it. It’s your blog…
Jay Thompson
REALTOR®
Hereafter known on this blog as “JT - The Editor”.
Man I wish we could lose the ALL CAPS thing and the “circle R”. ESPECIALLY THE ALL CAPS THING! It’s just…. so….. stoopid? 1950’s?
Is the NAR Visiting this Site?
Hmmm… several somewhat lengthy visits have been made here in the last hour from people coming from the domain name “realtors.org” (which redirects to realtor.org):
Does this means the NAR is visiting? I don’t know, but it seems likely.
And that’s more than fine. In fact, I think it’s good. Maybe they can get a sense of how at least a part of their membership feels about the organization.
Anyone, from anywhere, is more than welcome to stop by here. Comments are always encouraged.