The Zebra Teaches History On Realtor Mag Blog

Daniel Rothamel, a man I consider a friend and one who is commonly referred to simply as “The Zebra” is penning a series of posts on Realtor Magazines blog, Speaking of Real Estate.

Daniel’s first post there is “Shouldn’t We All Know More REALTOR® History?” And of course in usual Zebra fashion, it is very well done.

Daniel tells the story of how this gig came about on his own blog, RealEstateZebra.com.

Nice work Daniel! (now that said, if you read NARWisdom, you would have known about the existence of the Realtor Magazine blog!  )

.

The NAR Claims to be Listening…

In a post on the NAR’s “President’s Report” blog, NAR president Dick Gaylord says they are listening.

I commented on that post on May 13. So did Jim Duncan.

Now I understand why they can’t respond to every comment. Really I do.

But can they respond to any comment?

There was a brief moment in time where it appeared that some of the NAR leadership was “getting it”. I was encouraged, as were others.

Let’s just say that encouragement is dwindling….

In his post, Mr. Gaylord says:

To all of the REALTORS® who are driving discussion in the blogosphere, I just want to say: “Keep up the great work and please participate in the discussion on this blog.” (my emphasis)

To have a “discussion” requires a minimum of two people. One can only talk to their self for so long before they move on to where someone will actually engage in the discussion.

.

Why Join NAR?

Jay Thompson asks in the comments at AG:

Other than MLS access, give me a compelling reason to join the NAR.

Well?
RPAC? Other lobbying efforts? Networking? Education?

Technorati Tags: , ,

The NAR Credit Union?

From this article on Realtor.org, comes this:

In a controlled and phased manner, the REALTORS® Federal Credit Union plans to offer a full range of fairly priced products and services, with fewer fees, including:

Deposit and Financial Services

Loans

Other Amenities

Brochure here (that I don’t think I ever received).

I dunno. Seems like most Realtors out there already have a bank account. Maybe the focus could be on something a significant portion of Realtors don’t have. Say….. health care?

Hat tip to Roy McKenzie at PMZ Buzz.
.

OOPS! One of the “30 Under 30″ Indicted for Mortgage Fraud

And in one of the biggest “Oops…” in recent memory, one of NAR’s profiled “30 under 30″ appears to be in very serious trouble…

From the June 2007 Realtor Magazine, “30 Under 30 Class of 2007″ article:

Markets may be churning, but if these dynamic practitioners are any indication, opportunity is still knocking. Although they’re under 30, they already demonstrate grit, resilience, and sheer love of the game. These bright young professionals, chosen from more than 600 applicants, showed they have what it takes to open doors in any market.

In the article they profiled one Eve Mazzarella from Las Vegas.

Now this little nugget comes out on Friday from CNBC:

LAS VEGAS - A Las Vegas real estate broker and her husband are facing federal charges they made millions of dollars orchestrating a mortgage fraud scheme.

U.S. Attorney for Nevada Gregory Brower says Eve Mazzarella, 30, and her husband, Steven Grimm, 45, were indicted Wednesday on bank fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting charges.

Grimm was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas and is due to appear Friday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. Brower says Mazzarella is being sought.

If convicted, each could face decades in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

The government alleges Mazzarella and Grimm bought more than 200 properties at inflated values using limited liability companies and more than 400 straw buyers to make purchase offers.

The couple allegedly controlled transactions worth more than $100 million.

They allegedly defaulted on mortgage payments on many of the loans, causing at least 118 properties to be sold in foreclosure.

Oops….

Hat tip to Twist at HousingDoom, and “Tyrone” in the comments.

 

 

Blogging is a stage

And it’s one where one can publicly fail or succeed. It’s been said and written many, many times before about NAR’s need to engage their members and the public. Nowhere is active engagement’s value more readily seen than from David G (Zillow) and Rudy (Trulia) - so much so that they only need first names.

Witness this timeline on a recent Trulia interaction -

At least three things are notable about this example -

1) Trulia (and Zillow - see the comments) listened and fixed the problem.
2) When the problem was fixed, Trulia told the community.
3) The customer returned to the post and stated that the problem had been corrected.

If you’re not participating in the conversation with regularity, your “participation” is not really relevant - it might even be perceived as pandering. Part of listening is responding; people don’t listen to companies, they listen to people.

If you’re not going to dedicate yourself or your organization to learning about and doing something well, don’t do it at all. The internet is a very public place.

Technorati Tags:

I Completed My Homework

Editor’s Note: I am pleased to present this contribution to NARWisdom.com from Dale Stinton. Dale is the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Realtors.

Well, here I am again. I wanted to take a moment of everyone’s valuable time to thank Deborah Burns for referring me to the Book – “The New Influences” by Paul Gillin. I just finished it and (yes, I’m a slow reader) found it fascinating and insightful. I just purchased a copy for every Past President and every member of the Leadership Team, as well as every Staff Vice President of NAR. Deborah, I owe you a Starbucks certificate - send me your address and it will be on its’ way to you.

My favorite chapter was “The Talkers” and I was particularly interested in the cross-over analysis of podcasting and blogs. (By the way, President Dick Gaylord just sent a little video podcast to over 900,000 REALTOR® email addresses). Here’s the salient paragraphs I took much heart from:

Chapter on “The Talkers”

Podcasting is perhaps the purest form of consumer generated media. It’s real people talking about stuff that excites them. People podcast for the same reason that they blog: It’s a cheap, flexible form of self expression, a way to share one’s thoughts and opinions with a like minded audience.

Educate the Consumer - This is an important point. In the best practice of social media, podcasts should be educational and actionable, but never overtly promotional.

‘real people talking’, ‘self-expression’, ‘thoughts and opinions’, ‘educational’, ‘actionable’ – sounds a lot like the tenets that this great country was founded on (short pause to put hand over heart).

So I say ‘fire away’ as if you had a duty to express yourself and let each and every reader decide who and what to give credence to – this is the future, you are the future – born out of a little skirmish started in 1776.

And in the words of the immortal Ricky Gervais from his latest hit show ‘Extras’ – are you havin’ a laff?

.

Today’s RE.net on the NAR

Jim Duncan posting at AgentGenius:

Engage us, please.What’s an organization to do to maintain relevance to its paying members and the general public? What if the current presidential campaigns ignored Web 2.0 (whatever that means)? The same thing that’s happening to the National Association of Realtors - they’d lose the public’s confidence.

Jeff Corbett on the XBroker:

In spirit of my experiences, any time a chance arises to take a swipe at NAR’s antiquated ways and membership, I’ll oblige.

. . .

Maybe one day the NAR will use it’s collective wisdom (and money from it’s million person army) to offer their membership some worthy advice and strategy instead of trying to protect some antiquated legacy.

Both are very interesting reads.

One  web savvy commenter  on the AgentGenuis posts says, “NAR should start a blog”. That she’s not aware there are several NAR “blogs” speaks volumes.  And not about her….

And a reply to that comment says, “NAR has a blog… and to illustrate Jim’s point; it’s interesting that as connected as you are to social media applications and technology that even you didn’t know that. I have to go search it out, and frankly after seeing it - it was a waste of time to do so.”

Kinda sad….

Creating Connections from Cultural Change

Jack Torza is a candidate for 2010 NAR Treasurer.

In a recent post to his “campaign blog”, Jack has a lot to say.

A lot of good stuff.

I believe that organized real estate, from local associations right on up to national, is now confronting a period of remarkable culture change, one that requires that we reevaluate our traditional methods of engaging, serving and interacting with our members. A new generation of REALTOR® is emerging; it’s a generation defined not by age but by its embrace of technology and social media as essential real estate business tools. (my emphasis)

And increasingly, I fear that many of that generation see organized real estate as tradition-bound and immovable, bound to our old ways of networking, more comfortable shouting our perspective from the rooftops rather than engaging in the kind of conversations and relationships that have emerged in multiple online (and even cell-phone-based!) venues. While that perception may seem to be quite a stretch for those of us who participate in our REALTOR® associations, it’s a reality for many recent recruits to our REALTOR® ranks.

Read it all.

This is the kind of leadership we need in the NAR.

.

NAR Promoting “Walkable Cities”?!

First I read an honest report from [gasp!] the NAR’s Chief Economist. “Refreshing”, I say to myself, “The NAR may be getting a clue!”

Then I see in my reader something titled, “Top Ten: Information on Realtor® Sites”

I’m a fan of lists. They are short, often thought provoking and more often provide ideas and info that may be good to share with clients, and prospective clients. I’m thinking that maybe the NAR is here to provide me with a cool list I can put on my site.

The first list is, “Top Ten Home Town Destinations”. Helpful if you live in Asheville, N.C. , Traverse City, Mich. or any of the other eight cities mentioned.

The next list is, “Top Ten: Walkable Cities”.

ALERT ALERT! DANGER! was the immediate response I had to that list.

Why?

The “D word”. Yep, discrimination. Fair Housing. What ever term you care to use.

You see, the simple fact is there are a lot of folks out there that can’t walk. While we as a society may have taken political correctness to an extreme, the bottom line is agents must constantly keep these kinds of things in the forefront of their brains.

We are generally forbidden to use terms in listings and advertising like “Within walking distance to schools”. Heck, some even frown on using “walk-in closet”.

Why then would the NAR publish a list of “walkable cities” and even reprint an AP article on “walkability” in Realtor Magazine online?

I betcha dollars to donuts that some agent out there sees this list and writes up a nifty little post on a web site or blog — “Denver Ranked Fourth Most Walkable City!”.

Personally, I wouldn’t go down that rocky road. Your mileage may vary.

That the NAR is providing ammunition for a Realtor to potentially shoot their self in the foot is a little disconcerting.   At a minimum, how about a little disclaimer/reminder that writing about something like walkability may be offensive to a significant portion of the population?

.

← Previous Page — Next Page →