Center for Realtor® Technology Survey

Those folks at the CRT do good work. Help them out by taking the annual technology survey. (Link repaired)

And while you’re in the survey mood. stop by the Virginia Association of Realtors® blog and take their survey too (if that is, you consider yourself a real estate blogger).

RealtorFix Plugin for Wordpress

No, the plugin won’t fix the NAR  ;)

But it does make it easy to put that pesky “®” after the word REALTOR® in all your Wordpress posts so you’re fully compliant with the law of the NAR trademark, “Realtor®”

Written by John Lockwood of Particlewave, you can download the plugin here.

More details can be found here. (link corrected)

FTP it to your plugin folder, activate it, and you are good to go.

It’s a pain to get that “®” in there.  This plugin work like a charm. Once activated, you can just type “the R word” and it will automatically insert the ®. John’s even coded it so it won’t wreck domain names with the R word in them (though we all know you can only use “Realtor®” in a domain in very limited instances, right?)

Very cool.

Now to be in full compliance YOU’VE GOT TO SHOUT OUT THE R WORD IN ALL CAPS.  But this is the year 2008, someone needs to realize that requiring REALTOR® to be in all caps is just silly.  What’s wrong with plain old Realtor®?

Do you see ANY OTHER PROFESSION that requires the USE OF ALL CAPS? Seriously, I’d like to know of just one more…
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Hey Lawrence Yun and NAR! Where’s my $200?

From the email inbox:

Dear Member,

In recent months there has been extensive coverage and discussion of foreclosures, auction sales, and short sales. Actual data on these subjects, however, is somewhat limited.

We need your feedback and observations on these topics. We are interested in your opinion regarding housing condition in your market. We would appreciate your taking about 10 minutes of your time to fill out the survey we have prepared. To access the survey click the following link or copy and paste the link into your browser;

Link Redacted

The survey will remain open until Friday June 6, 2008.

At the end of the survey you will be given the opportunity to enter a drawing for 3 prizes of $200 each.

Your participation in this survey is confidential. Results of this study are analyzed at the aggregate, not individual, level. We appreciate your time and thank you in advance for your input.

Lawrence Yun
Senior Vice President, Chief Economist, Research
The National Association of REALTORS®

My emphasis in the bold italics..

No, I didn’t take the survey just for a remote shot at winning $200.

But I’d like to at least have had the opportunity, as promised!

But nooooo…. I took the survey, and was promptly led to a Zoomerang splash screen thanking me and offering a free survey.

But no way to enter the drawing…

Don’t you guys test these things before hitting “send”?

You’ve got my address, feel free to mail the check. Or just apply it to my dues.

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RottenLyingSleazyRealtors.com

Nothing really NAR related here (other than the blog in the title violates the oft-touted, rarely enforced rule of not using “realtor” in a domain name — with limited exceptions of course)

RottenLyingSleazyRealtors.com is a new blog out there.

Someone has clearly had a not-so-nice experience with a Realtor…

Why do I post this here?

It’s just one shining example of at least one member of society that has…. let’s just say a “less than ideal” opinion of Realtors.

Virtually everybody in America has been taken to the cleaners by a realtor (or two, three, four or more) at one time or another. With all of the realtors running around looking for someone to screw over something or another, it’s only a matter of time before your ticket is pulled and you get your opportunity to meet a realtor up close and way too personal. When you do, chances are very good that you’ll get fleeced by the realtor. Sooner or later, it happens to the best and worst of us.

Well, at long last, somebody has put together a platform for you to get that beef you hold against your low life realtor off of your chest once and for all. That somebody is us and that platform is Rotten Lying Sleazy Realtors. Regardless of whether any type of no good for nothing rat skunk of a realtor has screwed you, you now finally have a chance to even the score

Will it gain any traction? Beats me.

Will the NAR send a cease and desist letter due to the improper use of Realtor in the domain name? Beats me. I’m going out on a limb here and saying the blogger is not a member of the NAR. But it is still a trademark violation (if I understand that correctly). Can (or will ) the NAR send the trademark police after this site?

It’s a sad testament, regardless of what happens with it.