All-American Get-Together
Next weekend is the GoodGuys All-American Get-Together at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. How do I know this? Because I pick up a copy of the Pleasanton Weekly every Friday at the Valley Marketing Association meeting.
Today's meeting was held in the right venue - Tommy T's Comedy Club - as there seemed to be an unusual number of comics in atendance including Pat Griffin who announced she is listing Tommy T's(in her dreams). The lucky buyer gets a free mobile home. Someone needs to tell Tommy, before it all goes into escrow!
Roy's real estate market update reflects what we're seeing in our MLS graphs. The chart to the right reflects an increase in transactions coming in with multiple offers. The final sales price is not exceeding sales price in most cases, but the multiple offers are helping sellers to get their asking price.
Today's new listings included:
- 3847 Vinyard Avenue #B, Pleasanton
- 2131 Vineyard Avenue #124, Pleasanton
- 3259 Harvey Court, Pleasanton
- 588 Annandale Way, Dublin Ranch
- 3849 Brockton Drive, Pleasanton
- 5471 Black Avenue #2, Pleasanton
- 7218 Moss Tree Way, Pleasanton
- 7292 Bedford Way, Dublin
- 4734 Newhaven Street, Dublin
- 8148 Moller Drive, Pleasanton
It appears that Elizabeth Forth is also being funny - sneaking this pic into my camera. Roy Dronkers and I were discussing Zillow and some of the other Web 2.0 real estate sites. Many Realtors have negative opinons of these new entrants into the real estate industry. My opinion, having had my own Internet marketing and promotion business, is - things change. My advice - read the book I am currently reading - Change or Die.
One organization that looks on the verge of extinction to me is the NAR - National Association of Realtors. In spite of example after example down through history of organizations, companies and industries that tried to stifle change or minimize it to protect their vested interests - the NAR is attempting to do the same with the real estate industry. Their reaction to Zillow is to now offer a Market Snapshot which site visitors can only get if they leave their contact info - a clear indication that the NAR is clearly out of touch with where the Internet is going.
March 18th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
John-I agree- the NAR is becomming less and less relevant as they continue to act like the AFL-CIO.
So, if the NAR is GM, who is Toyota?
March 18th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Michael - I think that free-for-all won’t be decided until mid 2008. This year will see some new players entering the fray with Zillow, Truia and the like.
My opinion - most of these models are not built around supporting the client/agent relationship. Instead, they seem to think that the home buyer/seller want to do it on their own - regardless of the stats that clearly show that while people will search for info online, when they’re ready they turn to a Realtor to help with the transaction.
It would be great to see someone new on the scene that gets it. The best model would be one that supports the agent, the consumer and the agent/client relationship.
Zillow is doing a fanastic PR job. They followup on almost evey mention of them on the net, but they still don’t get it. With all that money, you’d think they could spend some on focus groups or market research.
Google started with the need for a better search engine, not a revenue model. These guys are just the opposite. They see this big cash cow and they want as much as they can get.