Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
There are numerous federal and local entities and regulations that shape the residential real estate brokerage business and the home buying transaction, but this one could have the biggest impact we...
View ArticleDo It Yourself Real Estate
The use of the term DIY in the context of the real estate transaction serves to illuminate not just “For Sale By Owner” (FSBOs) but the potential for unbundling the entire home buying transaction....
View ArticlePortals in Real Estate
Granted, the average online lead has nowhere near the same level of “readiness to buy” as a person walking into a brokerage office, but no one said it did. They are most certainly vastly different in...
View ArticleThe Mobility of Connectivity
Two decades after the Internet evolution started in real estate most agree that the Web has become indispensable to the home buying transaction. Adoption was however very gradual and it was a slow and...
View ArticleMulti Listing Services
Over the past two decades I have been watching the MLS, its customers, benefactors and the outside world charge closer to what we termed “The Perfect Storm” in our 2007 Swanepoel TRENDS Report. I’ve...
View ArticleBranding in Real Estate
Over the past five years the portals have enjoyed remarkable growth and they are now redefining consumer awareness. Is this the beginning of a huge brand war or is it an extraneous squabble? The...
View ArticleThe Trade Associations
The unique three-way agreement tying national to state to local is the envy of many other associations, yet it is also the same structure that causes some big questions. For example, the association is...
View ArticleBrokerage Business Models
In acknowledging the muscle of technology, the Internet, mobile, and the cloud we must accept that it will change the existing paradigm and business model. The concern is, whether existing companies...
View ArticleChanges and Innovations
Trends almost always follow an identifiable path. They usually also show that innovations frequently follow patterns. What I’m trying to say is that you can see the future if you look closely. The...
View ArticleThe Future of the Business of Real Estate
In 2014 hundreds of new regulations created by the CFPB will become law, the majority of Prudential offices will convert to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Redfin will most likely go public, Zillow or...
View Article
