On my post about the CoStar/LoopNet changes, David asked what should an agent or brokerage do? Good question. What you should do depends on a lot of things. Do you need a data provider, a marketing platform or both? Can you afford to pay the subscription fees or the time it will take to research, collect and/or market on your own? DATA PROVIDERS CoStar arguably has the most comprehensive database of properties, listings, and comps. How good that data is depends on your market. I’ve long … [Read more...]
If Real Estate is Local, Who Needs a National Database?
If you’ve visited Realtor.com lately, you’ll notice a lot of missing listings. And if you’ve visited local residential brokerage sites, you’ve noticed a lot more listings. Residential brokerages in markets around the country are not only displaying their own listings but those of other local brokerage listings on their websites. What’s going on? For years residential brokerages have been fighting with the NAR about listing syndication permissions. Sites like Zillow were at the root of the … [Read more...]
An FAQ for the Xceligent CoStar Battle
Everyone knows that CoStar is a litigious company. And that all the cases boil down to CoStar claiming data theft and most end with CoStar winning. But the CoStar Xceligent battle is a doozy – and not just because of Xceligent’s counter-suit. There’s a huge amount of press coverage and marketing campaigns by both parties to gin up support for their side. If you’re having trouble keeping track, I’ve written an FAQ to get you up to speed. Did Xceligent Steal CoStar Data? While similar data … [Read more...]
CoStar – LoopNet Integration is Here (and What it Means)
If you read their PR and info sheets on the CoStar/LoopNet database integration - or "enhancements" as they like to call them - you’ll find CoStar didn’t do a great job explaining things. In their zeal to convince you that this is the best thing that ever happened to you, they left out a lot of the nitty-gritty agents and brokerages need to know. Luckily, I had the chance to talk with them about the changes. So here they are – in plain English. No More Paid LoopNet Search Current paid Search … [Read more...]
Disrupting CRE – It’s A Matter of Trust
Innovation and disruption are studied a lot these days as everyone tries to identify industries ripe for disruption and figure out exactly how to disrupt them. One way to do that is to reverse engineer disrupting companies to create a blueprint of sorts to help innovative types find a path for disruption. As I was reading about some of these theories on Stratechery.com (excellent site, btw) I couldn’t help but think about how they apply to commercial real estate. How does what CRE disruptors … [Read more...]
Is Commercial Real Estate a Great Market?
I can't keep up with CRE start-ups anymore. They start out doing one thing. Months later it's something else. Not that there’s anything wrong with changing course when you notice you’re not gaining traction. It’s called responding to the market - or, more bluntly - change or die. Marc Andreessen wrote about this process – what he called getting the right “product/market fit.” Of the 3 things he believed a start-up needs to succeed – a great team, product and market – having a great … [Read more...]
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