During yet another panel on the future of CRE tech, I heard many of the same things I’ve heard before. How the driver-less car, 3D printing, mobile connectivity and VR are going to change the CRE industry. How the agent will transition from salesperson to trusted advisor. Better tools for agents, standardized transactions, more transparency, the importance of data, etc and so on. What made this panel a little different was the presence of CoStar CEO Andrew Florance. Not only was he … [Read more...]

I get lots of requests for advice. But with a day job, I don’t have time to give it. That’s why I have this blog - to share some solutions for common problems agents have and suggestions for developers.  So here’s my advice all in one convenient post. Know Your Market My experience in small-mid-sized markets. Institutional investors, big developers or national headquarters? Few to none. Agents can’t afford to specialize and they rarely work in teams like they do in major markets.  Maybe half … [Read more...]

Continuing the fun with LoopNet numbers, let’s make some LoopNet revenue guesstimates for their agent/brokerage product line taking numbers from their Premium Listing pitch and other numbers I found around the web.  Something to keep in mind as you're reading this - The CoStar Group is aiming to generate $1 billion in revenue by 2018. Money for Search As mentioned last week, there could be as many as 140,000 people paying for search. The best deal is to pay $245 a month for search on the … [Read more...]

I had the opportunity to see LoopNet’s Premium Listing pitch. That it targeted brokerages is interesting on its own, but that’s not what I want to write about this time. Of course it was a slick presentation full of impressive numbers. And just for fun, I thought I’d dig a little deeper into those numbers. Let’s take a look. Only 2% of Those Who Search Loopnet Can See All Available Listings That means 98% of visitors leave the site disappointed. How come that doesn’t happen on … [Read more...]