Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Eric Wu, CEO of Opendoor steps down for new role, CFO Carrie Wheeler named new CEO

New leadership structure

“To my Opendoor community,

I’ve decided to transition from my role as CEO to President of Marketplace, and we are naming Carrie Wheeler as our new CEO. First, I believe that an important driver of shareholder value is the discovery and refinement of product market fit, and I want to spend my days, nights, and weekends delivering products that address consumer needs. Second, and more importantly, I’ve spent countless hours with Carrie, and I know she is the leader and executive Opendoor needs. ” 

Great letter. I’m a big fan of Opendoor and of the iBuying model. It’s going to be interesting to see what Eric does now that he will be singularly focused on their new “Exclusives” initiative. If Opendoor successfully creates a portal that consumers will always check alongside Zillow, they will have changed the game. Best of luck to Eric, Carrie and the entire Opendoor team.

Melissa King takes COO position at OneKey MLS

OneKey® MLS Appoints Melissa King as COO

“The Board of Managers of OneKey® MLS is pleased to announce that Melissa King has been appointed as the new Chief Operations Officer for OneKey® MLS. An experienced professional with more than a decade in collaborative real estate technologies, King was most recently Vice President of Strategic Alliances & Partnerships at a large neighboring multiple listing service: Bright MLS. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of OneKey, King will also be a part of the Executive team that will oversee the implementation of the strategic plan, adopted by the Board of Managers earlier this year.”

Big congrats to Melissa and OneKey MLS. Great to see these recent moves by industry vets moving up the ladder into roles that can benefit the entire industry.

“Who run the world? Girls!” – B

Listing Bits Episode 75: Get Your Time Back with Automated Webinars – with Melissa Kwan of eWebinar

Listing Bits is back!

If your role in real estate involves sales demos or any kind of training, you’re likely familiar with the frustration of delivering the same webinar over and over again. 

Or worse, preparing a webinar that is either poorly attended or no one shows up.

But what if you could do 100 or even 1,000 webinars a month—without getting in front of a camera?

Melissa Kwan is Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, a platform that saves people from repeatedly delivering the same webinar by turning videos into automated, interactive webinars. 

Prior to eWebinar, Melissa founded and successfully exited the real estate tech startup Spacio, a check-in app for open houses.

On this episode of Listing Bits, Melissa shares her journey as a proptech entrepreneur, describing how she developed her mad sales skills and why she was ready for a new challenge after Spacio.

Melissa discusses how her experience with onboarding and training for Spacio inspired the creation of eWebinar and explains what differentiates the platform from Zoom, YouTube videos and webinar replays.

Listen in for insight around Melissa’s intentional approach to life and learn how your real estate business might leverage eWebinar to get your time back and spend it on things you enjoy!

What’s Discussed:  

The initial idea for Spacio and how it evolved into a check-in app for open houses

How Melissa developed her hustle and sales ability out of necessity

Melissa’s successful exit from Spacio after 4 years of running the business

The real estate leadership dinner that launched Melissa’s career as an entrepreneur

What differentiates eWebinar from YouTube, Zoom and webinar replays

How Melissa’s experience with training for Spacio inspired the creation of eWebinar

How brokerages and real estate teams are using eWebinar to qualify leads

The benefit of using eWebinar in terms of video quality and availability of content

eWebinar’s use cases for sales demos, onboarding and training

How Melissa runs eWebinar to reflect her work less, enjoy more philosophy of life

Connect with Melissa:

eWebinar

Melissa on LinkedIn

ProfitLed Podcast

Resources: 

Spacio

Inman Connect

Greg’s Post on Melissa in Vendor Alley

Pocket

SAP

HomeSpotter

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

Our Sponsor:

Cloud CMA for Brokers

CoStar announces re-shuffle and layoffs of 100 employees of HomeSnap/Homes.com

CoStar Group Integrates Homesnap Operations With Homes.Com

“Today, CoStar Group took steps to combine and streamline the operations and functionality of Homes.com and Homesnap. David Mele, who led Homes.com for 7 years prior to its acquisition by CoStar Group in 2021, has been named President of the combined Homes.com and Homesnap organization. The company believes that the combined entity is now better positioned to efficiently achieve its goal of becoming the leading residential real estate portal.”

David Mele (who I hear is well-liked) has mostly been behind the scenes since the acquisition. Well, he is about to get a lot of attention focused on him now.

“Over the course of the next 12 months, CoStar Group expects to increase the net number of employees building Homes.com by 700 after today’s reorganization and headcount reduction of approximately 100 duplicative roles.”

Damn. 100 people. Well, I guess John Mellencamp doesn’t come cheap…

Industry Relations Podcast: Movies, Music and Anything But Real Estate

Is there anything Rob and Greg can’t banter about? Turns out, not really! In this special episode of Industry Relations, our two real estate gurus take a break from debating MLS, Zillow, and the housing market, and turn their attention to something far more important (or, at least more fun): the greatest movies of all time! And as one could presume, the debate gets quite heated.

Watch us on YouTube!

Thank you to our sponsor: RentSpree!

Visit https://www.rentspree.com/ for more information!

Read more about RentSpree’s expansion in the rental market here: https://www.rentspree.com/insights/the-untapped-money-potential-of-the-rental-market

This podcast is produced by Two Brothers Creative 2022

Miguel Berger joins TrustFunds

TrustFunds Hires Miguel Berger as VP of MLS and Industry Relations

“Miguel has a deep understanding of the industry and changes the real estate market is experiencing right now,” said Lynn Leegard, Owner and President of TrustFunds. “His relationships and experience in the industry will be a tremendous asset in continuing TrustFunds mission to provide best-in-class electronic payments.”

Congrats Miguel!

Event: Turn On

Register=> https://1000watt.net/turn-on/

A lot of real estate conferences blend into each other, and it’s hard to tell them apart. You get a lot of “what year was that” vibe? There was a ballroom, a lobby bar, a steak dinner, and mindless presentations of vendors and agents giving commercials from the stage.

I’ve attended two Turn On events from 1000watt and I remember each of them distinctly (Dan and I were lucky enough to be participants in one of 1000watt’s first events). The content is unmatched. Maybe it was the weird/cool swag (rolling papers with the 1000watt logo, yes please). Or the incredible band playing music between speakers and breaks. But most of all it was the presenters. One sticks out in my head of an actual bonafide film director ( I think one of Marc’s neighbors) showing the audience how he would shoot real estate listing videos. I also had a chance to play poker with Tom Ferry and a real professional Poker player (spoiler alert, I lost my ass – but it was all for charity).

So naturally, when I heard 1000watt was doing it again I signed up. The event is in Portland, Oregon – March 20-21 ( a beautiful time of year in Portland).

So if you want to cleanse your palette of the normal, because in 2023 we are all going to need new ideas and inspiration, then you should sign up too.

Click this link to register —-> Turn On produced by 1000watt

See you there!

Has Frederick Townes, CEO of Remine, left the company?

Rumor on the street is… yes. If so this means he only lasted 7 months. The story is developing….

Industry Relations Podcast: The Real Estate Market’s Crucible in 2023

Realtors assemble! As Greg returns from the National Association of Realtors Expo in Orlando, he and Rob discuss trends going into the new year. From unsettling problems such as the hike in first-time homebuyer age and income to the currently topsy-turvy world of vendors and MLSes, buckle up for what Rob is predicting will be “a crucible” for real estate in the year ahead.

Watch us on YouTube

Connect with Rob and Greg: 

Rob’s Website

Greg’s Website

Thank you to our sponsor: RentSpree

Visit https://www.rentspree.com/ for more information!

Read more about RentSpree’s expansion in the rental market here: https://www.rentspree.com/insights/the-untapped-money-potential-of-the-rental-market

This podcast is produced by Two Brothers Creative 2022

Podcast roundup

Two great podcast episodes to listen to for anyone in organized real estate

Stratechery
An Interview with Opendoor CEO Eric Wu About Building a Marketplace in a Real Estate Slowdown

“I had a chance to talk to Wu about both his and Opendoor’s origin story, competing and now partnering with Zillow, why the speed of the current slowdown caught Opendoor by surprise, acquiring customers for an infrequent transaction, and how the company will get a marketplace off of the ground.”

Ben Thompson’s Stratechery is must listen. Some of the content is behind a paywall, but do yourself a favor and subscribe.

This Week on Startups
Managing a recession, housing market insights & more with Redfin’s Glenn Kelman + OK Boomer | E1616

“Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood cover startups, tech, markets, media, crypto, and all the hottest topics in business and technology. They also interview the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors, and innovators.”

Great interview of one of my favorite CEOs in real estate, GFK, Glenn Fucking Kelman. Keep grinding Glenn we are all rooting for you.

Sponsored By MLS Reset