Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Nykia Wright is NAR’s new CEO

Nykia Wright Named Permanent CEO for the National Association of Realtors®

“Wright began her career in the financial services industry and, prior to leading the Sun-Times, was a strategy and business transformation consultant who advised Fortune 500 companies and top tier universities on operational, financial and performance improvement projects. 

She is also the co-founder of SonicMESSENGER, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup helping democratize audience engagement and measurement by leveraging smart audio.” 

NAR

I think I could come up with 10 reasons why an outsider is the right choice and 10 reasons why an “insider” would be the right choice. But, in the end not having any baggage of any previous relationships in this case is a good thing. As I’m fond of saying, loyalty costs. God speed Ms. Wright.

Industry Relation Live Stream switch to Notorious POD You Tube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@NotoriousROB

Industry Relations Podcast Live Stream Tomorrow (8/14/24) at 2PM PT

Heads up: On Wed the 14th, at 2PM PT, The Notorious ROB and I will do a livestream of Industry Relations instead of a pre-recorded release. Join us on YouTube if you want in. We will take your questions and comments on the livestream as well.

https://www.youtube.com/@IndustryRelationsPodcast

FAFO MLS Edition

MLS’ ain’t playin’

Hotel Shower Design

Since a lot of my readers are frequent travelers I think venting here a bit on some of the frustrations of traveling will be well received. I want to focus on a pet peeve of mine, hotel personal hygiene gels. I’m talking about Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash.

For about the last 10 years I’ve been afflicted with the ICSS disease. Meaning, “I Can’t See Shit”. I’m able to see far away but I need readers to read anything with small text. Which is fine most of the time, I have my progressive lenses on my glasses so I’m able to adapt. But one place I don’t wear my glasses is the shower. And in the shower I’m confronted with this.

Can you guess which one is Shampoo and which is Body Wash? It’s bad enough the text is too small for me to read, but the contrast and color choice between the bottle and text is so bad it makes it even more unreadable. See below of a closer look.

Someone should be fired. And don’t get me started with those teeny tiny bottles, the text is too small on those too! So what is a frequent traveler to do? Enter my trusty Sharpie.

To the ownership of the Courtyard by Marriott and their next hotel guest in room number 211, you’re welcome.

Zillow comes to its senses

Zillow finalizes lawsuit settlement with ARMLS, Metro MLS

“In December 2023, Zillow filed suit against ARMLS and MetroMLS, claiming both MLSs violated antitrust laws when they planned to disable their integrations with ShowingTime in favor of MLS Aligned’s Aligned Showings platform. ARMLS shuttered its integration with ShowingTime on Dec. 27, with MLS Inc. following suit in February 2024.

Zillow questioned the timing of ARMLS and Metro MLS’ decision, claiming it was an attempt to give MLS Aligned “a monopoly” in the MLSs’ respective regions.”

Marian Mcpherson, Inman News

I’m a little biased but Zillow declaring Aligned Showings, a brand new showing service, which effectively added another choice for MLS organizations to choose from now had a “monopoly” has to be one of the most “WTAF” moments in real estate history. Never mind the fact that Zillow was basically strong-arming MLS organizations into integrating ShowingTime on their MLS systems by default.

Great to see leaders at ARMLS and MetroMLS having the courage to fight against this nonsense.

If anything Zillow should look at the recent ruling where a federal judge ruled that Google engaged in illegal practices to preserve its search engine monopoly.

But hey, I’m not a lawyer or giving any legal advice.

Yikes!

Seller’s Agent asking for an update from the Buyer’s Agent about their counter offer. I’m told that these types of comms are coming from agents in the last seven days (since they removed the buyer’s agent compensation field).

Things are going to get pretty whacky.

Orlando Realtor Association switches to SentriLock

Orlando Regional Realtor Association Selects SentriLock as New Lockbox Service Provider

“Our members expect cutting-edge technology that effortlessly syncs with their mobile devices and other systems,” noted ORRA CEO Cliff Long. “After a thorough and lengthy evaluation by our volunteer REALTOR® leadership and members, we discovered that SentriLock is not only user-friendly, but also boasts top-tier security features, safeguarding both property access information and the agent showing the property. Given that our consumers trust us with their homes, it’s important we provide the highest level of security possible.”

SentriLock

Nice win. I’m hearing this could equate to over 35,000 lockboxes, Yowza!

Fame

I didn’t have “someone will make socks with your face on them, and wear them at Inman Connect” on my bingo card. 😳

Perchwell raises $25M in Series B

Amidst real estate industry transformation, Perchwell raises $25M Series B to further empower agents

“While other industries rely on integrated software tools to manage their work, real estate professionals still spend much of their time shuffling between disjointed MLS data repositories, search portals, and various other point solutions,” says Peter Hébert, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Lux Capital, who will be joining Perchwell’s board of directors. “Perchwell is setting the new industry standard by bringing all that tooling into a complete and modern software platform. Agents nationwide have come to trust Perchwell to provide an indispensable competitive advantage in today’s dynamic real estate market.”

Perchwell

Seems impressive in this real estate market. Hopefully this optimism will spill over in to other companies looking for funding.

Sponsored By MLS Reset