WFG News
January 29, 2015

Car dependent Texans get search-by-commute tool

With an eye on attracting prospective homebuyers, the Houston Association of Realtors has rolled out a search-by-commute tool on its new statewide website. “We operate under a ‘give the consumer what they want’ perspective at HAR,” said HAR President and CEO Bob Hale in a statement. “We are proud to…
Read More
WFG News
January 29, 2015

Rupert Murdoch: ‘What the hell does Zillow mean?’

NEW YORK — Some real estate tech watchers have suggested that realtor.com is due for a name change, arguing that the label doesn’t deliver enough marketing oomph. But Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp., the media conglomerate that now owns realtor.com operator Move Inc., made it clear that he…
Read More
WFG News
January 29, 2015

2 devices that’ll reinvent home tours

Dave Eisenberg Two devices currently under development will reinvent the way buyers tour listings, according to Dave Eisenberg, CEO of 3-D provider Floored. The first is Oculus Rift, a virtual-reality headset. The device will let users explore homes remotely by making the virtual 3-D models that have stoked buzz in the industry dramatically more…
Read More
WFG News
January 29, 2015

Master real estate inbound marketing in 3 steps

The underlying philosophy of inbound marketing dictates that being hyper-focused on building relationships with your future clients is what wins. As such, it doesn’t take a visionary to see the beautiful overlap between being “inbound” and being a real estate agent. Inbound marketing is not a turnkey solution to growth.…
Read More
WFG News
January 29, 2015

Darren Bailey: ‘Tech needs to catch up quickly to provide brokers and agents the modern experience they deserve’

Director of application management services at Metropolitan Regional Information Services Inc., a multiple listing service supporting 40,000 real estate pros in the Mid-Atlantic region. Time at MRIS: Two years What he does: I am responsible for leading a team of architects, developers, support engineers and data and business analysts at MRIS. Age:…
Read More
WFG News
January 29, 2015

Dead or alive? Print as a real estate marketing tool

We recently surveyed 340 real estate professionals about print marketing attitudes, including questions about where they spent their print dollars and where they would devote more money if they could. Starting off with the big question, we asked respondents if they think print marketing is dead. The good news is…
Read More
WFG News
January 29, 2015

Shrinking inventories could end up pricing more buyers out of the market

The number of homes on the market fell for the first time in 16 months in December, hinting at a potential acceleration in home prices in the months ahead. That might be good news for sellers, but not for buyers who could get priced out of the market or the…
Read More
WFG News
January 29, 2015

Tech companies sound off on frustrations with MLSs

NEW YORK — There’s a lot of talk in the industry about building tools to improve the efficiency of real estate transactions. But what happens when a tool designed to do that confronts the inefficiency of the industry itself? Frustration, according to tech company execs speaking at Real Estate Connect…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

11 startups that are out to change the business of real estate

NEW YORK — Eleven real estate startups pitched their big ideas to the Real Estate Connect New York City crowd today. Here’s what they are up to: Rentity: Rentity connects renters who are moving out of a place, to those who are looking for a new place to live. The startup “brings the sharing economy…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

Consumers will decide who is king of the online real estate mountain

NEW YORK — When Zillow closes its acquisition of Trulia, which Wall Street expects to happen any day now, the megaportal will square off with realtor.com operator Move Inc., which will be determined to unseat the king of the online real estate mountain. Both Zillow and Trulia already get more visits than…
Read More