Current News

The Latest News from WFG National Title Company
ryantate
136
WFG News
March 3, 2015

Why social media is destined to play a bigger role in real estate search

A computer model crunching a person’s Facebook “likes” can do a better job judging their personality traits than their own friends and family, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge and Stanford University. That “was nice for us to hear because it validates what we’ve been thinking…
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ryantate
186
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Jeff Goldblum’s latest role: Apartments.com mastermind

Jeff Goldblum plays Brad Bellflower, the fictional mastermind of apartments.com. Real estate brokers and agents have become adept at using the Internet and social media to grow their business. But suddenly TV is blazing hot, with big brand names like Zillow, realtor.com, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Re/Max, Redfin and Berkshire…
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ryantate
134
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Less than half of agents say their broker has safety procedures

More than half of the nation’s Realtors say their brokerages don’t have safety procedures in place to help protect them from the dangers of meeting strangers in empty houses — or that if they do have such procedures, they don’t know what they are. That’s according to a survey by…
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ryantate
136
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Help us crack the code of online leads

Online leads can be a polarizing topic in the real estate community. Where some agents and brokers see great value, others see garbage. Whether you’ve never bought an Internet lead in your life or you capture scores every day, we want to know what you think about online leads, where you’re…
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ryantate
152
WFG News
March 2, 2015

How I landed 54 new prospects in 4 days

I have had three articles published on Inman in the last two months. For a blogger, guest-posting is an excellent way to gain exposure in your industry. There is also an opportunity to add email subscribers to your list, which is something I have focused on during the last two months.…
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ryantate
120
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Realtor facing criminal charges over 8 loans made nearly a decade ago

A Sacramento, California, Realtor has been charged with eight counts of bank fraud for allegedly submitting fraudulent loan applications that enabled clients she represented nearly a decade ago to buy eight homes they did not qualify for. Gabriela Carter / LinkedIn Gabriela Carter, 43, “falsely represented her clients’ income and…
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ryantate
166
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Machine v. Realtor, making DoJ go away, and staying on the right side of the law

Loquacity on machine v. Realtor As I perused Trulia’s 2014 annual report (just posted on the SEC’s website this morning), I was struck by the staggering amount of data the online real estate giant generates and keeps track of. Trulia says it manages “over one terabyte of data on a…
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ryantate
130
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Safety app turns smartphone into security camera

The latest app aimed at protecting real estate agents in the field, “Agent.Watch,” turns your smartphone into a security camera. When a real estate agent activates the app from an iPhone or Android device, their smartphone begins capturing videos and photos. That media is uploaded in real time to the cloud where…
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ryantate
180
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Zillow Group’s game of ‘chicken’

For months now, the rumor mill has been flying with talk of Zillow and Trulia (now Zillow Group) ending the featured listings placement for brokers and franchisors by the end of 2015. Large brokers and franchisors who pay $5 to $10 to feature a listing, with all competing agents stripped…
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ryantate
147
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Mysterious ‘Upstream’ initiative won’t be consumer-facing

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Details of the mysterious Project Upstream remain sparse, but whatever it is, it will not be public-facing to consumers. That’s according to Craig Cheatham, president and CEO of The Realty Alliance, which is spearheading the project. Cheatham spoke on a panel at Clareity’s MLS Workshop this week.…
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