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
WFG News
January 28, 2015

Big data tools can have placebo effect

NEW YORK — Big data tools in real estate may be suffering from “shiny object syndrome,” according Todd Carpenter, managing director of the National Association of Realtors’ data analytics group. NAR Managing Director, Todd Carpenter Charmed by such systems’ promise to pinpoint prospective buyers and seller, some real estate agents…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

Tool tracks listing performance on more than 70 international sites

Agents and brokers who advertise their listings through global syndicator Previsite are now tracking listing performance on more than 70 portals worldwide through a partnership with real estate software development firm ListTrac. Fourteen multiple listing services representing 210,000 agents have signed up for ListTrac’s free listing monitoring tool, which measures…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

5 common real estate social media myths

Social media plays a huge part in today’s society. Whether it’s for personal or professional use, social media cannot be avoided. There are many reasons why social media can be a game changer for real estate professionals. Social media allows real estate agents to share expertise and knowledge while also…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

How to build a high-growth company

NEW YORK — High-growth companies may seem like anomalies born of luck, but the reality is that they follow distinct practices that any business can put into place. That’s according to Joanna Lord, vice president of marketing at 2-year-old real estate startup Porch and a keynote speaker today at Real…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

ListHub general manager discusses Zillow syndication agreement

Ever since the Jan. 6 announcement that ListHub would not be renewing Zillow’s syndication agreement, real estate professionals have been seeking more information about exactly what this means to ListHub, Zillow and, ultimately, themselves. This is a story that affects everyone in the industry. Yesterday, I had the unique opportunity…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

Brokers should focus on providing support tools to agents, not leads

NEW YORK — Today’s high-tech brokers often tout their ability to generate leads for real estate agents. But speaking onstage at Real Estate Connect, Robert Reffkin, CEO of New York City-area real estate brokerage Urban Compass, revealed that, rather than scaring up leads for real estate agents, the company’s robust technology…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

Why Zillow reminds me of my ex-girlfriend

I run a boutique real estate firm called TREO Realtors in Cincinnati, Ohio. I get a call or an email about once a week from Zillow trying to upsell me on services and, ultimately, secure a direct listing feed of my listings to its site. I really like Zillow. For…
Read More
WFG News
January 28, 2015

Zillow’s StreetEasy adding 3-D floor plans to some listings

Marking the latest advance of 3-D into online real estate, StreetEasy, a listing portal owned by Zillow that covers the New York City area, has begun adding interactive 3-D floor plans to some of its listings to help prospective buyers get a better feel for homes from their computers or mobile…
Read More