[Editor’s note: GEM Diamond now numbers more than 600 members.] Regular readers know I’ve been working on a new “Geek Estate” community (now called GEM Diamond). What is it? A private community of creatives making real estate, financial independence, & home ownership more accessible using technology. What…

For the Seattleites reading: Seattle Startup Week is next week (October 2-6). There’s a few real estate tech sessions on the schedule: AI in Real Estate (http://sched.co/CMEY) on Monday at 9 am: Panel with Devyn Cairns (CTO of CityBldr), Sam DeBord (SeattleHomes.com & a regular here at Geek…

In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with David Zirnhelt, the founder of Snap Up Real Estate. Without further ado… What do you do? Personally, I’m the founder and full-time business manager of Snap Up Real Estate.  We’re a small team right…

I saw the following quote from Greg Hague (the architect of the Plan to Save Real Estate” campaign) on Inman: Sellers count on us to sell their homes… yet we (as an industry) don’t control any major website where buyers search for homes. This is…

In March, I said I think we’re early in VR adoption. I still believe that. Torontorentals has added 3d virtual tours to their website. I certainly do think searching rentals are a better initial use for VR than buying a home. Another plus to that…

HouseCanary raised a series B. $31 million. (via TechCrunch & Inman). From TechCrunch: HouseCanary’s business revolves around selling software to appraisers and real estate investment firms. I’ve never understood their strategy, or differentiator for that matter. I have to admit — I still don’t understand the…

A few minutes after I published my post on Smart Homes, I saw the news that Walmart is testing in-home delivery of packages and groceries (TechCrunch). That means you don’t need to be home when the delivery happens, and the products are left inside your home…

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about Smart Homes, and who is best positioned in the race to control the home. The players with the best chance are clearly Amazon, Apple, and Google. Of those, I’d say the lead has to go to…

Earlier this week, I saw Victor Lund’s post about Glenn Kelmans’s call for IDX policy revisions requiring link backs to the broker. My first reaction was: this is a brilliant initiative/strategy. For Redfin. Not for the industry. I planned to write a blog post. Then,…

A big, big congrats to one of true gems of this industry — Mr Jeff Turner — for his new role as CEO of immoviewer, the 3-D virtual tour technology based in Europe. (see here for some context on why I cherish him). Given his love of…