When talking about Amazon and their strengths and weaknesses for coming out on top for the looming (massive) smart home opportunity — you have to include both Echo (hardware) and Alexa (software) in the equation. While they are intertwined now, that’s not going to remain the case. The…

The finalists have been announced for the MIPIM PropTech Summit… Acasa (UK), an app that allows users to manage all their household bills. BrickVest (UK), a global financial marketplace that allows investors at all levels to invest in institutional-quality real estate globally. Contract Wrangler Inc….

There’s a proposal for NAR to change IDX policy to include a link back to a listing brokerage’s website within every IDX listing display. This has been suggested and supported by Redfin’s Glenn Kelman and WAV Group’s Victor Lund. References: Geekestate by Drew Meyers Notorious by…

In 2013, I said the following: Zillow, Trulia, and Move should make sure they don’t get blindsided in the rentals space (by AirBnB) a few years from now. I won’t say “I told you so”, but…there’s a bit of news on the “AirBnB and rentals”…

[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…