NAR, start asking your members what they want before jumping headfirst into huge expensive projects. Take a survey, see what members actually need and want. After all, you are in business to support your members. RPR is an example of this. According to Inman, NAR…

As a startup, you often have no choice but to build on external APIs or platforms. In real estate, you’re almost always reliant on IDX/MLS data. Or WordPress. Or Drupal. Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Etc. There are, of course, massive advantages to building on top…

I’ll be in San Francisco tomorrow (May 15) until the evening of Wednesday (20th). I always like meeting people who read the blog in person — are you in the Bay Area? Send me an email (drew at horizonapp co)…or, do the following: Download Horizon…

It’s perplexing how often real estate industry questions are referred to social media for answers.  Some of the most basic questions of brokerage model, pay structure, technology tools, and marketing systems lack a unified research database where brokers and agents can begin their searches on an objective playing…

Geek Estate was started almost 8 years ago, July of 2007. Wow, that’s a long time ago. The amount of time I’ve personally invested in this is absurd. But I’ve generally loved every second of it. As most of you know, I’ve been working on Horizon for…

The Powerwall Home Battery is coming to a home near you. Via NPR: In an ambitious bid to move beyond the electric car market, Tesla has announced that it will start selling large batteries to let homeowners store electricity. The Powerwall home battery starts at…

In 1981 Al Ries and Jack Trout published Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. The marketing book became an instant classic. The authors were the first to suggest that consumers have room for just one “leader” in their minds for any given product or service. Safe…

I alluded to the industry combatting the portals with an Orbitz strategy in January of 2014, which turned out to be the case in February (2015) after Broker Public Portal was announced. The industry is taking a Orbitz strategy. Great. Though travel and real estate are very different industries – it…

Helping others changes you. Seeing the impact your money has on those less fortunate than you changes you. Seeing poverty with your own eyes changes you. The harsh realizion that the way we live in the United States is a fairy tale to the majority of the world is…

There have been many, many attempts at discount brokerage models, and those looking to dis intermediate the agent entirely over the past decade. Of course, Redfin and Zip Realty are two that come to mind first, because they reached fairly large scale and their brands…