Spencer's Blog
This is my blog where I discuss things I find interesting, including: real estate, venture capital, entrepreneurship, economics and pop culture.
ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2008
7
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Sitting at Newark Airport this morning at 5AM, waiting for my flight back to Seattle, it was fitting that I finally finished the last episode of The Sopranos. I'm too cheap to pay for HBO, so I never watched the show when it was on the air, but a few weeks ago I started watching them in rapid su...
02/28/2008
2
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Crazyfunny picture on the front page of today's NY Times. For some reason they decided that rather than showing Ben Bernanke testifying before Congress, they'd show a giant foot of the guy next to him.
02/28/2008
5
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I'm in NY today, speaking at the Jeffries Internet Conference. Another Wall Street conference means another opportunity for me to tell the Zillow story to The Street. I also got to watch several other real estate companies present, including Bankrate and Internet Brands (realestateabc.com). These...
02/27/2008
5
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President Bush was giving a speech at the Marriott across the street from my hotel, so the whole block was locked down for about 30 minutes -- no one in or out. The presidential motorcade was unbelievable: about 30 black SUVs, 25 police cars, 10 police motorcycles, and 2 ambulances bringing up t...
02/27/2008
0
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I'm in Washington DC tonight for some partner and media meetings tomorrow. I'll be on Fox5 (WTTG) at about 7:45am EST for anyone in the Washington area.I was looking over the Washington area housing stats in preparation for my interview tomorrow, so I thought I'd share some stats. Remember, all...
02/25/2008
Real estate agents have always had a tricky relationship with mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers. It must be hard having this critical dependency (the lender) on your transaction. Having never been an agent before, it’s hard for me to imagine how frustrating it must be to take a transaction to...
02/25/2008
8
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Before I got into the real estate industry a few years ago, I used to wonder why “Sold” signs stayed up outside people’s houses for weeks. The answer is simple, in retrospect: the “Sold” sign is the best possible marketing for both agents in the transaction. Duh. Well now Zillow has a way for you...
02/25/2008
3
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Like millions of Americans, my 3/1 ARM will reset in 2008. Fortunately, I'm not like the 39% of Americans who bought their home in 2006 -- those people are underwater on their loan. I put 10% down when I bought my house in 2005, but I bought the home that I was renting at the time so my purchase ...
02/20/2008
Sara from Zillow beat me to it, but I still wanted to share this huge news at Zillow today. The world's biggest real estate brokerage company has decided to syndicate all of their listings to Zillow for free.So if you are a Coldwell Banker, ERA, Century 21 or Sotheby's Agent, your parent compa...
02/20/2008
6
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I go to a lot of open houses, for fun. I've seen a lot of zany things in people's houses: the two huge hot tubs in front of a 60" flat screen TV (in a house owned by an NFL player), indoor pools with tunnels to outdoor pools, and shwoers larger than my bedroom. But I must admit that until this ...
02/20/2008
