Let's speak to the future...

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Services for Real Estate Pros - Larson/Sobotka Business Advisors, LLC
RECENT BLOG POSTS
When I made the Salesman Steve post last month, I expected some responses, critical and thoughtful, as I usually see on AR. But only one comment posted: Yolanda askedHi.  Maybe I didn't understand fully your story, but why didn't you hire Salesman Steve to represent you?  (I gather he's licensed ...
11/19/2007
I took a month vacation from posting - busy with work but also thinking a lot about what I wanted to write about next. I've been thinking a lot about this story and how to share it, because it comes from my personal experience. It is ordinary in the sense that things like it happen every day in e...
10/03/2007
Ok, so I posted earlier about why I think bonus offers are bad PR for the industry. But it is also unclear to me whether bonus offers can be allowed in MLS. Policy backgroundIf we take the example of MLSs affiliated with the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), they should be complying with NA...
08/25/2007
Under current conditions in many markets in the U.S., listing brokers are dusting off the practice of offering bonuses to buyer brokers in an effort to speed the sale of their listings. I'd like to make the argument that bonus offers of this kind are bad for the industry, but first I need to give...
08/20/2007
Real estate firms occasionally work together in marketing a listing of a seller. The term "co-listed" is often used to describe such listings, where more than one real estate brokerage firm can be described as the "listing broker." At least two issues crop up in these cases, one where both broker...
08/17/2007
What are the other options?Among the approaches other than centralized and decentralized regional MLSs, the options for cooperating vary widely. For example, two MLSs may allow their participants to view each other's active listings only, or they may include off-markets. They may coordinate on ID...
08/16/2007
What are the anticipated costs of MLSs cooperating with each other?Monetary costs for MLS cooperation depend a great deal on the form of cooperation chosen. Generally, they come in the form of "soft costs," staff and volunteer time to make decisions and manage the resulting efforts; and "hard cos...
08/14/2007
This week saw yet another example of the use of a survey to argue that the MLS industry needs to take a certain course of action. Using survey data to reach these kinds of conclusions is a mistake. And in fact, I don't think even the survey in question supports the headline that an Inman News art...
08/10/2007
Diagnosing OMD - Using licensee overlap, population density, and referralsOne of the benefits of MLS cooperation is meant to be the cure to overlapping market disorder or OMD. This is the situation where a broker is compelled to belong to more than one MLS in order to operate within a single "nat...
08/06/2007
Like all business decisions of an MLS or association, the decision whether and to what extent to cooperate with other MLSs or associations in providing services should be based on sound business judgment: In other words, do the anticipated benefits outweigh the anticipated costs, taking into acco...
08/04/2007
Rainer
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Brian Larson

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We need to spend some time thinking about the future of the industry. That means not being afraid to ask hard questions. Three things: (1) I think "out loud" - which means what I write here is half-baked. People sometimes listen to me, though, so if you want me to spread wisdom instead of ignorance, you had better share some of your own with me (wisdom that is). (2) These are my own views, not necessarily shared by my clients. (3) Nothing here is intended as legal advice. Want legal advice? Hire an attorney! :-)