January 21, 2008 by Joe Kennedy.

According to an article today by Jessica Swesey at Inman News, ActiveRain has secured $2.75 million in a Series A minority investment from House Values.

House Values has certainly pissed off many real estate agents and brokers over the last few years - including yours truly. They have lost a lot of money (not to mention goodwill and repeat customers) through the way they do business. It’s amazing to me that after all their layoffs, cutbacks and change in business that their investors are allowing them to invest in other (albeit related) sectors.

As far as ActiveRain, I stopped blogging there after they announced a lawsuit against Move.com. (Apparently they were going to sell ActiveRain and all the people who helped build it down the river to the Realtors). I’m pretty sure that I will be deleting my ActiveRain account after this latest news, as I know that I want NOTHING to do with House Values. HV has given the lead generation industry such a bad name, that it has been very difficult for new players with great ideas to get a fair shake from the many agents and brokers who have been burned.

What do you think? Should real estate agents still be supporting ActiveRain after they took investment from House Values?

In the end, this is going to be great news for other Real Estate Networking and Blogging sites like Wanna Network.

Posted in REALTORS, Media, Investors, Blogging, Move, WannaNetwork, Consolidation | No Comments »

September 27, 2007 by Joe Kennedy.

Here is a recent press release about MLS consolidation here in Washington state.  There are a number of companies working on putting together a national platform.  Some how I think one of these companies will be able to pull it off a long time before there is national consolidation of the existing MLS.

Olympic Multiple Listing Service is dissolving effective Sept. 30, but no disruption in service is expected, according to officials from Northwest MLS which will enhance its presence in Thurston County with the opening of an office in Olympia. 

Jerry Wilkins, manager of Olympic MLS since January 1997, and all three staff members of that service will become employees of NWMLS and be based at the Olympia satellite office, located at 556 Lilly Road Southeast, Suite D. 

“We expect this will be a seamless transition,” Wilkins remarked, noting planning has been under way since the first of the year when the Olympic MLS board voted to dissolve, ending 50-plus years of service (under various names) to local brokers and agents. Northwest MLS started offering services to Thurston County brokers in 1999, but until now its closest satellite offices were in the adjacent counties.

Wilkins expects most members of Olympic MLS who are not already members of Northwest MLS will affiliate with the larger, regional group.  NWMLS, based in Kirkland, is the largest full-service MLS in the Northwest.  It is owned by its member brokers and currently encompasses more than 2,200 companies with nearly 27,000 sales associates. Together, they serve 19 counties, mostly in western Washington, plus Grant, Kittitas and Okanogan counties in the central part of the state. 

Olympic MLS chairperson Jeff Pust, general manager at Van Dorm Realty, Inc. in Olympia supported the decision to dissolve and consolidate services.  “It’s a win-win for brokers, agents and their clients,” he commented, citing NWMLS’ reputation as a leader in technology and customer support.  There will be no interruption and service to the public he emphasized, noting NWMLS members have access to the “latest and greatest” tools to assist home buyers and sellers.

The move by the Thurston association reflects a trend toward regionalization of MLS functions that is occurring nationally and locally, according to Jack Johnson, president and CEO of Northwest MLS.  Such consolidation enables more efficient exchange of information, broader exposure of inventory that benefits both buyers and sellers, streamlined operations and other economies of scale for accessing standardized forms and state-of-the-art technology, Johnson explained.

Posted in Consolidation, MLS, NWMLS | No Comments »