We started here, and still the question rings in my ear:
If almost-as-good is free or nearly free, what is the market value of slightly-better?
Big changes in the world since then. Brick ’n’ mortar retail is all but dead. Books, records and software ‘apps’ are aiming for a price point under ninety-nine cents — many of them all the way under. The supermarket real estate magazines are gone, and the thinning out of the classifieds put the newspapers on a strict diet. Their putative replacements, realty.bots like Zooliapads.com, are by now just sleazoid lead vendors. Unwired Realtors are enjoying their retirements while we are doing business without a fax line or even a land line.
That much is cool. I’m less sanguine about the people in this business than I am about the business itself. One of the things I haven’t loved about real estate has been seeing some of the incredibly scummy things people will do. Most of my clients have been great, and I love all of the people I work with long-term. But I’ve fired people who have left shit on my shoes forever, and this is not a happy outcome for me.
BloodhoundBlog has been a similarly-mixed blessing. I’ve met some wonderful people through this blog, and we’ve published some remarkable content. But I’ve seen the howling mob at its worst, and every day I get to see sleazy SEOs working overtime to make me regret sharing link juice with commenters. And meanwhile, the vendorsluts and their raving wraiths have turned our part of the internet into just another Realtors’ brothel. Don’t get any on ya.
And I am off to Planet Elsewhere. I wanted to hit the road for a while in the first quarter, but my Mammy died and then Odysseus started looking all deathful. So here I am mounting the expedition in the third quarter instead. I’m going to be in Las Vegas for the last three weeks (three nundinae, actually, but who’s counting?) of July, and then I will be in Orlando for the last three nundinae of August. I’m interested in making plans for September, October and beyond if you would like to see me in your town.
Meanwhile, there is the question of what to do about BloodhoundBlog. I’m not writing here much, nor is anyone else. I think this is a valuable resource, especially when the entirety of the vendorslut mafia is howling as one mob. But it’s stoopid to have thirty mug shots staring at us from the sidebar and have all but none of them writing new content.
So I need for the dawgs to figure out what they want from this place. When I come back from Sin City, I’ll reconfigure the roster accordingly.
Your call: What happens next?
Brian Brady says:
Gosh but it’s crowded!
BHB was like a wagon train exploring a sometimes tumultuous but always exciting frontier. Today, the online real estate space looks like Southern California; one big master-planned, perfectly manicured subdivision.
It’s bland. It’s boring. It feels confining.
And yet…it still works. I get calls from consumers who’ve read one of my posts here or on Active Rain. I know people still read what we wrote here. Maybe you might share some of the numbers, Greg? I’m sure we still have subscribers and maybe a reminder might remind us that, as crowded as the online real estate space is, there is still a lot of unexplored land.
Another frontier for a bunch of wild dogs.
June 29, 2013 — 9:35 am
Doug Quance says:
My withdrawal has been my withdrawal from real estate, in general. I am now starting to dabble (helping another broker who is getting too busy) so who knows – I may have something to howl about, again.
June 29, 2013 — 9:41 am
Mark says:
Greg I would be honored to contribute if you are looking for new blood for the Bloodhound Blog. It would mean stepping up my game and becoming a much better writer though. Easier said than done I am sure.
June 29, 2013 — 11:49 am
Cheryl Johnson says:
Happy Dawg Day! Brian is right, the online real estate world has become a giant manicured subdivision with a big box store full of vendors at every freeway exit…
The journey from the frontier days until today has not been an easy one for many folks.
Like most, I have fought the battles, and I am still standing, but I am now too weary to write the story….
June 30, 2013 — 8:21 am
Dave Barnes says:
Let it die.
Not because it was/is not good, but because Greg is tired.
Create something new.
July 8, 2013 — 12:11 pm
cooksquared says:
I would love to write more actually. I have a ton of ideas as a real estate investor. I mostly stopped out of apathy. Didnt feel like I was bringing value to people and my time is becoming more valuable by the day. I would happily commit to one post a week if this place continues. I dont even need my face on the side…
July 10, 2013 — 2:46 pm
jimi says:
1) It’s funny that you will spend July/August in Nevada and Florida … and still likley get some relief from the heat.
2) Congrats on the 7 year run. Very solid content has kept me coming back again and again.
3) Innovation continues to blossom in our industry and bloodhound does a fantastic job of tracking, praising and mocking. You must continue, if for no other reason then to shine the bright lights of truth on the vendorslut mafia.
July 16, 2013 — 9:46 am
Teri Lussier says:
Happy Anniversary!
I continue to get traffic from BHB and in theory, now that I’m working in earnest it would behoove me to utilize it to its fullest, but the fact is I am currently not making that happen. Would I? I don’t know for certain.
Still, this is a tremendous resource and I think it’s a pivotal part of the online RE evolution/revolution so it would stink to lose it- it’s relevant and needed.
Whatever you do with BHB, thank you for everything you have done.
July 20, 2013 — 6:32 am
Chris Johnson says:
Good luck on whatever you choose next, and godspeed. An artist must be remembered by the best of his work, and you are an artist.
July 21, 2013 — 7:52 am
Jim Klein says:
Hey, y’all. I’m a country boy now. Out here it’s so simple. When something doesn’t work–or even look–the way you want, you fix it. Then it does.
The remarkable thing is that this works for people too. The only difference is that any ol’ person can fix any particular toilet, but only one person can fix any particular person. Duh.
Anyway, I’m sure the sharpies here know what’s coming. I mean, when you watch a rerun, it’s not too much of a shock. Plus, logic always holds. I figure it’ll be good in the end, since only the best of the best will be left standing. That sounds like a nice world, at least to me.
Securitization of rents should get the boulder rolling, eh?
http://tinyurl.com/jwv4zma
I hope you persevere, Greg. These days, I’m pretty sure a blog is a person, not just some software.
By way of Claire Wolfe, here’s one that’s both short and magnificent…splendid, one might say. Well, that’s my opinion and I’m a country boy now.
http://joelsgulch.com/my-scrooge-mcduck-moment/#more-6888
July 30, 2013 — 4:49 pm