I fully expected Dustin Luther of Rain City Guide to file a post replete with 101 links at midnight last night. I thought it would be a nice commentary on the absurdity of what Ardell and I were doing, and a nice pastiche on his lists-of-10 posts. In fact, he delivered a hugely link-filled post later in the night, most of which still sits on my nightstand, undigested.
I finished my money-work today with nearly 1,000 unread posts and comments in my feed reader (hundreds were me and Ardell, of course) and over 400 unread emails that accumulated through the day yesterday. The emails endure, a glaring accusation, but the feed reader is clean.
Here’s proof in 102 links:
Ardell is back in good form, rocking boats and rattling cages. I think I speak for both of us when I say that there are always plenty enough words to be spoken, to be written, to be weblogged. What is evermore in short supply are ears to hear, minds to wonder, souls to take flight and soar. Welcome to Real Estate 3.0: Ethical, evangelical — all but ethereal…
Marlow Harris at 360 Digest and Kevin Boer at In the Trenches have been zeroing in on the accuracy of Zillow.com’s Zestimates. This has been Kevin’s project from the beginning, and a visit to his weblog is very instructive.
My mind was elsewhere, so I don’t know if Marlow was in the lead with news about Trulia’s nationwide expansion. She’s certainly been all over the story, though, along with Trulia’s own weblog, Ubertor, The Real Estate Marketing Blog, Real Central VA and Marlow herself again. Two days later, she followed up with news that Windermere has gone Google. More from Joel on this move. My take: Okay, but an MLS is a tool wherein I can distinguish a slate roof from a tile roof and a true swimming pool from an above-ground pool. By that standard, we do not have and may never have a national MLS.
And from Galen Ward at Rain City Guide comes a discouraging word on Trulia and the virtue of moral consistency. To give the MarkerMen their due, their riotous quibble was not with listing originators like an MLS system — or Trulia itself — choosing not to commingle co-brokered and FSBO listings, but, rather, with MLS rules that prevent MLS members from doing this, if they choose, with their syndicated IDX feeds. This distinction sits right next door to gemeinschaft and gesellschaft, and you have to be either a drunken German or a philosophy major (there’s a difference?) to wrap your mind around that…
But the sun always shines at Rain City Guide when Dustin takes finger to keyboard. The man is no Pollyanna, but he always finds a way to help people find the best within themselves. The post I cite here might take hours to work through — link by link — but it will take a lifetime to live up to. That’s a good night’s work…
Michael Daly at Hamptons Real Estate Blog cites an “International Property Buying Guide” from Forbes.com.
“Coldwell Banker has come up with an index to compare the price of homes around the country in various locations. They basically ask what it would cost to buy a 4 bedroom, 2200 square foot house in a nice, middle class neighborhood.” So says Free the Drones, reporting on a wicked-cool tool.
Is Zillow.com punch-drunk? Could be, inasmuch as Greg Tracy at BlueRoof.com is taking on the appraisers.
Jay Thompson wants tougher real estate licensing laws in Arizona and The Property Monger delivers — in California. It could be that PressReal.com has the best solution: Starve the weak agents to death…
PressReal also has a smoking article on how to make your house sell faster. To start with, don’t smoke in it…
In the “Oh, good grief!” department, Zillow.com has grown beyond giving you a bogus number for what your house is worth. Now it will gleefully misZestimate your net worth. The reason that the argumentum ad absurdum is so common is that thoughtless people are blissfully unaware that their arguments are absurd. But if you insist on going to the same well every day, sooner or later people are going to spot the path you’re taking. Maybe I should go short on Zillow after all.
Two insanely great list posts from Kris Berg at The San Diego Home Blog: Top Ten Signs You Picked the Wrong Real Estate Agent and Blogging – The Twelve Step Program. The first is (mostly) pure fun, the second is great advice cleverly written.
A more-serious side of San Diego, still insanely great, from Searchlight Crusade: “100% Financing: Buying A Home With Zero Down Payment” and “Forty and Fifty Year Mortgages”.
And rounding out the San Diego six-pack, Jeff Brown from Behind the Curtain brings us “Real Estate & Financial Planning: Best of Both Worlds,” Part 1 and Part 2. It might be a dry topic, but it goes down easy with Jeff’s dry wit.
What’s in a meme? Sellsius° aims to find out as “unzillowable” moves from the ivory tower to the hurly-burly of the bourse.
I absolutely refuse to make fun of RealtyBlogging.com two days in a row. You’ll just have to pick up the slack on your own. (Hint: Number 17.)
Tim O’Keefe at Real Estate Marketing Blog asks “Who Is Selling All That Real Estate?” This terrible, awful, headline-shrouded, enbubbulated real estate market will be… the third best year in the history of real estate…
Here are my favorites from Ardell’s 102 Blogoff posts: New Agents vs. Experienced Agents, Motivated Seller!, Home Buying Can Be Easy, Free Agent? Seattle says NO!, 5 reasons people leave their agents, Very Highly Recommended, Double Hits – Twice the Action!, You Might Be Being Unreasonable IF…, How Much is the Earnest Money Deposit?, Why Now After 17 Years?, Real Estate Commissions & Redfin, It’s not the client’s problem, We could fix it you know, LTV means Loan to Value and Would you buy in today’s market?.
If there is an award ceremony for The Sellsius° 101 Blogoff Challenge, Jon Ernest of The Property Monger will need the only tuxedo: He’s more than funny enough to serve as Master Of Ceremonies, and he stands to win all the awards for weblog coverage of the event. His raucous, incendiary posts, linked below, are an unequaled achievement all on their own.
Here’s all the Blogoff news, the quick way: The Property Monger 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Sellsius° 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Real Estate Snippets, NELA Live 1, 2, Curbed LA, Rain City Guide 1, 2, 3, The Phoenix Real Estate Guy 1, 2, The Real Estate Tomato, moco real estate news 1, 2, Altos Research, Real Central VA, 360 Digest, In the Trenches 1, 2, 3, 4, Transparent RE.com, Charlottesville Area Real Estate Blog, BlueRoof.com Blog, Free the Drones, True Gotham, The San Diego Home Blog, Pittsburgh Homes Daily, The Future of Real Estate Marketing, The Boston Real Estate Blog, The Mortgage Reports.
Ardell’s Blogathon news posts, linked for completeness: The Blogathon Challenge Match and Just Warming Up.
BloodhoundBlog’s Blogathon news posts, linked for completeness: Coming Tuesday, the real estate webloggers blogoff, Even if we both can turn left on the runway, can we swallow 101 hard-boiled eggs?, Do you think you know who will win the Sellsius° 101 Blogoff? Here’s your chance to bet on the outcome, First the snooze-off, then the blogoff.
If I’ve missed your weblog entry, let me know and I’ll amend this list. The whole thing was a blast, and I don’t want to leave anyone out of the fun…
Technorati Tags: blogging, sellsius 101, real estate, real estate marketing
Kris Berg says:
Greg (and Ardell), What a hoot! I am still in awe of the accomplishment. I managed two silly posts of my own on the day of the big event and felt spent. 🙂 Admittedly, I slipped in a couple of mundane real estate tasks (listing appointment, office meeting, property showing), and of course I had to monitor your progress, but I know when I am out-classed. What I admire most is that you were both back on the horse the next morning. I completely expected a 24-hour lull. Loved the hysterically clever Post 102, by the way. Bowing in your general direction…
September 28, 2006 — 7:39 am
jf.sellsius says:
All of us who watched the marathon unfold witnessed a rare event. It was surreal at times. As a tribute to you and Ardell, I read every post and commented on each one that day. (hey maybe that’s a record– 204 comments in a day 🙂
And Jon was hilarious. His is the definitive record of the event. Rudy’s videos were fun too. He put up the Rocky clip to pump up Ardell but she didn’t get to see it until afterward.
All in all, we thought it was a great success. It brought us all together for a time. And that’s a good thing.
September 28, 2006 — 10:56 am
ardell dellaloggia says:
I still want to know if Rudy picked Rocky because I’m from Philly, or if that was just a coincidence.
Ditto on Kris’ kudos on post 102.
Maybe we could have pre-done everything after 101? Without breaking the rules? Maybe I can crank up a couple of hundred between now and next year to post AFTER I get to the 101 required amount? LOL…always a new challenge to face…and an angle to pursue.
I have a real estate partner named Kim Harris (male), the same way Greg has Cathleen. So work CAN and does get done during a Blogathon!
September 28, 2006 — 1:27 pm