Is Bloodhoundblog The Most Wired In Blog In Real Estate?

by Russell Shaw

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

I got back to my desk late this evening. I had an Inman News Flash email with a time stamp of 10:21 PM announcing the new features on Zillow. Naturally I thought I would pass it along to the Phoenix resident expert on all things Zillow – Greg Swann. The last two times I tried “helping Greg” by passing something along to him I was surprised to find that he already knew about it. This time I thought it might be different as it was about 11 PM and I knew he didn’t have a paid subscription to Inman News. But just to be sure, I went to Bloodhoundblog to catch up first. As you will see below – if you haven’t already, Greg not only knew all about it – he had known all about it for days, and had been interviewed by the folks at Zillow so they could find out what he had to say about it!

Damn! What an amazing group has been assembled here. Good thing none of us suffers from stage fright, as I suspect the spot lights aimed here will only get brighter. On that note, I need to admit several errors on my part. I don’t have all of the correct facts yet, but I received a call last night from my good friend, Marge Lindsay – Bob Wolff had called her. Most of today Bob and I played phone tag and I have not spoken to him yet. Bob is the top selling Re/Max agent whose name I mentioned in my post about Steve Ozonian’s home sale. I believe the specific statements I made which are not true are: his house was not located in Laguna Niguel, there was no dispute regarding commissions – in fact Bob Wolff HAD the listing but later canceled it, and it was not a Coldwell Banker agent who later sold the house. I was also told that Steve Ozonian had sent me an email to let me know about this but I did not receive one from him. I did reply via email to a comment from a Help U Sell agent, Jason Gracey saying I would correct any false or incorrect statement I made and to please pass that along to Ozonian. If there are any other inaccurate (or misleading) statements, please let me know.

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John L. Wake wrote:

It’s interesting that you compare Catherine Reagor to Bob Golfen. Many times I’ve found myself reading his column and thinking, “I have no interest in this car, why am I reading this column?” I guess that’s good writing. Okay, to defend Catherine for a bit, how would you like to work at the Arizona Republic? That’s gotta be a tough job.As a Havasupai friend used to say to describe bureaucracies, “Nothing but bosses on top of bosses.”

And then they have their red phone back to Arlington, Virginia where they get their instructions on how to educate us hicks out here in Arizona.

Concerning Catherine, I assume she’s doing the best she can under the circumstances even if she or her copy editor occasionally get it completely wrong like they did last June (subheading: “Home prices may dip 10% as fear grips Valley market”) and needlessly panicking zillions of people.

Also, her blog has potential if she would post more often. (I don’t understand why a professional writer wouldn’t post more often?)

I don’t know that I would call Bob Golfen a great writer but there is a quality in all of his writing that draws you in – INTEREST. And just for the record, I am not suggesting that Catherine Reagor isn’t a nice person or that Jay Butler wouldn’t be an easy and pleasant person to be around. Also, I see your point and agree about the working environment at the Republic. A good friend of mine worked there as a reporter for years and left, just to get away.

I linked the word INTEREST above to the post that is being discussed so anyone who hadn’t read it – and would like to – could. One of my long-time dearest friends, Bob Boze Bell is into western stuff”. Bob and I have been good friends since 1973. Here is a partial list of what he has written and published in the past decade. As you might imagine, going to lunch or dinner or sitting around chatting over the past 30 + years, the topic of “western stuff” has come up more than once. If it weren’t for Bob I would not know most of the western stuff I know. Prior to him and when he is not around I don’t tend to think of that stuff much. If not for Bob or when reading his magazine, True West, I pretty much don’t care about western stuff at all. About twenty years ago he called me and asked me if I wanted to go to (some dirt clod location) someplace in New Mexico with him for a few days. When I asked what we would be going for, his (VERY enthusiastic) response was, “We would be able to walk the exact trail where Billy the Kid walked”. Not a trail LIKE it but THE trail. I didn’t go.

When Bob and his wife, Kathy and my wife, Wendy and me all went to Tombstone a few years ago (and it would be difficult to find more of a crap hole with less aesthetics) and stood in the area where the famous gunfight ACTUALLY took place – it would have been impossible to not be interested in what Bob had to say. Getting the exact locations where Wyatt stood (not over here like a lot of the books say!), exactly where Doc Holliday was and moved to – these are not facts one can be careless with – they’re important! I believe it would be hard to find someone with less interest in the subject than me. I also would challenge anyone to be around Bob and hear him talk about this subject and for them to not become interested. It just can’t be done. Many other western historians and writers possess his level of data on the subject. That is not what makes him special. It is his genuine passion and infectious enthusiasm for his art that makes him stand out. Is he a great writer? Well you can look at his blog and decide for yourself. He has hundreds of people who read it and sometimes the subject is what he had for dinner. I can honestly say that in all the years I’ve known him not once have I felt “bored” being around him.

He cares about what he has to say enough that his listeners and readers wind up caring too. Just like each and every one of my fellow blog partners here.