Fellow REALTORS:

Incase you’ve been in a cave all day not paying attention to Twitter and Facebook, you might want to read this article at Inman News on how The Lones Group (a “sales and marketing coach/vendor” based in Bellingham, WA) is suing Virginia based REALTOR Daniel Rothamel for what they believe is trademark infringement and “unfair business practices”.

The gist of the complaint, which was filed a couple days ago, is that Daniel’s use of zebra imagery and the name of his Real Estate blog (The Real Estate Zebra) title and theme is an infringement upon The Lones Group’s “Trade Dress” which is also that of a zebra theme. The Lones Group also claims that this… and I quote “was and is calculated to cause injury to Plaintiff in the State of Washington” and therefore is seeking damages in excess of $75,000.

Give me a fucking break!

Besides the fact that (at least as far as I’m aware) you can’t trademark things that are naturally occurring in nature, such as “zebras”…  the thing that jumps out at me is the claim that Daniel is purposely causing injury to their business. He’s a REALTOR. In Virginia.  The Lones Group is a sales and marketing system vendor. In Washington. I don’t even see a close relation to how there could be ANY confusion between the services the two perform.  The Lones Group also claims to be a “preeminent source” for blog resources in the Real Estate industry.  Really?  I mean, I consider myself to be fairly tuned in to the “who’s who” of the Real Estate blogging vendors, and I had never heard of the Lones Group until today.

Now granted, The Lones Group does cater to Real Estate agents…  and Daniel does talk to other Real Estate agents across the country (via Inman’s Agent Reboot tour and related events) about topics that are related to Real Estate sales and marketing, although he has no “product” to sell any of us fellow Realtors.  So, that being said, the lawsuit seems like a pretty big stretch and reeks of desperation from a company that is probably already struggling, as some related vendors in the Real Estate space find themselves in this economy.

This really pisses me off!

I’ve known Daniel for about 5 years now. Even before we worked together at Inman News…  He’s seriously one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. So, incase it wasn’t already apparent, to hear that some lame ass company has decided to pick a bone with someone like Daniel for something as frivolous as this, really chaps my hide. So, I (and several others in the industry) let it be known today via Twitter, Facebook, and even direct email correspondence with The Lones Group.  Our message surely fell upon tens of thousands of eyeballs in the Real Estate industry.

Here’s the response received via email from Denise Lones (or more likely her legal counsel):

Fellow members of the real estate community,

You may have heard that The Lones Group has filed a lawsuit against Daniel Rothamel and Strong Team Realtors for trademark and trade dress infringement. I am writing to clear up a few misconceptions that some people apparently have about the lawsuit.

We started using zebra images in connection with our business many years ago. And for a long time, we’ve had a real estate blog called “The Zebra Report.” We’ve made a big effort to promote ourselves as the “zebra” people in real estate. And that’s how people see us. When they come across the word “zebra” or see images of zebras in connection with real estate, they think of us.

After we became known for our zebra connection, Rothamel and STR also began to use zebra images and started a blog called “Real Estate Zebra”. This confuses people. It makes them think there’s a connection between us and Rothamel, when there isn’t. Trademark laws were designed to prevent this sort of thing.

We asked our lawyers to request that Rothamel and STR stop using zebras and the term “Real Estate Zebra” to identify themselves. Unfortunately, Rothamel and STR refused. That left us with only one way to protect our identity – a lawsuit. We would have preferred not to file one, but Rothamel and STR left us with no other choice.

We know some people disagree with our position, and that’s to be expected. In any lawsuit, the parties’ friends and associates generally side with the people they know. But at this point, it’s in the court’s hands. We have faith in the American justice system, and we believe that at the end of the day, the court will decide in favor of The Lones Group.

Sincerely,
Denise Lones

I’d like to raise a few points of observation of my own:

There are thousands and thousands of businesses using zebra images. Will The Lones Group sue each of them too?

There are a several other institutions with a “zebra report“. Will the Lones Group sue them?

Looking at the two websites – there is no question in my mind that they are totally unrelated. The zebra theme is the only commonality.  Will the Lones Group sue National Geographic? They have zebra related images and themes sometimes.

The response raises no mention of how they feel Daniel is purposely hurting their business. Which makes sense… because HE ISN’T.

Speaking of hurting your business… I’d like Denise Lones to chew on this for a bit:

Like I mentioned above, this message was seen by thousands of Real Estate agents today.

I’ll always have a great story to tell when someone mentions the Lones Group to me in the future. Not that I expect that to happen much, seeing as how I’ve been in the R/E space for about 10 years and had never heard of your company.

Imagine how all this is going to look in about 24 hours when all these blog posts (The Lones Group: Brand Suicide, The Lones Group vs. Rothamel – A Case Study in Destroying Your Online Reputation), Tweets, and Facebook posts start showing up in the Google search results. That may not look very good. But as someone who offers brand and image consulting, you probably already knew that.

Long Live the REAL Real Estate Zebra!

Assuming this does actually progress through the court systems… it’s going to cost Daniel a little chunk of change to fight. Here’s where we can help.  Jay Thompson (better known as the Phoenix Real Estate Guy) has started a “Zebra Defense Fund” where we can all contribute money to help Daniel. I very rarely ask my followers for anything favor like. But, if you can spare anything, I (we) would all be grateful!

One last thing. A little disclosure I “borrowed” from Jay Thompson (I’ll watch for the C+D letter Jay) as it so eloquently sums up my situation as well:

I am not an attorney, in any way, shape or form. I consider Daniel Rothamel and his family (also parties to the lawsuit I discuss above) personal friends. And until today, I had never heard of The Lones Group. I have no idea if they are good at what they do, nor do I really care – that’s not the point. Finally, what I stated is simply my personal opinion, which I freely admit is biased and slanted due to my relationship with the Rothamel’s.

Now before anyone goes off and says “I thought you weren’t attending Real Estate conferences this year…” let me remind you that REBarCamp’s are not conferences. They are un-conferences.

Right. Call it whatever the hell you want. I had a great time at REBCSEA last year and I decided that I would go again this year. I know most the organizers, and trust they will do an awesome job at planning and structuring the day just as they did last year.

But even though I had a great time last year, I still felt like there was something missing. At the time, I couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was, but over the last few months, and in reaching my decision to stop attending Real Estate industry conferences, I think I have it figured out.

So, here’s my wish list for REBCSEA 2011:

I want some advanced topics. Lets take some deep dives into SEO, WordPress design, UI, Facebook Ad Targeting, conversion rates, etc.  These are the things I spend a good portion of my time on lately. These are the things that excite me. Think they’re not related to Real Estate? Think again…

I think we’re beyond the whole “you should be on Facebook/Twitter” phase. If people haven’t figured that stuff out by now, they probably don’t belong on those platforms anyway, and there’s no point in twisting their arms. Let them whither away.

I want the no bullshit rule in effect. The last couple conferences I attended had speakers that should never have been speaking on the topics they were speaking on. They were spewing some pretty ridiculous stuff, and nobody called them out on it. I expect more from our NW crew (attendees and organizers both).

That pretty much covers my wish list. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the REBCSEA crew has in store for us this year and hanging out with friends during my stay in Seattle.

Well, it’s only the 2nd of November and it’s already been a crazy month…

I finally got my Real Estate license, so I’ll be putting the finishing touches on my Roseway Real Estate site and building a new site around showcasing the various types of homes for sale in Portland.

I’ve added a new feature to the Roseway site that I’m calling the “Ask an Agent” feature, using the new VYou video platform which basically allows you to create an interactive Q+A section on your website. When someone types in a question, it will show them related/similar questions and my video response answers. If there isn’t a similar question/answer it allows them to send the question to me. I then get notified that someone has posted a question so that I can record a video response. Once I publish that response, the person who originally answered the question receives a notification (assuming they provided their email address) that I have answered their question.  It’s a pretty cool system, and I think it has great potential for use in these situations.

I’ve never been much of a video guy before, so this is a big step for me, but one that I see huge value in.  The videos allow you to show more personality, and express the message in the exact way you would as if you were face to face with a client asking the questions.

As if I don’t have enough to do, tomorrow I’ll be launching two more projects. One is still top secret for now, as it’s official launch is being done at the NAR convention in New Orleans. Here’s a hint though.

The other is a project we’re calling “Before You Die – Portland” which will basically be showcasing all the cool things you’d want to do in Portland before you… well… die.  Similar to the “365 Things To Do in…” that took the Nation by storm earlier this year but without the headache.  Plus, we’re going to be a little more focused on conversion instead of just blindly driving non-targeted traffic to our site in hopes that they magically end up on our Real Estate conversion pages.  I’ve learned a lot by sitting back and watching what others have been doing with this style of marketing. So, it’ll be interesting to see if what I’ve learned can translate into anything. Time will tell…

So, those are my projects that I’m going to be riding into next year on.  What’s keeping you busy these days?

Just a couple days ago I read an article by @DarinPersinger titled “Stop Your Email Drip Campaign To Recruit Real Estate Agents“.  If you’re in the business of trying to recruit new agents to your brokerage, it’s worth a read. Actually, Darin’s whole Socialcruiting site is one you may want to bookmark.  Guaranteed you’ll pick up some tips that can help you in the recruiting game.

So anyway…

I get an email this morning from a local brokerage (I’m going to call them “Hip Realty”) that I just had to share.  Hip Realty is inviting agents to come join them for a “no pressure info session where they’ll teach you how technology can help further your Real Estate career and get you closing multiple deals each month”. Hmm, sounds interesting so far…

If they have this all figured out and are willing to openly brag about it to attract agents, their agents must be doing pretty well. Right? Riiiiiight…

I’m no math major, but just doing some basic math I can see the following:

47 agents total – 177 transactions in the last 12 months
Only 1 agent closed more than 12 transactions (13 total)
78% of the agents closed less than 6
23% of the agents closed 0 transactions

Now understand this may not be the “full story”.  I’m going to give Hip Realty the benefit of the doubt…  They may have a bunch of brand new agents. They may have all taken a group vacation for the last 6 months.  I really don’t know…

But I do know this:

Their crappy recruiting emails are not fooling me.

It all started with this video:

Which led to this article on AOL Housingwatch – that quotes Shaun White, VP of Corporate Communications for Denver based Re/Max LLC as saying “The videos are meant to be entertaining, offbeat and funny and not taken too seriously.”

That article led to this conversation:

Which led to this conversation:

I personally know several “part time” agents that in my opinion are better agents than most of their full time counterparts. That’s beside the point of my argument here though. My point is that I’m sure there are thousands of Re/Max agents out there that have “side jobs” of some sort (even being a parent, or volunteering your time could count), who probably wouldn’t be too thrilled to see this video.

What are your thoughts?

In my original post The Wild West of Real Estate: Snake Oil Vendors Hit Portland Agents I let it be known how disgusted I was about a company that was making the rounds in Portland, selling their snake oil to agents who basically didn’t know any better.

Fast forward almost 2 months. I’m at Inman News’ Agent Reboot up in Seattle for a day of learnin’ when I was told there was a local company sponsoring the event that was selling social media automation services to Seattle area agents.

Enter: Northpoint Social Media – they’ll just “do it all for you!”

At first I was a little shocked that Inman News would let someone like this sponsor an event like the one they were producing. It seems to go against the principles of everything we’ve been told about social media at every previous Inman event I’ve been to (and I’ve been to many, as a former Inman News employee).

So, I decided to visit their booth in the back of the room and see for myself what the deal was. To make a long story short, when the lady I was speaking with found out I wasn’t from the area, she pretty much gave me the cold shoulder. But, I was still able to get a pretty good idea of what it was they were pitching agents and it’s very similar to what I describe in the post I linked to up above, although slightly cheaper. For those that don’t feel like clicking that link I’ll sum it up for you: a fully automated social media package, which includes a WordPress blog that syndicates each post to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

While this was just one of the “products” they offer, it was the one that definitely struck a nerve with me and obviously I’m letting that be known.

I event thought to myself, “man this would be a great conversation to have up on the stage at a future Inman event”, but apparently Howard Chung – VP of Business Development for Northpoint, isn’t willing to discuss this publicly (see image right). He even went so far as to remove some of their videos from YouTube as the criticism began to spread across Twitter and Facebook. Just proof that social media can be a real bitch sometimes.

So, all this got me thinking…  It’s bad enough that agents are falling for this crap. Paying money that could be better spent somewhere else. Polluting the social media environment. All with a false sense of hope that in the end, they would be…  and I quote “making more money”.  WHAT?  In the video featured on the Northpoint Social Media homepage (which has since been removed) Howard Chung proclaims that that is was social media will do for you.

While I don’t totally disagree, as I know social media has increased my business along with that of several hundred agents I’m connected with across the country. However, we all have one thing in common. We create our own content. It’s unique and reflects our own personal opinions and personalities. A key component to the “success” of using social media.

So, to sell someone on the idea that by letting someone else “just do it all for you” will actually make you more money is the biggest bullshit line of the decade in my opinion. Don’t fall for it.

Speaking of falling.  If a tree falls in the automated forest…

The second major problem I have with the automation of social media campaigns is that of the whole “set it and forget it” mentality.

What I mean by this is that if the main goal of social media is to connect with others, and all you’re doing is letting someone else spew their content into your social media platforms, will you be there to participate: if someone responds to you? Asks you a question? Wants more information? Probably not… But, just to prove my point, I decided to test that theory.

I went on to Northpoint’s website, and found one of their example blogs. The latest post at the time was titled “Save Money, Rent Goats”. So, I went onto Twitter, and did a search for that phrase.  Sure enough, there were a list of about 20 people who all had the exact same tweet. Presumably these are all Northpoint clients since none of them were re-tweets.

So, I sent each one of them an @ reply, letting them know that I had a question for them and wanted to know the best way to contact them.  So far, only 1 has replied.

Northpoint Social Media (assuming you’re monitoring your brand via social media) – You think you’re doing a service to our industry? Think again.

Northpoint clients (based on my results, I highly doubt you guys will ever read this) – If you’re not going to put a little more effort into doing something right, do the rest of us a favor and don’t even bother.

I very rarely participate in the whole “Follow Friday” thing on Twitter. I think it’s kind of pointless really…

So, it’s strictly a coincidence that today is Friday, and I’m telling you to follow these select individuals on Twitter: @DaleChumbley, @DarinPersinger and @1000wattMarc.

The thing is, I’m telling you to do more than just follow these 3 guys. I want you to actually LISTEN to them too.

Here’s why:

Dale Chumbley – Yeah, he’s kinda hot right now. One of the founding figures of the whole “365 Things To Do in…” phenomena that seemed to be sweeping the nation recently. Also one of the few people doing it for the right reasons, and reaping the rewards that come along with that. He’s creative, artistic, and knows how to put it all to good use. Plus he’s seriously one of the nicest guys I think I’ve ever met.

Darin Persinger – There are a million and one Real Estate “coaches” and marketing “experts” out there today. Everyone wants to tell you what you should be doing to get more business. Very few of those people have experience in our industry, and if they do, it’s usually pretty limited. Then there’s this guy. An extensive background in Real Estate sales, coaching, training, speaking. Although he’s not as nice a guy as Dale, he too knows his shit. Just kidding, Darin’s a great guy too! I think it’s the accent that throws me off a little.

Marc Davison – There are only a handful of people in the Real Estate industry that I would say would be a privilege for me to be spend some time with. Marc is one of those people. Lucky for me, I was privileged enough to spend a couple hours with him last week for a lunch while he’s here visiting Portland. Although we said we wouldn’t talk business, we did. When you love the business you’re in, it’s very hard not to talk about it. Especially when you’re around someone with the same thoughts and values on how things should be. Marc’s company, 1000watt Consulting, has helped some of the largest brand names in the business get where they are today. That’s no coincidence.

So, there you have it. The 3 people floating around out there in the world that I suggest you follow, and listen closely to what they have to say. It’s good stuff.

There’s been some pretty good discussions popping up lately on the subject of maintenance on homes that are listed for sale. Wether it’s maintaining the stock of flyers in the flyer boxes, putting the price on those flyers, or the actual maintenance on the property for sale, I’m sure there are strong opinions on both sides of the equation and hopefully this post will bring some of those opinions to light.

In this scenario, we’ve got a listing that has been on the market for approximately six months, and in that time, nobody has done any upkeep to the property.  The situation is similar to one that I discuss on my Roseway Neighborhood site in that the lawn has now turned into a field of weeds that is literally 2 feet tall (see the image to the above right).

What makes this scenario a little unique is that it happens to be 2 houses down from my house which we’re in the process of doing a complete remodel on.  So, as I was outside  the other day admiring the new front porch and walkway that the contractor had just finished, one of the neighbors struck up a conversation which eventually led to the discussion of the property for sale on the corner.

During the conversation, the neighbor brought up some good points about the mosquitos that seemed to be breeding in the jungle that was once a front yard, and that it would all be dying soon due to the heat wave that is currently hitting Portland and could be a potential fire hazard.  Both valid points.

After expressing our general thoughts about the property, the neighbor says “I’d mow it myself, but I have a little electric mower that just isn’t powerful enough to tackle something like that”. Then he turns to me with that “I know you have a massive gas powered beast of a mower” look on his face.  At first I thought to myself, “just mow the damn thing and get it over with” but that thought faded away about as quick as it came to me.

You see, I believe that in cases where the property has been vacated prior to taking the listing, that the listing agent needs to be ready to deal with this as it becomes a problem.  So, being the problem solver that I am, I told the neighbor I would get in touch with the listing agent and let her know it was becoming a problem to the surrounding neighbors.

Here’s what I wrote on her “contact us” form (since there was no email address on her website) yesterday:

Good morning!

I know that this listing on NE 74th is probably a short sale/REO or whatever, that you don’t want to put much effort and $ into marketing…  but I’m wondering if it would be helpful to at least spend the $25 or so to have someone mow the field of weeds that used to be the lawn?  In another week or so, they will be taller than the flyer box on your sign post!

Almost daily we (the surrounding neighbors) see people walking or driving by, who stop to look at it. But, judging by the look on their faces, they’re less than impressed with the maintenance of the property and never even take the time to look at it more closely.

I know you may be thinking… “if it bothers you guys so much, you should just mow it yourselves” but after discussing it we decided to contact you, the listing agent, instead because it’s not OUR job.

Thanks in advance for taking care of this in a timely manner.

-Jeff

Here’s the response that I got in my inbox today (minus the agent’s contact info and gargantuan “Oh by the way… ” mumbo jumbo at the bottom:

Hi Jeff – we received your note and appreciate your concern. This home is indeed a short sale and the seller has no funds to maintain it. In all honesty, the inside is worse than the outside! And unfortunately maintaining the property is a seller/owner responsibility. Our role is to keep this home from going on the auction block. We have multiple offers on the home and are working with the seller’s bank to get an approval and we hope to see this close in the next 30 days.

We run roughly 35 short sale listings at all times – these are very time consuming, labor intensive properties and they take anywhere from 3 months to over a year to get an answer from the banks. When that answer comes – with it is always a reduction in what they are willing to pay for commissions to the Realtors. In addition, by the time the answers come – there always seems to be a gap of what they are willing to accept and what the offer will net them…again that generally ends up being deducted from the Realtor’s commission in order to get these to close. By the time these homes sell and we’ve paid everyone on our staff who have worked on these – we’ve made very little, and in some cases – nothing. What that means is that there’s no money in our budget to do any maintenance on these properties and that’s why we’ve not had the lawn mowed ourselves as you asked about.

There are so many homeowners in distress right now and our goal is to help as many as we can get through this and back on their feet again. Having a successful short sale means that this home owner has the potential of getting creditworthy again in 2-3 years, rather than the 7 years a foreclosure will hurt him. It’s kind of our own private mission to help put some balance back in the Portland Real Estate market again.

If you could please be patient for a short while longer, you will hopefully have a new neighbor soon who will get that property cleaned up again. Please feel free to check back in with me with any other concerns or a status if you’d like.

Thanks.

Not a bad response.  A little more detailed than what I was expecting, but then I remember that this agent has no idea who I am, since I had to use the “contact us” form and couldn’t email her directly.

The part that gets me going is when the agent says “unfortunately maintaining the property is a seller/owner responsibility. Our role is to keep this home from going on the auction block.”

Is that really the role of the listing agent?  Kinda weird, because I thought the listing agent’s job was to market and sell the property.  Now I know the agent has a point, since it is a short sale, there will be reduced commissions, blah blah blah…  BUT, if that’s the way you truly run this part of your business, WHAT’S THE POINT?

See, here’s the deal… (this being MY opinion on the subject)  When you take a listing, and stick that sign post in the ground, you’re basically saying “I represent this property” “My company represents this property” and I was raised from a young cub with the notion that if I’m going to put MY name on something, it better be good.  It better look as good as possible. It represents who I am, how I run my business, MY values and those of MY BROKERAGE.

So, I ask my readers this – what are your thoughts on this subject?  Do you spend the $25 every couple months to maintain a property like this?  Or am I completely out of line in my thinking?  I would love to hear your thoughts…