Brent's had just about enough.

I am, like, two seconds away from filtering all HTML email to the trash.

It’s spam something like 99% of the time.

Then again, he lives in a state where he can collect from the spammers (presuming he could find them, and then get them to cough up the dough), so...

Me, I feel exactly the same way as Brent. Just think of all the messages from my Outlook-hooked cow-orkers I'd never see. ;-)

7:38:22 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this    [ blinked via inessential.com ]

The National Association of Realtors® is considering a rule that would severely limit the kind of data that could be made available to non-Realtors® and non-real estate agents, from non-authorized web sites. A classic knowledge hoarding move, designed to create a bottleneck.

This can only be described as a doomed attempt to protect the incompetent from the Darwinian market reality. Is it in a trade industries best interest to help foster incompetence -- or is this a chance for another ride on the Cluetrain?

Janik says Internet shoppers are able to check available homes at the NAR-sponsored Web site, Realtor.com, which would be unaffected by the rule.

But Martin Plack, executive at Emeryville, Cal.-based ZipRealty and opponent of the proposed rule, says Realtor.com is designed to produce customer leads, not to give a shopper sufficient information for decision-making.

Addresses are often omitted, making it necessary to contact an agent just to drive by a listed home. "Its purpose is to make the phone ring," says Plack, whose firm recently struck a deal with Yahoo to display multiple listing information for selected cities.

The real estate industry is hopelessly mired in the past, and very resistant to change, particularly in using computing technology. It is also filled with far too many folks who claim to be professionals, but who do not (or cannot) act in such a manner.

This is not the most efficient way to produce customer leads. Why not let the customer do the initial legwork and drive-bys? Why not let them use the Internet and their own time and effort to narrow down their choices, before approaching the salesperson, and tying up their time? Why not eliminate the tire-kickers from your phone, and only have better-informed potential home buyers calling you?

Dealing with fewer tire-kicking customers, and more of them who have already narrowed their choices means a Realtor® would have more time to do what is important -- service the customer! If a Realtor® is genuinely doing a good job at what matters (brokering the best possible deal for the customers), praise of that performance does spread, providing very good word of mouth referrals -- which is the best kind of advertising to have: free and highly effective. Those Realtors® who do this will continue to earn money (heck, would likely earn MORE money, as the incompetent ones are revealed for what they are and avoided) in an information rich market.

4:07:26 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this