REALTOR®
Founder of Agent Genius Magazine, national real estate opinion site. Benn’s focus has always been improving the consumer experience by working to improve the real estate industry, so needless to say he’s not scared of controversy, standing out or making an impact. He dreams of a life where sleep isn’t physically necessary and a Starbucks barista makes house calls in order to focus more on helping you and your startup to capture and build on the moment.
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[...] to Real Estate 2.0.” (for some insight into the controversy this might cause, see Benn’s take) The article is all about agents using Web 2.0 tools (blogging, social networking, etc.) to do [...]
HUD guidelines are creating misinformation and scare tactics
Realtors – how to get some buyers off of the fence right now
Translating Twitter speak and garnering retweets
Minimum commission policies: good or bad business?
The silver lining in the real estate sector – home prices are up
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oh so now I am your Teresa Boardman, go figure.
just kidding, you know I love you all.
and we all love you !
Teresa, yeah, I’m claiming you today, tomorrow tho, I disavow all knowledge of your existence- this message will self destruct as soon as it rolls off the front page.
All kidding aside, I’m proud, and I mean that in the complete sense of the word to have you here- and Benjamin too.
To tell you the truth, I’m ecstatic about Teresa, Daniel and Jeff Turner……don’t care about the rest. It’s great when the good guys get the recognition they deserve!
Oh…..and Dustin too! CONGRATS guys!
Trademarks aren’t important to NAR.
Oh Benn you are so kind.
Benn,
This is an incredible observation. It would be interesting to see if anything comes of it. Although, I would expect this coming from someone like yourself who probably has a bit more experience with NAR trademark issues than others.
Since Glen is going to be at Bloodhound Unchained, perhaps we could get an NAR representative to go there and discuss.
Never mind, if Glen, Greg and NAR are in the same room at the same time, I think it might tear a hole in the universe.
Teresa is mine.
Jim, which one, she has three personalities ya know… maybe more.
There are 12 Jeff Turners so I’m not surprised one of them got a mention.
Wouldn’t that be ‘dontcha know’? when speaking of our highness?
Well, that’s the problem, which accent are we speaking to when discussing the Queen? I think I heard her curse Lani out in Tibetan the other day over the phone, 5 minutes later she called back and finished singing Lani a lullaby in German. It really is hard to keep up. That’s the T mystique- you just never know.
I think I want the T in the red hat.
The observation is hilarious! I can’t believe I’m going to miss unchained (new baby due that week). I’ll listen to the CDs though.
This is the second time I’ve seen this ®EALTOR.org page referenced today – which says “This article was published on: 03/01/2008″ – yet I haven’t noticed this article before, or any other blogs mentioning it. Maybe I missed it back on January 3rd (or is this March 1st?), but I think I would have noticed this article – or someone I subscribe to – would have blogged about it. Is the publish date weird on the R®.org site?
Jason, it’s set to distribute for March in print, that way if you’re ever referencing the mag you won’t find the march issue in February.
Has anyone else noticed a trend by NAR. In this article it is the use if the term Real Estate 2.0 and they want to prohibit REALTORS from using the term MLS in any URL of the agents sites. BTW, MLS is owned by Major League Soccer. Just another observation.
The trademark issue regarding real estate 2.0 is laughable. If anyone had challenged it during the the publication period, it would never have been granted. The USPTO has long been criticized for granting marks that can’t be successfully defended. Redfin has not done anything notable to protect the mark and it would be lost the minute someone wants to spend the money to challenge it.
Bob, I agree in that I do not believe Redfin should have ever been allowed to trademark it, but they (Redfin) actually do persue it. I provided in the post a link to an actual c&d from Redfin legal. How it would turn out if actually pursued in court, who knows, you may be right. None the less, I think think the whole issue of trademark and the NAR is notable, but in the long/short of things, is it really has no bearing on any of our daily lives. Unless this misstep gives Redfin another year of publicity off the backs of the rest of the association- then it becomes a problem regardless of the outcome. Big bad NAR against little ol’Redfin…
Also, I haven’t seen the actual magazine, there may be a note in it about the trademark and no one has actually said it’s a violation. My larger point was Redfin didn’t even get a mention and they actually own the trademark.
Benn, no doubt that the omission was deliberate and goes to support the case that it is an indefensible mark. NAR would love to see Redfin take them on over this. I don’t think Redfin would do it as the mark is not worth what it would cost them to defend it, unless they believe it would be a fair trade for the PR.