by Latham Jenkins | Sep 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Tether RE is a mobile app for helping real estate agents stay safe conducting showings, open houses and other activities with strangers.
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Tether RE is a safety app for agents.
Platforms: Mobile
Ideal for: All agents
Top selling points:
- Redundancy: four lines of defense
- Uses vetted call centers
- Buyer-client authentication
- Struggle detection
Top concerns:
I’m anxious about the app’s developers weighing down the value proposition with ancillary features.
What you should know
Tether RE is another option for mobile phone-based agent safety. It has a number of smart features that are simple to activate, redundant and marry the software with native features of most mobile phones, such as their GPS chips and accelerometers. Its feature set is easy to set up and activate to ensure a user is fumbling around with it before a showing starts.
Tether RE offers four tiers of protection, the first being verification of the person being met at the property.
It can identify pre-paid phones and does a reverse lookup to match the number with the person or business, connect them with any recent market activity to help ensure they’re a true lead and also verify the property’s ownership history. While tax records and other public records access providers can do that, it makes very good sense to have it part of the safety process to avoid skipping what could be a crucial verifier. This can all be done before you ever leave the office.
The second form of protection is a simple panic button that boldly sits ready to go on the phone’s screen. Activating it will alert pre-connected emergency contacts and a 24-hour call center that can dispatch local authorities.
Tether RE also deploys activity timers that require a pin to cancel, with reminders to do so prior to the countdown ending. Should it culminate without the pin, the call center is alerted. There’s also a second type of pin, one that would signal the user is under duress, a sort of clever way to hide from an assailant that you’ve called for help. Nice touch.
The app also integrates with the same onboard features most phones today use to detect any immediate physical action that could be characteristic of a fall or struggle. Should the app think you’ve been hit or suffered sudden impact, it’ll notify the call center.
Another unique component of the software is its ability to “tether” a buyer to an agent when visiting a property without them. This allows a connected agent to physically monitor their client while looking at homes on their own, enabling real-time messaging and feedback, too. This can also be used when buyers are following their agent in their own car during a tour or need to find them later in the day.
Where Tether RE lost a little of my attention — great intentions notwithstanding — is when it tries to emulate more business-critical mobile applications with showing scheduling, mileage and expense tracking, and its Zapier-linked CRM integrations.
I don’t think any agent expects their safety app to also excel at keeping in touch with clients after a showing, so I wasn’t sure why Tether RE didn’t peruse the market on what already exists in this category, such as Lofty’s Closely, Cloze and Follow Up Boss, for starters.
Instead of trying to match what these notable players already do, make those apps onboard Tether RE’s functionality; put the onus of safety on the software companies helping agents get showings. Make safety intrinsic to lead generation.
Why try to dislodge that cornerstone of the market? Instead, use it to anchor your application.
There aren’t too many mobile applications out there to help agents stay safe in the field. The very nature of the industry’s overly competitive, “get business at all costs” structure is largely to blame.
Agents have been victims far too many times in open houses, vacant homes, shady land deals and crumbling apartment buildings. It’s all too easy for bad apples to prey on colleagues, friends and family members, and not nearly enough attention is paid to the risk because, dammit, the commission matters.
Here are some recent stats, and they’re pretty surprising.
If this app isn’t the one for you, then please consider either another piece of technology or some other form of reliable personal protection. The good news is that you already own your best safety device, and it’s always going to tell you the right thing to do, so go with your gut.
If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t. The commission can wait.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents and proptechs with technology and partnership decisions and lends his expertise to Inman to review and report on the people and products inciting industry change.
by Christine Cruz | Sep 6, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Keeping clients fully informed and helping them to think ahead about the logistics and financial implications of a second-home purchase can create more positive feelings and better outcomes, Jonathan Pressman writes.
Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies, or discovering strategies to capitalize on the next market surge, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The Next Chapter is about to begin. Be part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
The popularity of second homes popped during the pandemic when millions of Americans sought vacation homes and investment properties. Unfortunately, many of those buyers regretted their purchases, particularly when they went beyond their budgets or rushed their decisions.
Whether you’re helping clients buy a second home or looking for yourself, here are six tips to prevent second-home buyer’s remorse.
Try before you buy
If you want to buy a second home for your own enjoyment, why not take a home in the area on a test run first? With short-term rentals, it’s easy to preview what it might be like to have a second home somewhere without committing to a months-long lease.
If you’re exploring a summer or winter vacation home, try a seasonal lease before you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. This will also give you a chance to spend some more time in a place, familiarize yourself with the neighborhood and decide firsthand if you think it’s worthwhile to buy.
Tour the home in person
You can buy just about anything online, and homes are no exception. With blind offers on the rise, more buyers are willing to put in an offer sight-unseen. And while photos and virtual tours are a great starting point for homebuyers, they don’t paint a complete picture of a property. Regardless of whether it’s your first or second home, seeing the property in person can help prevent buyer’s remorse and unwelcome surprises.
Make sure the math works
A second home can come at a considerable cost, so make sure you run the numbers — including the cost of financing the purchase, property taxes, insurance, maintenance and utilities. For vacation homes, weigh the pros, cons and costs of buying versus renting. In some cases, it may make more sense to rent.
If it’s an investment property, look at comparable leases in the area, calculate the cap rate and do your research to see what the rental demand is like in that market. You’ll also need to consider the cost of property management, or if you’ll be managing it yourself, the time and effort you’ll spend and any additional expenses such as rental management software.
Wait for the right time
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of a competitive market. For buyers looking at a second home for vacationing, it can be especially emotional when you start thinking about holiday gatherings, connecting with family and friends, and enjoying other good times with the ones you love.
For investors, a hot market might feel like a wave you don’t want to miss. In either case, it’s important to exercise patience, wait for the right time, and never buy a second home on a whim or because you’re afraid of missing out.
Know what you want to get out of it
Before you buy a second home, make sure you know what you want to get out of it. Is the goal to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday city life or to generate income? Maybe you want to focus on building stronger bonds with family and friends.
However you decide to use your second home, you should know what you want to get out of it to make sure you feel fulfilled and satisfied with your purchase.
Create a plan for how you’ll use it
Once you know what you want to get out of a second home, make a plan for how you’ll use it. If you’re using the home for vacation or to go skiing, when and how often will you go?
If you’re buying a second home because you want to escape the summer heat or head south to warmer climes, think about what you’ll do during the offseason. Second-home ownership doesn’t stop just because you’re not at the home.
Though you might only use it for a few months a year, remember, it’s a year-round commitment. If it’s an investment property, what’s your investment strategy? Will you look for long-term tenants, or will you play the short-term rental game? If so, who will manage the day-to-day operations? The last thing you want to do is have a second home that’s underutilized, which is why making a plan for how you’ll use it before you buy is so crucial.
MSN reported that boomers especially might have regrets about their second home purchases. But with a little preparation and patience, your clients can feel more secure in their second-home purchases and reduce the chances they’ll walk away with buyer’s remorse.
Jonathan Pressman is a Realtor who writes on a wide range of financial topics. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Instagram.
by Brandon Newman | Sep 5, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
CoStar filed a motion on Wednesday asking the court to deny Move’s amended preliminary injunction due to forensic data that allegedly proves a former Realtor.com editor never shared Move-owned files with the company.
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A week after Move, Inc released their forensic analysis of former Realtor.com editor James Kaminsky’s work computer in an amended preliminary injunction request, CoStar Group has fired back with a 22-page motion requesting California District Judge George H. Wu to deny their rival’s request.
The motion rebuffs Move’s forensic analysis of James Kaminsky’s work computer, which revealed Kaminsky accessed and transferred 40 Move-owned documents allegedly containing online traffic, advertising and lead generation tactics during his final days working for the company. The motion also denies claims Kaminsky shared those files with CoStar to boost Homes.com’s search engine optimization strategy and website traffic.
CoStar’s counsel said the News & Insights files Kaminsky “minimally accessed” after leaving Move cannot be classified as trade secrets due to the fact that the publication schedules and information about popular content is now “largely stale” and “publicly available or readily ascertainable.” Move employee titles and salaries can also easily be found on Glassdoor and LinkedIn, the filing said.
“Not only are the documents underlying Move’s motion not trade secrets, they were not protected by Move as such,” the filing read. “The plaintiff did not protect information despite existence of “two password and user ID-protected systems, limiting employees’ access to [the] data, encrypting the data, requiring two-factor authentication to access the data, and separately storing the data on its own server that is password protected and limited”). Nor can Move justify it failure to secure its Google platform.”
A forensic expert also verified Kaminsky never shared any of the disputed files with CoStar, they said, eliminating the need for a preliminary injunction.
“Move cannot identify any change CoStar has made to its business or damage it has suffered as a result of Kaminsky’s access to the five Move documents; and CoStar’s Homes.com outperformed Realtor.com for months prior to Kaminsky joining CoStar,” the filing read. “There is no mystery why Move is seeking to enjoin CoStar from using documents it has not used: Move’s Realtor.com is losing market share to CoStar’s Homes.com … That Move’s desperate times have given rise to such desperate measures does not warrant injunctive relief.”
Gene Boxer | Credit: CoStar
In an emailed statement to Inman, CoStar Group General Counsel Gene Boxer continued to characterize Move’s lawsuit as “a PR stunt” and “speculative nonsense.”
“To be clear, CoStar has never had interest in Realtor.com’s strategies or alleged trade secrets, as its ‘lead diversion’ tactics are anathema to Homes.com’s agent and user-friendly ‘your listing, your lead’ model,” he said. “Move’s lawsuit is based on false, and now shifting, premises.”
“To start, Move filed a case accusing CoStar of using Move documents to build a rival news business. This accusation was completely false, as we said publicly at the time. Nothing more than a PR stunt,” he added. “As Move knows, CoStar doesn’t have any of those documents, and certainly hasn’t used them … Move then tried to salvage its case with an even weaker new theory: admitting that — in fact — no one at CoStar is using any stale Move documents, but maybe, just maybe, an employee who edits descriptions of New York condos might use documents he doesn’t have, to do a job he doesn’t have: directing CoStar’s search engine optimization. This is speculative nonsense.”
A Realtor.com spokesperson declined to comment on Move’s latest filing, noting the company doesn’t make statements on “pending litigation.”
Judge Wu will make a ruling on Move’s amended preliminary injunction and limited expedited discovery request on Sept. 23.
Read the full filing below:
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by Rick Guerrero | Sep 5, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Keller Williams Las Vegas agent Albie Vas acted quickly on Tuesday when he spied a burglary in progress at one of his listings. “I was like, ‘I’ve got bad news. Your house is actively getting robbed.’”
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Realtors really do go above and beyond.
Keller Williams agent Albie Vas
That was the case with Albie Vas, an agent with Keller Williams Las Vegas, whose lucky timing Tuesday afternoon had him in the right place to intervene in an active burglary at one of his Nevada listings this week.
Vas told Inman a separate client on one of his luxury listings near Las Vegas had left the lights on inside the home before an earlier showing, saving what he estimated to be six minutes as he rushed to another listing. That gave him enough time to stop by a vacant home in Spring Valley — a town roughly two miles west of the Las Vegas strip —around 11 a.m. Tuesday, in order to fill up his client’s pool.
While in the backyard, Vas said he noticed something amiss with two of the home’s three back doors.
“I turned it off, pulled the hose out and I saw on the backdoor the weather stripping was on the floor,” Vas said. “I was like, ‘That’s weird.’”
He checked the doors and they were both still locked and secured, though they looked like they’d been tampered with near the deadbolt.
When he saw the third door had also been damaged, Vas said he called the Las Vegas police department’s non-emergency number and left to get something to eat while waiting for a response, which he said took an hour.
Las Vegas police responded to an active burglary of a vacant listing in September 2024. Photo by Albie Vas
“I drive back and as I’m getting there — I’m driving slowly — I see this guy’s truck parked backwards in our driveway,” Vas said. “This guy is sitting there trying to break in through the garage. I called 911. I said, ‘Hey this guy is actively breaking into my listing.’”
The pickup truck already had a refrigerator in the back of it when Vas called the police. The suspect was inside moving the refrigerator from the listing, searching for a door big enough to slip it out of when the police arrived.
“The guy jets to the backyard, hops the fence,” Vas recalled. “An officer gets on the roof to get a better vantage point. The K9 had him in less than one minute. He was hiding in the shed of our yard.”
By then, several large appliances inside the home had been moved. The suspect had dragged the fridge through the house, removed door handles and hinges and squeezed the fridge all the way into the front yard.
Before police arrived, Vas alerted his client, who lives in Fiji.
“I was like, ‘I’ve got bad news. Your house is actively getting robbed,’” Vas said. “The stove was moved. The dryer was moved. The fridge was outside in the front yard.”
The gas company had to come by before the police could inspect the home to make sure the stove wasn’t actively leaking gas after being tampered with, Vas said.
Police arrested the suspect and discovered the truck he was driving was stolen about two weeks earlier. Vas was still at the listing when the truck’s owner showed up to retrieve his vehicle.
“He was about 65-70 years old. It didn’t look like he had a lot of means,” Vas said. “When he saw his truck he started to cry and said he didn’t think he’d ever have it back. He said sometimes he’s homeless and that’s where he sleeps.”
Vas called the reuniting a silver lining in the otherwise bizarre situation. As for his client, she increased his commission as a result of his heroics.
“She said she’s going to give me an extra 0.5 percent,” Vas said. “I said it’s my job. What would I do? I would have to leave that job unattended? No! I’m here to sell this house.”
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by Kevelyn Guzman | Sep 5, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies, or discovering strategies to capitalize on the next market surge, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The Next Chapter is about to begin. Be part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
Hit real estate reality TV series Selling Sunset drops on Netflix Friday, but the show’s drama already began spilling out earlier this week after the cast viewed screeners of the new season — and some were not happy with the results.
One of the show’s stars, Oppenheim Group agent Chrishell Stause, took to Instagram to sound off on Selling Sunset producers, who she claimed allowed her fellow agent Nicole Young to tell lies on air about another cast member and O Group agent, Emma Herman.
“Are we really still giving air time to LIARS that just want air time,” Stause said. “I will NEVER work on a show with her on it again. I would rather be sued,” she continued, suggesting that her days on Selling Sunset might be coming to a close.
“Disclaimer when you watch: just know she spews a disgusting lie about a bestie that is categorically FALSE and SUPER damaging. It is NOT TRUE.”
Stause and Oppenheim group agent Chelsea Lazkani both stood up for Herman on social after reportedly watching Young in one episode claim that Herman had an affair with a married man.
“Good morning everyone, except for [Nicole Young],” Lazkani wrote in an Instagram story over the weekend. “[Nicole] you are the most diabolical piece of ????️ I’ve ever met.”
“You wanna start a rumor about Emma because all the rumors about you are true. OK, let’s see how this works out for you.”
Lazkani and Stause also both claimed they had “receipts” that prove Herman could not have committed the acts that Young alleged.
In spite of (or perhaps because of) the sometimes vitriolic spats between cast members, Selling Sunset has outlasted other shows like it, including other Selling spin-offs (Selling Tampa), Buying Beverly Hills, which recently failed to renew for a third season, and Buying London, which has been canceled by Netflix after just one season, Deadline reported Wednesday.
Oppenheim Group President and founder Jason Oppenheim told Inman he thought the show’s longevity likely had to do with several factors, chief among them the cast members’ long-term relationships — even if they are volatile.
“I don’t think there’s any one reason, and I think that probably, therein lies the answer,” Oppenheim said.
“It’s also unique that many of us have known each other [for a while],” he added. “So it’s not just a group of Realtors working together at a brokerage. It’s a group of friends who are Realtors who are working at a brokerage. In that sense, I think that creates a lot more interpersonal issues and just more intensity around certain social issues, personal issues, relationship issues, things like that, that you don’t really find on other shows.”
The show’s production quality and, of course, the jaw-dropping luxury properties featured also help gain views, Oppenheim added. But in addition to that, he said that he thinks viewers enjoy the Oppenheim Group agents’ fashion sensibilities too.
“The fashion is just unrivaled,” he said. “The [show’s female agents] have unbelievable fashion.”
When things get tense between the show’s agents, Oppenheim said that, over the years, he’s learned to try and allow things to work themselves out instead of getting himself enmeshed in the fray, despite his own history of dating some of the firm’s female agents.
“I used to feel the responsibility to resolve everything and I felt that weight on my shoulders,” Oppenheim told Inman. “But I think I’ve learned, as life has gone on and the show has gone on, things tend to resolve themselves. It’s not always necessary for me to get involved, particularly if it’s not a professional-related issue, and sometimes it’s actually beneficial for me to not try to get involved unless I need to … the less that I get involved, the more influential my involvement is when it is necessary.”
Real estate professionals who tune into the new season may recognize another well-known industry face during the first episode: Branden Williams of Williams & Williams at the Beverly Hills Estates. As co-developer (alongside wife and partner Rayni Williams and Jason Somers of Crest Real Estate) of an old-world Hollywood compound that Williams calls “if James Bond and the Playboy Mansion had a baby,” he makes an appearance in the episode to allow Stause and her client into the home for a showing.
Tudum by Netflix released a sneak peak of Episode 1 on Wednesday, which shows off the singular property, priced at $38 million.
The “Californication House,” as Williams and Williams have dubbed it, features luxurious finishes like Arabian black slate, Japanese Shou Sugi Ban raked wood, Roman titanium travertine vein cut floors and Brazilian greed jade onyx. The home also features a “secret nightclub,” according to the listing description, that Stause and her client access in Episode 1 by lifting a samurai sword from the wall.
The property is currently not active on major listing portals, but it is featured on Beverly Hills Estates’ website. The developers spent a total of seven years on the project, including five years of construction, according to Robb Report.
All 11 episodes of Selling Sunset Season 8 will be available to stream on Netflix on Friday at 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET.
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by Jessi Healey | Sep 5, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
The East Asian island country has experienced decades of near-0 percent interest rates and an abundance of inventory, but the government has started to increase rates as wages have seen a boost.
Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies, or discovering strategies to capitalize on the next market surge, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The Next Chapter is about to begin. Be part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
While Americans have grappled with elevated mortgage rates and low inventory for years now, Japanese citizens have lived with the mirror image of these conditions for decades. The country’s longstanding so-called “free” mortgages may not last much longer, however, according to a New York Times report, which may come as a shock to consumers.
Japan’s benchmark interest rates have sat around 0 percent since the mid-1990s, so homebuyers have become accustomed to paying about 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent on floating rate mortgages or slightly over 1 percent for long-term fixed-rate mortgages. By contrast, Americans are now paying fixed rates on 30-year mortgages that are hovering around 6.35 percent.
As many of the country’s large companies gave substantial raises to employees recently and consumer spending has risen in turn, the Bank of Japan has decided to hike rates up — it did so in March and July, and has indicated that it will continue.
About 75 percent of the country’s personal mortgages are floating-rate loans, according to a Bloomberg story in The Japan Times. Therefore, many homeowners will feel rate increases hit their pockets in the way of increased monthly home payments.
The country’s home prices have also remained low because of oversupply in the face of a shrinking population. In the wake of a construction boom that began in the 1990s following a real estate and stock market bubble burst, Tokyo’s housing stock nearly tripled from the early 1960s to 2013. Japan has also become known for its growing number of properties, particularly in rural areas, that are being abandoned as residents age out of them or pass away with no heirs to give the property to.
During this period of low rates, banks have competed for loan business, spurring some online banks to offer rates as low as 0.27 percent, according to The Japan Times. The government has also kept rates low to try and spur inflation in what has been a deflationary economy for decades.
After its early ’90s bubble burst, Japanese residents widely adopted a distaste for loans, which has caused many to curb other purchases in order to pay back loans as quickly as possible, according to The New York Times story.
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