“Consumer, Protect Thyself” with #CustomerTech, Enrich Thyself too
As our flurry of recent blog posts below attests, Real estate is the Sleeping Giant of the Consumer Movement! We tried sharing those links with the National Association of Real Estate Editors before their recent annual convention (#NAREE17) but thus far no one has developed any story ideas. Requests to meet about our list of 10 issues / real estate consumer complaints were also brushed off by @MassAGO & @Mass_Consumer:
http://bit.ly/MassAGOv3 (share via social media)
In the #DysTrumpian Era of “Consumer, Protect Myself” is #CustomerTech capable of arming homebuyers and sellers with “First Party Terms?” This hard-hitting @CBCMarketplace expose about “real estate agents breaking the rules” points to the importance of that question, and the “Pledge of Allegiance” — a set of terms designed to protect homebuyers — released on Flag Day, June 14:
https://twitter.com/realestatecafe/status/879305485903695872
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BACKGROUND
Recent blog posts, most sent to #NAREE17
In #DysTrumpian era of “Consumer Protect Thyself,” powerful DIY tool for Homebuyers
http://bit.ly/ProtectRESelf (share via social media)
Will Wall Street cause Consumer Advocates to revisit Real Estate Cartel?
http://bit.ly/REvisitCartel (share via social media)
Open Letter to National Association of Real Estate Editors #NAREE17
http://bit.ly/OpenNAREE (share via social media)
From #FakeBuyerAgents to Smart Disclosures & Information Fiduciaries
http://bit.ly/FakEBA2FutureRE (share via social media)
Castle Doctrine: Protecting real estate consumers in DysTrumpian era
http://bit.ly/ProtectREra (share via social media)
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NEXT STEPS
National
Steve Brobeck, the Executive Director of CFA first called real estate a cartel in 1991, and MassPIRG’s Executive Director Janet Domenitz was reelected President of CFA. We’ve requested a meeting with @MassPIRG to background their team and get the Sleeping Giant of the Consumer Movement back on the Consumer Federation of America / @ConsumerFed’s radar screen if not the front page of the Boston Globe through their new consumer column, written by an investigative journalist with a law degree!
At Harvard
As an alum, have had divided feelings about blowing the whistle on Harvard’s involvement, but prepared a comprehensive critique of their homebuying class four years ago and more recently asked the state to take disciplinary action against Coldwell Banker for this blatant mispresentation:
https://twitter.com/realestatecafe/status/874623126868566016
In Boston
The National Association of Realtors is coming to Boston for their annual in November 2018, and http://RE2020.Loomio.org / #RE2020 hopes to organize quarterly events, including unconferences or hacks, before that date. As Bloomberg reported, Real Estate is Ripe for Disruption and Boston / Cambridge can become a lab for that challenge:
http://bit.ly/OpenREDisruptMA (share via social media)
http://bit.ly/RE2020Lab (share via social media)
Dream Scenario
This Fall marks the 25th Anniversary of Ralph Nader’s first speech on the real estate cartel, and consumers — primarily in Canada at this point — are using the hashtag #RECartel to express their anger at the industry. Can we use that anger (and maybe get Nader involved) to turbocharge new #CustomerTech tools to deliver BILLIONS in savings in real estate? That’s the goal of #RE2020, hence our desire to cohost a #Hack4REGood during @HUBweek.
This evening I can demo TransitionBank, an IntentCasting concept a four person team produced at Hacking for Good event at Harvard’s @InnovationLab ten days ago. What else should we talk about?
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VOTE
http://bit.ly/PopUpRE2020_2Q2017 (share via social media)
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