Friday Flash: Heart and soul

Sometimes, in my line of work, you get a moment where creativity, action and outcome line up so perfectly that whatever crud of stress and strain has accumulated in your mind and heart is washed away. 

Our client Latter & Blum gave us one of those moments last night with the launch of Latter & Blum At Home, a live digital event series to support Louisiana entertainers hurt by the Covid crisis. 

Last night’s show featured soul singer Tonya-Boyd Cannon. The performance (streamed on Facebook) was terrific. Best of all, the gig earned her money she really needed through audience donations.

More At Home events are scheduled. Join in and feel good while doing good.

…

@properties and Nest Realty are two of my favorite brokerage success stories. 1000WATT has had the privilege of working with both companies. These are relatively young firms (@properties was founded in 2000, Nest in 2008) and have realized phenomenal growth through a blending of largely homegrown marketing tech, a strong agent service orientation and, above all else, exceptional leadership. @properties has become the #1 broker in the state of Illinois; Nest has expanded into 5 states through franchising.  

This week, the companies announced that @properties has acquired a stake in Nest. 

What I find particularly interesting about @’s investment in Nest has to do with Nest’s franchise operation. Nest doesn’t have a traditional franchise vibe. They project indie-ness even beyond their company-owned operation in Charlottesville, VA. You could call them a “frindie” brand that offers the systems and tech commonly associated with a franchise and the feel and distinctiveness independent companies value. 

With @properties’ resources we will get a chance to see if this sort of in-between play has real legs. I’m betting it does. 

…

1000WATT is a proud sponsor of next week’s Connect Now, Inman’s live digital event. Marc and I are both speaking, as follows:

Marc’s session:

Tuesday, 10:10 a.m. Pacific – “How to turn your team into a powerhouse brand”

My session:

Wednesday, 12:15 p.m. Pacific – “Differentiating, positioning and marketing your team for breakaway success” 

The event is looking great. Sign up and join us. 

…

Mike Delprete has quickly established himself as the gold standard for research and analysis on real estate trends. He was the first to look closely and clearly at the numbers underneath the iBuying buzz and has been a bellwether for tracking Covid’s impact on real estate. If you’re not following him, you should. 

It occurs to me now, as I write this, that I have not relied upon NAR for market insight during the pandemic. I imagine their research department has been on it, and that Chief Economist Lawrence Yun has been sharing his assessments, but the “voice for real estate” sounds muted from where I sit. NAR has done a nice job keeping members up to date on economic relief programs, but the research offering looks pretty much as it did pre-pandemic. Seems like a miss.

Am I being unfair? Let me know.

…

Our good friends at W + R Studios released a new version of their industry-leading Cloud CMA software a couple weeks back. It’s called Cloud CMA Live and it could not have hit at a better time. 

It’s all web-based and dynamic (though you can still create print reports) and features integration with Zoom, Hangouts and other virtual meeting applications. It’s great-looking software that’s powerful but not overwhelming. 

A killer tool for a present and future in which at-a-distance interactions are the norm.  

That’s it for now. Enjoy the weekend.