Here are some notes from the past month that I wanted to share with you, basically a little housekeeping and some interesting happenings.

Dave Platter
As you know Dave has not penned an article for a while on business2.com.au after being one of the earliest contributors and since he left REA has been busy taking care of his young family. Dave has decided to discontinue his involvement with business2.com.au. I wish Dave and his family all of the best in life’s pursuits and thank him for all his efforts in making business2 what it is today.

Time 50 Websites of 2009
The list is out again this year and from what I can see only two real estate websites made it onto the list. Craigslist is also there and there are some other pretty cool sites as well. View it here. There are some pretty cool new sites on the list and a few I had never heard about, so grab a coffee and sit back and enjoy the read. Read the rest of this article »

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The settlement of a lawsuit this week threatens to have a major impact on the way agents work in the future–to the possible detriment of large numbers of people in the industry today.

The lawsuit is between the US Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The low down is that traditional real estate agents in the US can no longer withhold their property listings from virtual agents. This gives a big opening to businesses like Redfin, which calls itself “the industry’s first online brokerage for residential real estate.”

The fact that all this is happening in the US means there won’t be an immediate impact on Australian agents. But, if a powerful new web-based agent business model emerges in the US as a result, it could be just a matter of time before Aussie agents start to see a threat from such businesses.

Glenn Roberts of Inman News wrote an excellent piece on this. (subscription required)

Read the settlement (PDF) (thanks to agentgenius.com)

Read the official line from the National Association of Realtors

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