DeedStreet chats with The Phoenix Real Estate Guy (Jay Thompson) at Cosmo Dog Park in GIlbert, AZ. This video is the second in a five part series named “5 Places in 5 Weeks,” where we visit five different places within Gilbert in 5 weeks. The goal of this series to to show everyone why a town is so awesome from the perspective of a local Real Estate agent. In this case, the town is Gilbert and the agent is Jay. We tried/ are trying to pick places that are unique, cool or just popular with the locals. Last week we were at Liberty Market. This week we went to Cosmo Dog Park. And hopefully you’ll join us next week, when we go to the San Tan Mall.

Doug

Hey all. Below is a transcript from my real time twitter interview with Patrick Flynn ( @mySeattleblogs ) on the Seattle Real Estate market. The tweeterview took place this past Tuesday (2/23/100). Of course, no interview on Seattle is complete with out the mention of coffee, grunge rock and rain. So sit back, relax, grab your orange mocha frappuccino and enjoy. By the way, if you’d like to do an interview over twitter (or the social media of your choice) on your city or hyperlocal neighborhood, just ping me.

DeedStreet chats with Nick Bastian ( @raillife ) on February 6th** about “Adopt a Street.” Adopt a Street is a program, where Nick and his Rail Life crew look after an area in Tempe and help with the maintenance and cleanup. More or less, they donate their time and good will and spend a few hours picking up trash. The specific area the Rail Life crew looks over in Tempe is located on Apache Boulevard between McClintock and Price Road stations.

** I had problems with the audio and thus the reason why I was late to post. But I want to stress how great of a deed Nick is doing for the Tempe community. And despite spending a few hours “working” on a beautiful Saturday morning/afternoon, I had a lot of fun and felt really good afterwards. Don’t worry if you missed out and want to help; I believe Nick does this event 4 times of year.

Doug

DeedStreet chats with The Phoenix Real Estate Guy (Jay Thompson) at Liberty Market in GIlbert, AZ. This video is the first in a five part series named “5 Places in 5 Weeks,” where we will visit five different places within Gilbert in 5 weeks. By the end of the series, we hope you’ll have a good idea why Gilbert rocks.

Doug

What does one do when the RE.net is a buzz about a new collaborative coworking environment amongst local RE agents called RETT? Ask Andy Kaufman his thoughts, of course. Andy Kaufman “founded & was lead organizer of the first Real Estate BarCamp, a spontaneous, participant generated conference in San Francisco.  Since that first event, there have been over 20 RE BarCamps from coast to coast and Andy continues to support and participate whenever possible.”

His reaction? He loves it, is fully supportive, extremely jealous and looking to learn from RETT’s experience.

It’s not that Andy hasn’t thought about doing a similar thing in San Francisco, as RETT seems like the logical extension of RE BarCamp. It’s been on his mind ever since coworking spaces, such as Citizen Space and Hat Factory starting popping up in SF around 2005-06 (of note, citizen Space was co-founded by Tara Hunt, author of the Whuffie Factor and Chris Messina, open source enthusiast and current google employee; and Hat Factory was the first full time coworking space in SF).

In fact, he’s toyed with the idea on a smaller scale, often getting together for informal sit downs with fellow SF area RE agent Ginger Wilcox and Mike Simonsen of Altos Research. And Andy is considering making use of a conference room that SF realtor Brad Coy has offered for the purpose of coworking with other RE folks. But as far as organizing a daily coworking space akin to RETT in San Francisco, Andy will probably take baby steps towards that goal. Perhaps start out with a weekly meeting and go from there.

Right now, Andy seems much more concerned and excited about learning from RETT’s day-to-day evolution. Currently RETT is gathering at Gangplank–Phoenix’s first open coworking space–which Andy sees as the perfect environment for RETT’s development during its infancy stage. But if RETT decides they want a space of their own, he’s interested in seeing what options open up as far as sponsors and rental space.  Because without an ally like Gangplank in tow, rental space and sponsors become paramount in any discussion of a permanent coworking space for RE agents in the Bay Area.

Despite all the positive things that have been said of RETT, there have been a few skeptics. Recently, Frances Flynn Thorsen commented on RETT’s Facebook page, “How productive can you really be in this kind of a situation?…What about embracing the concept of a real office with common areas for collaborating…?” Andy’s thoughts on the subject are similar to those of D. Patrick Lewis, who responded to Francis’ post as follows:

I think the definition of a “real office” is changing and I don’t think RETT is trying to replace a “real office” it will not replace my office, it is going to be another productivity tool in my real estate toolbox.

Regardless of ones opinion, RETT has been the talk of the RE.net in the last few days. Whether RETT is the beginning of a new trend in real estate collaboration or just a flash in the pan–an idea before its time–remains to be seen. But perhaps Andy puts it best when he says that, “Phoenix is definitely onto something and everyone is watching.”

About two weeks ago at 2:00am, Dean Ouellette had an idea. He had recently seen a channel 12 story featuring Gangplank (for those unfamiliar, Gangplank is a Phoenix center for innovation, where web professionals of all sorts meet to collaborate and benefit from the free flow of information) and wondered why the same concept couldn’t be applied to real estate.

Not one to let a thought disappear into the night, Dean quickly emailed Jay Thompson, Justin McHood and Nick Bastian. Justin responds; thinks it’s a great idea. Jay says he’s been thinking about this concept for a while. Nick likes the idea as well.

Fast forward to this past Monday night. The idea continues to be batted around. But you can discuss an idea to death. Eventually you just need to jump into the water and do it. And that’s exactly what happened. The next morning, the first gathering took place at Cherubini Coffee Company in Tempe, AZ. Formally, the gathering is known as Real Estate Tech Tank (#RETT). Informally, they are just a “bunch of real estate types (agents, lenders, title) sitting around in an open space, working, chatting, collaborating.”

So who showed up? Obviously Dean, Jay and Nick showed up, as well as a bunch of Phoenix RE tech “regulars,” such as Shane Hollenback and Bill Risser. But two “suits” also showed up after overhearing about the gathering on Twitter. They came by to talk about a real estate software product they were working on. And this is exactly what Dean and the guys had envisioned. Anyone & Everyone can come by. Pitch a product, talk shop, throw around some ideas….whatever.

My first thought is #RETT is the logical extention of RE BarCamp (#REBC). In fact, Dean originally thought the name of this gathering should be called RE BarCamp 364 (#REBC364); as this is where you would go the other 364 days of the year that your not at REBC, if you’re looking to collaborate with other RE pros.

For Dean, Jay, Justin, Nick, Shane & Bill, it just makes sense. They go back and forth on twitter so often, talking real estate, it can make your head spin. So, they might as well spend the working day under the same roof. For anyone and everyone else? Well, they hope you come by to see if it can make sense for you.

And despite being only two days old (at least in terms of the actual gathering) they are moving forward in a hurry. Justin has already been working on some sponsors and has secured a more appropriate space than the coffee shop for future gatherings. I beleive he will be informing the group of where the new space is today at 9:00am at Cherubini. Also, a website for the gathering is going to be launched next week.

So can this work? Can a bunch of good people come together everyday and colaborate effectively–in a business that has often been noted for it dog-eat-dog approach? Well, I’m going to drive an hour out of my way today to Cherubini and begin to find out.

Doug

This past Friday (2/5/10), we interviewed Matthew Shadbolt, Director of Internet Marketing for Corcoran Group (New York’s largest real estate brokerage). Below is a transcript of that interview. As usual, the interview was conducted in real time over twitter. Topics discussed included social media strategies, new york city tourist attractions and of course, pizza.

These interviews over twitter are always a blast; if you are would like to do an interview on your city or hyperlocal neighborhood, please let me know. Now, with out further ado:

Corcoran Group talks Social Media With Google

Vynl Locations in NYC. BLT Market in NYC.

Billboard of Corcoran Group’s iPhone app in Times Square

Asleep on the Subway blog. Overheard in New York blog.

Patsy’s Italian Restaurant

Brooklyn Bagels

Yesterday, D’Ann Faught (@texasREgirl) and I had a one-on-one interview about the Austin real estate market. We spoke about such things as the thriving tech scene in Austin, the great live music, social media and the Texas Longhorns. And of course, the interview was broadcasted in real time over twitter. But in case you missed it, below is a transcript of the interview.

Also, join us today at 2pm EST as I interview Matthew Shadbolt (@Corcoran_Group) on the NYC market. In addition, if anyone else is a real estate professional and would like to do an interview on their city / hyperlocal neighborhood, please let me know. Would be more than happy to oblige.

Hi all! Welcome to what is the first of hopefully many interviews on DeedStreet using Twitter. Yesterday (2/210) I tweeterviewed Rita Cox (@RealEstateRita) about the real estate market in Atlanta. We touched upon many topics including where to eat, what’s driving the market, the Olympics and much much more. So please sit back, relax and get ready for some fun–Atlanta style. By the way, if you’re an expert on your city or hyperlocal neighborhood and think this looks fun, let me know and we’ll get you on the show. I’d be willing to do these interviews on a different social media platform (Facebook?) as well,  if you’d prefer. Now, SHOWTIME: