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Connect Create: Two awesome apps, two winners

By Jeff Bernheisel, Wednesday, August 19, 2009.

Connect Create, a developer challenge held during Real Estate Connect SF, has received TONS of buzz.

You've also been asking, "who won?"

Real Estate Webmasters and Diverse Solutions - the two teams remaining after a couple last-minute cancellations - both created amazing applications in just 48 hours. (Click here to read an Inman News article about the competition.)

The Real Estate Webmasters team created what might be called a "build your own IDX search" application that allows a broker or agent to customize their own search experience in a simple drag-and-drop interface. Display preferences can be set (e.g., map search vs. list search) and a host of content options from other sites (e.g., the Zillow data via the Zillow API) can be added into the mix.

You can view a demo of the front-end here.

The Diverse Solutions team undertook what they called “an experiment in transparency” with an application called Agent Scouting Report. The app – based on data from SoCal MLS – ranked agents based on their transaction volume, performance (e.g., average days on market, list to sale ratio) and tenure in the MLS. Consumers could use the app to find the most experienced, best performing agents in their search area and in their price range.

You can read more about the app on the Diverse Solutions Blog.

OK, regarding the winner ... we have decided that since these two teams battled it out as a pair, and since both applications were so strong, they will share the grand prize.

They will each receive a $500 Zappos Gift Certificate and two free passes to Real Estate Connect 2010.

Thanks again to both teams for their awesome work!

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Submitted by Angelina Nobles on August 20, 2009 - 12:49am.

It's great event that both teams win in a same competition!
Sell House Fast

 
Submitted by on August 20, 2009 - 9:21am.

A tie in a two-team contest? Meh.

Yes, they were both very good, I wouldn't expect anything less from those two companies - they do very good work.

This feel almost like kids sports and school now. You know, everyone wins, everyone gets a trophy, and don't use red ink on exam scoring 'cause it makes the kids feel bad. A's for everyone!

This was one of my favorite parts of Connect SF, I hope it expands for Connect NYC and I hope the judges / Inman can make a real decision.

Jay Thompson
Broker / Owner
Thompson's Realty

Blog: www.PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com

.

 
Submitted by Andrew Mattie on August 20, 2009 - 9:30am.

We were also disappointed that there was no actual winner chosen in the two-team contest. Additionally, we were a bit surprised that they only decided to split the grand prize rather than divide up the grand prize plus second place prize. Oh well I guess.

Andrew Mattie
Diverse Solutions

 
Submitted by on August 20, 2009 - 9:52am.

"we were a bit surprised that they only decided to split the grand prize rather than divide up the grand prize plus second place prize."

Wow. Not declaring a winner was pretty lame. But not divvying up ALL the advertised prizes is just plain WRONG.

Bad move Inman. How do you justify this?

Jay Thompson
Broker / Owner
Thompson's Realty

Blog: www.PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com

.

 
Submitted by on August 20, 2009 - 11:29am.

Jay,

I don't speak for Inman, but conceived Connect Create and moderated the sessions at the conference. I also recommended to Inman that they share the grand prize with two kick-ass teams. I don't regret that.

So I, not the Inman team, should be the object of your disapproval.

I made my recommendation for a number of reasons, but can assure you that generally I believe in meritocracy, awards, and the American Way. In fact, when I taught in graduate school, I made a point to use red pen :-)

And I want to make one thing clear: There was no second prize, just one grand prize that is being shared. There was a "solo project" prize, but there were no solo entrants, just two teams.

So Inman has honored its committments.

 
Submitted by Marc Davison on August 20, 2009 - 1:28pm.

Might we look at the real winner here to be the real estate industry and the reward it received - namely two killer apps that only a week and a half ago didn't exist?

 
Submitted by Andrew Mattie on August 20, 2009 - 1:30pm.

@Brian: I just wanted to apologize for my earlier comment about the second place price. I really could have sworn that I saw on Inman before that there was a second place for the contest, but I must have been wrong. I did look for the contest prizes and judging criteria page before I posted my comment, but I couldn't find it and just figured it was common knowledge. I wasn't trying to say that Inman had short-changed anyone. Anyway, again, my sincere apologies. I very much appreciate your willingness to be a judge for the contest and the time you put into organizing everything.

 
Submitted by on August 20, 2009 - 2:47pm.

Brian -

You know I respect the hell out of you (at least I hope you know that. If not, you do now and I mean it sincerely). I appreciate you coming here and explaining the thought process in a little more detail. The way it was originally presented made it seem (to me) like declaring a tie was bit of a cop-out. It no longer seems that way.

I know I would have had a tough time selecting between those two. They were both very good.

As I mentioned, I *loved* the idea of the Connect Create. I hope it sticks around (and grows -- would love to see more participate next time).

Jay Thompson
Broker / Owner
Thompson's Realty

Blog: www.PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com

.

 
Submitted by Morgan Carey on August 20, 2009 - 7:35pm.

Andrew - so I was not the only one who didn't hear anything about this "tie"?

I have to admit I was CHOKED that noone gave us any updates and I asked via email several times - finally, instead of the answer to my question as to who won, I got an email from the Inman Staffer in charge (not Brian) telling me the finally released the video (that I had posted on my blog several days earlier) thanking me for doing such a great job, and if I wanted to watch the video, I would have to pay for it!

Well - needless to say, in my response I was less than amused. My reply demanded an answer to the "who won" question - and the response I got was - oh, we all decided together that there would be no winner. That sent me through the roof! I never agreed to that, and I don't remember ever even talking about it.

Brian was good enough to call me and calm me down a bit - and somehow managed to convince me that even though I still didn't remember any mention of this at all, I "could" have just missed it. Now that I see your post also stating you weren't aware it wasn't going to be awarded a winner - I think my initial reaction was correct. I am quite sure what was actually said was "you are both winners in my books" - which of course any reasonable person would not assume meant the contest was off.

I mean if there was no contest - why were there judges? We went through this entire process with "competition" in mind, and noone ever informed us otherwise - I am convinced of that now.

I never even received a follow up other than the email telling me I needed to pay to see myself on video. Nice

This blog post - (which is insulting and clearly thrown together with a complete lack of effort) - was only created after I explained that we had been cheated out of any PR opportunity - we had people waiting to blog about the winner (and second place) app and with Inman not updating us, our window was closing fast.

Brian's response was "I am really sorry, I'll make sure they have something up by the end of the day"

Brian / Inman - this post just doesn't cut it, and is indicative of the entire way this contest was run.

We held up our end as contestants - in fact on my side, I flew developers from CANADA spending thousands of dollars - to compete against teams that no-one told me had dropped out until I got there (with the exception of Diverse), and for a prize and glory that was swept under the rug.

I don't want people to think this is sour grapes I would have been happy to see Diverse win - they did a great job, and I know their team put in just as much work and were just as creative as we were. They deserve mad props!

This is about being lied to, disrespected and having something that myself, and more importantly my team, poured their hearts into only to be told at the end - thanks suckers, now go away and be quiet too, because you should be thankful you got to stand on our stage.

I tried to let this go and handle it privately - but this post is insulting and it's comments from our very worthy competitors made me realize that I wasn't crazy - I didn't miss anything and Brian - now I just feel like I was lied to. I don't know you - but I chose to listen to you and give you the benefit of the doubt - I now feel very foolish and taken advantage of.

You mentioned that I should want to be "in with Inman" because of all their influence and contacts - I have to admit that intimidated me a bit at first, and made me swallow my pride even when I knew I was right - but I think I need to stand up for myself here and say:

If this is Inman - If I have to give up my integrity to "get in good" - Then Inman can keep their contacts and they can keep their influence - I would rather do no business ever again, than have to be the kind of guy who compromises all that he is for a buck or a reference.

We met some great people in San Francisco and I want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement. I want to thank the judges that participated (all awesome folks) and most of all I want to thank Diverse Solutions - you guys are tops in my books and I would love to develop along side you (or compete) any time. I do hope you get the apology (private or public) that you deserve.

 
Submitted by on August 20, 2009 - 8:00pm.

@Jay. We're cool.

@Morgan. We talked. You posted. I gave you all the love I got, before, during, and after the event. There's a lot than can be said in response to your post, but it's clear anything I state now wouldn't not do much good.

 
Submitted by Ines Eiras on August 21, 2009 - 5:36am.

Dear Brian Boero and Morgan Carey,
I am happy to have attended the entire conference and loved it and witnessed the intensity and commitment of these young entrepreneur developers and was quite impressed with the contribution that they have made to improving our industry. Based on what I witnessed, these teams sacrificed a lot of their time and talent and it appears that whatever conditions should have been created to reach the desired expectation from this competition both for Inman and for Real Estate Webmasters and Diverse Solutions was not done because the result was that one of the participants was not clear and felt disappointed. Since many other companies were recognized with awards that last morning of the conference, these entrepreneurs should have also been recognized with such. The idea of having judges gave the audience the impression that there would be a first place winner and there was not. Awarding two first place winners is a nice gesture but would have served the participants to have the audience be the tie breaker. I agree with the previous broker commment that in the end we are all the winners because we will benefit from the innovation of all of these talented individuals and that is the most important point. An apology at this point may be a bit too late but one can call this experience one of life's tuition payments on both sides. Inman, Morgan Carey of Real Estate Webmasters and Diverse Solutions, the Connect Create intention was great and please keep up your great perspective of the great work in real estate innovation! Thank You!
Respectfully,

Ines Eiras
Buyer and Seller Real Estate Consultant, Distress Property Certified
Turnaround Real Estate Team
Prudential California Realty-Stoneridge Office
Pleasanton, California
www.prurealty.com/ineseiras
ines.eiras@prurealty.com
510-305-8128

 
Submitted by Suzie Lewis on August 23, 2009 - 11:02am.

Sounds like a fair deal to me.

100 Mortgage Suzie

 
Submitted by Dennis Pease on August 23, 2009 - 5:30pm.

I have to say my respect for Inman just dropped several notches. You ask busy people to drop everything to "compete", with judges and all. They spend time and money for this kind of end result?

It's too bad you wasted a chance to make this into a good contest and instead turned it into an embarrassment to your name. I guess my opinion is that if you weren't willing to keep your word and do your best, you shouldn't have done it at all.

Dennis Pease, CDPE
RE/MAX Integrity
Eugene, Oregon
http://www.DennisPeaseTeam.com/

 
Submitted by Becky Washam on August 25, 2009 - 1:15am.

Sounds like there should have been a measurable deliverable or at a minimum an anonymous voting method to pick a favorite.

Southlake Real Estate

Southlake Homes for Sale

San Antonio Homes

The Woodlands Texas Homes for Sale

 
Submitted by Shannon Jones on August 26, 2009 - 5:07pm.

Those apps are quite impressive and in a short amount of time too. I can understand how they tied.

Shannon Jones
Long Beach Homes

 
Submitted by Frank Shipman on August 26, 2009 - 5:27pm.

Despite the fact they tied, I'd like to try those apps myself. They seem very inventive.

Prescott Homes

 
Submitted by Morgan Carey on August 27, 2009 - 1:48pm.

Shannon - as is my understanding we most certainly did not "tie" - it's not like 2 of the judges voted for REW and 2 for DS - Inman decided to take it upon themselves (Based on Brian's suggestion) to call off the judging altogether - basically declared it a "no contest".

I can't speak for DS - but I can assure you that Real Estate Webmasters does not support this decision nor were we ever invited to be involved in it's process. We were simply told after the fact - (after we had done our part and committed to the contest AND the presentation / judging process) that Inman arbitrarily changed their mind.

I can say with absolute conviction that I feel we were lured to Inman under false pretense, were lied to during and after the "contest" and would never have participated had we known that so many contestants dropped out AND the contest was called off.

As far as I'm concerned Inman should be paying both of our bills for travel, accommodations and expenses as they used us for their own gain and failed to deliver on their end.

 
Submitted by Wayne Long on September 2, 2009 - 5:53am.

It seems to me that if you ask a company to commit resources and time to a project you should honor that commitment by following through with what was promised.

Who were the companies who chickened - errr I mean backed out??

 
Submitted by Gloria Singer on September 15, 2009 - 6:44am.

As a REW user myself, I for one am not surprised that they came up with a great new app such as this - I am looking forward to seeing it in action. Being on the cutting edge of technology when it comes to providing my clients with outstanding search tools is paramount to my success!

Gloria Singer
http://www.BocaExpert.com