After they'd booked space as an exhibitor and flew top executives to San Diego for the Prudential Real Estate Sales Convention 2007, the folks at Trulia were told at the last minute they weren't welcome.

Sellsius blog broke the news. When I called Trulia co-founder Sami Inkinen, he was getting on a plane in San Diego. He wasn't in a bad mood, but said it was too invovled to get into.

A few minutes later, Inkinen e-mailed Sellsius with this explanation:

"While we were slated to exhibit, it sounds like there was an internal disconnect with the conference organizers. No hard feelings, though… We’ve benefited from the Starbuck’s wi-fi plus great coffee to compliment the dozens of meetings we’ve had with our Prudential broker partners!"

Trulia director of marketing Heather Mirjahangir Fernandez told Inman News that Prudential brokers were not invovled in the decision to boot the company from the show, but that it was not Trulia's place to say why the incident happened.
--Matt Carter, Inman News

Properazzi.com -- a European property search engine, launched in beta in November, with for-sale and rental listings from many countries that are somewhat integrated with Google Maps (clicking on the map will provide a list of properties in the general area, but properties are not individually mapped). The name must derive from paparazzi -- those invasive photographers who chase celebs. The site's listings are collected "from thousands of Web sites," according to a site description. The site is free to use and requires no registration. The company is not an agency, a broker or a publisher, the site states -- "we're a Web site that gathers and organizes property ads, and then helps people find the Web sites that publish those ads."
Property types include houses, plots, bungalows, farms, castles, developments, apartments, town houses, penthouses, mews, ranches, studios, villas and flats.
Tom Dibaja of Properazzi.com told Inman News this week that there are about 1.3 million properties currently listed at the site, and an enhanced version of the Web site is due out next week. The company is based in Barcelona, Spain.

Realogy puts all of its franchise listings on Trulia.
Some observations:
1. The Trulia listings umph is an example of the future.
2. The ten-year exclusive (almost) Move/Realogy listing pact is an example of the past.
3. Listings everywhere is now the norm.
4. Move will do new interesting stuff as its listing edge is history. Less fear mongering, more innovation.
5. New apps will be how online companies excel.
6. With the Iron Curtain down, brokers will freely partner, increasing the amount of innovation.
7. Watch the little guy on the tech front. Those who are first will be last and those who are last will be first.
8. Freedom feels good for the consumer.

Mapwing.com, a virtual tour Web site that formally launched this week, offers free virtual tours to everyone – and that means everyone.

Some popular tours at the site include "Aunt Crystal's Birthday!" – over 1,000 views; "Angus the Cat Returns!" – over 1,500 views, and "A Walk with Charlie," (Charlie is described as a "slightly overweight Corgi") – over 3,250 views.

Virtual tours are no longer just for those pristine 5-bd., 3-ba. chateaus in the countryside. Mapwing.com looks like the MySpace and YouTube of virtual touring. The site allows viewers to comment about individual tours.

While it's free to create basic tours, the site does offer paid subscriptions for more advanced tours.

Aunt Crystal probably didn't expect 1,000 virtual ”guests" at her birthday party, but it does look like a tasty cake.

And why do they have their own blog at Move Inc.? The young couple in their 20s started an online adventure when they decided to let Web users vote on where they should move next. Their blog originated here: http://dannyandnina.blogspot.com/. But it appears Move has given it a new address here: http://blogs.move.com/dannyandnina/n.

How does a blog about a recently moved couple in Denver tie into Move's online services? We think this is part of Dustin Luther's new venture at Move. Luther is well known for creating the RainCityGuide real estate blog in Seattle. Stay tuned for the full scoop.

Also check out dannyandnina.com for more background on the couple. In case you're wondering if they are real people (a relevant question in a day of Internet viral marketing hoaxes -- also their pic at the top of the Move blog shows them as animated/avatar-looking), they have a link to their Flickr page here: http://flickr.com/photos/dannyandnina.

And wait -- no couple in their 20s is without a MySpace page: http://myspace.com/dannyandnina.

Redfin, a high-tech real estate company that refunds the lion's share of real estate commissions to consumers, marked its first year in business with the release of a company report which found that its agents tend to negotiate a better price for home buyers even before considering the commission savings.

The report, based on company statistics and MLS data taken from Washington's Northwest MLS (NWMLS), found that the company's consumers in King County paid an average of 99.33 percent of the listing price of homes while buyers with other brokerages paid 100.23 percent of the listing price, a 0.9 percent difference. That translates to an average savings of $4,474, the company reported.

Meanwhile, NWMLS reported in a 2006 Statistical Recap report that the ratio of the selling price to listing price of single-family homes in King County was 81.61 percent. Redfin notes that the data set it used differs from this MLS report.

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman told Inman News (see story) that there will undoubtedly be controversy over the report's findings, as discount real estate companies are sometimes labeled by real estate professionals as providing less bang for the buck compared to higher-cost alternatives.

Redfin, despite its youth, is no stranger to controversy – the company has drawn a lot of media attention and industry commentary for its unconventional business model. Agents are paid a base salary and receive bonuses based on customer satisfaction. They do not receive a commission. Also, the company allows buyers to make purchase offers on homes through an Internet platform.

The report includes a customer survey (based on 247 responses) that found that about 48 percent of respondents worked in technology, 37 percent were first-time home buyers and 49 percent heard about the company from a friend or acquaintance. Less than 2 percent of respondents said they heard about the company from advertising, while 23 percent learned about the company through "newspaper articles," the survey revealed.

Kellman said, "We expect that media coverage may not be as intense as it has been over the course of our debut year, but that word of mouth will become even stronger as we reach more customers."

The popular 60 Minutes show has been circling the real estate industry for some time, working on a story about something or other. The 60 Minutes crew showed up at Real Estate Connect in NYC and shot the debate between Move's Allan Dalton and Redin's Glenn Kelman. Not sure it offered enough fireworks to make the 60 Minutes grade. Regardless, people have been eagerly awaiting the segment, which in less than 20 minutes will likely summarize a 10-year grind between new and old.
This Sunday (also Oscar night), Kelman and Dalton will not be the featured two-man duel, instead legendary Mike Wallace and TV's newest tough guy, Bill O'Reilly will draw swords. See preview.

There is a direct relationship to seeking permission from the listing broker to publish and the trend to publish more listings in more places. Models like Trulia, Realtor.com and others respect the listing broker and their models allow the listing brokers/agents to access buyers that have interest in those specific properties.

Just like the old days - sign calls being directed to the listing broker with the sign, ad calls being directed to listing brokers that placed the ad and open house leads being managed by agents from the listing Broker's office. It all made sense, and the consumer was not confused by the advertising. But today? Why would you call American Airlines to ask a question about United Airlines flights? Try it and see what happens. Talk about the single biggest hindrance to improving the consumer real estate experience and IDX is at the heart of the discussion. Why would anyone call GMAC to ask about a Coldwell Banker listing? Why would you do this if you could go direct to the source?

When those companies that profess to understand the power of the Internet begin to structure their industry business models that prove they understand how to link the consumer with the best source for the most complete information on any one listing - the listing broker/agent - then stand back folks and watch the trend to share more listings everywhere soar!

--Ken Jenny, TranCen

Allan Dalton, who in October was named president of Move Inc.'s (formerly Homestore) real estate division in charge of Realtor.com and other operations, is working on a hush-hush internal project that "could be transformational for both consumers and real estate professionals."

The announcement came during a fourth-quarter earnings announcement today.

Dalton has relinquished his day-to-day duties at Realtor.com while he is working on the creation of this "entirely new business venture," as described by Move Inc. CEO Mike Long. The new venture is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year, Long said.

Errol Samuelson, president of Top Producer Systems, a Move Inc. company, has been promoted as executive vice president of the real estate division. Samuelson will continue to oversee Top Producer operations and will also oversee Realtor.com operations, Long announced.

PetRealtyNetwork.com: "Finding a pet friendly real estate professional is critical to pet friendly people considering any type of real estate transaction. Visitors can … browse The Pet Realty Network database of pet friendly properties and agents and choose to contact the real estate agent that best suits their needs."

As the company notes, the pet industry is something to bark about: "pet spending in the United States alone reached approximately $38.4 billion in 2006." The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association reported in March 2006 that pet spending more than doubled from $17 billion in 1994.

There are Web sites devoted to pet-friendly outdoor activities, hotels and restaurants with special pet menus. Many shops are opening their doors to four-legged critters. It's not just a dog-eat-dog-food kind of world anymore. It's reigning cats and dogs?